SMS Text Marketing Blog

As the November election comes closer, the campaign managers behind the current batch of presidential hopefuls will likely be looking for ways to utilize digital and mobile marketing to help their candidates’ causes. Should they require inspiration, they need only look back at the past seven years to study how President Obama harnessed the digital media to build his reputation and promote his agenda.

In fact, in today’s world of technology-driven information and social awareness, a candidate running for president must embrace digital marketing in the way Obama did. What did President Obama do to reach out to generations built on technology, to effectively convey his messages? Including mobile marketing and social media marketing, the following are some of the digital strategies Obama used and practices that campaigns in 2016 and the years following can learn from.

Use Iconic Quotes

President Obama has been a powerful communicator, so it made sense for his PR team to assemble some of his best quotes and put them in graphic form for sharing online. Particularly on social media, sharing short but inspiring quotes from the President is a perfect online marketing tool to sway public opinion your way.

Spread “Share With a Friend” Images

When Obama was running for the White House in 2012, his team created a series of images that highlighted the President’s biggest accolades and shared them on social media, asking everyone to “Share With a Friend” the accomplishments that meant the most to them. This campaign was quite simple, but it encouraged mass sharing and promoting of Obama messages through eye-catching images.

Humanize Your Candidate

President Obama’s team was great at humanizing him through social media channels like Twitter, in particular, leveraging the power of social media to show that he is funny, kind, a good husband, a loving father, emotional, or whatever they wanted to portray him as. Through social media marketing, and the sharing of pictures of President Obama hugging his wife or acting in other compassionate ways, the Obama campaign crew kept its boss approachable and connected with the rest of us.

Optimized Opt-In Pages

Obama’s web and marketing managers played with different versions of splash pages until they found one that was able to generate more than $60 million for his campaign. They toyed with, and tweaked, button copy, calls to action, and imagery until they had a successful landing page that yielded amazing results in terms of campaign donations and loyal supporters.

Tailor Your Message to Your Audience

Whether you are implementing mobile marketing, social media marketing, or any other type of marketing, it is imperative to tailor your message to the audience you want to attract and keep. President Obama did just this by creating Kids for Obama, Asian Americans Pacific Islanders for Obama, and Obama Pride campaigns – among others – that featured specialized logos that were variations of his notable logo.

There are dozens of other ways that President Obama used mobile marketing and social media marketing tools to portray himself as contemporary, knowledgeable, a man of the people, and in touch with today’s issues. Any political candidate running within the next several years would be wise to embrace the tactics that helped make Obama the vision for change that Americans were hoping for.

Wondering how to make the best possible use of MMS marketing for small businesses? Get the inspiration you need by reviewing six of the most creative MMS marketing campaigns from the last few years. Learn how the following brands set themselves apart from the competition via MMS marketing and see if you come up with a few outstanding ideas of your own.

Julep

The makeup company launched a mobile marketing campaign that resulted in a database of more than 5,000 subscribers within the first 24 hours. Julep enticed opt-ins by creating a highly appealing text offer that provided customers with 50 percent off of their next nail polish purchases. The ‘Julep Mobile Insider Club’ was promoted by sending emails to the existing subscriber database and posting about the campaign on social media outlets. One promotion about their new Kai nail polish color resulted in a 34.23 percent click-through rate and a 17.44 percent purchase conversion rate.

BMW

This famous luxury car brand encouraged consumers to invest in expensive winter tires by creating a campaign that reminded them how such tires are essential to safety. Winter tires offer much better tread on snowy, icy roads! BMW sent personalized MMS messages to its subscriber list that focused on what those individuals’ vehicles needed specifically, resulting in a 30 percent conversion rate from 1,200 messages.

American Eagle Outfitters

Clothing retailer American Eagle Outfitters’ creative MMS marketing campaign is all about announcing upcoming sales, including holiday sales and flash sales for clearance items. Promo codes are frequently included with messages, and are tracked at Point of Sale and linked to the mobile-friendly website.

National Wholesale Liquidators

National Wholesale Liquidators offered consumers who opted in to their mobile marketing campaign $5 off any purchase of $25 or more. The campaign was advertised through online, in-store, and print advertising channels, resulting in a database of 50,000 mobile phone numbers. It was subsequently found that customers who opted in to the campaign spent 80 percent more than those who were not part of said campaign.

Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut aims to help answer the age-old question, “What are we having for dinner?” The fast food chain sends mobile messages to customers with rumbling stomachs that feature promotions and coupons to encourage pizza as the answer to the dinner query. The campaign increased foot traffic as well as online order numbers.

Ace Hardware

Ace Hardware continually strives to increase customer engagement in a variety of mobile-tastic ways. For example, it offers coupons through its microsite, and uses barcodes and promo codes to increase trackable offer numbers. It also allows customers to save their offers for later use via SMS, email, or Passbook. Continually providing a variety of excellent offers in combination with in-store signs that promote opting-in has resulted in the numbers the hardware store desires.

These and many more examples of creative MMS marketing campaigns demonstrate the power of mobile marketing and how sending texts to consumers at the right time is well worth the effort. People open text messages almost immediately after they receive them, something that cannot be said for email and other means of communication. Why not leverage MMS marketing to your benefit?

Mobile marketing impacts the sporting industry. Major sporting events are a key driver of emergent communication technologies, and text marketing is no different. The 2012 London Olympics saw mobile advertising grow by 50%, as businesses recognized the enormous power of the spectacle as an attention-grabber that could attendees into phone numbers on lists. 

Other sports organizations are realizing the potential of text marketing as a way of engaging fans whose prior involvement in the game was limited to hollering support (or abuse!) from the touchline. The smartphones now carried by most fans allow them to interact directly with their club or team. Collegiate athletic departments are looking towards the 35% of young sports fans who routinely comment on games via social media.

College sports fans and tech-savvy youngsters aren’t just easy bedfellows – they’re often one and the same person. Educated and equipped with their smartphone round-the-clock, this demographic is instinctively primed for your text marketing campaign.

It’s not just college sports or major one-offs like the Olympics that are benefitting from text marketing. Sport is big business, and everyone from the Bundesliga in Germany to the NBA in the US, right down to minor league grassroots enterprises are using mobile platforms to transmit, among other things:

• The latest transfer news
• Results
• Player Statistics
• Tactical information
• Fixtures
• League table standing

Text marketing is helping the global reach of sports organizations grow. Even a decade ago, the English Premier League was still largely the preserve of UK soccer fans. At the end of 2012, 37% of global mobile media users followed it.

The beauty of sports as a vertical is how easily it can be broken up into sub-verticals. Take the aforementioned soccer as an example. You have a pyramid of fandom, all pointing to ‘soccer’ at the top. Beneath that you have a variety of international clubs, which capture huge audiences (nearly half the global population watched the 2010 World Cup, according to FIFA). Below that are the top-flight club teams from around the world, which attract cross-country interest thanks to the European Cup and other continental competitions. Then there is a raft of amateur and semi-pro lower leagues, each with their own loyal following. Finally you get right down to Sunday soccer teams and casual spectators who watch the occasional televised match. This grassroots fanbase is just that – a ‘base’ on which the entire soccer industry is built. 

To varying degrees, these fans have strong, identifiable allegiances that translate directly into personal preferences. This segmentation neatly forms the basis of an effective, highly targeted mobile marketing strategy, which no sports organization should go without.

According to researchers, people who use their smartphones to send text messages have what’s referred to as a “texting rhythm” that’s detectable upon evaluation of their brains. The new study shows that texting can actually change a human’s brain waves. 

Little is known about the neurological effects of smartphones on humans, aside from this bit of fresh fodder; but scientists are coming to find out more about how our brains function while using the devices. The study analyzed data from 129 participants, all whom were monitored for more than 15 months via video footage and electroencephalograms (EEGs). It found the unique “rhythm” in about one out of five participants, all of whom had their brain waves monitored as they used their smartphones to send texts.

The Mayo Clinic Study

Researchers working at the Mayo Clinic in the United States found this “texting rhythm” after asking study participants to take part in various activities using their smartphones, such as sending normal text messages, tapping their fingers on their devices’ screen, and using the phones’ audio telephone capabilities. All of these tasks were to evaluate cognitive and attention function.

Only sending text messages caused the brain rhythm to change in study participants. Researchers think that it’s the combination of auditory-verbal and motor neurological activity, combined with mental activity, that creates these unique brainwaves. Further, there seems to be no correlation between the “texting rhythm” and the participants’ demographic profiles, such as gender, age, detection of an existing brain lesion, or epileptic history.

