Without a doubt, technology has streamlined everything in our lives from business to pleasure. Air travel is no exception: airlines are spending money to improve their customers’ experience. We’ve all heard about the advancements in in-flight entertainment, seats that convert into beds, and the all-important increase in leg room for the average passenger. But what about advancements for the tech-savvy traveler? Well, here we have compiled eight ways in which technology has improved air travel in recent memory.

1. Digital Check In. 

Nowadays about 9% of air travelers use digital tablets or smartphones to check in before boarding a flight, rather than checking in directly once they reach their terminal. Researchers from SITA, a multinational airline technology company, expect that figure to balloon to 24% in the next three years.

2. Social Media Seating. 

Imagine a flight where you already know a thing or two about your neighboring fliers! Launched in 2012 by KLM Airlines, the Meet & Seat program has garnered much acclaim from various participants. In essence, the Meet & Seat program to allows its fliers to select seatmates based on shared interests via Facebook or LinkedIn. 

3.Booking Flights Via Mobile.

Expedia recently reported that 48% of mobile users employ their devices for aspirational travel research. In addition, there are several apps available that cater to air traveling consumers. For example, Appi Holidays is a consumer travel app that allows a user to create their perfect holiday by providing them with a plethora of destination options and activities – ones that are either well-known or a little off the beaten path. 

4. Baggage-Related Technology.

Foremost, airlines have been offering automatic luggage drop-off machines more commonly. By 2018, 74% of airline companies are expected to offer the service (from 17% today). Also by 2018, it is likely that 70% of carriers will be able to give passengers regular updates on the location of their baggage, via their smartphones (up from only 10% today). 

5. In-Flight Entertainment Improvements. 

Several airlines have been experimenting with this. Virgin America offers a seat-to-seat chatting system, where fliers can message others onboard and order drinks, as well as watch movies or TV, listen to music, shop, play games, or look at Google Maps. Singapore Airlines offers a similar service, fit with a USB device to look at your own personal media. Finally, Emirates and Qatar Airways have exhaustive entertainment options, with over 1500 differing types/channels of entertainment each!

6. Social Media Impact on Air Travel. 

Facebook has changed the way people decide where to go on a vacation. 52% of users report that their prospective holiday destination ideas came from photos and status updates they witnessed in their Facebook feed. And since two-thirds of all air travelers have social media accounts, there has never been a better time for airlines to be active on social media channels.  

7. Airport Beacons. 

Many airports around the world have started to use beacon technology to improve customers’ experience. Using Bluetooth technology, travelers can use special apps to access maps of airports, as well as navigate their way to the check-in desk in their terminal.

8. In-Flight IPad Rentals. 

There are a few airlines that have begun to experiment with iPad rentals, among them OpenSkies, Qantas, Jetstar, Philippine Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines. While a few of these services are free for longer flights, the average fee is ten to fifteen dollars per rental.

We no longer live in the dark ages, where passengers are provided a tiny seat with very little legroom. With the amount of tech that has grown to be a part of our personal lives, we can expect to see a great deal more technology in the works for airlines – all for the benefit of the everyday passenger.

When something becomes as ubiquitous as mobile marketing, the issue of repetition and predictability rears its head. One of the cornerstone’s of any successful marketing strategy is originality. So how can you avoid using the same old practices as your competitors? To stand out from the crowd, avoid these over-used - or just plain wrong - mobile marketing tactics like the plague:

1) Mobile Exclusivity

We love mobile marketing. We think it’s the most important element of a modern marketing strategy. But that doesn’t mean it should be used to the exclusion of other approaches. Open your mind beyond getting that coveted home screen app spot and you’re more likely to achieve that very goal. Encourage users to engage with you in other ways first. Social media is a good way to start a conversation and develop your brand image in a way that pays off in the long-term. Once you’ve secured a reputation, it’ll be that much easier to achieve your mobile-centric ambitions.

2) Assumption of Intent

Just because someone is walking past a restaurant doesn’t mean they are hungry. Marketers, amped up by the possibilities of geo-targeting technology, often make the mistake of assuming that customers who can be reached should be reached. A good understanding of user intent - based on data, not assumption - will help you provide a better experience.

3) Channel-Specific Databases

Often, marketer’s instincts tell them to organize their customer data by the channel through which it was collected. But lumping mobile users or desktop user together doesn’t give you much insight when you consider that most people will use both channels at various times. Instead, create singular customer profiles using data from all channels. 

4) Poor Timing

So you’ve got the right message for the right audience. Job done right? Wrong. ‘Choosing your moment’ is one of the most overlooked mobile marketing tactics, but it’s absolutely essential to get it right. This is especially true for brands who serve a wide audience spread across different time zones. Stagger your text messages to arrive at the most convenient - or least inconvenient - moment. Research has shown that early afternoon text messages, sent between 1-3pm, are the most well received. And don’t send them too frequently. In most cases, two notifications per month from any one brand should be a maximum.

Businesses always need to stay a step ahead of the competition, and coming up with new and creative ways to drive traffic to our sites is one way to increase your customer base and, therefore, sales. Right now there is no hotter market than mobile and text messaging.

Read on to learn about three of the most effective ways to drive more traffic and conversions to your business through the use of text messaging, while also integrating your SMS marketing with some of the most commonly used methods in marketing today.

Podcast Call to Action

Podcasting is growing at a massive rate, and millions of people are listening to various podcasts for the first time every single day. As podcasting audiences continue to grow, more entrepreneurs, marketers and businesses are discovering ways to connect and engage with these audiences.

An excellent way to include a commercial spot or call to action within a podcast is with text messaging. During a commercial break or at the end of a podcast episode, the host can say, "To learn more about XYZ, send a text to..." which you can then follow up with the number and your site URL.

Most people listen to podcasts through their mobile devices, so they'll already have their phones in their hands, making it easy to send a simple text in a moment's notice.

Keynotes and Conference Sessions

No matter how quickly the Internet continues to grow, there will always be live events, meetings and conferences throughout the world. At the end of most keynotes and sessions, the speaker will display a slide on the screen with their contact information, email or site address. While this is good in theory, 99% of people will forget to jot down this information before they leave the room.

A better alternative is for the speaker to spend a minute telling the audience to text a certain number with a specific message to get a free report or something else of value. By performing this call to action during a live session and giving everyone a minute to whip out their mobile devices and take action, the speaker will likely see a significant engagement response.

Now imagine how effective this can be when speaking to 500-1,000 individuals!

Webinar Notifications

As marketers continue to find exciting ways to deliver their messages and build new audiences, webinars have been on the upward trend. A webinar in a live event held online, usually with one or two presenters and hundreds of attendees viewing a slideshow or other type of presentation. The concept is simple, but getting people to attend the live event can be tricky.

When someone registers for a live webinar, the user usually provides their name and email address. An email is then sent an hour before the webinar to remind everyone to attend.

A better way to get more webinar attendees is by also asking for a mobile number so a text alert can be sent before your event takes place. Since text alerts and notifications are almost always instantly read, there is no better way to increase attendance to live webinars.

