What is SMS?
SMS is an acronym standing for Short Message Service. It is commonly referred to as text messaging or "texting" as well. SMS is a method by which messages can be sent to a mobile phone via another mobile phone or a computer connect to the Internet. The original specifications for SMS were developed in 1985, though real implementation and popularity took nearly a decade to achieve.

Benefits of SMS Marketing?
Currently, SMS has an extremely high consumer usage, but a low business adoption. In other words, while billions of SMS messages are delivered between individual consumers each month, the use of SMS as a part of business and marketing strategies is (relatively) low. But this relatively low business usage is changing rapidly, with more and more organisations realising the benefits of SMS, and using it as a new media within their traditional marketing communications strategies. The reason for this increase in business usage is clear – SMS is an extremely cost-effective, high-response-rate vehicle, which can help to acquire and retain consumers, sell and promote products, drive loyalty, and reinforce branding efforts

What does it cost?

FEATURES	ECONOMY	PREMIUM
Typical Usuage	Bulk Mobile Messaging	Critical content & high performance applications
Message Status Monitoring	Delivery Notifications not guaranteed	Delivery Notifications provided for all messages
Throughput	2-5 messages per second	10-20 messages per second
Date/Time Stamp on Messages	International Date/Time	Local Date/Time (AEST)
Network Coverage	All GSM Networks (ported numbers not guaranteed)	All Australian networks & ported numbers
PRICE	$0.12 per message	$0.25 per message

Examples of Use
Hotel/Nightclub: By compiling a list mobile numbers of your regular patrons, you can then send out a bulk SMS to them when you have a function, band or drink specials on.

Retail Business: Much like email, you can bulk SMS your weekly specials to your customers. Whilst email is free, many people don't check emails regularly, and quite often delete them after reading the first line or two. With SMS, they get your message delivered to their phone immediately.

Community Organisations: Planning an event or function? SMS is a perfect way to let your audience know what's going on. Whether its a monthly market, or an annual show ... keep your community informed with the power of SMS.

For more details on how SMS Marketing can benefit your business, please call our office (03)5495 2811.