The transition to 4G represents a significant leap in the capabilities of mobile technology. From just about anywhere, mobile users can transfer extraordinary amounts of data in next to no time at all. This has allowed for the introduction of more powerful applications that had previously been thought unsuitable for mobile purposes. With all this change and development, where does it all leave SMS though? Is the simple and reliable messaging service that has served us so well for more than 15 years finally at the end of its life?

Despite its age, the last couple of years have seen a rapid increase in the use of SMS messaging. While there are signs that growth may be slowing, it still represents a significant source of revenue for mobile carriers. In the United States alone, SMS messaging brings in over $25 billion annually.

4G, however, has changed the landscape and as a result, a number of challengers SMS have emerged. Instant messaging services are one of these that are becoming increasingly prevalent amongst those using smart phone technology. Applications like Apple’s iMessage and Blackberry messenger allow users to communicate through internet connections rather than mobile networks. As a result, they don’t incur any message charges which makes the standard 11 Cent cost for sending a 160 character SMS message look like a relic of the past.

The reason these new apps have not been able to properly challenge SMS though is the fact they lack its ubiquity. Typically, users are only able to communicate with others using the same application. Therefore, because of its near-universal use, SMS still remains the most reliable form of non-calling mobile communication.

For these reasons, the supremacy of SMS will endure well into the era of 4G. Only when is there a viable alternative that is used widely and across different platforms will its survival be in doubt. SMS therefore has an important role to play in the 4G world.

Want to find out more about SMS Marketing, then visit www.txt2get.com on how to choose the best solution for your needs.

Mobile technology has certainly changed the nature of trade and commerce in modern times. In particular, though it has led to a dramatic shift in the conduct of online retail. Where just a few years ago, we would be confined to desktops in pursuing our internet shopping needs, these days, consumers can bid and list auctions with just a few clicks on smartphones such as the Blackberry and iPhone.

The increase in eBay’s mobile sales has been staggering. In 2009, worldwide sales amounted to $600 billion. For 2010, that figure was $2 billion. With markets such as the United Kingdom a key part of this, eBay has gone to great pains to secure its position at the forefront of mobile retail.

eBay’s mobile retail experience is primarily offered through applications. In 2010, two of its popular apps were ‘Selling’ and ‘Classifieds’. While the names may not be revolutionary, both simplified considerably the process of listing an item for sale or bidding in an auction. For example, the time it would take to create a new auction was reduced to less than 60 seconds. Since then, eBay has continued to innovate and has regularly released new and more sophisticated apps. Recently, it announced that it is developing the first truly international mobile retail app in partnership with telecommunications giant, Telefonica.

eBay’s successful use of applications has in large part been a result of an equally successful marketing campaign. Its sponsoring of the tagging feature found in the music recognition app Shazam is just one of a number of ways that it has sought to increase the profile of mobile shopping and the number of people engaging in it. With its recent acquisition of specialist mobile marketing provider, ‘Where Inc’, eBay clearly intends for mobile advertising to be an integral part of its future.

Going forward, it is projected that eBay’s worldwide mobile sales will hit $4 billion in 2011. Through its partnership with Telefonica and the acquisition of its own mobile marketing provider, ‘Where Inc’, Yankovich’s prediction that the future is in mobile could not be more true.

To find out more about how you can make harness the benefits of mobile marketing, visit www.txt2get.com today.

Are mobile devices no longer used for voice communication? After text messaging came into existence the main purpose of cellphones changed completely. When mobile phones came out in the market people were obtaining them because this device allowed them to make calls and contact people from wherever there were without the need to be at home or in a public phone.

Since there are so many people already using this way of communication, companies should start benefiting from it by promoting their product through this medium. According to ComScore, during the first quarter of last year 63.7% of US mobile subscribers used text messaging. Since then number of SMS/MMS sent have not stopped increasing. Businesses have always looked for a way to reach more effectivelytheir audience, but what more effective than reaching them through their cellphone. Marketing approaches have evolved so much that campaigns can be completely personalized, and what much more personal than a SMS/MMS marketing campaign.

