For some time we’ve been looking at how our clients obtain, build and manage their lists of mobile numbers.

Most accumulate subscribers by asking people for their mobile number and  manually uploading the details into textburst.

This works well, but does require manual work to get the contacts loaded into textburst.

And it doesn’t easily allow the subscribers to opt out of the list. A person still has to call and request their removal, and in turn our customer has to login and delete the relevant person.

It’s all a bit cumbersome and littered with possibilities for error e.g. not dealing with an un-subscribe request.

What can we learn from email marketing?

Think about how email marketing lists work:

1. You add your email address on a form
2. You receive an email confirmation
3. To opt out you click a link at the bottom of an email

The whole process is fully automated and controlled by the person joining the list, it puts the end user in charge of their subscription, and makes it far easier for the list manager.

This has become the standard for email marketing and justifiably so. It’s quick, easy, requires no manual intervention, is fool proof, and very cheap.

Let’s do the same with SMS Marketing

To bring the same standards to SMS marketing we’ve made a few changes to our online SMS product textburst.

1. You can now login and set your own keyword or keywords on the shortcode 84433.
2. Configure your own automated responses.
3. To join your list a subscriber texts your keyword to 84433.
4. The subscriber receives an automated SMS response to confirm your subscription, and instructions of how to opt out in future.
5. To opt out a subscriber simply texts “STOP” to 84433 at any time. It’s fully automated.

So now a business owner can put up a sign, advertise, ask, or by however means they wish, advertise they offer an SMS marketing list.

All their clients do is send a text in to join the list, and send a text to leave.

Our clients can login to textburst, see how many and who’s in the list, and send text messages to everyone.

So what’s the big deal?

Auto responses and opt outs are nothing new in the SMS market, so what’s the big difference here?

First off, we’ve automated everything, from choosing your keyword to setting the auto response and managing opt outs.

And secondly, with this level of automation we can pass the savings onto our customers.

We will only charge you for the messages you send to the subscribers.

• Access to the shortcode is FREE
• Choose a keyword, or as many as you like FREE
• The auto response to the subscriber FREE (yes, a free text message)
• The opt out mechanism FREE

With this update you can actually now build a database of mobile numbers completely free of charge, the only time you’re charged is when you send out marketing information.

So now there’s no excuse, login to textburst, click “campaigns” and reserve your keyword for free.

OK so you can communicate in lots of different ways:  talking, writing, print, radio, TV, the internet, the mobile internet, email, texting, tweeting…

But whatever medium you choose, you’ve got to make sure you’re listening. If you’re broadcasting only, you can never know what people want from you.

Text messages get a 97% open rate and are amazingly responsive.

So if you want to do a mobile marketing campaign, send alerts or other staff and customer text updates, it’s just the thing. Especially as you can get replies in real time. What could be better?

How do I send text messages?

Go online and log into our user friendly web app, enter the mobile number you want to send to, pop your message in and send. That’s it.

If you’d like to send to a group rather than an individual, just upload their mobiles to a group from an excel or a csv file, select and send your message.

You can use textburst to send anything from 1 to 20,000 texts to your contacts in one go. It’s a flexible and astoundingly powerful marketing and communication tool.

All texts are 5p each and you can buy them as you need online.  Alternatively we can sort you out with an invoice/direct debit account. Whatever’s best for you.

How do I receive text messages?

You’ll need a virtual mobile number.

These are numbers that are added onto your online account rather than a mobile phone. They look like this ‘07123456789’ (just like any other mobile number).  They cost £25/month.

When your customers text your virtual mobile number, their message will go direct to your online account. You can see them and respond to immediately or download and analyse as you wish.

Incredibly easy to add to your account, just email me and I’ll sort it out for you.

2 Way SMS

If you want to keep in close fuss free touch with people, there’s no better way than via their mobile and 2 way SMS.

They’re dead easy to use and fast to set up.

A virtual mobile number routes text messages so you receive them online and into textburst.  It’s 11 digits long and looks just like a standard mobile number 07123456789.  It routes SMS from your customers mobile through the networks and direct to your textburst account to download, analyse and respond to.

It’s a pretty tasty bit of kit for any mobile marketer.

You can use it to set up inbound text marketing campaigns and listen to what your customer’s got to say.

 Why do I need a virtual mobile number?

1. So people can text into it and sign up for special offers.
2. Maybe you’ve sent an appointment reminder out to me. I can’t actually make the appointment. How quick would it be if I could just hit reply and text you so to save you a bit of time and money?
3. A text to confirm delivery tomorrow afternoon?  I’m still not available, and a simple text back to say so and confirm when I will be, would be neat.
4. A text vote – the fastest way to get a vote in and easily counted.
5. Request for customer service feedback by SMS.
6. Competitions.

OK there’s a lot more too but you get the picture. If you can think of any suitably astounding uses, I might even send you a beautiful mediaburst mug (they’re pretty hot property).

If you really want to engage and help your customers, it’s got to be a two way conversation.Virtual mobile numbers let your audience text you within seconds. They can tell you what they want right now.

There’s some cool ideas here of how you can use virtual mobiles to build an SMS marketing database of your customers numbers.

How can I set one up?

If you’re interested in finding out more about virtual mobile numbers and how they can help you, then drop me a line.  If you’d like to get one set up on your account I can sort it out for you too.

We asked a free form question so we’d get the information in their own words. Then, we put the results into wordle.net.

Interesting eh?

This year I’m starting earlier and getting organised!

I know it’s only Mid November but in this article I’ve have gathered some ideas to help you generate additional business and customer loyalty during the festive period.

1. Send your party invites

Christmas is a time for partying, but arranging the annual work do can be hard going. This Christmas I’m going to send my invites out by SMS. It’s quick and easy to do, and best thing is you can get an instant RSVP back.

2. Send a greeting card

Writing Christmas cards takes ages. Each year I get the fancy pens out and spend hours perfecting my handwriting. This year I want to do something a bit different. Everyone’s got a mobile so I am going to use MMS to send a greeting card, maybe a picture, or a classic Crimbo tune. It’s more personal and saves trees!

3. Personalise your messages

For some it has been a long and tough year. If like me you are feeling festive put a smile on someone’s face by sending them a personalised Christmas wish by text message. Come on, join in, spread the joy of Christmas.

4. Request a catalogue

I love shopping and I’m already thinking about what gifts to buy. For retailers it’s the busiest time of year and many will produce a Christmas catalogue or brochure. But how do your customers get them? How about texting a shortcode (e.g. text “XMAS” to receive our free Xmas catalogue) with their name and address and send one straight to their door.

5. Issue mobile vouchers

Christmas can be so expensive and many of us will be watching the pennies. Wouldn’t it be nice to receive one directly to your mobile from your favourite store?

If you’re planning a Christmas promotion you could send a special code by SMS. It’s a great way of driving people in store or online.

6. Circulate opening times

During the countdown to Christmas it’s work is so busy it’s difficult to fit everything in. That;s why most shops stay open later leaving your weekends free to spend time catching up with friends and family. So if you’re changing your opening hours this Christmas make sure you let your customers know by sending them a text message!

7. Inform people about closures

Last winter was a nightmare! I struggled to get my son to Nursery in the morning only to find it was closed! If only they had sent me a text. If you had to close your business due to snow how would you tell everyone?

Don’t delay, the cold weather is on its way!

8. Keep your customers updated

House bound by the snow last year I did most of my Christmas shopping online. I waited for that special party outfit, but I had no idea when it would arrive. A few more days, more snow and I phoned the retailer to chase it up.

You can reduce calls to your contact centre and keep your customers happy by sending them regular delivery status updates by SMS.

9. Promote a text to win

How about continuing the Xmas sales uplift into the New Year with a post Christmas promotion. Maybe a point of sale or an on pack text to win, giving your consumers the chance to win some fabulous prizes.

10. Take some photos

I never take my camera out anymore. Now I have an iPhone I send my pics to friends using MMS or upload them to Facebook.

If you don’t have a smartphone you can use your mobile to take photos at your Christmas party and send them straight Twitter using Snappr.

11. Collect some data

I never stick to my New Year’s resolution but this is one I think you should, more Mobile Marketing!

With all the additional custom during the Christmas period it’s by far the best time to ask for customers mobile numbers for future marketing campaigns.

12. Confirm bookings

Things to do at Christmas: holidays, weekends away, pantos, concerts, meals out, haircuts. Once it’s booked get them confirmed and make sure they turn up by sending a text message.

If you’re still stuck for ideas then get in touch, or maybe just call to say Happy Christmas!

