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Flip Phone or Smartphone? Either way, Text Message Marketing Works 

Studies show nostalgia has its benefits. It is also abundantly clear that creators and marketers have harnessed the findings of these studies for their use in hocking various unoriginal widgets or ideas. Note: I don’t use the term “unoriginal” here as a judgment, merely a statement of fact.
Though I love a rousing philosophical roundtable, I am not seeking to engage in a debate on what is original or even if anything unique is plausible. What I am interested in exploring first is this: with the announcement of the Motorola Razr coming back, will the smartphone landscape finally diversify, or is this just a flashy attempt for Motorola to grab some relevance?

I’m all for unbridled creativity and turning a thing on its head to discover a new perspective. I’m a fan of the Dada art movement, and when it comes to philosophy, there’s a place in my heart for the father of deconstruction, Jacques Derrida. Frankly, I love the unexpected. But when it comes to my smartphone, I’m a purist. I fall into the camp of people who “think different,” and if that doesn’t tell you which type of smartphone I use then, excuse me while I adjust my black turtleneck. I don’t even need to say their name.

A few months ago, I saw this segment on the Today Show, and it hit me somewhere deep. Remembering that feeling of flipping your phone shut to literally and physically end a phone call was so satisfying. Not to mention, seeing the way everyone from the Today Show gang was oohing and aahing over the updated version of the Motorola Razr made me want to play with one too!

That’s where it stops for me. I want to play with one of the new folding touchscreen smartphones. I don’t want to jump ship and shell out $1,500 to have some flash in the pan technology, only to find I miss my preferred operating system. I’m too deeply entrenched.

However, shifting topics in this conversation, one thing that I think we can all agree on: text messaging is here to stay. No matter what device you’re using, you are most likely using it for text messaging, and you almost certainly always have the thing on you.
So with that in mind, let me ask you a question: is text message marketing in the mix of your current marketing strategic mélange? Many companies already know that text message marketing is the workhorse of mobile marketing. (Read about a real estate group who achieved 100% capacity within two months of launching a campaign featuring text message marketing here.)

If you pull out your phone right now and go through your text messages, I’m sure you have at least a few text messages that are from a business. Though a person’s phone number is very private, for some reason, if one opts in to receive text messages from a company, it doesn’t seem obtrusive. Please take a look at the facts from this mobile marketing campaign we did with a clothing store that included text message marketing in their strategy for more foot traffic and opt-ins. The numbers don’t lie. People are willing to give brands their phone numbers and allow the channel of their text inbox to be a personal touchpoint for brands wanting to reach out via text message marketing.

The most critical thing you can do to get started with a comprehensive mobile marketing strategy is to consider how you will incorporate text message marketing. Text is inexpensive and offers the best return on investment of any mobile marketing tactic that you will employ.

The next thing to consider when approaching a plan with text message marketing is who do you trust to have not only the best technology in the field but also the sharpest minds in mobile advertising and marketing. After all, what good is adding text message marketing if the systems are faulty and your message doesn’t go out properly? Or worse, the content is so bland that people never open the texts, and they opt-out. So what do you do?

Call on the top digital agency whose President wrote the book on mobile marketing. At Purplegator, we are fortunate to be led by Bob Bentz, whose career path has positioned him as a thought leader in the mobile marketing space and a pioneer of text message marketing.

When Bob was teaching a class on mobile marketing as an adjunct at the University of Denver, he quickly realized any books on the subject he could find were outdated. As he taught this class, he had to write the curriculum each week. Once the course was over, it made sense for Bob to share his knowledge and expertise about text message marketing and mobile advertising on a larger scale. So, he compiled all the curriculum from his time teaching about text message marketing and mobile advertising at the University of Denver into a book.

Yes, you can buy a copy for yourself and figure out text message marketing on your own. Hopefully, you have a lot of time on your hands because Bob’s expertise about the topic of text message marketing alone spans more than 40 pages in his book, Relevance Raises Response. If you are in more immediate need of assistance with text message marketing and want to access the best team on the subject, contact us now!