It will look similar to this one:

But there are ways to say more; here’s how:

1- You can followup with another message to be sent immediately after the first 160 characters.

2- You can have an Active Link to your Mobile-Friendly webpage will LOTS more information and images.

3- You can have a physical address show in the text as an Active Link which when clicked may offer the user choices of displaying the address on a Map, or opening a Navigation program on there mobile phone which could navigate them to the location.

Also, remember that one reason text messages are opened and read is that they ARE short and the User expects it to only take a few seconds of their time.

Hope that this helps!

John

Here we will take a look at some examples of the kinds of campaigns you can run with text message marketing.  This is a great way to help you envision how it could work with your own business.

Dunkin Donuts 

Dunkin Donuts wanted to introduce it’s new Latte to a more youthful market.  Knowing that almost all youth are attached to their cellphones, they targeted local high schools and colleges with their campaign.  They got people to opt in to their text list for a coupon that would let them get a Latte for 99 cents.  In-store traffic increased by 21% as a result of the campaign, and 17% of people asked said they had forwarded or shown a friend the message.

Best Buy

It makes sense that one of the biggest consumer electronics retailers in the world has a text message marketing campaign.  Best Buy set up a number of different campaigns to target different buyers.  For example they have a “Deal of Day” group that they text a special deal to everyday.  They also had a “Movie Club” that people could opt in to and they would receive deals on movies, and announcements of new releases.  This way the text messages were laser targeted to certain customers who had related interests.  While not solely responsible, this campaign launch did coincide with a 13% increase in revenues last December.

McDonalds

McDonalds is a company that is always investing in new marketing ideas.  McDonalds in Italy used text message marketing to run an instant prize campaign.  People could text a number on their cups (which opted them into the marketing list) and they would get an instant prize.  The prizes ranged from cheap web content, to more substantial prizes like mobile phones.  The campaign finished with a 25% INSTANT response rate, and was their most successful mobile marketing foray yet.

Gas Stations

Many gas stations are now using text message marketing to great effect.  One of the more popular methods is to offer something free for people to opt in.  The last campaign I saw, offered people free windshield washer fluid with the purchase of gas. To get the deal you had to text a certain word to a number, and you were added to the list.  You got your free washer fluid, and you also got updates when gas was about to rise.  The gas station would notice a spike in that night’s gas sales when they broadcasted a text. 

Kraft Foods

Kraft foods was debuting a new product, it was a new instant coffee product and they turned to text message marketing to debut it.  Using their print ads, in store advertising etc… they prompted people to text a number and receive a coupon for a free sample.  Over 400,000 people requested a sample, and 80,000 of those opted in for future messages from Kraft. 

Red Cross

This is a campaign that you might be familiar with actually.  Remember the Haiti earthquake tragedy? You might have seen calls for people to “Text ‘Haiti’ to 90999… “. This is a type of text message marketing campaign and it helped the Red Cross earn over $32 million.  While this is different than a traditional text marketing campaign, it still shows the scope and effectiveness that these campaigns provide.

Restaurants

This was a campaign I worked on, and the owner didn’t want his specific restaurant mentioned.   The basic campaign was simple.  On his website we set up an image that offered a free dessert if you texted the name of his restaurant to a certain number.  We also set up a display ad in his restaurant that urged people to do the same.  He noticed great response from both, and build a decent list quite quickly.  His repeat business has shot through the roof since.  He doesn’t overwhelm the people on his list with messages he simply sends out a message when he has a new seasonal special, or when he has some sort of event.  The response has been great thus far, most notably for his event nights which are now much busier and livelier.

This is only a small percentage of success stories from text message marketing.  This should give you a glimpse into the flexibility and effectiveness of this marketing.  I also hope it gives you some ideas on how your business can best take advantage of text message marketing.

Maranda Dorsey is in the race to be the Homecoming Queen at Covington Academy for 2012.