1. The humble SMS increased by 24% in 2010, to an amazing 129.1 billion texts.
2. Nearly 80% of adults in the UK text every day.
3. 66% of people have their mobile switched on even when in bed. (That figure goes up to a staggering 81% for adult smartphone users).
4. 1/3rd of adults use smartphones, but that means 2/3rds are currently using standard mobiles.
5. However, smartphone adoption is high and accounts for 48% of new sales.
6. Interestingly 65% of the growing smartphone audience opt to receive offers on their mobiles.
7. The favoured channel for receiving mobile offers is via SMS.  75% prefer SMS as opposed to other mobile channels like mobile internet or apps.

Sources: 1-5 Ofcom Communications Market Report 2011, 6,7 Mobile Marketing Infographic via YouGov and Upstream

Prior to these plugins the applications we’ve developed rely on the sender of the text message to input the mobile phone number, just as you do when you’re sending a text message from your mobile phone. You, as the sender, type in the recipients number.

This is generally foolproof because the sender has an inherent understanding of the number format required to send the text message.

With an eCommerce plugin we have another party to consider. The purchaser or “receiver” of the text message is the one who inputs their mobile number.

And they do so without any knowledge of the format the store owner needs to actually send the text message.

e.g. ask someone to fill in a form with their UK mobile number and you’ll get things like:

07741234567

07741 234567

07741 234 567

447741234567

447741 234567

+447741234567

44(0)7741234567

and so on, I think you get the picture.

Couple this with the international reach of most eCommerce applications and you’ve got people from all over the world inputting mobile numbers in all sorts of formats, and both the purchaser and their store owners expecting to receive text messages.

The answer is relatively simple, we need to convert any mobile number into a valid international format. That way we’ll have consistency in the data and our SMS API can route the messages to the appropriate country.

Here’s how we currently do it:

To do this you’ll need a table of international dialling codes. We use one hacked together from Wikipedia. Here’s the PHP code.

1. Strip out any leading zeros.
2. Remove any numbers within parentheses
3. Strip any spaces or non numeric characters.
4. Take the country of residence of the purchaser. If the purchaser didn’t input a country then use the store default, and look this up on the table of dialling codes.
5. If the mobile number starts with the dialling code then great, you’re good to go.
6. If not then add the dialling code to the start of the number, and then your good to go.

We are aware that this could be improved.

For instance, if the number starts with a ‘+’ then we could take it that the user has already supplied the country code.

We could also do this if the number starts with ’00′. That is for the UK though, other countries have other codes to dial an international number.

We will be looking at improving the process as we go on.

In the face of a credit crunch and global recession, achieving success in the competitive world of residential property lettings is no mean feat. Ali Baylav, MD of Cavendish Lettings, Nottingham tells us how he does it.

Take a specialist approach

Ali set up Cavendish Lettings in 2006, working with private and corporate landlords, in particular those who had suffered problems letting and managing their portfolios. Cavendish Lettings take a specialist approach, guiding Landlords through increasing legislation and helping them land long term lets on maximum rents.

“We’ve got twelve staff focused on one service. We don’t act as sales agents, if someone wants to sell their property we’ll recommend a good estate agent. We’re about letting properties, that’s our expertise and we stick to it. That’s what gives us the edge, we’re not dabbling in everything chasing different agendas.”

Manage lettings with Gemini Software

Right from the start, Ali used VTUK’s Gemini software to manage their Lettings. With over 220 landlords, 350 properties and 800 tenants, they’re not dealing with the kind of numbers you can manage on a spreadsheet.

“It’s an excellent piece of software; we’d be lost without it. We’ve grown from nothing to over 350 properties and Gemini’s been with us all the way, it’s particularly good for communication. It’s not easy staying in touch with so many different people, there’s a lot of ‘FYI’ stuff to get out there. For example; confirmations of viewings, letting people know repairs are happening or what time a contractor will arrive, new availability, the list is endless, just lots and lots of good information.

Use SMS to communicate

We picked up on the SMS functions early on. We noticed this box that said ‘SMS’, rang up tech support and they got us going. Now we send everything by text, you just can’t beat that instant connection, and it’s a lot less intrusive”

Ali is relaxed about mobile phones. Cavendish Lettings use email just like we all do, but they understand that not everyone is sitting at a PC or carrying the latest smartphone.

“We actually text landlords to let them know we’ve sent an email, if feels counter intuitive but it’s actually complimentary. We get a response to the email much quicker if we send a text.”

“Both Landlords and Tenants want to know everything that’s going on, you can’t ring everyone, you’d need a full call centre. That’s why SMS is so valuable, it’s a fundamental part of our business.”

Refreshing news

It’s always refreshing to speak to a business that has prospered through a recession, and it’s great to think that our SMS service has helped Cavendish Lettings achieve just that.

In theory you could concatenate 255 SMS to produce one long SMS, but in practice this is likely to crash a mobile phone, incur significant costs, and annoy the recipient.

Our statistics show that most long SMS contain less than 306 characters (the limit of 2 concatenated SMS), and very few exceed 459 (3 concatenated SMS). For this reason both our web application textburst and our SMS API allow you to send up to 3 SMS that can make up a single long SMS.

If you’re looking for a more in depth technical discussion then refer to our article on Concatenating SMS. It covers the technical requirements and use of the UDH (user data header) to form the long SMS.

Why not a nice round 100 or 200? Such an arbitrary figure on the face of it.

It’s all down to a German guy called Friedhelm Hillebrand.

It was a different world then. It was 1985, back in the day, before computers were everywhere (I just about remember them..).  Friedhelm typed out random sentences on a typewriter and then counted.  He discovered the average sentence was almost always less than 160 characters. When postcards were looked at they often contained fewer than 150 characters too.

160 came out as ‘the’ number ‘perfectly sufficient’ he thought.

Why the limitation Friedhelm?

Text messaging was originally an afterthought to voice calls, and was bolted onto a bit of spare bandwidth. There wasn’t much of that bandwidth around so there was a cap to how much could be fitted in.

In fact the developers had to work really hard to make it more than 128 characters and only managed it by limiting the character set and symbols available to put in your text. You will notice even today if you put a € sign in your SMS it will take up two character spaces of you 160 allowance.

What happened next?

It went global from one message in 1985 to billions today

As a knock on effect he’s also the reason why your tweets are 140 characters.

Twitter always accounted for people updating  via the 160 character text message. To keep users phone bills down and to stop multiple text’s being sent by mistake, Twitters engineers limited Tweets at 140, to leave room for a username at the front of the Tweet

Was a 160 character SMS right?

Friedhelm had a puzzle to solve, a meaningful amount of words were wanted to make an SMS worthwhile and understandable. He only had a small packet to fit them into.  In essence, the answer to why are sms 160 characters is because they fit.

Friedhelm made a pretty good call on 160, there are billions of people a year texting so.

If you want to beat the system and know how to get a longer text message out there check out concatenated SMS.

Since VTUK introduced SMS into their apps, hundreds of estate agents have embraced text messaging to run more efficient offices. Caroline’s run’s Alphabet City and has become an advocate of text messaging, it’s had such a positive effect on their business you can’t help but take notice.

So we spoke to Caroline to see what we could learn:

How was the transition to SMS?

Very smooth, all our tenants and prospects are happy to leave a mobile number for contact. People lead busy lives, traditional mail is too slow, with email you’re fighting to get noticed amongst the endless stream of work emails and spam. That’s why SMS is a winner, it’s so immediate it works perfectly.

We started using SMS to notify of rent arrears. In a short space of time it’s revolutionised how we collect rent. No more postal reminders and chasing by phone. We send polite text message reminders to everyone who misses a payment.

Most have genuine reasons for late payment, they tend to ring us within 30 minutes apologising and pay on the phone. We know we have a problem with the ones that don’t call, and that’s where we focus attention.

Managing arrears in this way is the most efficient we’ve ever been, the money comes in quicker and we identify and focus on problems with ease, we couldn’t work like this without SMS.

The bonus with SMS is reviewing and due diligence, we have a record of every text message, they’re only short bursts of information, it’s easy to go back over the account to get a full picture.

How else do you use SMS for the business?

We use SMS to match tenants to new listings. To be successful you have to get quality tenants into properties as quickly as possible. We’ll normally match a new property with 15 to 30 applicants and send a single SMS blast.

It’s amazing to think before SMS we’d ring around individually, 30 phone calls would be your whole day, now it’s a 5 minute job. Even better those that are interested will contact us immediately. Seriously, we can identify a list of genuinely interested prospective tenants within an hour of listing a property.

It’s these small things that add up to competitive advantage, both our tenants and landlords receive top class communication, we keep them all happy.

Any tips for anyone considering SMS?

