The growth of mobile marketing means more and more call centre work is being redeveloped by businesses who have found a new and more effective way of communicating with their customers.

Mobile marketing (via SMS) is proving to be the most empowering and simple way of securing business leads in a world where consumers are increasingly on the move- and taking their mobile phones with them.

A recent study into advertising response rates found that over 50% more consumers prefer to SMS for further information than picking up the phone and calling the toll-free number provided.

Not only are toll-free numbers hard to remember, surveys show 69% of calls aren’t answered between 6pm and 8am- prime advertising times. Subsequently, potential consumers who attempt to make a call-to-action will be left in the dark, and the chance to follow-up on leads is lost.

A New Zealand business advertising Christmas hampers was surprised to see the results their SMS campaign generated. SMS was by far the most favoured response method for customers- it was 5 times more effective than phone responses and three times more effective than trying to remember a website

The ability to measure who responds to certain advertisements is not a new phenomenon by any means. Since call centres and the internet were widely available, businesses have been trying to measure who responds to their advertisements and when they are most likely to respond.

The difference with SMS is that people can respond immediately, and from virtually anywhere in the world at any time.

So why do people prefer to SMS instead of picking up the phone to call? We’ve all had our fair share of bad experiences with call centres- the inconvenient operating hours, the long queues, the incessant questioning.

The results of a survey into advertising response methods found that 30% of callers will hang up if they have to hold for over a minute. In addition, 76% of respondents reported that 24 hour-a-day seven-day-a-week call centre operation was important to their purchase decision.

In Europe alone, every month, over a million advertisements are sent via SMS and this movement is expeditiously.

So, mobile marketing allows call centres to be more reactive. Consumers who text a short code to any business can be called back by a call centre operator. Not only does this mean mean that call centres only talk to people who want to be spoken to, it also means you’ll never miss a lead.

Want to find out more about mobile marketing, then visit TXT2GET to access a easy SMS Software for your marketing needs.

A multi-million-dollar advertising campaign launched in 2006 by Tourism Australia featured a bikini-clad Australian woman asking television viewers from around the world… ‘where the bloody hell are ya?’

The main aim of the advertisement was to create some attraction for Australian wildlife, as well as its women.

The advertisement also featured a website address and a local toll-free number to dial for more information.

After watching the main features of the advertisement, viewers were advised to respond to the ad.

However, this would involve people on the move- on buses, trains, in cars, walking dogs- to remember the website address and visit the site later for more information.

Research suggests that this does happen- but very rarely. Knowing where the bloody hell your customers are when they see your billboard, or hear your radio ad, is actually quite important.

So it seems that by not providing an easier medium to engage their consumers, such as text marketing, Tourism Australia has missed out on a significant opportunity to hear responses regarding their advertisements.

Recent reports have found text marketing can be up-to 3 times more effective in encouraging responses to advertising than tradional forms of communication.

This was the case for New Zealand financial firm Spicers who received a total of 550 responses to their radio advertisement. Of the 550, 307 preferred to text with only 103 using the toll-free number and 140 using the [Spicers] website.

Text marketing is about the now. When advertising through any medium, it pays to offer a a response mechanism which can be used by anybody, anywhere.

Text marketing empowers businesses to never miss a business lead and contact and correspond with customers via a personal medium.

Learn more about text marketing. Stop by TXT2GET’s site where you can find out all about mobile SMS marketing and what it can do for you.