What do all of these brands have in common?
- General Mills
- Papa John’s Pizza
- U.S. Tennis Association
- Coors Light
They all use SMS (text) as part of their marketing strategy.
With 74% of Canadians having a mobile phone and 90% of 18 – 34 year olds using their phone to send and receive texts (79% of 35 – 44 year olds), SMS really is a marketer’s dream.
In fact Jason Wells, CEO at ContactPoint, was recently quoted as saying: “Let me be perfectly clear: in terms of immediate response, no marketing method even compares to mobile marketing. Nothing even comes close.”
Let’s look at a few examples of how some of the World’s top brands are using text message marketing to engage consumers, increase awareness and drive sales.
In February of this year Reese’s launched a Text-to-Win promotion giving basketball fans a chance to win tickets to the 2013 NCAA Men’s Final Four.
Fans can text the word “REESES” to shortcode 44144 for a chance to instantly win a prize and get their ballot in the draw to win the tickets. Note that the promotion ended April 30, 2012.
Macy’s continually looks for new ways to grow their SMS database. Recently they ran a promotion in-line with NBC’s “Fashion Star” and invited viewers to text the word STAR to the shortcode 62297 to shop the featured looks right from their phone on Macy’s mobile website.
Macy’s leverages this engagement to promote their VIP list that consumers can opt-into and receive regular messages about special sales and events.
Starbucks is no stranger to SMS marketing. Last month they sent an email to their My Starbucks rewards members inviting them to text the word HAPPY to the shortcode 697289 to receive Frappuccino Happy Hour reminders.
This gives Starbucks a way to instantly reach their consumers with timely messages and an instant call to action – “Drop by Starbucks between 3 and 5pm today to enjoy a half-price Frappuccino!”
From Gavin Mehrotra, Director of International Media for the Coca-Cola Company: “SMS is the number one priority at Coca-Cola in mobile”.