Undoubtedly, the mobile space is drastically changing and particularly as a result of the changes that are occurring in the smartphone category. With the release of the Apple iPhone and the growth of BlackBerry handsets, people are starting to browse more on their mobiles and data plans have shifted in Canada to allow for this. Mobile company’s like us (Plastic The Mobile Agency) are really excited about this shift and see all the great possibilities that exist to expand and grow the mobile industry. More and more we hear our competitors, clients and industry experts speak about browser capabilities, applications and new technologies that are taking advantage of these better devices.
The technology and the possibilities excite our curiosities and stir our imagination but we also also have to consider the analytics. How many people can be targeted? What is the reach? What is the engagement level? What is the ROI and what is the per user acquisition cost? Unfortunately, we are at a time with little access to mobile analytics and looking at handset usage and penetration rates paints a gloomy story. There are still millions of people who don’t use their phones to browse and even more people without smartphones so how can you really get maximum reach? For this reason I still believe in the power of SMS and campaigns oriented around text-messaging. In fact, SMS is superior to other modes of communication such as email or direct mail. There are many benefits to SMS campaigns and these can be used by brands to communicate with their audiences:
SMS allows you to:
- Reach a greater number of people as an overwhelming majority of mobile handsets are SMS enabled (95%+)
- Allows for better use of marketing spend. SMS is as very cost effective way to reach users and is far cheaper than traditional print advertising
- have effective campaigns since SMS campaigns are estimated to be 10x more effective than print advertising
- Track and evaluate your interaction with users whereas print advertising does not allow for responses.
- to targeted towards 13-35 age range. It is estimated that about 1742 SMS messages are sent per month in the (13-17 age group) and 790 sent in the (17-24 age group). The third highest usage is 331 messages per month for the (25-35 age group) according to Nielsen.
With a greater reach, more user interaction, better response rates by your audience, better tracking and more cost effective, it sometimes blows our minds why some companies are not taking advantage of this great mode of communication.
Plastic Mobile Agency located in Toronto Ontario helps our clients evaluate their mobile needs and understand their targets. We provide mobile strategies that are suited for our clients and suggest to them with the most effective use of their marketing budet.