Since there are so many people already using this way of communication, companies should start benefiting from it by promoting their product through this medium. According to ComScore, during the first quarter of last year 63.7% of US mobile subscribers used text messaging. Since then number of SMS/MMS sent have not stopped increasing. Businesses have always looked for a way to reach more effectivelytheir audience, but what more effective than reaching them through their cellphone. Marketing approaches have evolved so much that campaigns can be completely personalized, and what much more personal than a SMS/MMS marketing campaign.

Today is very easy to have a SMS/MMS marketing campaign since many companies offer this service. But the revolutionary Mercury API platform, a Lenco Mobile program, is the perfect mobile solution to scale for both large and small business owners. This program, which is strictly an API, allows applications and websites to create, manage and deploy SMS and MMS campaigns. Build.mobi, also a Lenco Mobile platform, uses Mercury API to enable its users to create and manage mobile messaging campaigns and send SMS and MMS messages. This enables clients to push out alerts in real time to one or multiple mobile numbers. Lastly, Mercury API is a great tool that can add another revenue stream to your business. For example, with this program businesses can build a mobile list that they can market to in the future, they can place ads in their messages, drive them to a mobile optimized landing page, etc. By utilizing Mercury API, your website or application will reach more of your potential and existing mobile customers.

Are mobile devices no longer used for voice communication? After text messaging came into existence the main purpose of cellphones changed completely. When mobile phones came out in the market people were obtaining them because this device allowed them to make calls and contact people from wherever there were without the need to be at home or in a public phone. However; when text messaging a new trend came into existence, people were no calling anymore but instead everybody was texting and still texting today. Since then the number of SMS sent have been exponentially increasing.

Want to find out more about mobile marketing, then visit http://www.mercuryapi.com on how to choose the best mobile solutions for your needs.

If you are not sure what SMS text message marketing is just yet, don’t worry, you soon will. Mobile marketing for business has been around for a while now, but has recently gained popularity among businesses in the know.

The idea behind text message marketing is fairly simple though, and you have likely seen it in action, even if you were not aware.

If you watch any TV at all, you have probably seen the ads that say something like “Just text BINGO to this number” or something similar. So, how could you use this technology for your business?

If you want to find out a bit more about what mobile marketing is and what it can do for your business, just keep reading.

Whether you own a bar, restaurant, tanning salon or something in between, your business can benefit from text message marketing. It is a great way for you to provide value to your customers and keep in touch with them when they are not at your establishment.

So, let’s take a look at a really simple example of how you could use a mobile marketing campaign to provide value to your customers, while keeping your service fresh in their mind on a regular basis.

Say you own a service related business. This could be a bar, restaurant, hair salon or just about any other kind of business you can think of.

You would ask your customers to opt-in to receive your text messages through the use of a short code, which is simply the word that they text to your special mobile campaign number. When you want to offer something of value to them, you could just send out a text.

Since they have signed up to receive your alerts, you may now send them any offers that you may have.

Perhaps business is a bit slow one day, or maybe there is an event that you would like people to check out. You send out your offer via text message, and the customer would bring in their phone with the coupon you have sent out.

People will be more than happy to bring in their coupon, because it will make them feel like they are a part of what is going on. The simple act of showing you the coupon in their mobile phone will cause them to want to be involved more, which can be great for business.

The kinds of messages you could send out are limitless really. If you have some way to provide a value to the customer, they would be happy to receive a text message alerting them of whatever deal you have going on.

Over 270 million people in the United States alone have a mobile phone of some kind. This very simply means that the amount of customers you have that could receive a text message from you are very big, and growing at a rapid pace.

So whether you want to send out a coupon for a discounted service, or just an alert to an upcoming event, you would have the ability to reach a lot of your customers.

Matt Weston helps businesses with sms text message marketing solutions so they can stay in touch with their customers while giving them value. Check out his text messaging marketing blog so you can stay current with your customers too.

To say that mobile marketing is promising is somewhat of an understatement. Worldwide, mobile marketing is one of the most rapid-growing enterprises and its success is only likely to grow. So for those heading into mobile marketing for the first time, what are its challenges? (Hint: they’re different to what you’d expect).

