'Net Features : SMS

Grow Your List with Text-to-Join

Allison Howen — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:52:00 GMT

Growing your email list can be as simple as receiving a text message, thanks to a new SMS feature from Bronto Software.

The commerce marketing provider has added a Text-to-Join feature to its marketing platform. The feature provides marketers with a simple interface for managing customer acquisition and organizing email and cross-channel campaigns to drive revenue.

“Text-to-Join is a great way for retailers to drive signups because it’s such an effective and widespread medium,” said Joe Colopy, CEO of Bronto. “With the majority of consumers tied to their mobile phone during shopping, it’s a matter of creating a relevant experience using the right medium. In recent months, we’ve been innovating to help marketers grow revenue by remarketing to current customers. We also recognize that acquisition and list growth are among the top priorities for marketers, so we wanted to make Text-to-Join easily accessible to them.”

In order to create a Bronto Text-to-Join campaign, marketers must choose a keyword consumers will use to sign up, and then generate an automated response message to be triggered when a consumer texts the keyword. Additionally, marketers can promote Text-to-Join through a variety of channels, including on social profiles, shipping boxes, invoices, receipts, posters, flyers, in-store signs, direct mail pieces and catalogs.

It is also important to note that Text-to-Join is integrated with other functions within the Bronto Marketing Platform, such as contact management and reporting. Moreover, marketers have the option of adding consumers who sign up via Text-to-Join to a list or to multiple lists. There’s also a visual activity report that makes it simple to monitor the effectiveness of Text-to-Join campaigns.

SMS Marketing Gains Momentum

Allison Howen — Sat, 17 Dec 2011 18:00:00 GMT

Hopefully, your customers have an unlimited data plan, because SMS marketing is gaining momentum.

According to a recent study from multichannel marketing platform Trumpia, advertisers, marketing/PR professionals and agencies are increasingly using SMS marketing and multichannel marketing platforms to promote their products, services and events.

Although SMS and multichannel platforms have grown fastest in the advertising, marketing and PR industries, other businesses such as retail, restaurant, medical, fitness and hospitality are increasingly using the technologies. In short, businesses are making digital media campaigns a top priority through marketing with SMS text, email, IM, voice broadcast and social messaging.

“SMS and other new media channels are transforming the advertising, marketing and PR industries and becoming requirements for smart marketers who are interested in staying competitive,” says Ken Rhie, CEO and co-founder of Trumpia. “It’s not surprising that more and more businesses are increasingly realizing the impact of these technologies when it comes to achieving greater engagement and higher response rates – all at a very attractive price.”

A separate study reveals that experts across every industry are realizing greater response rates from SMS marketing as part of a multichannel communication effort, because multichannel marketing helps businesses reach customers via the channels they prefer.

Taking Email Mobile

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 15:45:00 GMT

You have to give some credit to the email marketing industry for not fearing the technologies that were so loudly promised to replace email (namely social and mobile), instead embracing the opportunities that were presented.

Case in point, ExactTarget announced its enhanced ExactTarget Mobile application today, providing marketers with a way to build, launch, manage and analyze mobile marketing programs ranging from SMS alerts and promotional messages to mobile couponing and text-to-win campaigns.

“Mobile provides marketers a unique opportunity to interact whenever and wherever consumers want to engage,” said Scott Dorsey, ExactTarget co-founder and chief executive officer. “ExactTarget Mobile provides marketers a flexible solution to connect with customers on the go and to make those interactions part of a broader interactive marketing campaign.”

ExactTarget Mobile will be available as a standalone application and as a fully integrated channel application through the Interactive Marketing HubTM, allowing marketers to seamlessly integrate mobile marketing with other interactive marketing channels including email, social media and sites.

Features of the platform include a step-by-step mobile campaign creation wizard with custom and pre-defined templates, paperless tickets or coupons and mobile barcodes that can be scanned at point of sale or used for entry to events or transportation, as well as global longcode and shortcode management.

Ready for a Mobile (Advertising) Storm?