It’s definately the most direct form of communication and gets instant results, the advantages are obvious. So I’d say stop worrying, just give it a go.

If you’re interested to know more about how Estate Agents use SMS then you can also read about how Walton Robinson use SMS to Boost profits.

VTUK integrated SMS by using the mediaburst SMS API.

Do you use mediaburst for SMS and have an interesting story to tell? Get in touch, let’s do a case study.

Out there in the real world:

7am –  I’m on auto pilot getting ready for work. My phone’s bleeps. It’s a text message to remind me about a dental appointment first thing. OMG, glad I said yes to that alert service… else I’d have forgotten….

Later that same day:

7pm – John’s been out all day and is hungry for some substantial food (possibly a curry).  His phone pings a new text:

‘Free starters with any main meal at the Gorgeous Food Restaurant’.

He’s pretty chuffed because he opted in to receive offers by text from this restaurant.. he’s off to get some food.

Take it easy

Textburst scheduling is a boon for anyone who’s thinking about when their customer wants to receive alerts and updates by text.

You just book the slot (date and time) when you set up your text message.

It all seems really straight forward and that’s because it is. Textburst makes it easy for you.

Just click into schedule

NB   No text messages were harmed in the creation of this blog. Textburst is happily sending text messages for people just like you right now.

The idea is that by collecting a database of subscribers we are obtaining their prior permission before we actually send them any marketing information. It means the people you send to will already know you, they have already told you they are interested in what you have to say. It’s called permission marketing, loads of books have been written on the subject, if you want one try Permission Marketing by Seth Godin.

If you signed up to our 4 part beginners guide to SMS marketing then I apologise in advance, some of this may sound familiar.

Don’t buy them

Don’t be tempted to  part with money for a list of mobile phone numbers. Purchasing a list of mobile numbers and then sending out messages is regarded as spam.

Nobody wants to receive spam, expect to receive text responses containing a range of four letter swear words; don’t expect to get any new customers.

By way of an example, we know a charity who bought 40,000 mobile numbers.

With a modest 1% response rate you might expect 400 new donors.

But, alas no, they got ONE.

And complaints, they got thousands. Messages like, “Where did you get my mobile number?” and “Do not send me anymore SMS, ever!”

They also got a heap of complaints via phone, some rang their network providers and complained, who in turn spoke to the charity. Dealing with the fall out was messy, don’t fall into the same trap.

The short and long is this: No matter whom you are or how cool your offer is, unless they know who you are they don’t want it.

And let’s face it, is it not better to be talking to people who’re interested in what you have to say?

Put a notice up

This is very obvious method number one.

Signup for some SMS marketing software and get what we call a long number (some call it a virtual mobile number. It’s just a mobile number).

Now go and put a sign up, nothing fancy and expensive. Just print something on a sheet of A4, if you don’t have a printer then a chunky marker and the back of some junk mail will do.

What you write is this, or something like it:

“To receive cool offers from us just send a text to: 07712 345 678″

(Obviously replace long number with then one you got with your SMS marketing software)

Stick the notice somewhere people will see it. Maybe on a wall behind a counter, in front of the till, on card on the table, on the menu, on the receipt, on your website, just somewhere it can be read by as many people as possible.

Now sit back and wait.

People will text in, put that notice somewhere prominent, you’ll be surprised.

Everyone who texts in will be recorded in your SMS software, and hey presto, you have a database.

Ask people

This seems obvious really but you’ll be surprised at how many of us lack the confidence to ask or completely forget.

If you own a shop, ask everyone who comes in. Own a restaurant, ask your diners. Own a hotel, ask everyone who stays over.

Make it part of the service patter:

“Hey, thanks for visiting, did you know we send out offers occasionally by SMS….I can get you on the list if you want to receive them?”

If you’re uncomfortable with this idea try this: don’t think of it like you’re asking for their mobile number, consider you’re doing them a favour, letting them know there are discounts and offers to be had. No one will be upset with if you’re informing them of possible discounts.

Keywords and Shortcodes

Finally, it’s worth mentioning shortcodes and keywords.

Shortcodes and keywords are easier to remember than long numbers and easier for your customers to text, use a shortcode and you should get more subscribers.

A basic example would be:

Text “CAFE” to 84433

The same principles of collecting a database apply. You need to draw people attention to the keyword and shortcode, do this by asking or putting up a notice.

Shortcodes and keywords are commonly used on large billboard advertisements, on radio and TV. But don’t let that put you off; they aren’t expensive, about £50 a month, so very affordable if you’re serious about building a database.

I can hear you already, “what’s the problem?”

Here’s the abbreviated story:

One of the recipients (we’ll call him John) wasn’t happy about receiving the text message, he considered it SPAM.

So John picked up his phone and complained to his network provider (Orange). During that conversation John mentioned that the message contained the shortcode 84433.

Orange know that 84433 belongs to mediaburst and so they referred John to us.

When someone complains to us about a text message the first thing we do it search our system. We need to verify the complaint, we check to see when the message was sent, which of our customers sent the message.

Of course in this instance our search delivered no results for John, no text message had ever been sent through mediaburst to John.

And that’s where the confusion starts, we say it wasn’t from us, Orange say it was, John is more inclined to believe orange so thinks we are lying or incompetent. And between us all, we can’t figure out what’s going on.

All this confusion leads to frustration and no one’s reputation is enhanced by confusion and frustration. Then there is wasted time, we had 3 people working on this trying to find out what happened. Orange were working on it, John was spending time on it.

We did eventually get to the bottom of it. A customer of ours had rented a keyword on 84433 but for the purposes of trying to save a few quid had sent the text messages out using a cheaper supplier, a supplier that didn’t sell keywords or shortcodes.

Ultimately it fell back to the customer to explain what had happened, but the fall out has been much larger than I have room for. John was only one of many complainants, there have been dozens of emails, phone calls and conference calls. None of which add value, earn money, or are pleasing to deal with. It’s just hassle and problems form the fall out of mixing SMS providers.

So my advice is this: whether you use textburst, our SMS API, or another provider; please don’t mix your providers, choose one, get to know them, think of it like a long term relationship, share information, explain what you are trying to achieve, work with them, and you’ll reap the rewards.

Is it Facebook and twitter, LinkedIn and Squidoo? What about those exciting new start-ups like Flipboard and Quora, and what about SMS, is it possible the humble SMS fits into this exciting sector?

Note: This is an article I originally wrote for Fresh business thinking.com.

Social media is about the techniques we use in reaching out to people, finding people who’re interested in your products, getting them to hear you, to talk to you, and ultimately buy whatever stuff it is you sell.

Facebook, twitter, LinkedIn, and so on. These are all just web applications that help you along the way. Their popularity will shift, some will die, new ones will arrive, and others will raise stupid amounts of money from VC funders in Silicon Valley when they have no viable business model (but, hey that’s another story).

The goal with Social Media is finding an audience and speaking to them, tell them what they want to hear, give them what they want to receive.

And that’s where SMS fits in.

Think about it like this, Facebook is great for connecting with people with a Facebook profile. LinkedIn is great connecting with people with a LinkedIn profile, Twitter for people on Twitter. And so on.

But what about those without a Twitter account, those not on Facebook.

There are circa 24million people in the UK with a Facebook accounts. That means there are 38 million people without a Facebook account. Did you get that? More than half the population of the UK haven’t got a Facebook account.

You may well gasp in shock but these people do have money, and they buy stuff, from shops, from the internet, maybe even from you.

Apparently there are 1.8 mobile phones in the UK for every person, which means there are 122 million phones in the UK. Compare that to 24 million Facebook accounts.

Wow, if you don’t include text message marketing in the mix you could be missing a lot of people.

Then there is the read statistics: 97% of the messages you send will get read. How many of your Twitter followers read all your messages, what is the open rate of your email, maybe 20%?

So why do read rates on SMS knock the socks of everything?

Because when you send an SMS my phone beeps, I pick it up, I read your message. We all do. We can’t help ourselves, it only takes seconds and it’s not invasive or inconvenient.

So why aren’t we all getting excited about SMS?

Well, at 160 characters of black and white text SMS isn’t sexy like the latest Silicon Valley offering. You can’t just signup and start following thousands of people. With SMS it’s harder to build followers, its permission based marketing, and you have to give them a reason to follow.

My guess is 90% of your twitter followers have very little interest in what you have to say. You followed them, they followed you. To generate sales leads from twitter you have to put in a lot of work, you need lots and lots of followers.

Same with LinkedIn, you can find your customers and connected with them, but then a few suppliers will find you and connect, then they started pestering you with their latest offers.

With SMS every single follower is someone interested in your product or service.  And now every text you send goes to someone interested in what your product or service.