The ’secret’ is that mobile marketing is not too different from other marketing and advertising. The first steps will always be careful, quality planning. Clearly defining your target demographic is the solid base of good mobile marketing. Different target audiences need different mobile marketing features: such as different calls-to-action, transmission frequencies, and media platforms. The advantage of mobile marketing over other forms of advertising is that it allows for tailored advertising, focused more on the individual customer.

One other challenge facing those new to mobile marketing is mobile fragmentation. With a wide range of specifications, protocols, and devices used around the world in mobile marketing, it can be difficult to determine the most appropriate device(s) to carry a promotion. Hint: region profiling helps it helps you determine how your new mobile marketing campaign should be carried out.

Another challenge for those new to mobile marketing is mobile fragmentation. With a myriad of mobile devices around, it’s difficult to decide which one to use in mobile marketing campaigns. It goes without saying, but successful mobile marketing uses the device that reaches most of its target audience.

Many of the challenges for those new to mobile marketing seem like completely new battles. However, at heart they are the same principles of best practice for any kind of marketing, and adapting them to mobile marketing will greatly boost the success of your first campaign.

This article was written by Alex Speirs of TXT2GET, a leading mobile marketing company. TXT2GET supply affordable SMS keywords to advertising to typically increase results by 2-3x. SMS keywords also bring measurability & accountability to advertising, because you can see the exact time and date that responses come in. Click on the link to read our tips on how mobile marketing can improve your business’ advertising.

SMS marketing is a cutting-edge, creative way to connect with customers and boost your advertising return through sales leads.

SMS marketing is a type of mobile marketing that operates through the medium of text messages. How it works is simple: customers see advertising with an SMS marketing call-to-action (something like ‘text CAR to 19 33 33 for a test drive’) and respond to the advertising by sending in a text message. An automated reply is sent back to them, and a customer-organisation connection is established.

With us so far? Great.

What you need to know is that there are lots of different ways to use SMS marketing. These range from the common uses: competitions, surveys, and coupons; to the more obscure recruitment tools and question/answer systems. Regardless, SMS marketing experts agree that there are 4 ‘best uses,’ and they are:

1. Send out mobile coupons

One of the most popular SMS marketing functions is sending mobile coupons to customers by text message. Compared to print coupons, mobile coupons make it as easy as possible for the customer to find, keep and redeem; which therefore gives them a higher redemption rate. The Brisbane Boat Show used our SMS marketing to offer mobile coupons for discounted entry to the show, and got 72% of the mobile coupons redeemed. This is particularly impressive when we note that print coupons have an average redemption rate of only 2%.

2. SMS to win campaigns

SMS marketing can also be used in competitions, surveys, and giveaways, to encourage SMS entry. Enabling text message entry takes away needless paperwork for both the consumer and the organisation. This makes the campaign more accessible and instant, which usually increases the number of entries received by 2-3x. Leading Edge Computers used our SMS marketing to make their computer giveaway more accessible, and got 3x the response they usually get for paper-entry giveaways.

3. Push texts/ subscriptions

SMS marketing also includes push texts and subscription SMS, which is where the game starts to change. Contrary to many assumptions, SMS marketing does not have to start with advertising. Organisations can also send out regular texts to their database of customers who have already opted in to SMS communication. This type of SMS marketing is a more immediate and concise alternative to an email newsletter, and can be used to send updates, news, appointment reminders, etc (even nightclubs use it to inform patrons of upcoming events). But remember: customers have to be able to opt out if they wish.

4. SMS for info campaigns

This was probably the first type of SMS marketing ever used. It attempts to solve the problem of limited advertising space, to send customers relevant information upon request. Instead of cramming unwanted information in advertising, organisations can use SMS marketing to distribute product or service information. Box Hill TAFE Institute used this SMS-for-info tool, to text out 2011 course information to potential students.

Interestingly, they ran the same SMS marketing campaign through 2 channels (TV and shopping centre tele-screens), and found that one was getting nearly 15x the response of the other. This figure would still be unknown if it wasn’t for SMS marketing, so Box Hill might have still been using advertising channels that weren’t right for them. SMS marketing’s measurability makes it attractive for SMEs wanting to find out if their advertising is actually working.