Further Findings Including iPad Use

William Tatum, director of the epilepsy center and the epilepsy-monitoring unit at the Mayo Clinic, led the study and says that the new brain rhythm is largely connected to a vastly distributed network that is increased by emotion or attention. He states that the “texting rhythm” is an “objective metric” of the human brain’s capability of processing non-verbal data while using an electronic device.

Researchers hypothesized that the “texting rhythm” might only be found in participants using mobile devices that could fit in their hands, because these devices have small screens and require greater concentration. They saw, however, that the rhythm was also present in the participants who messaged on iPads. 

Can We Use This Data to Reach Any Conclusions?

The Mayo Clinic study could provide significant implications when it comes to conversations about interfacing with computers and even driving. Tatum says that we now have a biological reason to refrain from texting and driving. Texting changes brain waves, so people (especially heavy-texting millenials) need to avoid doing so while operating a car.

Tatum also states that there is a lot more research that needs to be done to understand the brain responses generated when a human sends a text. The complete Mayo Clinic study was published in Epilepsy and Behaviour, a medical journal.

In many rural places of the world that have shortages of food, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where one in 10 people do not have enough to eat, the Word Food Programme (WFP) relies on food monitoring systems operated via mobile technology. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is the second-largest country in Africa and a land filled with fertile soil and abundant rivers, food insecurity or “the availability and adequate access at all times to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food” remains a concern and a crisis.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has been involved in wars and rebellions for the last 20 years or more. Like countries in similar circumstances, it has had its entire food system disrupted and much of its population displaced. The WFP is using new mobile technology to monitor, and provide, food in these vulnerable communities. It has been using smartphones and voice recognition software to collect food security information on a regular basis since 2014.

Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (mVAM)

Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (mVAM) is a project that 15 countries throughout the world have implemented to monitor food security. The first pilot for the program took place in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, and its successfully been replicated in Mugunga III, which is a site that hosts more than 4,600 people near Goma. These early mobile data collection projects in DRC will likely be copied in other areas of the province, in the months ahead, and food price collection information will be introduced throughout the nation. 

The primary goal of mVAM is to gather data on food access, price, consumption and coping mechanisms (per household level) remotely. This allows the WFP to access food security in a specific zone in a better way, and it lets the organization provide emergency help if possible. Each month, WFP employees Jean-Marie Kaseku and Mireille Hangi call nearly 300 respondents who live in Mugunga II, and they ask them several targeted and specific questions. They want to know exactly how many days out of the last seven they ate protein, fats, and cereals. They inquire about what coping mechanisms they used if they did not have enough food to eat. They hope to find out if individuals had to borrow money to eat, reduce rations so all family members could eat, or decrease daily meal intake.

Remote Data Collection Proves Easier

In countries where infrastructure, like roads, has been damaged, it’s often difficult to know if populations are eating and thriving. Without a means to meet face to face for interviews, remote data collection proves more flexible. This method for gathering data is also more cost effective and quicker. Compare a phone call and technological analysis of data to other methods, such as in-person interviews that cost $20 to $40 per family or transcription of those meetings that might take four to six weeks.

The WFP project is particularly useful in areas of extreme vulnerability and illiteracy. With the mobile food security data collection project, the WFP is able to understand at a more effective level what people need and how to get it to them.

Text messaging has become a way of life and a primary means of communication, so it is no surprise that the use of text messaging in healthcare has been growing. Even our doctors are now sending us texts regarding prescriptions and other matters concerning our health care. For many, this type of communication is well received and easy to engage in. But with the new convenience comes the need to make sure that mobile messaging is Heath Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant.

Use of Text Messaging in Healthcare Requires Extra Precautions

The Pew Research Center says that almost two thirds of people in the United States own smartphones, which means there’s a good chance that patients and doctors are used to communicating via text messaging. Both of these groups likely feel comfortable exchanging SMS messages in the course of discussing patient orders and treatment. But in a healthcare setting, SMS service takes on extreme importance. 

The Joint Commission recently said it’s acceptable to use text messaging to submit patient orders, within certain parameters, but it cautions that critical steps are needed to remain HIPAA compliant. Firstly, it says that in order for text messaging regarding health to be compliant, people must be happy with the service. According to Al Villarin, MD – a CMIO at IT consulting firm Burwood Group – compliance begins with a contract between the clinical and the technical. To remain compliant, any healthcare tool must fit easily into an existing workflow and be well received by everyone in the loop.