Even better, when you hit the send button they will get your message in seconds, it means you can time it to perfection. They read it when you want them to read it, not when they decide to dip into their Facebook or twitter account.

So how does SMS Marketing fit into social media?

Like all those websites it’s another avenue to connect, it might not have the glossy appearance of other applications but it’s an avenue you shouldn’t neglect.

1. Personalise – use names in your text messages to get a better response.
2. Fun – Like most forms of social media, it’s OK to use a bit of personality.
3. Originator /From field – Show who the text is from by putting your company name in the “from” field.
4. Permission – Don’t be a spammer, only text customers if they’ve given you permission.
5. Time – Make sure you send bulk SMS marketing messages at a good time in the day for your customer. You can use Textburst schedule function to make sure you’re always sending at the right time.
6. Your message – Be specific; make your words count.  A standard text message is only 160 characters. But if you need to send a longer message it’s OK you can just concatenate it.
7. STOP – make sure your customers can opt out of further texts if they want to. An opt out route should be included in your text.  E.g.  text STOP to xxxxxxxx to opt out of further messages or call xxxxxxxx.
8. Data – keep it up to date. If you haven’t had a delivered message to a mobile number in the last two months, then take them out of your database.
9. Merge – send out unique updates with just one send.
10. Templates – save templates of messages you routinely send out to save time.

If you want to know more about any of the above just let us know.

The fools way to get better results from SMS marketing campaigns is to push for more subscribers, it’s a valid strategy but the intelligent man can do much better.

If you currently manage a 4% response rate (4% of people who get the SMS take advantage of your promotion), a better approach is to think about the 96% who didn’t take advantage, how can we motivate these people?

For example, if you send 1,000 SMS promoting your new range of designer sunglasses, a 1% response rate is equivalent to 10 sales. At £100 a pair your 10 sales could be worth £1,000.

So, let’s think about increasing that 1% to 2% and getting another £1,000 without increasing your database of subscribers.

1. Divide up your database

First thing to do is stop sending to all 1,000 people in one SMS broadcast.

Split the database into smaller units of 250. It doesn’t matter where or how you split your data, do it completely at random, but split it down into smaller chunks.

If you’re sending via textburst make 4 groups of contacts. That way we have 4 defined groups to test with and monitor the results.

By using smaller chunks of data you can test more variables and see what has the greatest effect.

2. Send at different intervals

For this test use the same message, but send it at different times. Different times of day, different times of the week, different times in the month.

It depends a little on what you’re promoting but instead of sending 1,000 SMS once a month, send 250 SMS once a week.

If you’re sending SMS once a week, try sending once a day.

Then watch the results closely. Do you get better results if you send on a particular day, or perhaps during a particular week?

If you get really poor results at certain times, stop sending at those times. If you’ve worked out the perfect week then try and work out the perfect day.

And don’t stop testing, different days, different times, you get the point.

3. Change the copy

I’ll assume you’re beginning to get the feel for the best time to send a text message. Now let’s try different copy in the message.

Following on from my Sunglasses example, let’s assume the original copy is:

“The new designer range of sunglasses is now in stock, get down to Sunglasses world and check em out.”

Some variants you could try are:

“Check out the new Designer Sunglasses range at Sunglasses World”

“Just in, New Designer Sunglasses at Sunglasses World, get them before the sun goes down!”

“Come to Sunglasses world this weekend and try our new Designer Sunglasses range”

I strongly recommend you read this article on How to Write Bulk SMS.

Your objective is to drop the messages that get the worst response. Then tweak the messages that get the best response, even a single word can make the difference.

It’s an iterative process that doesn’t stop, just keep dropping the ones that do the worst, and tweaking the ones that do the best.

In summary

Keep changing things, keep it fresh, keep trying different combinations of message content and times. Things change, people change, so too should your SMS Marketing.

Our Online SMS service textburst provides a useful character count to help you work within the limits, and this article takes a look at how to write short messages that 1. stay within the character limits, and 2. still say what you want to say.

Avoid “Business Jargon”

Unfortunately the language we use in business differs from that which we use at the pub. The tendency to use long, complicated words in an attempt to sound cleverer than the competition is too great for some. Words like “solutions”, “tactical”, and “empowerment” are all overused and misunderstood. Worse still, we group them together into sentences that don’t mean anything.

Would you call this company?

Even if you use them in business they’ve got no place in SMS marketing, they are too long, often misspelt, and hard to read.

So the rule is: avoid the jargon, keep text messages simple.

Don’t use text speak

The common language of SMS for 16 year olds, yes it’s widely used, but it has a time and a place, generally that’s in school, at the pub, at the weekend, to your friends, to your family.

Studies have shown it’s quicker to type an SMS in text speak on your phone but as much as double the time to read the same message in unabbreviated form.

The upshot is sending an SMS in text speak is inconveniencing your audience, it’s making it harder for them to read the very message you’re trying to convey, and that’s not something you want to do.

See how slow it is to read this:

If you sent this SMS it’d be reasonable to expect most being deleted and a high proportion of opt-outs.

Apostrophes and abbreviations

Rather than text speak use legitimate ways to shorten words. Abbreviations, and the use of apostrophes to form contractions are the best tools in your box.

An abbreviation is formed by omitting the end of a word and including a full stop

e.g “Abbreviation” becomes “abbr.”

Contractions are formed by the removal of the middle part of a word

e.g. “Doctor” becomes “Dr.”

Commas, colons or dashes are also useful. Use them to squeeze a sentence while still retaining the relationship between the component parts.

e.g. “Sale on tomorrow at Fashion Boutique. We are offering 20% off so get there early” could become

“Sale, tomorrow, Fashion Boutique, 20% off, get there early.”

Punctuate

Punctuation helps the reader read. It creates emphasis and clarity in your message. Use it to your advantage.

Have a look at this delivery notification via SMS I received from Kiddicare, see how they have used punctuation to shorten the text message in a fun, creative way.

Cut to the chase

We’re often asked by clients to review their text message content to help them improve response rates. The most common error we see is preamble and waffle. With SMS you don’t have that luxury, you need to get straight to the point. Rather than thinking about using all the 160 characters, think about getting your message across in as few characters as possible. Your customers will thank you.

The following example show how preamble dilutes the message, you have to read the first 4 lines of the SMS before you find out what the offer is.

This could be said much clearer, with fewer words:

Resources:

Here are some resources we regularly use that you too might find helpful.

http://www.oxbridgeediting.co.uk/blog/

http://www.copyblogger.com/

And finally, if you have any thoughts or mechanisms you use to write short messages then please share them in the comments below.

Tell us about the Lothersdale?

It’s a 45 bedroom family run Hotel in Morecambe. Our market is the over 50’s who come to enjoy the great views across Morecambe bay towards the Lake District. For years we focused on coach parties who block book the hotel then sell the beds themselves. But things change, there’s now more money in families and small groups booking directly.

Selling to Coach firms meant staying in touch with a small number of tour operators. But as we shift focus to families and groups we’ve had to align our marketing.

So you got into SMS Marketing?

Yeah, we like to try different forms of marketing from time to time. Over the years we’ve advertised in local papers, run promotional events, flyers, dabbled in email marketing. All with varying degrees of success but nothing like that of bulk SMS Marketing.

We dug around a bit then signed up to textburst, mainly because the interface was well designed and easy to use. We sent some text messages to our own phones and realised how easy it was to get going, far easier than anything we’ve done before.

In our first broadcast we sent 772 texts and within a hours we’d sold over £1,000 of accommodation. We couldn’t get over how successful it was, we’d not seen anything generate results so quickly.

What about getting mobile numbers?

That was surprisingly easy too, we just asked guests that stayed overnight at the Hotel.

None were offended by the request, we explained we’d send them promotional offers via SMS, most were happy to join the database. It only took a few weeks.

We’re mindful the list is people who’ve stayed with us before, so we tailor our SMS offerings to encourage repeat business. The approach is very successful, it’s easier to get more business from existing customers than find new ones.

What about future plans?

We do a side line in Sunday lunches for locals. We’re currently pulling together a list of those customers, we’ll use SMS marketing to encourage repeat business by sending offers if bookings are low.

We’re thinking of something simple, maybe a discounted main meal or dessert on presentation of the SMS. We’ll try sending the SMS at different times to see which generates the best result, maybe sending some on Saturday and some on Sunday mid-morning.

Any other tips or tricks you’ve learnt?

Not so much a tip but what’s interesting is; because we offer holidays on specific weeks to a defined list of guests, those that regularly come have gotten to know one another. It means not only are we a holiday destination but also a social hub, and that makes our offers even more attractive.

Does textburst get results for you? We’d love to hear from you.