Text Messaging Isn't the Future, It's Now

Text messaging is all about engagement and getting users to take action. When implementing text messaging in your existing brand or business, be sure to provide value and a relevant call to action. There is simply no better way to see faster results than through a direct message to your consumers' mobile devices.

Zac Johnson is an entrepreneur with 20 years of experience and always looks ahead for latest ways to increase brand engagement and awareness. Learn more about Zac and his latest "How to Start a Blog" project at Blogging.org.

Print advertising has been a go-to way to reach potential customers for over a hundred years. Although it remains a viable marketing channel, digital and mobile marketing platforms have become more popular in recent years. One reason for this is that mobile marketing appeals to companies on a budget. The cost of reaching customers via mobile tends to be lower than creating a print marketing campaign.

Your current customers should be the first group to target with your ads.

One of the best ways to use mobile to connect with your customers is text message marketing. Commercial texts have an amazing 98 percent open rate. If you are deciding whether to spend your marketing budget on traditional print advertising or text message marketing, the following six benefits of texting will help you decide.

Reduced Costs

Print advertising can eat up your advertising budget, between the cost for the print supply and design, not to mention the fees for advertising in various magazine and newspapers. It can cost up to $20,000 to set up a print advertisement and another $3,000 to $30,000 to run it, depending on the magazine or newspaper, according to WebFX. Although you can have a relatively high return on investment with a successful ad, it remains a significant cost for businesses with a smaller marketing budget.

Reduce your marketing costs with text messaging.

Text message marketing costs much less. Most mobile agencies have a service fee of as little as $30 per month, or as high as $150 to $200 depending on the number of messages you send and any additional services you need. In addition to a lower service fee, text messaging also has a significantly lower development cost. You need to have a member of your team managing, writing, and sending the messages, but the overall cost of creation is much less than a print campaign.

Increased Impact and Engagement

Not only does text message marketing cost less, it can also result in a much larger return on investment because open rates and engagement are high. Text message marketing is an opt-in service, which means that 100 percent of the people receiving your messages want to see the offers, services, tips, and other information you send out. Additionally, with an open rate close to 100 percent, you can ensure that almost everyone will actually read your message. Even the best print advertisement does not have this level of customer impact.

Offer redemption is also higher with mobile marketing than with other forms of advertising. According to eMarketer, around 54 million consumers were expected to use mobile coupons in 2014, and mobile coupons are redeemed 10 times as often as print offers.

Direct and Immediate

When you distribute a text message, it is sent within seconds. This means that you can share information, offers, and deals instantly. Texting is a great way to communicate with customers about last-minute offers in order to boost sales. You can also quickly tell people about any changes, whether to your menu, the schedule of events, or other information. Alternatively, print advertisements are often designed and developed weeks or months in advance, making it difficult to create timely messages if you do not have all the information ahead of time.

Take advantage of the information you have to create specialized offers.

When you distribute text messages, you are sending messages to mobile users that most likely patronize your business. Therefore, you also have the capability to use further information about the recipients, such as their previous purchase data or geographic location, in order to personalize and customize your messages for a more direct impact.

Flexible and Easy to Quickly Change

Text messages are also quick and easy to change. If you find a mistake on print advertisement after it has been published, you have no recourse to take, unless you are re-running the ad at a later date. With text messages, you can quickly send out a second message retracting the first message and then share the correct information.

There's also flexibility with regards to message content and audiences. You can choose to send a message to a few people, or you can distribute a mass text to everyone on your contact list. You can easily adapt your messages, creating customized texts like appointment reminders, or sharing a special offer with a larger audience.

Easier to Track and Respond

It is very difficult to track your conversion rates and return on investment with print advertisements. You can only estimate the number of people who saw your ad, as well as whether it had any impact. Alternatively, it is easy to track and analyze the data for your texting campaign. You have real-time access to important metrics such as which customers have opened your messages and which have responded.

With real time data, you can adjust your plan right away for better results.

Eco-Friendly Approach

Another way that text message marketing tops print advertising is that it is a green channel. There is no paper waste; instead, everything is handled digitally. Offer redemption can be done by text message, rather than by a print coupon. With such a large number of people now looking for eco-friendly ways to conduct business, this may help you gain more customers.

These are just a few of the ways that text messaging may be more beneficial for your business than print advertising alone. But remember, the best way to utilize SMS marketing is to integrate it with a larger, cross-channel campaign that takes advantage of print, radio, TV, and digital advertising.

If you are ready to get started with your first text message marketing effort, try Club Texting for free.

To grow as a business, you need to recognize and respond to the needs and wants of your customer base. Your employees are not expected to be mind readers, which is why market research is such a valuable commodity. There are many different channels in which you can conduct a survey or user poll with your customers, including email, online, traditional mail, mobile apps, and text messages.

Surveys are an important component of market research.

More and more companies and organizations are turning to mass SMS for a better way to collect customer feedback, in addition to reaping the benefits of its marketing applications. Between its ease of application and higher response rates, there are many reasons to turn to mass SMS polls to find ways to improve your business, whether you are looking for ideas on new products or feedback on your performance.

Simple Set Up

One benefit of text message polls is that they have a simple set up, with no difficult coding required and the ability to create a message and send it to your customers in a matter of minutes. You only have to set up a few different keywords for each poll response. Then, you can compare the number of responders to each keyword to see which one is the most popular. Additionally, if you already have an online survey developed, you can simply text the link to your customers. It may be simple to set up, but it is also a flexible medium that allows you to develop a variety of polls and surveys to match your company's needs.

Immediate Feedback

Not only can you send out your poll or survey quickly, but you also benefit from immediate feedback with text messages. Text messages have a 98 percent open rate, and 90 percent are read within 3 minutes. Because people read texts so quickly, it also improves the speed at which they respond to your poll. A pilot study of the efficacy of text message surveys in low-income populations by BMC Public Health found that most people who responded to the survey did so within a short period of receipt. This quick response ensures you will get the data you need quickly.

No need to wait for SMS survey responses.

More Responses

More people choose to respond to polls and surveys with mass SMS than other channels. Because people prefer surveys through text over other mediums, they are more likely to not just respond but also answer more of the questions. The same BMC Public Health study found that people responded to 72 percent of multiple choice questions and 76 percent of Likert-like scale questions when using text messages.

Higher Quality Information

Not only will you get more responses when you use your mass SMS system for polls and surveys, but you also will get higher quality feedback and information. In another study done in collaboration between the University of Michigan Ann Arbor and New School University, researchers found that when interview-type surveys were done via SMS, the answers were of higher quality than when done through a voice interview, even if it was an automated system and not a real person.

Most likely, this is due to people feeling more comfortable with answering questions via text than verbally responding. Additionally, they can answer the questions in their own time, putting more thought and effort into it. With higher quality responses, you will have better information off of which to work when developing new policies, programs, products, or other changes to your business.

Easy to Use Analytics

Mass text messaging services also offer easy to read analytic data, which makes it easy for you to analyze the responses and act upon the data. Another benefit is real-time access to data, instead of having to wait for responses to come in and compile the information as you would with a paper survey. This allows you to start taking action immediately, if you feel it is necessary based upon the results.