This article was written by Emma Rose Smith of TXT2GET, a leading SMS marketing company. TXT2GET supply affordable SMS keywords that typically increase ad response by 2-3x. SMS keywords also bring measurability & accountability to advertising, because you can see the exact time and date that responses come in. Click on the link to get free advice on how SMS marketing can improve your business’ advertising.

Google released the news yesterday that their new mobile marketing venture is to create a mobile payment system, possibly for release before Apple’s.

Google’s proposed mobile marketing development will enable Android users to pay for purchases in-store using their mobile phones. While this is not the first mobile payment system to hit the market, it’s significant because it has a higher profile than pre-existing mobile marketing payment options. This is Google we’re talking about here, not a cash-strapped entrepreneur.

Google has already made a foray into mobile marketing with its SMS advertisements for Google AdWords. Google used a mobile marketing call-to-action to encourage businesses to contact them by SMS. In return, they received a $50 AdWords mobile coupon- a clever integration of mobile marketing and search engine advertising.

Going back to the mobile payment system, we know that mobile marketing professionals have been speculating about this technology for ages. Why does anything change if Google is also in on the development? Because it might mean someone else won’t be. Apparently, Apple are also in the mobile marketing race for a mobile payment tool. Drew Sievers, CEO of mFoundry, comments on Google’s mobile marketing strategy:

“I think they are trying to steal a march on Apple and get out there a bit sooner,” he said.

As a technology that is still developing, there are still uncertainties and imperfections. Because the mobile payments run through MasterCard, this mobile marketing system is not accessible to those without a MasterCard account. Another potential problem for a lot of us (though one which Google probably won’t change) is that their mobile payments can only work on Android handsets. Whether Google gets the desired edge over Apple is still unsure, but ultimately they have had success in taking mobile marketing payment solutions one step closer to consumers, says Jagdish Rebello, senior director of IHS iSuppli, California.

“The solution essentially provides a commercial trial of the technology and is a good first step,” he said.

This article was written by Emma Rose Smith of TXT2GET, a leading mobile marketing company. TXT2GET supply affordable SMS keywords that typically increase ad response by 2-3x. SMS keywords also bring measurability & accountability to advertising, because you can see the exact time and date that responses come in. Click on the link to get free advice on how mobile marketing can improve your business’ advertising.

SMS is simply someone texting a short message to a mobile phone. Right now there are no legal ramifications for sending out a lot of text messages but people can still sue you and potentially win under land line regulations. The main thing to know about SMS is simply that it works very well for local businesses and to be very careful that you spell out how often you will be texting and about what to those who subscribe.

The decision process on if you should use SMS marketing is whether or not your business is local. If you own a local business you generally have a few hundred feet on the street customers with cell phones walking into your store daily. Every one of those customers that subscribes to your SMS list is now giving you a direct path to send them coupons and offers that they will likely read immediately. Through SMS you have the best possible way to achieve fast results for getting your customers in your door more frequently and to buy more stuff.

Some easy complications we can see that may arise from marketing to your customers through SMS technology is the potential for giving your customers unforeseen cell phone charges. If your customer signed up to get text messages from you but does not have an unlimited texting plan your business could cause them to pay a fortune in penalties. It can help to mention standard messaging and data rates will apply.

Always offer a way for your customers to opt out of SMS messages you send to them. You may have someone opt in who truly loves everything about your business but they have a terrible text plan on their cell phone. If you send 10 text messages a month you may be costing that person $5 per month. The person probably didn’t realize the unintended consequences of subscribing to an SMS list so letting people know standard data and text rates will apply may help reduce disgruntled customers.

In conclusion an SMS marketing strategy can be created with little know how as long as value is offered. Be sure to not only offer value but outline the benefits so you essentially talk your customers into your doors through their phone. An SMS subscriber list usually already loves the business sending them messages but they need to be reminded of this and coaxed back in the doors through real honest to goodness value.

