SMS Marketing- A versatile genre in the world of Marketing

In the modern age of digital technology, it’s safe to say the world is a connected place, if not a connected marketplace. Just a click on the touchpad of your preferred electronic device and there you are connected to every last inch on the planet. Connections know no limitation, if one can be connected socially, they might as well be connected professionally. After all, it is trade and commerce that drives the world and makes it go round and round. So it would not be wrong to say that the world is, after all, a connected marketplace. However, even in these days of easy and affordable access to widespread technology, there are unfortunate quarters that are yet to see the light of advancement and modernization.

There are abundant demographies in the most advanced nations where people are either yet to be smitten by the wonders of technology or they find it unaffordable for whatever reasons, such as unable to access a smart phone which is reasonably expensive, to say the least.  However, it would be wrong to say that these tiers of population are absolutely disconnected from the media. While television and radio are bygone mediums of media, the standard nonfeature enabled mobile phone is still very actively used in many corners of the world. And contrary to popular belief, these chunks of users actively using traditional nonfeature mobile phones are actually quite a substantial number. These numbers when aggregated from different corners of a single demography are too large to simply ignore by virtue of their conscious or unconscious ability not to upgrade to a smartphone. For the simple reason, while they are exercising their right to personal discretion, there is nothing convincing that robs them of their status as valid consumers of society with equally poised purchasing power.

Hence, completely obliterating out this section of the masses in brand communication because of their shying away from a particular form of media device would only be equivalent to foolhardiness.

Hence the question now arises, if this section of consumers or target audience has no access to smartphones and television and radio advertising is too expensive calculating the reach per person, given their combined potential as a sales hub, then how does one attempt to reach the community without spending a fortune? The answer lies in introspection to the very minute detail. The community of people we are referring may not cohabit in the same location and may be constrained by knowledge and resources, but they are not disconnected. Hence, how do they stay in touch with their near and dear ones and get their daily life going on, one may feel compelled to ask out of curiosity. The answer is that this section of society still relies on human intervention to get their lives moving. They use standard mobile phones to talk to trusted people and seek advice before making a purchase or decision. They receive text messages from their near and dear ones and they reply to them using the text messaging service or SMS. It might be pertinent to point out at this juncture of time that these text messages being referred to here, are not instant messenger text messaging service but a platform for standard texting provided by the service provider that are compatible on a standard non feature phone.

SMS or text messaging system is still very popular in many belts of any demographic and unknown to us, is still used widely as a dependable form of communication and intimation by a sizeable chunk. Sending out bulk SMS in order to capitalize on this untapped section of consumers is an innovation of traditional marketing methods and is known as SMS marketing in contemporary parlance. The scheme works very simplistically, with the sender having a communication message with a call to action embedded in the message itself. The message is then launched to be released to bulk recipients invoking them to act accordingly. It results in a reach per cost that is actually so minimal that it can be compared to dirt and if the communication message is crafted tactfully, then for the least investment this form of marketing reaps maximum profit in terms of consumer action. It is extremely effective when trying to target rural areas or audience from emerging townships that are popularly referred to as Tier 1 and Tier 2 town in marketing parlance. With an almost negligible cost per reach, the best text sms companies are equipped to extract maximum returns from investing in such an exercise.