If you are looking for an easy way to engage with your customers and find out their feelings about some aspect of your company, whether it is your customer support capabilities or a new product or service, the fastest, easiest, and most reliable way to do it is to conduct mass SMS polls. You can rely on the findings because you will have a larger response rate and better information.

Learn more about how texting can help your business in this informative Club Texting blog post.

People have become dependent upon mobile phones in today's society, and not just for communicating with friends and family. According to a study by Apigee, a startling 85 percent of users would rather go without drinking water than have to delete any of the apps on their smartphones.

Marketers have taken note, developing smart ways to capitalize on people's close relationship with their phone, including using text message marketing to reach customers. This type of marketing may be growing exponentially, but many business owners still have questions about it. This introduction to SMS marketing covers the fundamental information you need to know if you want to use it to connect with your target audience.

How Does Text Messaging Work?

Mass texting works very similarly to email campaigns. You simply have to determine what you wish to say and then create the template for it. Then, you use your mobile marketing partner's platform to input the message and distribute it to your contact list.

Take advantage of the prevalence of mobile phones with a text campaign.

How Do You Create Messages?

Creating messages is easy. You can say anything or send anything you want, as long as you stay within the 160 character limit. Most mobile marketing companies have a special website, platform, or app in which you write and edit your messages. You can choose to send a message right away or schedule several messages at a time. You can also create a template to make it easy for sending similar messages, such as appointment reminders.

Sending out appointment reminders has never been easier than with a text template.

When you create your message, you also want to ensure you include your signature to reduce any confusion by the recipient. You should never include abbreviations or text speak, as this could be confusing and appear unprofessional.

What is a Keyword?

The term keyword is used a lot in digital marketing, but its meaning in mass texting is slightly different. A keyword is a special word that prompts action. The most common use of keywords in text message marketing is for opting in to a campaign. Your potential customers text a word to a short code and number, which adds them to your contact list and sends them an automatic response. You can also set up keywords to send other automatic replies, including opting out of the service.

Why Does Your Mobile Subscriber List Play an Important Role?

Your mobile subscriber list plays an invaluable role to your campaign. The FCC has important regulations on using mass texting for advertisement purposes. One of the most significant regulations is that you must have written permission to send a customer a text message. Without your contact list, you cannot send messages to anyone, even if they have opted into other campaigns for your company.

Although you want your message to go to everyone, users must sign up.

Can You Select Just a Group of Subscribers to Text?

Most mass texting services allow you to create groups out of your subscriber list. This lets you create messages to send to a select number of clients rather than the entire list. You can use this capability for many different purposes, including sending messages to current customers, texting customers who have been inactive for awhile to bring them back to your place of business, and communicating with new subscribers who've just signed up to receive texts from you.

How Quickly Do Customers Receive a Text?

The speed at which the customers receive a text depends on several factors, including network coverage and your mobile marketing company. When the message is ready to send, first your text marketing platform has to connect with the compatible wireless network. Most texts are sent within a matter of seconds.

Does it Matter Which Carrier a Subscriber Uses?

The wireless carrier a subscriber uses could impact their ability to receive a text message. Most mass texting platforms work with major carriers; however, if a subscriber's network is not covered, then they will not be able to opt-in to your campaign. Therefore, it is best to use a platform recognized by as many different networks as possible. Additionally, the fees that your customer may incur, such as data fees and text rates, differ depending on the carrier and their individual plan.

Don't forget to check the compatible networks when signing up for mass text messaging.

SMS campaigns are easy to set up and start. You simply need to have a strategy, a mobile partner, and a mobile subscription list. If you would like to learn more about using keywords in your text marketing campaigns, read this informative Club Texting blog post.

Over the past few years, mobile technology has seen exponential growth. Since 2013, spending on mobile marketing has grown 100 percent, according to Mobile Marketing Watch. Although many businesses have already jumped on board, there are still some companies missing out on this lucrative opportunity. Luckily, it is never too late to join the trend and reap the many benefits of text message marketing for your business. You simply have to follow five simple steps to achieve success.

Plan Your Strategy

Before you put the steps into motion to begin your text marketing campaign, take some time to plan your strategy. You should recognize what your goals are, such as building membership, attracting customers, driving sales, or some other business goal. This will allow you create a comprehensive plan of action in order to meet your goals.

Don't forget about the important planning stage when you start your first campaign.

You should also determine whether or not you plan to use text messages as a standalone tool or to complement your other marketing efforts, such as social media and email campaigns.

Choose the Right Mobile Communications Firm

Once you have an idea of your goals and process, you should shop around for the right mobile communications firm. The cost is not the only consideration you should make as you're deciding on a partner for your business. Different firms offer different features, including sharing or unique short codes, text to email options, and more. It's important to find a company whose products and services match your needs.

Build a Mobile Subscriber List

According to the FCC guidelines, anyone to whom you send a marketing text must have given written permission to your business. This means it is essential that you first build your mobile subscriber list before you start to distribute text messages.

Make sure to get permission before starting.

Even if you have permission to send email or have their number from another campaign, you still cannot use their number unless they have opted into the campaign. You also need to provide easy access to the terms and conditions and an easy-to-use opt out.

Create a Compelling Offer for Customers

The best way to build your subscription list is to share a compelling offer with customers as an incentive for joining your mobile program. For example, you could have a call to action in an advertisement that offers 20 percent off for texting a keyword to your short code or number.

When creating your offer, make sure it will be lucrative to customers.

Creating compelling offers does not end once you have started your campaign. You will need to continue to share special deals and other valuable messages, such as tips and reminders, to make the most of your text marketing efforts and engage with your customers over time.

Keep Your Messages Simple and Clear

When you create your text messages, it's important to stay within the 160 character limit. You also want to be sure that your message comes across without any confusion. Therefore, you should never use any abbreviations or text speak, even though it helps you say more in fewer characters. Not everyone understands these terms, and you run the risk of confusing your mobile subscribers.

You can start a successful mobile marketing effort in no time. Proper planning can help ensure that you create the right foundation for an effective text messaging campaign. If you are ready to take the first step, try Club Texting for free.

The spa and salon industry has great potential, with massive job growth expected in this 14.7 billion dollar industry. The International Spa Association's latest data shows that the number of spa visits have risen from 160 million in 2012 to 164 million in 2013. However, this boom in business also means that there is more competition, with a 1 percent growth in the number of spas in America from 2012 to 2013.

Grow your spa business by implementing a text message campaign.

To stand out from the competition, your spa business needs to find inventive and creative ways to engage with your clients. Mass text messaging offers a lucrative opportunity for marketing your business and increasing revenue.

Exclusive Deals

One way to use text messaging for your spa is to send out exclusive deals to your clients. You must have permission from clients to send texts. However, you can advertise your mobile campaign on social media, your website, and other channels to increase your number of subscribers. After a client signs up to receive text message communications from your spa or salon, you can periodically send out messages to them about current deals, which will encourage them to come in for one of your services.