Burwood Group executive director Tim Needham, who oversees healthcare solutions delivery practice, agrees and says that new communications systems succeed only if they can involve the entirely of the participants. Physicians, therefore, must only use technology – in this case SMS services – if they deliver value and are efficient. Otherwise, healthcare practitioners and patients will revert back to the default methods that they know.

Careful Consideration of Text Messaging Services Is needed

To remain compliant, it’s important that healthcare facilities and professionals carefully screen potential SMS services to make sure they offer secure communication systems and ease of use. Thankfully, most vendors in this area have focused on security and ease – and therefore HIPAA compliance – for the last few years. They’ve developed tools that seem to be well adopted across departments. Still, finding those sms services that the entire industry takes hold of is another story. This has been difficult; the potential is there to make healthcare communications more organized for all professionals and patients.

As part of the HIPAA compliance evaluation process, it’s imperative that each hospital and physician’s office take the time to analyze the effectiveness of its mobile communications – and then make necessary adjustments if needed. A tool is only as good as its ability to serve the people, and compliance is most likely found when it can be proven that all parties feel satisfied with the service used.

Android mobile device users in the UK have a serious potential problem to deal with: Marcher malware. Marcher is a destructive piece of malware that steals banking usernames and passwords, and cybercriminals are using it to steal phone users' private information.

Marcher malware has been ripping off Android users’ logins since 2013, when the cyber fraud program entered the underground forums for Russian speakers. In the beginning, the malware only went after credit card info by overlaying a phony screen on the Google Play store, which asked for credit card numbers, expiration dates, and codes from users. Then it targeted large banks and financial services, focusing on companies in Germany.

The evolution of Marcher malware now threatens those who bank with financial companies in Germany, the UK, France, Austria, Turkey, and Australia. Marcher only attacks Android devices; there are no reports of an iOS Marcher malware version.

Marcher Malware Has Specific Targets Within the Android Market

Android users who have the popular KitKat, Jelly Bean, and Lollipop versions installed on their mobile devices are among those hardest hit with the Marcher malware infection, according to Check Point security company researchers. These users have frequently been receiving phishing emails that purport to be a Flash update. After users click the links in their emails, which they think will let them upgrade their OS and safeguard their devices against identity theft and data loss, Marcher’s process of devastation starts.

The three-step road to havoc involves deception and trickery, as users are coaxed into enabling the installation of the malicious app (outside of the Google Play store) and installing it, which leads to the fake overlay screens popping up on bank apps to gather personal information. These overlays are made to look like necessary components of users’ approved banking applications. Check Point says that they’re easy to create and often programmed by individuals that the original malware operators have outsourced.

Banking Apps Are the Target, But Not the Only Victim

About 88 percent of the apps that Marcher targets are banking applications, but this malware also goes after airline, ecommerce, and payment system apps. The primary goal of the malware is to steal login information, which allows easy access to personal information, funds, and more.

IBM says that Marcher’s capabilities turn users’ mobile devices into tools that can harvest authentication elements and credentials whenever the criminals’ needs arise. When a mobile phone or tablet becomes infected with Marcher, those who control the malware can continue to send text messages encouraging users to go to their mobile banking apps and give up private details. This is often done by sending an SMS message that claims money has deposited into a user’s account. 

IBM states that users are typically curious, and that they follow up on the SMS message by checking their accounts right away for the unexpected transfers. Unfortunately, the fake overlay is waiting for them, and it steals their banking credentials. This is possible because the Trojan hijacks the text message, and it fetches for overlays that match a long list of banking apps that the user might have on his or her device. 

These deceptions are just a couple of the ways that Marcher is creating mayhem for Android users. As is true with other malware programs, a crucial way to avoid the devastation is to carefully monitor the SMS messages that arrive on your mobile devices. IBM suggests that Android users not follow any URLs from text messages or emails that offer unexpected perks, bonuses, problems, or tools. It’s best to treat these messages with extreme caution, and to delete them immediately and follow up on issues of concern by phone or on a separate device.

Today’s young adults aren’t letting go of their phones so much as letting go of the idea of talking on their phones. That’s the growing takeaway from many recent reports that suggest millennials believe texting is more efficient than talking.

Multiple Studies Show Gen Y Prefers Texts

New data from the OpenMarket revealed that 76 percent of millennials would rather lose calling options than texting, and that texts are “more convenient” to their lifestyles. 

