Text Message Marketing: How local businesses are utilizing mobile marketing strategies

Nov. 4, 2010 - PRLog -- The other day, my sixteen year old sister Lauren and I had just finished watching a movie together, catching up on some overdue quality time. In her curious nature, she asked me to explain exactly what it is that the company I work for, Pangolin SMS, does. I paused…and looked her with a blank stare on my face, as I tried to put the concept of “text message software for mobile marketing” into a context that she would understand.  I began to explain Pangolin’s history to her, and how we were one of the first companies to offer a full service mobile marketing product to clients, which combines both software and hardware components, allowing users to perform a variety of text message functions on their existing laptop or desktop computer. As I proceeded to explain all of this to her, I could tell that her interest was quickly fading. Then it happened, a moment which illustrated exactly what Pangolin’s text message software does… She received a text message on her phone, reading “Today only, receive 30% off your favorite brand name jeans, when you buy two pairs or more.” I then told her that this is what Pangolin SMS does; we enable companies to send her information on the products she is interested in, using the text message features on her cell phone. Not only did this text message help me illustrate what our company’s software does, but it made me look pretty cool in her eyes.  And soon we were off to the store, so that I could buy my sister some new jeans.

Examples like this are happening all the time, and illustrate just how effective text message marketing is; not only for large corporations, but for local businesses as well.  The idea is simple: People visit your venue…be it a salon, retail outlet, restaurant, nightclub, bar or lounge. They see a message within your location that asks them to “opt in” thus enabling them to receive text message updates from your business. Then, as you have various specials, sales, events, etc to offer, you send out bulk text message blasts to your database of numbers, and keep customers informed on your latest offers.

Nightclubs have been utilizing this form of advertising for some time, sending out text messages to their guest lists, inviting people to their venue, getting people onto VIP reservations, and promoting various events they have going on.

And now some very novel ways of using text message marketing are cropping up, and are certainly worth noting. For example restaurants are using this technology now to create awareness for their business. People who dine out, and enjoy their restaurant experience, are “opting in” to receive informative updates from that restaurant. By texting a keyword like “Restaurant 1” to a phone number, they can receive periodic text messages from that restaurant, informing them about upcoming specials, features, and new menu items that are available. Local beauty salons are doing the same thing, with clients “opting in” to receive special offers, notifications, and news pertaining to their salon. Retail outlets also are utilizing text message marketing, sending out digital coupons to customers for various sales specials they are promoting.

This type of mobile marketing is proven to be highly effective for multiple reasons:

First, there is an aspect of loyalty in it. Customers trust the product or service the business provides, and like knowing about special offers, events, or promotions available.  The fact is, customers actually want the information you have to offer, because after all, they are requesting to receive it. If the customers who are in your venue like the products or services you provide, they will opt in to stay up to date with the latest offers you have.

Second, think about the three items you must have at all times: Your keys, your wallet or purse, and that magical word… your cell phone. Unlike traditional marketing avenues, which may or may not reach your desired audience or which may be blocked by a spam filter, text message marketing gets your advertisements sent directly to the intended target, because it lands on that trusted piece of technology they cannot live without, their cell phone.

Third, text message marketing has an incredibly high response rate. Seventy percent of mobile subscriber’s send and receive text messages on a regular basis, and 97% of all text messages are read within 15 minutes of a person receiving them! In addition, promotions sent via text message blasts currently have a 12% response rate, meaning, if you send your advertisement out to 1,000 people that at least 120 of them are going to respond to it. These statistics trump the response rates offered by many traditional forms of marketing, and the costs associated with running text message marketing campaigns are relatively low.

Pangolin (http://www.pangolinsms.com) is a company that offers complete text message marketing solutions to businesses, which allow them to run their own mobile marketing campaigns. Compared with other text message marketing providers that “lease” you the software, (meaning you pay a “per text message”, or “per campaign fee”), Pangolin actually sells the software outright, thus allowing you to run the same kind of text messaging promotions, but in many cases the costs are exponentially cheaper.  Pangolin offers several software levels to suit all types of budgets, from small local businesses, to large scale corporate clients. At each level, the software allows users to send out promotional text message blasts to clients, while automatically creating a database of numbers for future contact and promotions. Pangolin’s software also gives users the ability to run SMS voting, text to win campaigns, and automated information reply services.  In addition, their software gives users the option of incorporating a “text to screen” component, where people can send text messages to TV’s and various screens at their venue, and engage in text message chat, as well as texting song requests to the screen, birthday shout outs, rants, raves, and more to share with everyone.

Pangolin entered the text message industry in the year 2000, offering their Interactive Messaging Unlimited software to high profile clients around the world, including PC Magazine, NVIDIA, InHD Networks, T-Mobile, Logica CMG, 20th Century Fox, and the US Navy. However the real revolution for text messaging is now taking place at the local level, where small businesses are utilizing Pangolin’s text message software to keep customers updated on their latest offers, and coming back for more. Check out their website, at www.PangolinSMS.com for more information.

For more information on Pangolin, and their award winning line of Products, visit http://www.PangolinSMS.com.

Media contact:
Justin Perry
Justin@Pangolin.com  
Phone: (407)-299-2088

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Pangolin is a global corporation, that specializes in creating software and hardware solutions for the laser display and text messaging industries. Products allow users to create award winning laser light shows, and run text message marketing solutions.