Last Minute Specials

According to Mobile Squared, the majority of text messages are opened within 3 minutes, making mobile the perfect channel for sharing last minute specials. On slow days, you can increase your sales by sending out a limited time offer available that day only. This incentive will help drive people to your establishment, turning a slow day into a busy one.

Turn a slow day into a busy one by texting information about a special deal.

Inform Clients of New Services

When you add new services to your spa, you want to inform your customers about them. You can use text messaging to let your client base know about the latest services offered by your business. You may also want to provide a special reward to your mobile subscribers, and offer an exclusive trial of the new service before it becomes available to everyone else. This extra step can make your mobile subscribers feel special and valued.

When you add a new service, such as hot stone massage, text your clientele.

Increase Customer Engagement

Sending messages to your customers also increases your customer engagement. You can distribute much more than just specials and deals; you can also send out tips on skincare and stress relief. Messages can be simple, such as "don't forget to take a moment to breathe when you feel stressed," or you can send links to your blog with more detailed tips and advice. Other messages can include sweepstakes or contests in which customers can enter to win prizes or free salon treatments. These messages increase the level of engagement with your customers, which in turn leads to a boost in customer loyalty and repeat business.

Appointment Reminders

One common problem spas and salons face is loss of business due to clients forgetting about appointments or mistaking the time. Text messaging is an easy way to send a reminder, which can cut down on the number of missed visits.

Remind your clients of their appointment with a text.

This will help you not only to maintain a busy schedule, increasing your bottom line, but it also provides an added level of customer service which also helps to build client loyalty.

Mass text messaging is an effective tool for building your business, reducing the amount of missed client appointments, and improving your customer service. It can help to strengthen your reputation and increase your profit potential. If you are ready to start your text messaging campaign, try Club Texting for free today!

Text messaging campaigns can be an effective way to reach more customers. Unlike emails, digital ads, and other traditional marketing channels, there is a much larger read rate, which in turn leads to a potential for a much higher rate of action. According to Aine Doherty at Business2Community, text messages have an open rate of about 98 percent, compared to just 22 percent for email messages. Additionally, only 1 percent of text messages are considered spam, meaning that 99 percent of messages are legitimate, which makes this a highly trusted form of communication.

Texting still packs a punch.

Before launching your mass text messaging campaign, you first need to ensure you know all the rules to remain compliant. Following the rules is extremely important. It can help your business avoid lawsuits, loss of profit, and other potential problems.

What Rules You Need to Know

Mass text messaging is highly regulated, and there are several organizations that are in charge of governing the service. Federally, the FCC (Federal Communication Commission), the FTC (Federal Trade Commission), and the CTIA (The Wireless Association) all have laws and rules in place by which you must abide. Many of the rules come from a 2013 addition to the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act). Additionally, states and local governments may also have certain guidelines in place.

It is important to read up on laws coming out of the state and federal government.

The most important rules related to mass text messaging apply to permission and privacy. You must have written permission from the consumer, and you must provide an easy way for mobile users to opt-out. Even if you already have a customer's phone number and permission from another type of campaign, such as email or direct mail marketing, you still need to obtain permission before you can send them text messages. You also have to provide detailed information on how you plan to use the text messages, including the frequency and type of messages. To help businesses remain compliant with current laws, Mogreet has released a guide for text message regulations and best practices.

Avoid Costly Fines

One of the big reasons for abiding by the rules when creating your text messaging service is to avoid costly fines. If you break any of the guidelines, you could end up with fines that range from $500 to $1500 per unsolicited message. This could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars or more, depending on how many instances of misuse you have. The fines can quickly counter any additional patronage you receive from your campaign, so it is important to follow regulations in order to avoid any penalties.

Potential for Lawsuits

If you do not abide by the commercial text messaging rules and regulations, you may find yourself facing a class action lawsuit. Several companies and organizations have already experienced legal troubles as a result of sending unsolicited text messages. Well known pizza chain Papa John's was hit with a $250 million class action lawsuit due to spam texts in 2010. A fan also sued the Pittsburgh Penguins for sending more text messages than they had declared in the terms and conditions for their campaign. Other companies have also faced lawsuits due to text message marketing efforts gone wrong, and you do not want your business to experience the same problem.

Make a bigger profit by avoiding costly lawsuits.

Not only are lawsuits potentially expensive, they can also damage your reputation. Large companies can usually bounce back from such a problem, but smaller businesses and organizations may end up having to close due to legal troubles.

Customer Retention and Service

It's important to abide by the rules when your business is using mass text messaging because it helps to keep your customers happy. By treating your customers well, including not abusing your text message privileges, you will experience higher customer retention rates. You will also have more satisfied customers, which helps to increase brand loyalty over time.

It is easy to abide by the rules. All you have to do is have a clear opt-in and opt-out for mobile customers, along with detailed terms and conditions to which your customers have access. This protects your company from potential fines and lawsuits, while also ensuring that you remain in good standing with your customers, clients, or members.

If you are ready to start your first text message campaign, try ClubTexting for free!

While to some, email and SMS marketing seem very different, the reality is that they have quite a few similarities. With the help of both technologies, a company can promote its services or products and ensure it connects with potential or current customers to make conversions.

In the world of marketing, think about integrating promotional endeavors into a single, cohesive campaign. Both SMS and email marketing can bounce off one another, while maintaining your customers' attentions.

Add SMS-based call-to-actions to your emails

To increase the pizzazz of your emails and to connect them to your SMS marketing endeavors, add an SMS call-to-action at the end of your email. For example, you can send emails informing the recipients that they can get a discount if they send a text to a particular phone number. This way you will be able to obtain a potential customer's phone number, and at the same time you make the process worthwhile for the user because - let's face it - getting discounts is always great.

Send SMS reminders after your emails

Once your marketing email has been sent, send reminders via SMS. For example, you could send an SMS message to customers who, in the past, purchased a theater ticket because of one of your email marketing campaigns on the day of the performance, reminding your customer that it's the day of the performance. You could also send emails to follow up on SMS marketing messages.

Reconnecting with stagnant subscribers

There are times when you send lots of emails but a group of users aren't responsive. Of course, the first step would be to lessen the frequency with which you send emails to your customers, but you can also send a message via SMS to check up on those non-responders. The downside to email is that messages can accumulate throughout the day, and in many situations people will just have a hard time going through them all. With SMS, a response is often given much more quickly.

Captivating and maintaining your audience's attention

With the help of email marketing, you can get a massive amount of potential customer data, and you should integrate your SMS marketing here as well. Sharing information such as discount codes in your emails as well as your SMS campaigns makes people read both of them, and you are bound to get much better exposure because of that, not to mention that you will have a higher chance of obtaining conversions if you combine both marketing campaigns efficiently.

You can add links in both

The main idea here is to seamlessly integrate links into both your email and SMS strategies to promote a better image for your business and, at the same time, bring in better branding efforts. And, of course, to get potential customers to visit your site and blog.

