Texting For Dollars

Marketing is often where smaller businesses fall way short of their larger sized competitors. But there are ways for resourceful and creative smaller businesses to compensate: For instance, have you tried texting your customers? It's cheap and easy and it can get you the targeted attention your business craves.According to the Wall Street Journal, ads sent via text message are catching on.

Writes Emily Steel: "Some marketers like text-message ads because -- unlike most ads -- viewers asks to receive the message, which means the marketer doesn't bombard the viewer with unsolicited commercials. The potential audience is also attractive: Almost all cellphones can send and receive text messages. Finally, marketers say, the results of text-message ads are much easier to measure than those of mobile Web ads."

The WSJ covers the larger companies that are using this technology  companies like Coor's, Marriott, and Radio Shack -- but do not be fooled: text messaging can be very much a smaller business' marketing dream

A couple of months ago, the St. Petersburg Times profiled Vincenzo Longo the owner of V's Martini Bar in Clearwater, Florida. He has been using text-message marketing to tell his clients what's new at his bar. According to the article, "Longo sends short messages to the cell phones of about 450 of his customers once or twice a week, telling them about drink specials or upcoming events. Sometimes they get a coupon for a free drink. At 8 cents per message, it doesn't take too many customers buying that second drink for Longo to get his money back."

Significantly for smaller businesses the article notes that there are companies out there  the article highlights a Tampa, Florid-based Agile Communications but there are lots others -- that will simplify the process. These companies "maintain databases of customers who have given permission so as not to run afoul of the law or good customer service by cell spamming the unsuspecting."

Agile COO Rick Bowen noted in the St. Petersburg Times article that "text is being applied in many novel ways, from emergency notifications to political organizing. As the industry moves to unlimited messaging, the practice will only grow."

Have you used text advertising in your smaller business? Are you considering it? Let us know in the comments.