Category Archives: Info

Add SMS and bot functionality to google AdWords campaigns.

December 16, 2016 by mlamb

 http://venturebeat.com/2016/10/18/google-click-to-message-ads/

Opt It now offering MMS Messaging

November 5, 2014 by mlamb

We are all familiar with SMS as a marketing and communication tool.  Now, MMS can be used to compliment your current SMS programs and drive greater results.  Opt It MMS provides the ability to send rich media (pictures, video & audio) messages to mobile phones of users who have given permission to receive messages.

You can now deliver MMS messages directly to mobile phones with no new software for consumers to download or install because these rich media files are delivered as a text message to their mobile phones.

In the report, “Create Mobile Moments With Messaging,” co-authored by Julie Ask, she said:

“Messaging is the most underutilized mobile technology or mechanism, as consumer expectations shift and they expect ever more relevant, timely, quick, efficient engagement from enterprises, messaging will become indispensable as a tool. Messaging today tends to be text, but don’t overlook that it could be colors, pictures, sounds and haptic signals.”

MMS messaging has many advantages over using apps or email to deliver your branded content to your subscribers. Marketers that leverage rich media messaging in their overall marketing and promotional strategy can expect to reach a highly targeted audience, increase consumer engagement, drive incremental sales, and build loyalty by delivering rich media content directly into the pockets of their audience.

Additional information on our MMS offering is available here.

Smartphones, SMS and M-commerce – Match made in shopping heaven

June 14, 2013 by mlamb

A new report from Alliance Data Retail Services shows the mobile phone is becoming a go to device for mothers to help them with their hectic lives. 96% of moms surveyed said they like receiving SMS/text messages and emails from their favorite retailers. Receiving these types of offers keeps moms engaged and encourages them to visit their favorite retailers.

Most e/m-commerce companies focus on email for delivering promotions and offers. The problem is that most people do not even open most of their email. See the chart below:

If you are trying to reach the 18-24 demographic they don’t even use email:

Among 18-24 year olds, time spent on webmail has declined 34% in the last year alone, and nearly 50% since 2010, according to comScore’s 2012 U.S. Digital Future in Focus report.

SMS/text messaging on the other hand outperforms email with 97 percent of SMS messages opened and 83 percent opened within the first hour (Frost & Sullivan).

The combination of SMS/text messaging and smartphones begins to make the simple SMS/text message a much more powerful tool to drive M-commerce transactions for the simple fact that more people will see the message when sent via SMS/text messaging vs. email. By providing links to mobile optimized landing pages you can start the path to purchase wherever you would like them to begin.

One of the first steps an e/m-commerce company can do to test the waters is to add the option for customers to opt-in for SMS/text message promotions and offers on registration forms. This is a simple way to see if your customers are open to receiving your offers and promotions via SMS/text messaging.

Don’t think people are purchasing from their smartphones take a look at some of these interesting stats:

Mobile users will make $10 billion of purchases on their phones in 2012 and will account for 3 percent of all online spending by 2016. (Forrester Research)

 35% of m-commerce sales expected to be made on smartphone devices. (eMarketer)

There are many other ways to leverage SMS/text messaging for e/m-commerce companies. Contact us 888-577-6577 to learn how you can increase your sales by using targeted personalized SMS/text messages.

Mobile Advertising Increasingly Popular for Strengthening Brands

May 26, 2011 by Jessica Zorawski

A recent survey conducted by Strata reveals that companies are truly beginning to see and realize the benefits of text message marketing to consumers. Twenty-five percent of the respondents said they were currently using SMS marketing to send out their marketing message, up from 15 percent at the end of 2010.

This means, that just in the first months of this year, there has been a 10 percent increase within the advertising world in the amount of companies utilizing SMS marketing. That represents astonishing growth that’s likely to continue into the future, possibly at an even greater pace.

In fact, all mobile advertising communication mediums, like location based advertising and display ads, increased over the first few months of 2011. Mobile advertising is continuing to get and retain the interest of marketers, who are becoming more open than ever to diversifying their marketing mix by including mobile platforms to reach people.

Of these platforms, SMS marketing is still the one that sticks out in terms of reach. Via a simple text message, you can reach over 70 percent of the population, where as the other mobile platforms are just not there yet in terms of the number of users who use or even have them.

Remember- Opt It offers a free 30-day trial that gives you the opportunity to see for yourself, at no cost, just how SMS marketing can take your brand’s interaction with consumers to the next level.

SMS Messaging to Download Applications

May 18, 2011 by Jessica Zorawski

For the thirty percent of Americans that have access to the internet on their mobile devices, applications are available for them to download and utilize, whether it be for games, news, or information regarding their favorite brands.

Most business that utilize applications already have a text message list, and rightfully so. The two go hand-in-hand. One of the easiest ways to get people to sign up for your application is by sending out a text to your opted-in loyal customer group, with a link in the message that leads people to the downloadable app. Also, you can set up a keyword specifically dedicated to getting people signed up for the list, another way to promote your brand or business. You could host a campaign pushing people to text APP to 46786 to get the link sent to them directly, enabling you to easily track the results of who downloaded the app and when.

Depending on the device, once your customers click on the link, it will take them to their mobile browser and to the appropriate page to download the app. This page varies by phone. If they are downloading an iPhone app, it will take you to the app store where you will be given instructions on how to install the app. If they have an Android, they will arrive at the iTunes store and can look at the app from here.

The important thing to remember is that text marketing is not just a single, stand-alone marketing medium like T.V. or radio. It can actually attract people to your other marketing forms, and it can precisely track the interaction that consumers have with it and your advertisements.