Struggling
Thanks to Jim Washok at OTAir for sending along Nielsen’s “The Short Code Marketing Opportunity.”
This is a great primer on how marketers are using Common Short Codes or “short codes” for text (SMS) and multimedia (MMS) messaging to build awareness, drive relationships and even sell products using mobile devices.
If you’re interested in the short code marketing opportunity, I suggest you take the time to read Nielsen’s report.
Some of the things that jumped out at me are:
The average number of text messages eclipsed the number of phone calls for wireless subscribers in Q4 2007 and the gap continues to widen.
A case study for Ashley Furniture shows one example of ROI on a text message campaign: For every $1 spent on the campaign, $122 was generated in revenue.
Hispanics and African-Americans recall text-message ads almost twice as often as whites, making them an excellent target for text campaigns.
But what really interests me the most is the opportunity for traditional media (TV, print, outdoor, radio) to use text as an immediate call to action and to build interactive relationships with their viewers, readers or listeners. Traditional media, particularly newspapers, have been hit hard by the current advertising slump and text campaigns are a great way to add value to advertisers and capture a database of loyal customers.
Nielsen found that radio station ALICE 97.3 KLLC-FM in San Francisco had logged more than a million transactions to its short code in Q2 2008 by listeners making requests, entering contests and chiming in on surveys. That’s an excellent example of how traditional media is using text campaigns to build relationships.
As traditional media, particularly print, continues to struggle, short codes may prove to be their salvation.
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