SMS based marketing is definitely on the rise. Why is that? Well for starters think about this. There are 6 billion people on the planet. There are over 3 billion cell phones in circulation. That is equivalent to 2.5 times more cell phones than internet connections!!! That will definitely qualify as a potential market for advertisers.
How many of you have received a text based ad, more importantly did you respond? In the month of September alone 4.7 milllion people in the US responded to an SMS ad. That may seem a bit surprising. I know I was surprised to read that data. The trend is definitely on the upward swing as well. Response rates have steadily risen since May from 4.3 million to 4.7 million in September.
So if 4.7 million people responded, imagine the increasing number of text based ads. Currently a majority of the ads are from the mobile operators centered around their mobile phone service (Downloads, News, Entertainment, etc..) I expect to see an increase of advertisers focus on this medium. Especially with a generation of individuals who rely heavily on this style of communication.
So do not be surprised if you begin to feel that familiar buzz of your phone when you receive a text message and you look and there is some form of advertisement. Be prepared for more messages from your favorite or not so favorite advertisers are coming to a mobile device near you.
How is this even legal? I have to pay per message I receive or send on my cell phone, so how is it legal for some company to send me an advertisement that I then have to pay for? I can understand (kind of) if it’s from my cell provided because they can send it free, but the minute I start getting spammed on my cell phone via SMS I will be looking for a new provider. One of the reasons I don’t even own a home phone is because it was just a way for telemarketers to reach me, and what I love about the cell phone is that they can’t call me on my cell because it’s not legal due to the fact that I have to pay when receiving incoming calls (in the form of minutes). I certainly hope marketing doesn’t start taking over the cell phone. I have heard the rumors about the gPhone offering up a free phone and service at the expense of being hit with adds every time you try to use the phone, but there is no way I would even think about that as an option. I will pay all day to keep from being spammed.
I agree, I am not a fan of it either. I know that I have received advertisements from ESPN about upcoming events and I have not seen a charge for it. It will be interesting to see how it plays out. I know though that it is in the sights of marketers as the next big medium for direct communication. It may be more of an opt in the beginning, but with the gphone things will get very interesting.