SMS!

I’ve been pondering the benefits of SMS marketing lately. For those who still raise an eyebrow to the whole text-messaging thing, SMS stands for Short Message Service, and its available on almost every mobile phone.

Remember Barack Obama’s VP announcement? That was planned to come out over SMS. You can view Obama’s mobile contact page here. And regardless of your political bent, you have to admit that the Obama campaign is handling his marketing efforts really well.

But enough politics. The reason I find SMS so appealing for marketing is that people are spending so much time on their mobile phones. If you’ve been in an airport lately you know what I mean. Out with the laptop, in with the iPhone.

So marketers, what are we waiting for?! Unlike any other media delivery device, mobile phones are with people 24 hours a day. SMS provides us with the unique opportunity to take relevant marketing to the next level by using the dimension of time.

Today’s savvy marketers (the 1:1 kind) are already individualizing offers using variable data print, personalized URLs (PURLs), and customized email blasts. But it’s hard to control timing in those channels—mail gets delivered at different times for every person, PURLs are accessed at the customers’ will, and email blasts get ignored in crowded inboxes.

But imagine getting a text-message coupon from a local restaurant just as you are getting up from your desk to go to lunch. BAM! SMS has instantly delivered relevant information based on prospect location, need, and the time of day.

As Twitter is to blogs, SMS is to email. Think about the possibilities. Use SMS to drive people to a website or PURL. Use SMS as part of a customer loyalty program. Use SMS as part of a lead nurture initiative. Use SMS to solidify relationships with new customers.

But like every media channel, SMS isn’t perfect. Here are what I consider to be the technology’s biggest challenges:

1. Selling SMS. It’s hard enough to convince some clients that spending the extra money for customized direct mail or PURLs. If marketers want to sell SMS, they’ll have to anticipate resistance and have an answer to every “Thanks, but…”
2. Building the database. Customers will need to opt-in for SMS marketing to work, plain and simple. I foresee mobile spammers getting sued and losing.
3. Integration! Integration! Integration! Single channel marketing never works as well as multiple channel marketing. Unless you have a program like XMPie that can organize digital print, PURLs, email, and SMS efforts, you can expect coordination headaches.

Until L8TR.