She can send her classmates to her site:

http://MarandaDorsey.com

Maranda made the two posters that you see there.

This video presents key findings from “The Mobile Movement: Understanding Smartphone Consumers,” a study from Google and conducted by Ipsos OTX, an independent market research firm. The findings come from research conducted at the end of 2010 among 5,013 US adult smartphone Internet users. Google commissioned this research with the objectives to better understand how smartphones are used in consumers’ daily lives and how smartphones have influenced the ways consumers search, shop and respond to mobile advertising

QR (Quick Response) Codes are two-dimensional barcodes. They differ from the normal barcode that you usually think of whose bars are the same from top to bottom. QR Codes differ as you look at them from top to bottom.

Normal Barcode QR Code above contains: http://www.internet-local.com

I first found QR codes on a Google Places page. They had the code for the url that would take a user to my Places page right on my page as an image. At the time, my phone was not a smart phone and I had to get a friend to scan the QR Code and watch as it took them to my Google Places page.

I have since gotten my own Android Incredible from Verizon and am able to scan the code myself.

How to Use Your Phone to Create a QR Code

I use the app Barcode Scanner. A few days ago I discovered that you can also use your smartphone to create a QR Code for any contact in your phone. The QR code will then be displayed on your phone’s screen so that another person with a smart phone and the barcode scanner could scan the image and have the information loaded into their phone.

So, for instance, if you were at a meeting and someone that you had just met wanted your contact information, just do as above and they could easily and quickly have your contact information in their phone. And you could get theirs also

It is MUCH easier to get information this way than it would be to type it into your phone using its keyboard. And Quicker and with less chance of a typo!

The QR Code below contains complete contact info: First Name, Last Name, phone#, Email, Website, Organization, Street address, City, State, Zipcode and Country.

When I scan it on my Incredible, I get choices to Add Contact, Show Map, Dial Number or Send Email

Watch the short Video on this page: http://internet-local.com/our-services/mobile-marketing/

There is an offer for a report with more information and a greater explanation of how SMS text messaging can bring more customers and more repeat business to your local business at a very affordable cost.

Take a look – Don’t let your competition beat you to this!

Get it today for as little as $47/month.

Just email me: john@internet-local.com

John

Screenshot is below of the index page, but you will have to visit it in Chrome or on your mobile phone to really see how it looks and  operates. The mobile pages are at: http://2gomo.com/m

You can send text messages to them which is one of the best ways of actually getting your messages read or seen by them.

Most everyone has a mobile phone capable of receiving text messages.

Using QR codes is the perfect way to make it quick and convenient for anyone interested in your services to opt-in to your SMS list.

You could also get them to opt-in from text instructions such as: “Send mobile50 to 72727″

They use 72727 as the To: entry of the text message and enter mobile50 into the body text of the text message and click Send.

So, basically SMS text messaging gets you more customers by allowing more communication to actually get read by your prospective customers. The more offers from you that they see, the more they will become your new customers.

Call John to get started: 770-722-4248

Watch this 1-1/2 minute video to better understand how SMS Text Messaging works:

They have a new website: http://HowToGoMo.com

They have a GoMoMeter there that will allow you to put in the link to your existing website and see how it would look on a mobile smart phone. You may already have viewed yours, but you can get an idea of what it would look like here, in case you don’t have a smartphone to test with.

Their site also give you tips to consider when creating a mobile-optimized version of your site and you can even download the report as a pdf file.

Of course, if you need help, our $199 Sale Price is still on.

Once you have your mobile version, you just put a Redirection Script on your regular site which detects when someone is coming from a mobile phone and automatically sends the mobile-optimized version. It is just copy/paste of some code into your homepage which is quick and simple to do.

For instance if you visit this site http://Internet-Local.com on a mobile phone you will be redirected to the mobile-optimized version.

You can see that version from a desktop computer by going here: http://Internet-Local.com/mobile/

Let us know if we can help.

john@internet-local.com