1. Appointment reminders

The possibilities for SMS are still being explored. There’s is still a wide-open frontier to explore.

One great feature of text-message marketing that has emerged recently is

the ability to send appointment reminders. Some early studies have shown that this can cut no-shows by HALF!

Those of you who run service-oriented businesses know how big a deal this is from a money-saving standpoint. We’re

talking MAJOR savings—money that can be funneled into your business’s products, employees, and marketing efforts.

It sounds crazy, but even churches are using SMS to increase engagement and drive up attendance on Sunday morning!

Bottom line:

●    SMS reminders can reduce no-shows by 50% or more—which means you…

●    Save a TON of money—and put it back into your business

(or into your pocket)

2. Coupons

Let’s talk about a very specific, empirically proven reason to use

text-message marketing: Coupons.

Just when coupons were about to take their last wheezing breath, new technologies have swooped in to reinvent this old-fashioned marketing tool.

You can use SMS to send coupon-based campaigns to drive repeat business, to help spread the word about a new product or service, to piggyback on an event or season, to reward your most loyal customers—the list goes on and on.

And get this: according to a 2010 study commissioned by Borrell Associates, mobile coupons are 10 times more likely to be redeemed than traditional coupons.

TEN TIMES.

That’s pretty remarkable, is it not? A lot of people think coupons are old fashioned, but the data say otherwise!

The other great thing about coupons? You can determine return on investment instantly! You can see how much revenue is generated thanks to a particular coupon or find out the percentage of sales growth thanks to a certain campaign
.

3. Voting and Contests

As I mentioned earlier, the potential applications of text message marketing are still being explored, and it seems that the only limit is our imagination.

Recently, businesses and marketers have embraced voting and contests as a way to engage buyers in a fun way that builds goodwill and raises customer awareness. You see very similar approaches in social media. Contests are great ways to build rapport with your audience while also subtly marketing your products and services.

Makers of SMS marketing software have noticed the increasing popularity of SMS contests, and several have developed easy-to- use tools that allow businesses to launch keyword contests and polls with very little effort.

4. Keyword + Shortcode Campaigns

Chances are pretty good that you’ve seen a keyword/short code campaign on a billboard or in the daily paper, or maybe on a menu in a restaurant.

So, let’s look at the two components of this kind of campaign, which has proven very effective.

is a single word, usually ranging from a couple of letters to a dozen. Keywords can be longer depending on the SMS marketing service provider your business uses, but Keywords are what consumers text to a short code to join your SMS marketing list. A keyword

you want to keep things concise for your customers.

Short codes are five or six digit phone numbers that can send and receive text messages. Short codes work on all major wireless carriers (and dozens of smaller ones too).

Once you have your keyword and short code, then you put it everywhere potential subscribers can see it! In your direct mail campaigns; on your business card; on Twitter and Facebook and your website; on flyers, table tents, menus, stickers, and print ads; in your e-newsletter and blog; on a billboard or brochure; on your car even! Anywhere and everywhere.

5. Greetings

Mobile e-greetings: this is another way that businesses are leveraging to SMS marketing to great success.experience, every business that takes the time toSending a greeting or birthday card may seem like an innocuous thing that would not have much of an impact, but in my

send mobile greetings is invariably impressed with the results. It’s a simple gesture that goes so far in building loyalty, maintaining top-of-mind awareness,

and encouraging repeat business in a low-key way.

And since most software vendors allow for very granular list segmenting, you can really get creative. For example, you can

segment your campaigns by implementing targets such as “males ages 21 to 34” or “New York females” to narrow your reach and hit only those selected subscribers.

6. Geotargeting

So, earlier I mentioned how cell phones straddle the virtual and physical worlds.

The ability to send geo-targeted coupons—i.e. coupons that deploy only when the recipient is in a designated geographic radius—is a great example of this …

  Imagine you’re the owner of a pizza joint:

you could send out a special offer for a large pizza that would reach only the people are in your area searching for a lunch spot.

That’s pretty amazing!

7. Text To Join

If you have a business with a passionate customer base, you’re lucky, because you can probably grow your mailing list without having to dangle tons of carrots in the form of discounts and offers.

Many lucky businesses are able to grow their audience with just a simple, no-frills call to action: “Join our mailing list.” SMS provides a frictionless way for your fans and die-hard customers to sign up to receive your news, offers, events, etc.