Text message marketing allows customers to opt in for information, creating a mutually beneficial relationship where businesses can share targeted promotions without invasive advertising. This method relies on consumers initiating contact by sending messages, which then adds them to a mailing list for future updates. By using this approach responsibly, businesses can effectively enhance their customer base while respecting privacy and minimizing annoyance.

1. How Smartphone Message Marketing & TMM Advertisement Develops Opt-In Traffic

2. We live in a crazy world, don't we?

3. Everyone races around day-to-day, each with their own agenda, and everyone's day is packed with persuasive advertisements, junk mail, email spam, TV commercials, and sales pitches.

4. Wouldn't it be nice to just get the information you want, rather than to have a bunch of useless propaganda forced upon you?

5. Welcome to the world of Text Message Marketing. It's "advertisement on demand.

6. " The best part about it: it's not on the demand of the vendor; it's on the demand of the CUSTOMER.

7. As you probably are aware, there are businesses and agencies whose whole purpose in life is to collect information on consumers and then sell it to advertisers for very targeted promotions.

8. That's NOT what we're talking about here. (Personally, I find that kind of advertisement invasive and offensive.)

9. Instead, Text Message Marketing is a systemized way of inviting customers (and potential customers) to request information from you, and you can create a mailing list of people who remain interested in what you offer once they've received the information you deliver.

10. They can opt-out at any time.

11. You don't have to pay high prices to advertise. You can reward your customers with discounts and coupons for their loyalty.

12. Also, YOU own the information and your customers will be thankful that you keep their data private, without exploiting them by embracing mailing list suppliers, telemarketers, etc.

13. Text Message Marketing is the perfect win-win.

14. It's big, and it's getting bigger!

15. If the scenario were something as trendy and quick as casting your vote for a contestant in a singing competition, you probably felt empowered by sending your text message vote to the show to be tallied.

16. There were actually a few more things that went on (behind the scenes) that were invisible to you when you hit the "send" button.

17. By sending your text message, you participated in an "incoming ad" campaign for whatever company sponsored (or paid for) the text message vote/call.

18. You see, text message marketing is not about the simple sharing of information. It is about adding to customer mailing lists and expanding your distribution.

19. It's done through technology that collects and "warehouses" data for future advertisement.

20. When your text message was received by the TMM service, your cell phone number was saved in a database while the automatic reply (confirming your message) was sent to you. Pretty sneaky, don't you think?

21. With the "incoming ad" campaign completed, a Text Message Marketing service can then use the collection of everyone's cell phone numbers to send "outgoing ad" campaigns.

22. What's that? Well, by texting the database of people who have sent messages and votes, the TMM service can keep people updated with new product information, new book releases, links to newsletters, or anything else under the sun.

23. By sending your original text message, you became a "subscriber" to the TMM service for future textings. You can opt-out at any time,

24. but the messages you receive in return are not officially categorized as "spam" (unsolicited correspondence from parties with whom you have no relationship) because you initiated the relationship (based on their invitation) by sending your original message.

25. A few points to ponder as we continue:

26. If you have ever used your cell phone to vote on a contestant in a televised singing contest, dance contest, talent show, or reality TV game, your cell phone information was "harvested" and added to someone's database.

27. If you have ever responded to an add that says "text the word (whatever) to (phone number)", then you were added to a text message mailing list as you received the information you requested.

28. Text messaging (and its associated abbreviated language) has become a BILLION dollar industry. It is effective enough that TV commercials now joke about it by having actors speak in the cryptic abbreviations while the translations appear as subtitles on the bottom of the screen.

29. Why? Because millions of people do it nowadays (which sadly explains why kids can't spell correctly anymore.) LOL ("laugh out loud"... see what I mean?)

30. Usually this technology is insanely expensive for the small- to medium-sized business to use, but some companies that provide the TMM services have become wise to the untapped small business market, and now offer "shared" access to TMM advertisement at less than the cost of a small newspaper ad! And the monthly expenses?

31. About the cost of a decent meal these days! If you take advantage of this technology (which is INCREDIBLY simple to use) while it is still relatively young, you can conceivably increase your customer base without invading their privacy, becoming a nuisance, or offending them.

32. Most companies are still waking up to the idea,

33. while the few that are acting upon it find themselves ahead of the pack.

34. Right now, you're probably either thinking, "Wow, that's a cool way to market to your customers." or "Wow, that's REALLY annoying and I'd hate to get on someone's text message mailing list." Well, both thoughts would be pretty accurate.

35. Text messaging is the fastest growing trend in advertisement, but it can also be one of the most irritating!

36. If you envision the nightmare of having your phone ring in the middle of business meetings and getting hundreds of junk mails per day, you're not alone. That's what most people think of when they hear about text messaging. But that's not how effective text message marketing works!

37. Here is the dilemma: You want to be able to reach as many people as possible, but if your customers get angry with you, you'll lose them to someone else. (And they may give you some negative word-of-mouth advertising.)

38. To be effective using this method of advertising, you must be responsible AND find a balance. So what do you do? Two simple things:

39. 1) Do not send anything to your customers unless you have something important to say to them!

40. 2) Allow them to Opt-Out of receiving any additional messages from you!

41. Text Message Marketing, done correctly, can launch your business THOUSANDS of dollars ahead each month without disturbing your customers. In fact, if you use text messaging to add value to your customers, they'll thank you for it!