MOBILE MARKETING Imagine if you could have your own personal billboard, right in your customers’ pockets. With cell phone text messaging, this kind of contact is not only possible—it’s targeted, low-cost, and very effective. Consider:

• Four out of five people keep a cell phone with them at all times
• One-third of all mobile phone users sends or receives text messages
• 21-32 year-olds use texting more than actual voice calls

The market is ready, but the key to success is execution. Let’s face it, people are already bombarded with advertising from every direction, and we’re usually doing everything in our power to avoid ads. DVRs were invented to skip through commercials. Junk mail goes straight into the trash. Ad blockers erase banner ads from websites. Most people would love to take e-mail spammers and telemarketers into a locked room with a baseball bat.

Text/SMS messaging is different. Done correctly, mobile advertising reaches highly receptive customers instantly. It’s opt-in and spam free. Of all text messages, 95% are read (most of them immediately), and U.S. consumers respond to 12% of all mobile ads. Plus, next to nobody else out there is texting, so the message doesn’t get lost in a sea of noise from other businesses.