SMS Keywords are much easier to remember than full mobile numbers, they are words that can be relevant to your brand, product or service.

You must have seen a car advert on TV, you know the sort, text “CAR” to “84433” for more info.

That said, maybe cars are a bad example as shown in my blog post about how car manufacturers get mobile marketing wrong.

So here’s some guidance on choosing the right keyword:

Avoid the hard to spell

The idea of a keyword is to make to it easy for someone to text in, it’s not a spelling test. So stick to words that are easy to spell, or put differently, unlikely to be misspelt.

There are resources online that suggest common misspelt words and it’s worth a quick glance if you’re thinking of something on the longer side.

Be warned, short words can also be hard to spell too, particularly those that break the normal rules of English such as ‘I’ before ‘E’.

e.g. ‘Weird’

And those where the same sounding word, spelt two different ways, mean two different things.

e.g. ‘Alter’ and ‘Altar’.

Here are some more words that often cause confusion:

Chilli, exceed, gauge, height, liaison, fiery, rhyme, rhythm, seize, until.

Keep it short

This is common sense, short words are quicker to type, easier to remember, easier to spell.

Do I really need to justify this further?

Review predictive text alternates

Switch predictive text on and start typing words, type one word and hey presto, you get another:

Here are some interesting alternates:

Cool = Book
Kiss = Lips
Fat = Eat
Pint = Shot

The same goes for smartphones which auto correct spelling, but not always to what you intended.

This is what my iphone did to some well-known brands:

Addidas = Affords
BT = By
Nokia = Milia or Nolia
Prada = Leads
Moet = Mote

Make it memorable

Words that directly relate to your brand or product are the obvious selection, but so too are words that draw association to your brand or product.

You might also find inspiration in the advertising slogan or product description.

For example, if Kellogg’s were advertising Rice Krispies then either Snap, Crackle, or Pop maybe a better solution than Kelloggs or Krispies.

Also popular are adjectives that describe the product, perhaps its appearance, colour or smell. Or even verbs that suggest activities related to the product (Nike : Run).

Further reading

If you found this useful then you’ll also find some good ideas in our post on SMS Marketing Tips.

The good news is you now can.

Brands can now take advantage of running a unified shortcode across the UK and Ireland with ease.

Comreg have taken over as the premium rate regulator for the Republic of Ireland and have untangled a long standing snarl of regulations for standard rate SMS competitions and promotions.

At last you don’t need to apply for a premium rate license for a standard rate service in ROI just because you are using a shortcode.

There are a couple of service types that will still need prior permission such as: subscription, aimed at children, of sexual nature, Quiz TV or Internet Dialler software….But for your standard on pack prize draw promotion life couldn’t be rosier.

Here’s looking forward to a few more unified promotions.

Comreg Prize Promotion Requirements see Section 8.2

If you’re interested to know what it was like before this change then this post on running SMS promotions in ROI has all the answers.

We do provide some excellent Delivery Status information in our Online SMS service textburst and even more if you send via our SMS API. By understanding and using this data you can cut down on undelivered messages and make some good cost savings too.

SMS API

Users of the API can get some pretty detailed information on the delivery status of each message, the full table is in our SMS API documentation.

They 2 key parameters to be concerned with are DELIVERY_STATUS and ERR_CODE.

If under DELIVERY_STATUS you receive UNDELIV or REJECTED (undelivered or rejected) then it warrants further investigation using the ERR_CODE parameter.

ERR_CODE numbers 5 or 9 indicate no matter how many times you try you simply cannot send a text message to this number. Most likely because the number has been cancelled or less likely the phone does not support text messaging. If you get a 5 or 9 we suggest you remove this number and try other means of contact.

ERR_CODE numbers 4, 6, 7, or 10 indicate a Temporary error and chances are it’ll clear given time. We suggest you hold off sending to this number for a week or so, maybe they are on holiday or having technical difficulties with their phone.

It’s also likely you’ll see some of the less decisive error codes including the unhelpful network error code of “unknown – no details provided by the network”.

By doing a periodic review of all your undelivered or rejected messages you can help reduce these errors. Look for the number of occurrences you tried to send to any one given number, if it’s always failing for whatever reason then chances are this is no longer a valid contact number for your customer.

Textburst

If you’re using textburst then the error code information is summarised and we suggest a periodic review of the information to identify bad data. Warning: you might need someone handy with a spreadsheet.

Once you have logged into textburst go to Sent Messages.

Click the small pie chart next to each batch of sent messages.

Then select “List View” in the main heading.

You’ve now got a list of each message, the mobile number and delivery status. You’ll notice on the right hand side an option to download the complete information to a spreadsheet.

We suggest downloading all your sends and searching for those numbers that regularly or never deliver, using this data you can either delete contacts or follow your own path to correct the data for future sends.

I hope this is helpful, if you need any more information or guidance then just ask.

It’s an SMS route that manages to offer an extraordinarily cheap price by making arrangements outside of the licensed international telecoms companies. It’s a shady part of the industry, lurking out there offering tempting and apparently innocent deals on SMS pricing.

But remember you only ever get what you pay for.  If you’re not getting a deal through volume, how are you getting it?

You may be offered a cheap route and find that your traffic is going via India, Russia or the Far East and getting clogged up on an overloaded connection anywhere in the world!

Beware of the 1p SMS. You know the old adage if a deal sounds too good to be true it probably is.

The standard interconnect fee between networks is circa 3p, so you do the maths. If it’s 1p then you can be fairly certain something not entirely legal is going on.

How do they do it?

Grey routes manage to offer cost cuts in a number of ways, a couple are outlined below:

Arbitrage:

Routing traffic via an intermediate country to take advantage of the differences in settlement rates

Re-origination:

Giving a call a different originator disguise at some point in its international journey to make it appear it is coming from the country it terminates in, so making it appear to be national rather than international

‘Special’ Carrier Arrangement

Carriers agree to terminate a certain amount of text messages from each other. Excess is charged at a higher rate. So what happens if a carrier has too much or too little traffic?

There is a wholesale market trading in this area. However, the quality of routes can vary, so traded traffic can go down a grey route, especially as the exchanges allow carriers to buy and sell anonymously.

In reality goodwill between carriers can be exploited.

If I’ve made an agreement to accept up to 10 sms in exchange for sending 10 sms to a network and they send me 5 of their own plus 5 of someone else’s, then have they stolen 5 SMS from me? My agreement wasn’t with that other person. If I find out about it, I’m probably going to at the least change my arrangements with the network, at worst cancel my agreement totally.

In Summary

In answer to our question, yes grey routes do seem to exist, however use them at your peril. They may be cheap but they frequently just disappear without notice due to a telco realising what’s happening and blocking the route.

A Grey route can’t guarantee it’s a quality route,  it can’t even guarantee it will be there tomorrow.

At mediaburst we believe in using quality routes for ourselves and our customers.

We wouldn’t touch a grey route with a barge pole and we wouldn’t advise you to either.

Not only are the entry instructions printed in black text on a dark red background rendering it almost unreadable. But the instructions are so complex.

See for yourself.

Also note the use of white text on black background and good line spacing (just above the entry instructions)  is very clear and easy to read, why not use this for the entry mechanism?

I’ve challenged and timed a further 2 people to enter. Both have taken in excess of 2 and half minutes to read, work out, and compose their entry. Both admitting that under normal circumstances they would have given up.

I wonder how many others have given up?

Everyone’s got a TV as well, but it’s not always switched on. And even when it is switched on they might not be watching the channel your expensive advert is on.

2. Everyone’s got a mobile

And everyone has got a radio, but again it’s not always switched on. And even if it is on they might not be listening to the station your expensive advert is on.

3. Everyone’s got a mobile

They also have computers, but some only at work and we’re not at work 24/7 (well, most people anyway). And some only have a computer at home, and we’re not at home 24/7. And again, even when we are at home or at work, we might be watching TV or listening to the radio, and not watching the computer.

4. Everyone’s got a mobile

Sorry to sound repetitive, but are you with me now? Everyone has got a mobile, it’s always switched on, and it doesn’t have different channels. They are always messing with it, and if they’re not messing with it it’s in their pocket or on their desk. So when you decide to send your message out to them they are there, ready and waiting…for you.

Oh, and if they have a smart phone, which is after all, just a mini computer. They probably listen to the radio on it, watch TV and video on it, read the news on it, check the scores on it, check facebook, twitter, linkedin, shop on it, take photos on it, read maps, and on and on and hence why you need to be thinking about mobile.

Simples!

As all of the solutions allow you to send text messages, what’s the difference between them and which one is applicable to you?