Pete Prestipino — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:27:00 GMT

A report from Juniper Research has found that growing consumer adoption of mobile Internet services and heightened brand engagement with mobile services will be reflected in a sharp increase in expenditure on mobile Internet advertising. How much of an increase? According to the report, ad spend on the mobile Internet will reach $500 million globally in 2009 and rise to nearly $2 billion per year by 2014.

The catalyst for all this future spending is of course the technology which will enable companies to spend that $2 billion, but how accessible are specific programs for marketers. Case in point, mobileStorm, yesterday announced its new “Go” and “Pro” product packages for online marketers needing email and SMS marketing solutions.

mobileStorm Go allows for the quick setup and delivery of mobile and email campaigns and features personalized support for every client (with a real, U.S.-based representative), 24/7 Web-based access to the mobileStorm Go platform with email and SMS marketing channels, and a reporting system with full export capabilities. mobileStorm Go also offers APIs, an Event Manager and on-demand campaign management services.

mobileStorm Pro takes marketers to another level entirely by adding dedicated account management personnel to manage the system and campaigns, including marketing channels like RSS, Voice, Fax and Video, Database Management, extended reporting, and full integration services with APIs.

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Practical, Refreshing Mobile Services

Pete Prestipino — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:06:00 GMT

SMS search company NearU Search has launched a demo for "Qpons", a web-based application designed to enable small local businesses to implement mobile marketing campaigns. While opinions vary on the opportunity for content providers, advertisers, and small local businesses, it's difficul to argue against the immediacy and relevancy possible that can be delivered to the end user.

"It's a way for small local business owners to reward their best customers. They can provide special offers, discounts, event invites, news, or anything else their customers might find valuable," says Matthias Galica, Product Manager for NearU. "In return, the business owner gets the holy grail of marketing: their target consumer's undivided attention."

The example service is incredibly well done and worked perfectly - even on T-Mobile.

Easy SMS Campaigns with Tatango

Mike Phillips — Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:20:00 GMT

There's no denying that text messaging has become a mainstream form of communication in the United States. A recent DMA report shows that out of 800 U.S. mobile phone users surveyed, 70 percent responded to a marketing text message, while just 41 percent responded to a survey and 30 percent to email offers. Whether because of the novelty factor or the proximity of mobile devices to users, businesses have a big opportunity to market to a highly captive, opt-in audience by using SMS.

Tatango provides a capable and cost-effective way to reach out to the texting generation. With Tatango, you set up an account and a group - this is the title of the text message your contacts will see - start inviting members to your group, and start collecting phone numbers. An unlimited amount of text messages can be sent with both the free and pro versions, but the free version does contain limited advertising. With the pro version (starting at $4.95 per month) you can eliminate the advertising and Tatango branding and offer a couple of interesting ways to get users to sign up.

Keywords - offer users the option to text a keyword to your account and they will be automatically enrolled in your group.
Widgets - create a widget and customize it to match the look of your site. You can then embed that widget in your website, blog or any number of social networks. See the example below, from a celebrity gossip blog.

Using keywords, adding additional groups and ad-free messaging are upgrades to the pro version and range in cost from $15 to $29.95 per month. Once your account is set up, you're ready to start marketing via SMS. Log in to your account, write your message and select individuals from your group to text. Click a button and almost instantly, your subscribers

The possibilities are wide open. Send alerts to a new blog post, coupon codes for a new product, acknowledge information requests or orders, provide a cilckable phone number and send links to your website. If it can be done with about 100 characters, you can text it.

It's important to keep in mind that the mobile device is a very personal item. Therefore, it's a good idea to include an opt-out in your messages. Tell your subscribers to send a return text of "stop" and Tatango will automatically remove them from your list. Even if your subscribers send a text in plain language such as "stop texting me," Tatango will find that message and remove them from your list.

Currently, Tatango is in private beta. But as an exclusive to Website Magazine readers, if you email beta@tatango.com with "Website Magazine" in the subject, you can get one of 50 available invites and start exploring the opportunities.