Our new generation of business leaders, politicians have joined the ranks of other people in the public eye and have taken to utilizing mobile device communications, text messaging and Twitter tweeting. Not only is this more efficient than whistle stop campaigning and megaphone bullhorn bellowing, but it is the fastest, cheapest and most efficient way to reach and possibly engage the bulk of their increasingly tech-savvy employees (in the case of the business C-Suite) and existing and prospective voting constituents (in the case of elected officials in the non-business of politics).
This trend actually started with US President Obama's first successful campaign for office, where his campaign personnel coordinated their efforts through text alerts and communicated through messages while on the move. Now the rest of the executive-class crew are using texting and are tweeting (either directly) or through directed RSS feeds composed by their writers and hirelings on Twitter. And they are tweeting and texting from mobile devices (smaller, sleeker and more convenient) instead of from PCs and and laptops.
To add further support to this trend, read the article excerpt from SmartPlanet Daily, which follows:
Are 140-character blasts enough out of our world's leaders? Three out of four heads of state are now certified Twitter users.
If you are in a position of leadership, you've got to be able to communicate with large groups of people at once, or to coordinate the efforts of teams of staffers. To do this at your best, you'll find yourself using your iPhone or Droid and downloading a pile of applications to extend your remote capabilities. Some factoids:
- Text Messages have a 98 percent read rate
- Text Messages have a 100 percent open rate
- Texts are typically read within 15 minutes of being received
- Mobile phones have reached 100 percent penetration [interesting word choice, that] in the United States
Some texting services which may be worth your investigation (I neither endorse nor accept any compensation from any of them) are listed below as a resource. This listing of services has been provided through the kindness (I hope) and research efforts of Mr. T.J. McCue , who authors articles, some of which I've enjoyed in SmallBizTrends, and the words which follow are his, and not mine....I've said too much already:
Fanminder is a great service that I’ve reviewed before and think has a lot to offer. They offer a combination of social, email, and mobile phone marketing. It is free to text to up to 100 numbers. Pricing starts at $15/month after that.
Signal is pretty robust and lets you send text messages, QR codes, barcodes, and mobile optimized web pages. You can do coupons, sweepstakes, polls and plans start at $29/month with a free trial.
TellMyCell is useful if you want to give your customers a specific keyword to text in and receive a special offer (or any response really). You can have unlimited contacts and unlimited groups, but you pay on a per message basis. You can pay-as-you-go for five cents per message or plans start at $29/month after free trial.
Trumpia sells texts in packaged units (i.e. 500 or 1,000) and they don’t expire. You can use them in your text message marketing in a variety of ways, from appointment reminders to event coordination to standard marketing messages. Plans start at $25/month with 30-day free trial.
ReachPeople.com charges by the number of contacts and number of messages. They have a full free plan with up to 25 messages and 100 contacts. Paid plans start at $29/month. I like that they had a voice broadcasting option if you wanted to leave a voicemail for a group.
Simple Texting has one of those sites that is just clear and easy to grasp and the main screen calls out to business owners. I like that. You can integrate with social media like Facebook and Twitter. Free 30-day trial, then $15/month for up to 250 messages.
CallFire offers a variety of telephone-based services like IVR (interactive voice response – you know those automated attendant types) and a virtual call center service. But their SMS plan is a basic flat rate of three cents per message and it has a free trial.
SnapGiant knows that many small businesses (including restaurants and food service businesses) use text message marketing and their page gently reflects that. You only pay for outgoing messages, not incoming, and unused messages roll over to the next month (that’s kind of cool). Plans start at $19.95/month after free 30-day trial.
Mozeo is another text platform with flat message pricing – five cents per message. Unlimited contacts, unused messages roll to the next month. You pay a one-time charge for keywords (as in your customer texts in PIZZA to your number to get a special offer). You get 10 free text messages to trial the service.
TXT180 offers 500 messages for $14.95 per month. Discounted to only $9.95/month if you prepay for 12-month contract. No free trial.
SMS Marketing has a one-time flat rate of $35 to setup your web-based text messaging account, then a per message fee. You get unlimited autoresponders and can schedule text message offers with ease. It even comes with one free keyword.