Textburst

The key advantage of textburst is it’s accessible from the internet, in your web browser, it’s like hotmail or google mail but instead of sending emails it sends text messages.

As an internet based application it can provide more functionality and allow you to take full control over your text message campaign.

It’s ideal for bulk SMS marketing because you can upload and manage multiple, and large groups of contacts. That means by segregating your database by e.g. interest, age or gender you can now target and tailor SMS messages specifically to that group.

You can also merge information into each text message so you can personalise it to the individual recipient. Like mail merging in a Word document. This is ideal if you want to increase response rates or make the customer feel like they are receiving a more personal communication.

The other key difference with textburst is the ability to schedule large SMS sends. This means you can develop a marketing message and send it out at a time where it will have the most impact. The thing about text messaging is that customers receive and read messages instantly so timing your message to perfection will yield much better results, and this might be at a time when you’re not at a PC. That’s where scheduling comes in.

You can also view a list of scheduled sends and cancel them if appropriate.

Textburst is also ideal for keeping in touch with staff, and in particular for business continuity SMS. The frequent reality of a business continuity situation is you’re not going to be able to get into the office. With textburst being internet based you don’t need to, it can be accessed from any internet enabled PC, be it at home, an internet cafe or from a Smartphone.

Outlook Mobile Service

Sometimes called OMS, this is actually your email package Microsoft Outlook 2007 or later version. When Microsoft launched Outlook 2007 they included the ability to send SMS text messages. And just like email, for which you need an email address from an email provider, you need an SMS provider. That’s where we come in.

With Outlook 2007 you are simply using functions and buttons provided to you by Microsoft, instead of clicking the “New Email” button you click the “New SMS” button. The compose SMS screen looks very similar to the email screen, and settings are all in the usual Microsoft menus, this means, assuming you already use Outlook then you’re already familiar with how it works and you’re not going to have any usability issues.

The most obvious advantage of using Outlook for text messaging is that it utilises all the information already in Microsoft Outlook contact list. This is great for small businesses that use this list as their primary database of contact information, and using a single database avoids duplication and margin for error.

The other distinct advantage is its links to the existing Microsoft Outlook calendars. You can have text message reminders sent to your mobile phone in advance of meetings or even a daily summary first thing in the morning. This is great functionality for those who’re regularly out of the office and need reminders of where to be, and when.

The final piece of the jigsaw is email notifications via SMS. This feature allows you to configure a rule that means when an email comes in that meets the requirements e.g. from a certain person or containing certain information then you’ll get an immediate text message notification. Perfect for that important email, perhaps notification of a contract win!

For advanced Outlook users if you combine Outlook Mobile Service with business contact manager you can make the functionality work well for text message marketing.

Email to SMS

Don’t be confused with Outlook Mobile service working from your email package. Email to SMS is different.

Email to SMS works from any email application what so ever, no exceptions. That’s the advantage; the disadvantage is it only comes with very basic functionality, although this suits most people.

Basically, just proceed as if you were sending an email but instead of entering an email address you type in their mobile number followed by @message-platform.com.

The email is sent directly to mediaburst and we convert the message content into an SMS and send it via the mobile networks. It all happens in a split second.

Email to SMS is often used by software developers to customise existing applications. For example, if you have software that can trigger an email when an event happens, if the email is sent to the email to SMS service then it’s be converted to SMS and delivered to your mobile handset.

So rather than receive the email you can now receive a text message and cover the possibility that you may not be at your PC when the event is triggered.

Typical examples of this in operation is, completion of website forms, appointment software, and server monitoring software.

SMS API

API stands for Application Protocol Interface, if you don’t know what it means, don’t worry, it’s not for you it’s for techies, software developers.

With an API you can connect your application to the mobile networks, if you want to send SMS messages from your application then this is what you need.

Integrate your application using XML SMS SMPP, HTTP SMS or SOAP SMS.

Summary

Although our applications are based around the principle functionality of sending SMS text messages, which application you chose depends very much on what software you already have and what is most convenient for you to use.

But as always, if your not clear or need any more information then get in touch.

If you want to read more then you could read our SMS Marketing Tips.

We also produced a self explanatory page entitled 10 things to do with SMS.

Here’s a few pointers…

Do

Think about interactivity and engagement rather than one way communication. Aim to create experiences and applications that people will find useful. One of the reasons applications are successful is they do something, rather than say something. This can be a different way of thinking for traditional marketers.

Don’t

Spam your customers. Think about what your customers would like, think carefully about the experiences that are relevant to them and will add value. Then target specifically rather than blanket message your whole database, quality is much better than quantity.

Do

Use timing to your advantage. Think carefully about the time of the year, the time of day, what is your audience doing now and what you are offering? If you want to drive a young audience to a night club then sending a message on a Friday is likely to achieve better results than a Monday.

Don’t

Believe that SMS is yesterday’s technology. Simple SMS campaigns are used very creatively to generate huge response. Research has shown that over 70% of people say SMS is the most important feature on their phone and SMS will account for 83% of all messaging revenues until 2013. You can’t ignore the fact that large forward thinking brands such as Kelloggs, Walkers, Heineken, Maltesers all use SMS in their campaigns.

Do

Think about response messaging rather than just one way messaging. For example by all car manufacturers offer consumers the change to receive a brochure just by texting a relevant word to a 5 digit shortcode. Not only does this provide a communication channel for viewers of the advert but the manufacturers collect valuable data. They can also measure the success of the adverts using the same data.

Don’t

Think of mobile in isolation. Today’s consumers interact with brands at multiple touchpoints. The most successful campaigns are integrated with other complimentary channels such as web, TV, radio, and press. Think about where consumers will view your message and what mechanism they are most likely to use to interact the brand, and ultimately, what you’ll do with the data you collect.

Do

Always always offer your mobile audience a way of opting out of receiving messages, such as sending the word “stop” to a shortcode or providing a customer services number. Not only will you avoid any complaints but you’ll ensure you database contains only those consumers who are interested in your product or service.

Rich Format Messaging

Since the first SMS was sent over the Vodafone network in 1992, SMS has proved massively popular with mobile phone users, out pacing forecasts year on year. Now SMS has become not only an accepted communication medium but the medium of choice for the younger generations.

MMS brings with it the same convenience and immediacy of SMS but with added features such as colour, audio, animation, and video, to deliver richer, more engaging messages.

This dramatic increase in message capability will bring with it new opportunities for communication and in particular for marketing campaigns.

Driving Creativity

Although SMS is limited to 160 characters for a single message, users have shown great creativity in formulating their own abbreviated language. This creativity indicates just how involved users have become with this hugely effective and personal communication medium.

MMS expands the possibilities and will drive even more creativity, ensuring mobile messaging as the communication technology for now and the future.

Whereas the average 160 character SMS message is approximately 140 bytes in size. A small MMS message would be considered below 30,000 bytes. At the top end MMS and can be successfully transmitted up to 350,000 bytes, although in reality some network operators will restrict sizes to 100,000 bytes.

This vastly enhanced capacity helps drive the use of individual and combinations of different MMS elements.

MMS Elements

Text As well as allowing a greater quantity of text than SMS, text can also be formatted using different fonts, styles and colour, adding personality to every message

Video - Moving pictures are now possible, presenting the opportunity to duplicate video content directly to the mobile platform.

Audio – MMS supports audio files meaning sound can be played either alone or alongside an animation or video presentation.

Images – probably the area most familiar is the ability to send picture messages. It’s become commonplace to send photos taken on phones’ in built camera via MMS. This element alone is ensuring the public at large are well versed in MMS capabilities. But images are more than just photos, and again combining images and text lends itself to advertising and promotional campaigns.

Animations – moving icons, cartoons characters, PowerPoint presentations are all good examples of items that can be animated on an MMS. The greeting card industry has already embraced e-mail as a medium for delivering ones well wishes, using it to enhance the offering with animation and sound. Ultimately it must also take advantage of the opportunity to deliver directly to the mobile phone.

User Experience

Although content capabilities are vastly different, as a concept MMS is similar to SMS and this is a key component when considering user acceptance of the service.

As with SMS, an MMS is pushed to a user’s mobile device, and if that device is out of range or not switched on then the message is stored by the network provider and delivery retried until either successful or retries exceeds the networks policy.

Unlike mobile internet or content delivered via WAP push, the user does not have to wait for the download. MMS notifies the recipient once the content download is complete, removing possible end user frustration.

MMS messages are stored in the inbox of the mobile device alongside other SMS messages, and as with SMS can be forwarded to their own contacts. Forwarding messages is now standard functionality on phones, and combining this with the richer content MMS facilitates presents exciting viral opportunities for the marketing world at large.