SMS and email marketing can easily work together to make your campaign a success; all you have to do is find a way to integrate them cohesively into your promotional endeavors.

The writer of this article is a professional blogger and writer. If you want to read more articles from Bilal Ahamd. Visit his blog or follow him on twitter @techmaish.

Text message marketing is an inexpensive way to engage with customers and increase your sales. Mobile phones have become invaluable shopping tools for customers. Approximately 79 percent of mobile owners use their phone for shopping, and around 62 percent use them at least once a month to research potential purchases. These numbers are not just related to online shopping; those who often use their mobile phones as shopping tools spend 25 percent more money in store than those who do not, according to BestBuzz.

If you have a brick and mortar store, restaurant, club, salon, or other business or organization, you can use your space to advertise your mobile program and increase the number of subscriptions. You simply have to follow one or more of the following five creative methods for informing customers about your campaign.

Prominently Display Posters and Flyers

One of the best ways to use your physical space to increase subscriptions to your mobile program is to simply create custom ads and post them in high-traffic areas. You can display signs, banners, and other print advertisements that inform customers of your text message program near your registers, in the bathrooms, on or near the bar, in restaurant menus, at the end of an aisle, and more.

Even a blackboard menu can advertise your text campaign.

Although you do not want to overwhelm your customers, you should have more than one of these custom ads on display to increase awareness.

These ads will be even more successful if you include some special offer or incentive for signing up. Therefore, the best notice will ask your customers to text a keyword to a certain short code for a special discount they can use that day or in the future.

Piggyback on Other Promotions

Another way to capitalize on your in-store advertising is to piggyback off of your other advertisements and promotions. Approximately 70 percent of brand decisions are made in store. In-store advertisements can significantly influence customers' buying decisions.

Whenever you create posters and flyers about a new product, service, or event, consider adding a line about your text updates with a keyword and short code at the bottom. Additionally, you can use your mobile subscriptions as a way for customers to learn more information your products, services or events. On the same posters, add a call to action that encourages customers to text to learn more. Once they have sent a text, they will be subscribed to receive other offers and messages from your business.

Your Employees

You do not just have to advertise on your walls or registers; you can also use your employees to help spread the word. They can wear buttons or nametags with a message about your mobile program. Additionally, the employees can verbally inform customers at the register or other areas of your store about your text message offers and updates to increase awareness.

Have your employees spread the word.

Special Calls to Action on the Receipts

Whether your company is a club, restaurant, store, or other type of business, you probably have some form of receipt available for customers after they make purchases. This is the perfect place to include a message encouraging your customers to opt into your campaign by texting a keyword to a short code. Most people read the receipt at some point to reconcile their bank accounts, so this method can be quite effective for increasing your mobile subscriptions.

Link to Other Social Media Efforts

Another way to advertise your mobile subscription service in store is to tie it into your social media marketing creative. You can offer special promotions for scavenger hunts, check-in, photo tags on social media, and more. You can also add posters with QR codes in your store that will have additional information about an event or product. Integrating your mobile and social media marketing efforts can help you extend your reach.

To make the most of your text marketing efforts, you need to include information about your mobile program in a comprehensive marketing plan. By adding info to your print ads that you already have in store, you can ensure that customers are aware of your text updates, increasing the number of people who will choose to join the list.

Learn more about how SMS messages can increase sales by reading this ClubTexting blog post.

Each individual channel of customer engagement has its unique benefits, which can be further enhanced by executing a marketing campaign in connection with a complementary channel. Therefore, to get the most out of your marketing plan, you should integrate your methods across channels, especially those that naturally complement one another, such as text and email marketing.

Cross channel marketing improves the success of your campaign.

Many companies do not take advantage integrating these two platforms. According to the Marketing Sherpa 2013 Email Marketing Benchmark Report, only 8 percent of companies integrate SMS with emails, compared to 75 percent who integrate email with their website and 56 percent who integrate it with social media. By omitting cross platform engagement with text and email, you miss out on a lucrative chance to further engage your potential customers and increase your conversion rates. Luckily, there are simple actions you can include in your marketing campaigns to take advantage of the complementary features of the two.

Adding a Mobile Call to Action

You can use your emails to increase your number of SMS message subscribers, while also increasing the level of interaction with your customers. Consider adding a call to action for your customers in your email marketing campaigns to text a keyword to your short code. To further incentivize your customers to participate, you can include an extra perk, such as a discount or offer, that will only be shared by text message.

Have your email customers text a keyword for a special offer.

In the text message response, you can add a link to your website to make it even easier for your customers to redeem any offers and patronize your business.

Follow up Your Emails with SMS Reminders

Another way that your SMS marketing efforts can complement your email blasts is to send a follow up reminder to your email subscribers via text message. According to research from SinglePoint, text message open rates are around 99 percent, compared to about 33 percent for email marketing. Therefore, many of your customers may never actually read your emails or engage with your company. By following up your email blasts with text messages, you can increase the number of people who see the message, while also reminding those who have already read the email to take action.

For example, you can send emails to your customer base about a special event, sale, or an offer. Then, you can follow up via text message after a period of time to remind them about the email offer or upcoming event. This works not only for businesses but also for shows and clubs. Your text messages will work as a reminder about your event or sale, increasing the number of participants.

Time Sensitive Offers to Mobile Subscribers

Statistics show that people respond to text messages much faster than emails. Therefore, you can take advantage by sending out special offers via text that are time sensitive.

Use texts for time sensitive deals and alerts.

For example, you can distribute discounts for event registration or offers for items that can only be redeemed that day. If you are a restaurant or club owner, you may want to send out discounts for a specific mealtime, such as lunch, happy hour, or dinner.

Integrating the Two

It is not just your text message campaigns that can complement your emails, but your emails can also have a role in complementing your SMS messages. You are limited in the number of characters you can include via text message. Most experts agree you should only send between 100 and 140 characters, which means that your message has to be short and sweet. However, you can extend your message by incorporating links with more information.

Add a link at the bottom of your text message for further information.

Additionally, you can provide a call to action where those who are interested can sign up to receive more information via email.

Email and SMS marketing easily integrate and complement one another to enhance the success of your marketing campaign. You can also easily integrate other channels into your marketing efforts, including social media and in-store advertising. By developing a cross-channel campaign, you can create additional avenues for engaging with your customers and increase your conversion rates and customer base.

Try ClubTexting for free to see how well text message marketing can work for your business.

Personalizing your text message marketing campaigns can boost customer engagement.

Everyone knows how to send and open a text message. Even toddlers seem to be whizzes at this practice. But when it comes to setting up a killer text message marketing campaign, there are a few important things to consider. Rather than blasting out a generic text to everyone, personalizing the experience can help make your campaign more effective.

Here are 5 tips to help you boost the personalization of your text message marketing efforts.

1. Find Out Where Customers Are Located

It's simple to find out where your customers are located geographically. Tapping into location information can help you increase the personalized experiences customers get with your text messaging campaign.

A lot of key players are already using location data. Take Starbucks for example. The coffee giant asks customers to share their location via mobile, after which a map with nearby stores will populate. It's simple, painless, and gives customers exactly what they're looking for. As long as customers understand that there's a benefit to them taking action, they won't mind offering up their location.

