SMS in America

Recently our office held an internal demonstration on viral marketing that included a catchy Web site, gorilla style signage, email blasts and a SMS blast (also known as text messaging).  While the SMS portion of the campaign was primitive, as it was created through a free web utility, it was seen as a unique and exciting new marketing opportunity.  To date SMS marketing is extremely popular in Western Europe and Asian cultures. Often SMS is used in conjunction with traditional advertising, enticing individuals to text a phrase or code to a certain number to receive more information on a product or service or receive product news, updates and special offers.  However until recently, these types of advertisements were very uncommon in the U.S.  Suddenly SMS advertisements seem to be popping up everywhere on billboards advertising cars, in grocery stores on cardboard product displays and now on T.V. during programming targeted towards younger generations.

Recent SMS marketing campaigns have included McDonalds as well as Coca-Cola providing codes on their products to text in as part of a prize giveaway contest.  TV shows are also getting into the act, as the hit show Deal Or No Deal allows home audiences to text in their choice of which briefcase is the lucky winner.  Presidential hopefuls also have their eye on SMS marketing, recently Barack Obama has announced that he is planning on using SMS blasts to help with campaigning for the upcoming election. The benefits of using SMS advertising are numerous. First and foremost it is considered an extremely personal form of communication due to the private nature of cell phones and fact that we carry them almost everywhere.  Another aspect is that numbers used for SMS marketing, at least at this point, are derived from individuals opting in by texting their information to a marketing database.  This leaves marketing professionals with a phone list made of gold, as it is comprised of people interested in learning more about and potentially purchasing your product or service.  SMS messages are also read much quicker compared to the average email and often will actually be read by consumers as opposed to junk emails which are quickly deleted. Consequently SMS marketing does have its downfalls.  Advertising space is limited to just 160 characters, highly negative responses to unwanted text messages, and a lack of willingness to respond to text messages containing advertisements.  However, the future does look bright for SMS marketing as multimedia messaging is expanding which will allow for the transmission of pictures, sounds, and video.  In addition as younger generations age SMS will increasingly become a normal form of communication within American culture and a valuable marketing vehicle. For more information on the latest happenings in SMS marketing visit texuality.org.

About the Author: Eric Kardesh

As a member of Off Madison Ave's public relations team Eric provides strategic planning and tactical support to client accounts. He focuses on the creation of client tools, public relations documents and engages in actively pitching local and national media on a daily basis. In addition, Eric works closely with the agency's interactive team to implement public relations initiatives within the social media realm and assist in the execution of integrated projects. Eric graduated from Arizona State University with a bachelor's degree in human communication.

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