Aggregator Restrictions

Although network operators have supported MMS messaging for a number of years there remains a number of limiting factors that will concern content providers, especially when compared to SMS messaging.

Our investigations have found that delivery receipting is only offered by O2 and Vodafone. O2’s platform is still considered a test platform and, Orange do not accept direct aggregator connections, delivery to handsets on their network must be routed through one of the other network providers.

Although these limitations are of concern to aggregators used to high quality SMS services, they may not necessarily be of concern to content providers, who will find the most significant limiting factor to be price.

It’s difficult to gain an understanding of when the networks may develop their offerings to that of a similar standard to SMS but the lack of high and consistent volumes may be a factor influencing their decision making process.

Nevertheless, the presence of limiting factors does not constitute a failure of the system as a whole, the services are more than adequate for current demand and additional opportunities will open up as the technology develops.

Identifying Opportunities

There are some important case studies that provide an indication of MMS’s application, its place in the marketing mix and its user acceptability.

BMW

The car manufacturer BMW ran a winter tyres campaign in Germany to huge success, reporting a conversion rate of 30%. They attribute this success to a combination of factors.

1. The message was personalised. By using dealership information BMW were able to deliver an image of what your car would look like with winter tyres on.
2. Timing was used to perfection. Once the campaign was created they simply waited until the first major snowfall of the year.
3. By localising the campaign the consumers were able to find their nearest dealership.
4. All in all, a perfect example of the power of MMS messaging.

iPhone MMS

Although the iPhone was launched without MMS functionality there quickly followed a number of downloadable applications that would collect and present an MMS message. These applications also allowed a user to purchase credit to send MMS messages.

Within a short timeframe hundreds of thousands of iphone users had downloaded these applications to take advantage of technology Apple has thus far failed to incorporate into the standard operating system.

With the launch of OS 3.0 Apple have included MMS functionality, whether this was due to the success of the MMS applications, or it was part of a formal development plan, we’ll probably never know.

Future Developments

It’s never clear what the future will hold for a given technology. Improvements in MMS service at network operator level will filter down through aggregators and raise the interest level of content providers.

In turn this should drive down price and no doubt spawn a more competitive environment.

Adding in the rise of smart phones and interest in mobile at brand and marketing agency level and we’ll see creatives embracing the possibilities of rich format, immediate delivery, personalised messaging and their value as part of any advertising campaign.

Mediaburst and MMS

Although MMS compliant devices are now the norm and the technology supporting PC originated SMS has matured, MMS has yet to enjoy comparative levels of support.

Mediaburst have announced the inclusion of MMS within the same platform as its SMS API services. Providing a resilient MMS Gateway from which content providers and aggregators can send MMS messages to UK networks has been the key driver.

The inclusion of two interfaces (API and e-mail to MMS) allows flexibility for both large and small business alike to test the effectiveness of MMS messaging to its client base.

To provide the same level of resilience and support the MMS service has been provided through the same network as existing SMS services. This takes advantage of multisite site hosting, zero redundancy platform, and industry standard hardware.

The key components to ensuring effective MMS processing have been the implementation of the MMS control centre and an MMS store.

MMS Control Centre – this is central to the efficient processing of messages and controls the flow of messages through the platform, deciding on the most efficient route bearing in mind current server load and availability.

MMS Store – While the transaction is processed through the platform the multimedia files are placed in temporary storage before being forwarded to the networks.

Outbound MMS Sender- This manages the sending of messages to supplier networks by looking at availability and current loads.

Conclusion

The inclusion of rich format elements into mobile messaging undoubtedly provides opportunities to deliver a more engaging media than SMS. Moreover, as MMS takes advantage of the same delivery mechanics as SMS i.e. straight into the mobile phone inbox, it capitalises on existing user acceptance, and renders it one of the most exciting mechanisms to engage with consumers on their mobile device.

Mediaburst are fully prepared to make full use of the huge potential of MMS messaging right now and into the future.

Update: You can find a case study of MMS being used to help improve home and business security here. Kapture IT.

What we mean by one way SMS Marketing is sending out an SMS message to prompt someone into a course of action i.e. come to the latest sale, attend an event, call the office.

SMS represents one of the cheapest forms of marketing available. With only 160 characters of black and white to use, you don’t need a graphic designer or creative agency, just a common sense approach applied with an understanding of your target audience.

So, you’ve signed up to an SMS service, bought yourself a bundle of messages, you’ve now got 160 characters to get your message across, where do we start…

1. Target Market (Who)

Identifying and understanding your target market is one of the most fundamental practices in SMS marketing. No campaign should start without understanding who are they, how old are, what sex are they, where do they live, you simply can’t find out enough.

In the case of SMS marketing bear in mind that you are delivering a personal message to the most personal of electronic devices. To be effective and non-intrusive it must be relevant, and that means understanding as much as you are able about the person who reads it.

2. A Compelling Offer (Why)

Is your offer something that somebody wants, if not then you don’t need me to tell you you’re wasting money.

A simple SMS reminder that your shop exists may be sufficient to bring some additional customers to browse and kick tyres. An offer or discount on purchase will not only bring in more customers, but chances are some of them will make a purchase. Clearly discounting has an associated cost, but it’s an offer made to customers who otherwise wouldn’t have purchased anything.

Consider offering a percentage off if they present the SMS message at point of purchase or a buy one get one free style offer.

3. Timing (When)

Let’s face it, there’s no point sending an SMS reminder for your night club on a Monday morning. Equally 10 minutes before you open is going to be too late.

Timing is a careful balance, get it right and you’ll reap the benefits. Get it wrong and you’ll waste your money.

Getting it right comes from understanding your audience and their habits. Think about your audience, when do they make arrangements, when do they make decisions on what you’re offering. The trick is to deliver your message just as they are making those arrangements. For example, if you’re promoting take away food or a restaurant, send the SMS message out to a local audience at 5pm just when they are deciding what to have for dinner.

Look at how BMW used timing to perfection in their MMS marketing campaign here.

4. The Text Itself (What)

SMS has spawned its own abbreviated language, love it or hate it, it’s here to stay.

Now I’m not saying you need to turn into a 15 year old and shorten everything you send but most abbreviations are there to reduce the character count and increase message content. It’s for this reason a basic appreciation will help get your message across in 160 characters.

For example, SMS marketing messages should always contain an opt out mechanism, this could be

“to opt out from this mailing list please send a text message with the words “STOP” to 84433”

But easier is:

“Opt out txt stop 84433”

So there you have it, SMS is a fantastic form of communication and can yield exceptionally high response rates, spend a little time considering the points above and you’ll be onto a winner.

SMS for data capture, entering competitions, texting for further information.

Now don’t get me wrong, this isn’t new technology, SMS has been with us for a generation. What’s changing is the breadth of uses for the technology as brands become confident it’s a communication medium their consumers are happy to engage via.

Not only is SMS used as an entry mechanism for on pack promotions, we are also seeing charities utilising the mechanism to generate immediate response, campaigners raising awareness and gather support for their cause, and of course not forgetting the car manufacturers using shortcodes across all their media to capture prospective customers data.

The reality is SMS provides and an easy and cost effective mechanism for consumers to engage, it’s makes your advertising or campaign more effective… ignore it and you’re missing an opportunity.

Draw Servers – Automated and Auditable

Gone are the days of GMTV scandals, winners picked out by closing your eyes and dropping a pen. With such high profile failures the whole industry has become acutely aware of the value in a brands reputation, and indeed that of its appointed agencies.

The simple truth is mobile is an instant mechanism and hence data captured can be processed instantly. There is no need for delays and ambiguous cut off times. The industry has changed, service providers have responded with Draw Servers, brands and agencies now understand their importance.

The question to ask your SMS provider is 3 part, is it fully automated, is it fully auditable, and is it totally secure?

Downloadable content Ringtones, wall papers, games.

The most successful sales promotions are those that provide real value to the consumer. Kelloggs award winning Zoo Keeper promotion delivered an estimated £3.8 million of value to its consumers by offering up free entry, animal facts on the bounce back SMS, free downloadable ringtones, and winning a day as a zoo keeper.

Of course it doesn’t have to cost the earth. If you are confirming entry with an SMS response then the cost is covered, so use it to deliver additional value. Think what your customer would value, product or nutritional information, where to purchase, or information on future promotions. Let’s make everyone a winner, or at least provide some useful information that softens the blow to those that didn’t.

Downloadable content such as ringtones, wallpapers, video, and games can be licensed for a one off fee. They provide the consumer with something that not only will continue their brand engagement, but they can revisit time and time again.

Viral opportunities leap to mind as consumers forward content and links to friends and family. Personal recommendations and sharing is the norm in a world that’s gripped my social media. So let’s embrace the opportunity and get them engaged with your brand.