2. Conduct Surveys to Learn More About Your Users

Encouraging mobile subscribers to take part in a poll can provide you with valuable insight and help you personalize your text message marketing. Text message polls can be effectively used to ask a bunch of carefully thought-out questions that collect specific information about your users interests and buying behaviors.

You can then use these responses to tailor specific texts and responses you send out to particular customer segments in order to create a more personalized experience for your users.

3. Identify Subscribers With Opt-Ins

Opting-in automatically turns your potential customers into subscribers, which is ideal for personalizing your SMS marketing campaign. When people opt-in, they do so using specific keywords, which provide important info for text message marketers.

Consumers are more apt to respond to more personalized texts as opposed to generic text message blasts.

After you've grown your subscriber list, you can then personalize their experience by using customized features, like specific product recommendations that you pull together based on past purchase data. When your subscribers see the benefits of being part of your list, they'll be more inclined to continue communicating with your business via text. They may even tell their friends about it!

4. Keep Tabs on Levels of Customer Engagement

It's important and helpful to pay close attention to how often your users engage with your marketing efforts. You want to be able to identify whether or not users are opening your messages and responding.

If they're not engaging at all, or as often as you would have hoped, you need to tweak things a bit. Perhaps the offer itself needs to be changed, or the call to action needs to be modified. If their engagement levels go up, you know you've piqued their interest. If not, keep testing until you've found that sweet spot.

5. Determine Your Customers' Personal Preferences

Your users can customize their preferences for you if you give them options to choose from. For example, you can ask your users which product lines are interesting to them. After they've provided their answer, you'll then have a clear indication of which offers you should be sending them.

Personalizing your text message communications will provide your customers with a more enjoyable experience without being intrusive. Text messaging is more than just a method of communication; it's also a way to collect pertinent information about your customers that you can then use to boost the relevancy of your future marketing campaigns.

Make Text Message Marketing Work For Your Business

Text message marketing has transformed the world of advertising. This method of communication is highly affordable, extremely effective, and easy to implement. With the right SMS marketing services, you can get your campaign up and running in no time. At Club Texting, we cover every angle of text marketing so your business can see immediate results.

Ready to reap the rewards of text message marketing? Try Club Texting for free today!

A strong call to action should encourage your customers to take the next step.

Text marketing is an effective way to reach customers, and should be a part of your overall marketing strategy. It's also quite affordable and easy to set up campaigns. But in order to get the most from your text marketing efforts, you need a solid call to action in your messages.

Your call to action is a simple statement that can make or break your entire text marketing campaign. It should tell your mobile subscribers what to do next, and why they should do it. Consider the following three suggestions when crafting your call to action.

Create a Sense of Urgency

Don't give your viewers time to think about whether or not they should act on your offer. Instead, encourage them to act immediately. Generating a sense of urgency makes your viewers feel as if they'll miss out on a great opportunity if they don't move right away. Setting up a limited window of time for your mobile subscribers to take advantage of your offer will boost your redemption rates.

For instance, "Show this message at the checkout within 24 hours to get 25 percent off your purchase" tells your readers that in order to reap the benefits of the offer, they've got to act right away or they'll lose out. By crafting a limited-time call to action, you can effectively increase your redemption rates. Don't give your viewers the option to wait and think about it.

Tell Your Customer Why They'll Benefit

The best calls to action create value for customers. Your mobile subscribers enjoy feeling as though they are receiving special benefits from participating in your mobile program.

A compelling call to action will entice readers to follow through with your offer.

Focus your call to action on the benefits for customers. Don't just say "Buy Now" or "Subscribe Today." You've got to show your mobile subscribers why they should buy or subscribe. "Buy now to receive 20 percent off," or "Subscribe today to gain exclusive access" are better examples that include a clear benefit of why your text message recipient should act on your offer.

Be Clear and Direct

A call to action should be clearly understood by the reader. Vague directions will do little to compel a person to take action. An obscure, uninspiring "click here" message isn't going to entice anyone to venture off to your landing page. Instead, the statement should make it clear what it is you want your reader to do in order to reap the benefits.

For instance, a message along the lines of "Add to your cart now to save 25 percent on your purchase" cannot be misinterpreted. It's clear, direct, and to-the-point while identifying the benefits that will come along with that action. The specific language that you use in your call to action must be too tempting to ignore.

Set Up Your Text Marketing Campaign With Club Texting!

Text message marketing is an effective way to reach new customers and retain existing ones, but it's important to use it to its fullest potential. At Club Texting, we can help you develop a solid SMS marketing plan that will result in high conversions.

Club Texting can help you reach hundreds of thousands of viewers in seconds. Try Club Texting for free with no obligation to find out how!

Text marketing gives radio stations a much better way to stay connected with their audiences.

It happens all the time - a radio station listener calls in to win concert tickets for a sold-out show but gets nothing but a busy signal, over and over. At some point, the listener may become frustrated and give up trying.

That's not exactly how you would want your listeners to feel, is it?

Thankfully, there's a way to open up the floodgates of communication between radio station DJs and listeners, and boost the overall number of listeners all at the same time!

It's called text marketing, and it's helping radio stations all over the country improve their listeners' call-in experiences, and help to increase the number of people tuning in. More listeners means increased advertising revenue for radio stations. If your radio station isn't already tapping into this communication goldmine, here are just a few reasons why you should.

1. Make it Easy For Listeners and DJs to Communicate With Each Other

Whether your listeners want to call in to request a specific song or answer a trivia question to win a prize, opening the lines of communication via text message makes it a lot easier for listeners to be heard. Imagine how many more participants your station would have by incorporating a text feature, rather than relying on a phone-in option alone for listeners to get in touch.

The easier it is for listeners to get through to DJs, the more interaction there will be with your radio station. This will help your business grow more quickly. What radio station team wouldn't want to boost engagement with listeners? Mobile marketing gives listeners a much better and easier way to communicate with your radio station anytime, anywhere. It's a win-win for your customers and your business.

2. Get More Ears on Your Station

Adding an element of mobile communication to your radio station can help generate serious ratings. Not only does text marketing get your name out there, it also helps to encourage and foster engaged listenership through all the offers and promotions you send out via text.

Use text marketing to give your radio station a boost.

For instance, if your station is holding a contest, you could include in your response something along the lines of, "Tune in during tomorrow's morning show to see if you're a winner!" A short message like this will entice your text recipients to listen to your station. It gives them a gentle little nudge to tune in, keeping listenership - and ratings - up.

3. Every Listener Who Texts Opts-In to Your Station's Mobile Program

Using text messages can give you that extra edge that can boost the number of listener opt-ins and grow your customer database. No matter what the reason for listeners texting in, your database automatically grows.

These are the most valuable listeners: those who have opted-in to your radio station database. These are the people who you can directly market to through a broadcast text message in the future. As your database of subscribers continues to grow, you can develop new streams of marketing revenue by sending text-based ads and promotions to the subscribers on your list.