When it comes to business purposes, most millennials find that receiving texted reminder for payments, appointments, and special promotions is “helpful.”

A poll by Gallup also confirmed that text messaging outranks phone calls as the dominant form of communication among millennials, with 68 percent of 18 to 29-year-olds saying they texted “a lot” the previous day. In the last couple of years, monthly texting among this age group has more than doubled.

Why Millennials Are Choosing Texts

So, why are millennials so keen on text messaging? Here are six reasons why millennials won’t pick up the phone.

Call Are Presumptuous

One reason is that many see phone calls as overly intrusive or even presumptuous. Phone calls presume that a person needs to drop everything to adhere to another’s agenda. Texting, like email, is a passive form of communication that doesn’t require real-time interaction.

Situation Dictates Communication Style

Young adults choose texting as their everyday form of communication. If something exciting happens, such as a wedding or vacation, millennials decide to share that special occasion via Snap Chat or Instagram. But if the subject is serious enough, they will surely pick up the phone.

Text Threads Are Like Conversation

Today’s smartphones utilize a system of texts that plays out like normal face-to-face conversations. The folks who talk a lot also text in longer threads. The people who are succinct don’t. If you’re a chatterbox in real life, your phone doesn’t have to slow you down.

No Need for Privacy

With social media being such a huge aspect of their world, millennials don’t really care about privacy. In fact, many of them will take part in large group texts to get more input, so even the idea of 1:1 privacy has become an archaic concept. 

Planning

While on the topic of group texts, note that millennials use group texting to make plans with friends. It’s convenient and also quick.

Superfluous

Phone calls require a lot of airtime and beating around the bush to get to the point of the message. Texting requires individuals to put thoughts into words, enabling them to share only the essential details and get straight to the point.

Reaching Millennials With Text Marketing

If you want to tap into the major market of millennials, you’re going to have to utilize text marketing. Thankfully, our professional marketing team at EZ Texting can provide you with the necessary tools and tips to properly engage these young consumers.

Contact us today by calling (800) 753-5732 to learn more.

We live in a fast-paced, mobile-centric world. This is why many big-name brands are turning their attention to mobile technology to reach consumers. But as customer preferences and behavior spill over into the business workforce, businesses are now utilizing the benefits of these technologies to their advantages.

 One study in the UK shows that providing mobile apps to workers can boost productivity by 34 percent. The drive in mobility is a key player in the business tech agenda, as more companies are recognizing its value.

Here are a few ways mobile technology is boosting productivity. 

Communication is Key

Like every good business professional knows, communication is a critical part of the success of a company. The integration of mobile devices, such as smartphones and laptops, makes it easier for workers to collaborate and for companies to communicate and connect with staff, vendors and consumers. 

Real-time communication has huge customer service benefits. Responding to consumers in a prompt fashion, offering a greater range of products and services, making product information available to customers, and improving turnaround and service all equate to better business profits, as Air Canada found when it replaced paper processes with interactive mobile devices for ground staff.

Workers benefit, too. From interacting with colleagues while traveling to attending an office meeting from 1,000 miles away, mobile business keeps the lines of communication constantly open. 

Mobile Marketing

Customers now have 24/7 access to their favorite brands via mobile technology. Companies are realizing the value of advertising to on-the-go consumers and now offer advertising and marketing through SMS (text) messaging, banner ads, mobile apps, mobile websites, QR codes, and more. 

Not only can these campaigns be customized to reach a more targeted audience due to software that “reads” the websites and sees what people are seeking on their mobile devices, but it is also helping businesses reach customers from anywhere at any time.

Cloud Commuting

This technology lets companies store data or applications on a remote server that can be accessed by authorized personnel. Employees can then create, view, and share this information to facilitate a variety of tasks, such as banking, virtual meetings, and file sharing. If a company has telecommuting workers, such as employees on maternity leave or vacation, these individuals can have quick and easy access to info that allows them to work from anywhere.

Cost Reductions

The infrastructure to support a mobile workforce is more affordable than equipping a physical office with desktops, servers, printers, and faxes. Allowing workers to have access to training materials, company info, and more can save them (and your business) money on travel, instructors, accommodations, rented office space, and more.

Mobile technology is proven to boost business productivity through connection, cost reduction, and creative mobile marketing. If you want to take advantage of mobile marketing and technology, contact our company today to learn more.