What is SMS?
SMS means Short Message Service and are generally 160 character texts sent between mobile phones. SMS runs on the unique network that alerts the recipient the second the message arrives. SMS is a very fast and personal communication method on par with a phone call in perceived trust.
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing may be the practice of building lists of mobile numbers than sending SMS advertising messages to those lists. Lists can be built in many ways but you can find compliance rules set by the ACMA on what people consent to be opted into your lists. Unsolicited commercial messages sent to a person is called spam and is illegal under the Australian Spam Act 2003.
Mobile marketers usually use an online SMS system to control the SMS sending process. These bulk SMS systems range in price and functionality. The very best SMS marketing platforms have an excellent combination of cheap SMS and web SMS features. Make sure you only deal with a reputable SMS gateway as delivery reliability may differ a lot.
Various kinds of SMS delivery
There are two main forms of online SMS delivery. Direct connection where the SMS gateway is plugged straight into the telco’s in your country, and International routing. International routes are operated by SMS aggregators which a gateway can utilise to provide more cost effective SMS marketing than direct connection.
Some international routes can be very unreliable and some providers will offer you extremely cheap prices however you may end up paying exactly like a far more reliable connection as you still pay for messages not delivered.
bulk sms could have a combination of top quality international routing and cheap sms prices. Should you have a service that will require guaranteed delivery such as a crisis or alert service then you should work with a direct local connection, even though that is still not 100% guaranteed to provide it will give you the highest percentage of success.
It will generally cost double though.These are just the basics but building on these basics it is possible to develop sophisticated mobile marketing campaigns that can quickly build great lists of loyal customers. As long as you keep your lists clean and respect your recipients wishes to avoid receiving text messages from you then you should have great success.