Tap Into the Benefits of Text Message Marketing With Club Texting

Staying constantly connected with your listeners is a benefit that cannot be measured. That's what a radio station is all about. By improving the lines of communication between your station and your listeners, your business can hit the high notes.

At Club Texting, we can show you how your radio station can benefit from text message marketing. The options on how you choose to use text messaging to boost business are seemingly endless, and really are only limited by your imagination and creativity.

Run a contest so listeners can text a short code for a chance to win a prize, send bulk texts offering free entry to events, give away tickets to contests, send traffic updates, or allow listeners to vote for the next song to be played. There are so many approaches you can take to really make text marketing work for you, and at Club Texting, we can help support these efforts.

Text message marketing with Club Texting is simple, affordable, and extremely effective. Try Club Texting for free today!

Keywords are a powerful tool when it comes to developing a successful text message marketing campaign.

By now, you're probably familiar with text message marketing, or perhaps you've heard bits and pieces about it.

This unique marketing method is quite popular these days. It's inexpensive and effective - two solid reasons to jump on the text message marketing bandwagon. People are constantly connected to their mobile devices; you may as well capitalize on this fact and put your brand in front of them via text.

But like any other form of marketing, some text message campaigns are more successful than others. When creating a campaign, it's important to remember the fast-paced nature of this mode of communication. People are constantly on the go. They aren't interested in reading long-winded text message advertisements which aren't relevant to them. Instead, for them to absorb the information presented, messages have to be interesting and easily digestible. Therein lies the magic of mobile keywords in text message marketing.

By incorporating keywords in your text message marketing campaign, you can gather mobile numbers quickly and easily so your audience can be delivered bite-sized, relevant, and digestible pieces of information.

What Exactly Are 'Keywords' in the World of Text Marketing?

Keywords are at the heart of text message marketing. A keyword is a unique word that people use to communicate with you via short code. Certain keywords are associated with specific short codes.

In simpler terms, the same keyword can actually be used across a number of short codes. When paired with a short code, a keyword (typically a 5- or 6-digit set of numbers/letters) allows mobile phone users to text a message to the short code. Basically, the keyword is what identifies your product/service/business.

By pairing a keyword to a short code, your customers can easily and quickly communicate with your business, all at a very minimal cost to you.

How Do Mobile Keywords Work?

When people send your keyword through an SMS text message to a short code, they can get more info about a specific type of product or service which interests them, and be added to your contact list via subscription. After they've fired off their texts, users will receive an automated response message, and their phone numbers will be added to your distribution list.

Keywords and short codes make it easy and fast to identify your brand.

This info can be used for any future marketing campaigns your business creates, and can be modified at any time.

Why Should Business Owners Use Mobile Keywords?

Making good use of keywords and short codes in your text message marketing campaigns can improve your reach and increase customer engagement. You can slip your short codes and keywords into advertisements, brochures, pamphlets, or emails, depending on what marketing channels your business is using to connect with customers. In a snap, you can connect with your audience via mobile, regardless of where they happen to be.

Follow-up text messages can be sent within a certain amount of time after someone signs up, which will help you stay connected to your audience to keep your business top of mind. As soon as someone joins your subscriber list, you can be alerted via email or text so you can keep tabs on how well your marketing campaigns are working in real time.

Keywords are unique to your business. That way, when a user texts this specific number/word, it will connect them directly to you, and they will be automatically added to your contact list in order to receive relevant offers via your company's mobile program.

Let's use the soft drink giant Pepsi as an example. The company tells their audience to text the keyword "PEPSIMAX" to 710710 (the brand's unique short code). Once users do this, they have access to text message offers and incentives from the brand, AND they're automatically added to the company's list of contacts. Pretty neat, huh? Neat, and effective. If Pepsi is doing it, why shouldn't you?

Tap Into the Power of Mobile Keywords With Club Texting

For nearly a decade, Club Texting has been an industry leader in text message marketing. We've helped countless clients come up with effective and affordable text message marketing campaigns. We make smart use of mobile keywords and use these powerful little characters to lay the groundwork for a successful marketing campaign.

You've got nothing to lose and everything to gain. Try Club Texting for free today!

SMS text messaging can help your business build customer loyalty.

If you aren't already using text messages to connect with your customers, you need to start right now!

Developing a loyal customer base is a huge priority for companies. After all, it's these customers who keep bringing in the business. Sure, there are many ways to go about building customer loyalty, but none are quite as affordable and effective as text message marketing.

Here's a look at why this approach to marketing is so effective for building customer loyalty, and why you need to tap into it sooner rather than later.

95 Percent of Your Customers Open and Read Your Text Messages Within 3 Minutes

With so many people having their own mobile devices and checking them countless times each day, it just makes sense for businesses to use this platform to reach out to new and existing customers.

Here's an interesting fact: 95 out of 100 of your customers who have opted in to receive messages from your business will actually open and read them within 3 short minutes. What business owner wouldn't want to capitalize on that hearty number?

Think about how you react to a text message. You probably read it soon after it comes through, right? With text message marketing, not only will you reap the benefits of having constant contact with your customers, you can also offer promotions and exclusive products that they can take advantage of right away.

Boosting Conversions With Text Message Marketing

People opt in to receive text message communications from your business because they are interested in what you have to say. When your mobile subscribers hear from you regularly, they'll be more likely to take action on whatever it is you're asking them to do. Whether you're sending them a promotion, coupon, or access to an exclusive product, your message will encourage them to engage with your business and redeem your offer.

The average response time after receipt of a text message is approximately 90 seconds. By comparison, it takes 90 minutes on average for someone to respond to an email. The boost in conversions that are associated with text marketing as compared with other forms of communication is well worth the effort, and a good reason to get started with your first campaign.

Identify Your Promotions and Segment Your Audience Appropriately

Everyone familiar with marketing knows the importance of segmenting audiences in order to create more personalized, relevant ads. With a text message marketing campaign, you can effectively reach out to different customer segments, whether they're first-time shoppers, loyal VIPs, or customers who haven't visited your store in a while.

Text message marketing has helped companies realize exponential growth in business.

Over time, you can use past purchasing data and track the results of previous marketing campaigns to decide which group of people will be more receptive to certain deals and promotions you're offering. If the offer is enticing enough for your customers to bite - such as 30 percent off a product or a free item with purchase - you will realistically see a huge response to your text message marketing efforts.

Accurately segmenting your list of permission-based mobile subscribers is an important step towards improving the relevancy of your text message ads. Using customer data to inform your campaigns helps improve relevancy and drive sales over time.

Use the Proper Context in Your Messages to Keep Your Customers Coming Back For More

You can decide when and how often to text your customers based on several factors, depending on the type of business you operate and the specific promotion. For example, if you own a restaurant that's known for its dinner specials, you could send out a text in the middle of the afternoon when people are thinking about their dinner plans. This ensures that the text message is appropriate and effective.

Join Thousands of Businesses Who Have Already Reaped the Benefits of a Text Message Marketing Campaign

One of the biggest benefits of text message marketing is that your offers sent via text are actually being read by your customers on the spot. This can effectively send customers to your store to redeem your offers a lot more quickly, as compared with other marketing platforms.