With the advent of the iphone and the app store we are becoming increasingly savvy with mobile applications, look at the success of the ipint (Carling), downloaded by just about everyone I’ve ever know to have an iphone.

Mobile Internet bigger screens and 3g connections.

It’s on the rise and can’t be ignored. UK adults are using mobile internet over 50% more than last year and as more smart phones find their way off the retailers shelves and into our pockets, mobile internet is medium that’s going to grip us all. The question here, does your brand have a website, almost definitely yes, a mobile site, probably not, but why not? 4.3 million adults are using it every day!

But how do you use mobile internet effectively in sales promotions? Again it comes back to that providing value, product information, retailer information, additional offers, even if it’s imagery to reinforce your brand values. As with everything mobile, it’s not expensive and fully measurable, so let’s use it.

Following the success of a mobile marketing campaign BMW’s head of marketing said “If you’re not on mobile your missing a whole generation”.

He’s not wrong.

The mobile channel is already used by a greater proportion of the population in many counties to access the internet than fixed access points, and is likely to become the global norm. Nokia estimates that by 2015 some 5 billion people will have access to an always on mobile internet connection and there will be an incredible 100 fold increase in mobile network traffic.

Within Western Europe alone Forrester Research predicts 125m will have access to mobile internet on their mobiles, with 1 in 4 utilising 3.5G enabled handsets. The challenge however facing mobile internet access will be the ability to provide search and discovery facilities comparable to that experienced for internet access via a PC and fixed line. The second challenge is then how to monetise mobile search and discovery, the answer will be mobile advertising.

The mobile advertising market is admittedly still in its infancy but it is being carefully studied by all participants engaged in the mobile value delivery chain: brands, agencies, mobile service operators, application service providers, content providers etc. Juniper Research is forecasting direct advertising revenue of some $1.5bn this year to nearly $5bn within 5 years.

The annual growth rate is forecast at an impressive 27%. Many industry watchers confuse Mobile Internet and its messaging derivate Instant Messaging (IM) and its relationship to SMS text messaging. Whilst IM will grow Text messaging will continue to grow regardless. Monthly person to person SMS traffic in Western Europe is set to climb form 190 billion messages seen last year to 233 billion again over the same 5 year period.

Mobile applications compliment, they rarely compete and let us not forget it is always the choice of the consumer that will drive the market.

Mediaburs are a leading SMS Provider based in Manchester.

Of all these components, the technical capability of your chosen mobile partner is probably the most over looked. Mobile platforms vary across the industry; some smaller (and frighteningly not so small) mobile companies have nothing more than a couple of severs under the desk; larger and more technically orientated mobile marketing agencies may have their platform across multiple hosting sites, fully redundant functionality and 24/7 monitoring.

With big brand campaigns running into the millions of pounds, and mobile often at the core, it is worrying me how few brands or lead agencies actually undertake any form of technical due diligence on the chosen mobile partner. As Mobile Marketing moves beyond SMS to MMS, vouchering and WAP sites and Mobile Agencies start to stretch their technical capabilities it is important to ask some key questions to your chosen mobile partner:

• How secure is the mobile service?
• How reliable is the mobile service?
• Who actually owns the technology?
• What are the capacity and message throughput rates?
• What level of technical support and service monitoring is provided?

In 2007:

1. I commented on the importance of understanding the relevant regulations that govern a mobile marketing campaign,
2. stated the importance of having a clear focus for your mobile campaign and making it relevant to your audience,
3. and advised that in my opinion, it was important to integrate mobile fully into a campaign and that in most cases it could not stand up as an advertising medium in its own right.

This year I want to start with commenting on how important it is to keep up to date with the pace of technology. I am a strong believer in what I call leading edge technology, not bleeding edge technology (that is technology that may be new but has been tried, tested and has a sufficient enough audience to make it worthwhile).

However the Mobile World moves quickly and yesterdays bleeding edge technology becomes today’s leading edge technology. There is increased convergence onto mobile devices with many phones now supporting an internet browser and video capabilities. Whilst these technologies are yet to become as popular as SMS, they are no longer niche. This was recently highlighted when brand giant Kellogg’s asked us to build their first ever WAP site for their current ‘Zoo’ promotion. Whether you work for a brand or an agency, stay up to date with mobile technology and you won’t get left behind by your competitors.

Just look at ITV, GMTV and the impact the recent scandals have had. It frightens me, that even in today’s nervy climate, how many brands are still running illegal competitions. For the avoidance of any legal action I will not mention names; however I recently read a very high circulation magazine that was running what some may see as an illegal competition. One of the major problems promoters face is the sheer volume of regulations and regulatory bodies.

In the UK alone you have advice, guidance and regulation from PhonePayPlus, ISP, CAP, ASA, OFCOM, Vodafone Code of Practice, Gambling Commission, The Information Commissioner and EU legislation. All cover slightly different areas, often overlapping and often conflicting, the result is a patchwork and somewhat confusing regulatory landscape. Rules can be different in Northern Ireland and then, if like a lot of FMCG brands, you operate in both the UK and ROI you also have to consider RegTel and the various other Irish bodies.

Add this to having to meet brand guidelines and you can see the potential minefield. When running a campaign, everyone’s reputation is on the line from the brand to the brand manager, the agencies and the account directors and managers and finally service providers. I don’t intend for this blog to put you off running campaigns, far from it, all I am suggesting is that you ensure you have the appropriate experience and compliance procedures in the supply chain to ensure you don’t end up as the lead story on the Ten O’clock News. I like to compare it to scuba diving, which in principle and practice is quite easy, however get it even slightly wrong and the results can be disastrous.

Which is why most people go diving with experienced professionals!

Are you data gathering? Pushing a brand? Advertising a new product? Engaging with new customers or trying to earn revenue through mobile billing? My advice is to think carefully about the objective of the campaign and maximize every component of your campaign to achieve that goal. For example; if you want to engage with new customers by letting them text for a sample, don’t charge them a premium SMS to do so. Whilst you may think it will stretch your budget, in reality it is likely to reflect badly on the brand and is only going to reduce the number of respondents.

If you are running an on-pack promotion and one of your key measurements for success is the number of respondents. Don’t go and hide the instructions on how to respond just to try and preserve as much space for brand images. It may all sound obvious, however as mobile marketing is so measurable mistakes can be exposed quite quickly.

Personally I believe handset devices, network speeds and consumer acceptability are not good enough for Mobile to become a stand alone marketing tool. Sure, this will be a huge growth area with the development of mobile search engine optimisation, banner type advertising and the development of rich media broadcasts. However, apart from a select few user groups, these mechanics just aren’t commercially viable for most brands. Used correctly mobile marketing can drive consumer interest beyond passive viewing, into interacting with a brand.

Whether entering an on pack promotion using MMS, requesting a brochure sample via SMS or offering personal information via WAP; mobile offers instant gratification not available through any other medium. In most cases it is as a response to some other advert / promotion. The key to success, as suggested in part one, is ensuring that there is a purpose for using mobile. There is little point in sending out an email broadcast asking them to respond by SMS if SMS is going to offer little benefit over an email response. Or why offer an information service that text’s your customer at 2am in the morning (see Julian Hucker’s [Esendex] blog).

However imagine a TV advert during Big Brother, where in the past the audience have shown a preference to text. The advert is shown at 9.45pm, during what is generally perceived as an addictive program, and when the advertisers call centers are closed. Yet the advertiser still chooses to promote an 11 digit, unmemorable telephone number and expect the consumer to call back the following day to engage. Surely asking the viewer to text their name for a call back the following day would be the better practice. If you can orchestrate a situation whereby using text will delight the audience, whereby it adds an unexpected piece of value, this is where mobile is at its most powerful.

A consumer texts in to claim a free cinema ticket, not only should they get back confirmation of when the tickets will be delivered but also information on their nearest participating cinemas. If the consumer enters an on pack promotion, in most cases they will just receive a confirmation of entry. However, the consumer texts to enter this because they want to win, they want to engage. Not winning is one thing, but not being advised if they have won or not is even worse. Imagine a football information service that only lets you know the results when your team wins! So many brands pass up the opportunity to further engage with their consumers at the end of a promotional campaign by letting them know what happened with the competition.

Imagine…

Thank your for entering Brand X’s competition. Congratulations to Mrs B from Cheshire who won the car. Don’t forget to Brand X is now available in throw away packs from Boots. We’re sorry you didn’t win this time. A personal message of interest to a known customer all for the price of a sms message! Mobile is like every other form of advertising, it must be appropriate for the audience at that given time. Next week I will discuss the importance of having clear objectives when using mobile.