The Scoop on PromotionsProject Support Team Blog

June 5th, 2009

You Never Call Me Anymore

Everyday in the offline world, we are bombarded with thousands of advertisements – usually asking us to do the same thing: remember this URL (preferably when you are in front of a computer) or call us for more information. How often do any of us do that? Seriously, do you remember the last time you ate some chips and then went online or phoned in to enter the Potato Chip Dream Vacation Sweepstakes?Mobile phone penetration in the U.S. is now well over 85%. So fine, the “Call me” approach should work, right? Studies say no. In fact, we now text-message more than we call, that’s not surprising. Calling is time-consuming, costly and can be filled with awkward silences. When you see an advertisement and you feel compelled to do something, you probably want to do it right at that moment. At the same time, advertisers want to be able to let you do that. Given the fact that many of us are experts or at least wannabe textophiles, why not utilize text messaging in your next campaign?

Increasing numbers of marketers are starting to use mobile marketing techniques to solve that very problem.

Little Caesars Pizza recently ran a mobile sweepstakes campaign. The sweeps was advertised in television ads and asked people to text in to participate. The purpose of the campaign was to build a database of names and the prize was a Nintendo Wii and a coupon for free Crazy Bread. The campaign was hugely successful raking in an opt-in rate of 62% in just 18 days.   (http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/messaging/2523.html)

Jiffy Lube ran a similar campaign via radio. The call to action was to text in to take advantage of a special offer. Five other offers were also advertised in 70 radio spots in two weeks. Much like Little Caesars, the results were excellent. Of respondents to the campaign, almost 50% of them were from new households. (http://www.mobilemarketer.com/cms/news/commerce/2551.html)

Arby’s ran a mobile campaign in Alabama to promote its new sandwich, the Roastburger. Consumers were asked to text to a short code to get a coupon for a free sandwich. Participants were then asked to opt-in for future marketing messages from Arby’s.

Consumers who opted in were added to a database of names, which Arby’s will use for future promotions. Marketing via mobile enables Arby’s to reach out to their desired demographic and offer their customers a promotion that was targeted and relevant, while at the same time being convenient and instantly available.

The campaign ran for just under a month and had over 850 respondents.

These are just a few examples of how mobile is an effective tool in enabling cost effective consumer engagement. Though, it shouldn’t just be a one-off isolated campaign. It should be common practice.  Today, you wouldn’t advertise a business without including its website URL. Why should it be any different for mobile? After all, numbers don’t lie. There are over 270 million cell phone subscribers in the U.S. today, and over 2.5 billion text messages are sent each day. That’s a huge audience. And better still - studies show 94% of all text-messages are actually read.

Text-messaging is ideal for communicating with an audience that is increasingly on-the-move.