TextMagic is a text messaging service that you don’t even need a phone to use. You can forward your emails to this SMS service, too. You buy credits in 200 pack increments starting at $27. I discovered this UK-based service via a terrific post at the Content Marketing Institute: Why SMS is a Must for a Younger Audience.
Betwext is one of the only text message marketing companies that had unlimited keywords (which could be important if you intend to do a lot of different campaigns) and a low rate of only one cent per message. There is no monthly fee and that’s sure to shake up the marketplace.
---------------
So ladies and gentlemen. There it is. After examining the social and business trends ("trendency" would be my Douglas E. Castle Lingovation for this)
As always, thank you for reading me, re-tweeting me and completing me. And I am beyond delighted every time that I hear that a reader, colleague or mischief-maker has pinned or re-pinned one of my uniquely peculiar (this is redundant) images on Pinterest. Thank you so much.
Douglas E. Castle
Fanminder is a great service that I’ve reviewed before and think has a lot to offer. They offer a combination of social, email, and mobile phone marketing. It is free to text to up to 100 numbers. Pricing starts at $15/month after that.
Signal is pretty robust and lets you send text messages, QR codes, barcodes, and mobile optimized web pages. You can do coupons, sweepstakes, polls and plans start at $29/month with a free trial.
TellMyCell is useful if you want to give your customers a specific keyword to text in and receive a special offer (or any response really). You can have unlimited contacts and unlimited groups, but you pay on a per message basis. You can pay-as-you-go for five cents per message or plans start at $29/month after free trial.
Trumpia sells texts in packaged units (i.e. 500 or 1,000) and they don’t expire. You can use them in your text message marketing in a variety of ways, from appointment reminders to event coordination to standard marketing messages. Plans start at $25/month with 30-day free trial.
ReachPeople.com charges by the number of contacts and number of messages. They have a full free plan with up to 25 messages and 100 contacts. Paid plans start at $29/month. I like that they had a voice broadcasting option if you wanted to leave a voicemail for a group.
Simple Texting has one of those sites that is just clear and easy to grasp and the main screen calls out to business owners. I like that. You can integrate with social media like Facebook and Twitter. Free 30-day trial, then $15/month for up to 250 messages.
CallFire offers a variety of telephone-based services like IVR (interactive voice response – you know those automated attendant types) and a virtual call center service. But their SMS plan is a basic flat rate of three cents per message and it has a free trial.
SnapGiant knows that many small businesses (including restaurants and food service businesses) use text message marketing and their page gently reflects that. You only pay for outgoing messages, not incoming, and unused messages roll over to the next month (that’s kind of cool). Plans start at $19.95/month after free 30-day trial.
Mozeo is another text platform with flat message pricing – five cents per message. Unlimited contacts, unused messages roll to the next month. You pay a one-time charge for keywords (as in your customer texts in PIZZA to your number to get a special offer). You get 10 free text messages to trial the service.
TXT180 offers 500 messages for $14.95 per month. Discounted to only $9.95/month if you prepay for 12-month contract. No free trial.
SMS Marketing has a one-time flat rate of $35 to setup your web-based text messaging account, then a per message fee. You get unlimited autoresponders and can schedule text message offers with ease. It even comes with one free keyword.
TextMagic is a text messaging service that you don’t even need a phone to use. You can forward your emails to this SMS service, too. You buy credits in 200 pack increments starting at $27. I discovered this UK-based service via a terrific post at the Content Marketing Institute: Why SMS is a Must for a Younger Audience.
Betwext is one of the only text message marketing companies that had unlimited keywords (which could be important if you intend to do a lot of different campaigns) and a low rate of only one cent per message. There is no monthly fee and that’s sure to shake up the marketplace.
---------------
So ladies and gentlemen. There it is. After examining the social and business trends ("trendency" would be my Douglas E. Castle Lingovation for this)
As always, thank you for reading me, re-tweeting me and completing me. And I am beyond delighted every time that I hear that a reader, colleague or mischief-maker has pinned or re-pinned one of my uniquely peculiar (this is redundant) images on Pinterest. Thank you so much.
Douglas E. Castle
No comments:
Post a Comment