SMS Messaginging marketing is new for most small businesses but has amazing results when done right and when value is given. To read more about this topic please visit these additional sites: Telecom Services

A new McDonald’s restaurant in Wellington, New Zealand used SMS marketing to promote foot traffic during its opening weeks. The radio and SMS marketing campaign brought in just under 12,000 customers per week- about 2800 more customers than the average for pre-existing McDonald’s restaurants!

To promote the new location, radio advertisements were broadcast on Wellington radio. They featured an SMS marketing call-to-action: to receive a mobile coupon, customers could text in to the shortcode 244 (in Australia we use 19 33 33). The mobile coupons could be redeemed at the new McDonald’s location, and were valid for many menu items, ranging from McMuffins and sundaes to Big Macs or McChicken meals. Blair Wilson, Operations Manager at the new store, explains that the SMS marketing campaign’s results were better than his expectations.

“The guest counts during the promotional period far exceeded our expectations with 11,739 customers coming to the store that week. This is approximately 2800 more than an average week.”

Radio and SMS marketing brought in more foot traffic than that seen in pre-existing McDonald’s locations. Furthermore, it resulted in higher-than-anticipated revenue.

The new McDonald’s store had another need: to recruit around 50 staff members. They ran another radio and SMS marketing campaign to find quality staff members. To submit their resume, listeners to the radio advertisement could text in to receive a link to a McDonald’s Web page. From there, they could upload a resume. Wilson explains that recruiting staff by text message was new territory in SMS marketing, but it paid off.

“Using this method (SMS marketing), we had approximately 600 applications for positions in two weeks. We had the same amount of applications over a nine month period at the Johnsonville store.”

This McDonald’s case study highlights just two of the many possibilities for SMS marketing campaigns. Mobile coupons are already well established as a method of SMS marketing, and in this instance they made it as easy as possible for McDonald’s to give special offers away to their customers. In contrast, the SMS-to-recruit strategy was an entirely unique way to use SMS marketing. This just goes to show that there are still many other ways to use SMS marketing. So what’s next? SMS-to-pay?

This article was written by Emma Smith of TXT2GET, a leading SMS marketing company. TXT2GET supply affordable SMS keywords that typically increase ad response by 2-3x. SMS keywords also bring measurability & accountability to advertising, because you can see the exact time and date that responses come in. Click on the link to get free advice on how SMS marketing can improve your business’ advertising.

A recent report by Ericsson claims that 35% of US Android and iPhone users interact with an app before even getting out of bed in the morning.

According to the report, which was presented on May 11 in Silicon Valley at Ericsson’s Business Innovation Forum, Facebook was one of the most popular apps. This should be of little surprise to us all, as 18% of those surveyed logged in to Facebook directly after waking. So what does this finding imply for mobile marketing?

Most interestingly, the study tells us that when communicating with customers, mobile marketing content is more important than the actual mode of communication. The decreased importance of communication vessel is one feature of digital media that will support the use of mobile marketing: while just having a mobile phone used to be enough, now a huge focal point is what the phone can do apart from calling and texting. Apps and the mobile Web are being used socially more and more, and they can also be the channel for successful mobile marketing campaigns. Ericsson also went into the implications of their report for mobile marketing apps:

“Consumers today depend less on the devices they use, and more on the apps that help them… to find a place to eat, organize their family schedules and other everyday activities. The app culture is turning into a new way of living.”

Compared to apps for Red Bull, Absolut Vodka and Nike (for example), the Facebook app does not market a specific product or service; thus it is not technically mobile marketing. However, the popularity of app usage before getting out of bed signals that consumers are engaging with mobile devices in new ways. When people are continuously connected to apps and the mobile Web, mobile marketing is no longer just for a small group of the population. Mobile marketing activities (such as apps, mobile Web sites, and SMS marketing) are now a part of daily life for many people.

This article was written by Emma Smith of TXT2GET, a leading mobile marketing company. TXT2GET supply affordable SMS keywords that typically increase ad response by 2-3x. SMS keywords also bring measurability & accountability to advertising, because you can see the exact time and date that responses come in. Click on the link to get free advice on how mobile marketing can improve your business’ advertising.