At Club Texting, we can work with your business to develop the ideal text message marketing campaign with our affordable, easy-to-use services that can help you reach hordes of customers, both new and existing.

Whether you're a realtor, club owner, retailer or event promoter, our text messaging service is the perfect communications solution for your business advertising needs. If you are interested in promoting an upcoming contest, enticing customers with special offers, or conducting polls, Club Texting can help you accomplish your communication goals.

So what are you waiting for? Give Club Texting a try for free today!

Author Bio:

Lisa Simonelli Rennie is a freelance web content creator who enjoys writing on all sorts of topics, including online marketing, social media advertising, personal finance, and anything to do with the internet industry.

Mobile can help you simplify the process of planning an expo or convention.

Imagine for a moment how challenging it is to plan a large convention. You have hundreds of attendees all under one roof, with countless speakers, simultaneous events, and you are charged with keeping everything organized and sticking to a strict schedule. Convention planning can be a high stress job, and the best planners are always searching for ways to make life easier for their team. If you regularly plan large events, there are several ways that text messaging can help you keep things running smoothly. Here are four ways convention planners can use text messages to simplify their lives.

Keeping Things on Schedule

There are often multiple events happening at once during a large convention. Moving people from Point A to Point B in order to stay on schedule can be challenging. Event planners can use bulk text messaging to communicate with conference attendees about the day's agenda, reminding them of start times for sessions they've signed up to attend. This can help reduce the instances of people arriving late or missing out on sessions altogether.

Communication among Team Members

If you regularly attend conventions, you can attest to the fact that they are often held in giant buildings. To give you an idea of how large these venues can be, the Boston-based Hynes Convention Center spans over 176,000 square feet. One of the biggest challenges for convention planners is staying in touch with their staff during their event. Team members are often spread out across large buildings, and convention planners can use text messaging to keep the lines of communication open with staff.

Increasing Audience Participation during Q&A Sessions

Question and answer sessions at large events are often fast-moving, and it's important to stay organized to keep these discussions running smoothly. As mobile technology has advanced, many convention planners have begun using text messaging to collect questions from the audience during Q&A sessions. Not only does this help encourage audience participation, it also helps you organize your sessions more effectively. It's an approach worth considering if you are looking for more effective ways to manage your question and answer discussions.

Gathering Attendee Feedback

Every convention planner wants feedback on their event. Input from attendees is helpful because it provides planners with valuable insights into what worked well for participants and what they can improve upon at their next event. Instead of gathering feedback solely via paper surveys, some event planners are using mobile to collect participant input as well. Text message polls can be set up quickly and sent to convention attendees. The process is simple and in many cases, feedback comes through almost immediately.

Text message polls can be used in addition to paper surveys to gather feedback from attendees.

Mobile technology can make your life as a convention planner much easier. Text messaging can help you keep things on schedule, improve communication among your team members, increase participation in panel discussions and Q&A sessions, or collect valuable feedback from your attendees. Are you interested in working with a mobile communications provider to help your events run more smoothly? Try Club Texting for free today.

More readers are turning to the Internet for their daily dose of news and information.

The Internet and mobile technology have changed the publishing industry considerably. With more people using their mobile devices and home computers to find the information they need, many publishers have taken their content online. Most major newspapers and magazines have also adjusted their marketing efforts in order to engage with the digital consumer. This often means focusing more on channels like social media and mobile and putting less emphasis on traditional print advertising campaigns. Following are three ways that publishers can use mobile and text marketing to connect with readers.

Content Sharing

Are you interested in driving more traffic to your publication's website? Why not share relevant content with your readers via text message. As you grow your mobile subscriber list, consider having your readers opt-in to receive messages about certain topics that interest them. This helps ensure that you're delivering highly relevant content that's targeted towards specific mobile subscribers. This approach to text marketing is beneficial for businesses as well as customers. The business reaps the benefit of having more people clicking through on links to their articles, videos, and photos, and the customer gets an alert each time something that's of interest to them is published. Sharing content via text marketing is a win-win for publishers and readers alike.

Special Mobile Promotions

Text message promotions can also help you increase subscriptions to your newspaper or magazine. Consider offering periodic promotions to your mobile subscribers, like a percentage-off discount on your print publication or a free month of unlimited reading on your website in exchange for purchasing a subscription online. Not only will these special promotions help keep your publication on your customers' radar, they may also help to boost your subscriber base and generate more revenue for your company.

Text-to-Win Contests

Does your magazine or newspaper offer any special sweepstakes or contests for your readers? Maybe you occasionally give away free subscriptions or you host an annual contest each summer where one lucky reader wins a dream vacation. If you're already using contests to generate reader interest, texting can be a great way to keep your entries organized. You may also get more engagement if you choose to use a text-to-win model, as sending a text message is such a simple process for recipients. If your business doesn't typically administer contests, it may be something to think about if you're interested in grabbing the attention of your audience. A contest or sweepstakes can help boost your website traffic and raise awareness about your publication.

Publishing companies are using mobile marketing to reach more readers.

The publishing industry is continuing to change with the times. More key players have begun to explore how they can benefit from using mobile and digital channels to connect with their audience. Text messaging is an important part of this. SMS messages can be used for content sharing, and also for alerting mobile users about special promotions and contests. If you are interested in exploring how your newspaper or magazine can benefit from adding text messaging to your marketing portfolio, try Club Texting for free today!

Building your mobile subscriber list can help you create more effective text message marketing campaigns.

One of the most common questions that business owners have is how to effectively grow their mobile subscriber list. Whether you are just beginning to explore text message marketing for your business or you simply want to expand your audience, there are a number of easy things you can do to give your mobile subscriber list a boost. Keep in mind that it may take some time to develop a large list, but it will be well worth it because your text message marketing campaigns will be seen by more customers. Here are four helpful tips for attracting new mobile subscribers.

Leverage Print Marketing

Does your business send out direct mailings regularly to connect with new customers? Or perhaps you have print advertisements in your store. Consider leveraging your existing print marketing efforts to get the word out about your mobile subscriber list. Adding a long code to print advertisements is an easy way to make your audience aware that they can connect with your business via mobile.

Add Your Mobile Call to Action to your Website

Did you know that you can actually add a mobile call to action to your business website? Many businesses create HTML forms where mobile users can enter their phone numbers in order to receive text messages. You can even take this one step further and provide a list of interests for potential subscribers to check off when they enter their mobile number. For example, if you're a pub owner, you may want to include options to receive text message alerts about special menus, exclusive deals, musical performance schedules, or VIP events. This extra step can help you create more targeted text message marketing campaigns. Adding a mobile call to action to your website is an inexpensive and easy way to grow your business' mobile database.

Spread the Word via Email

If your business has an existing email list and you distribute newsletters to customers regularly, you can also add your mobile call to action there to boost your subscriptions. Again, making a simple change to your existing email newsletter is an inexpensive and quick way to grow your mobile database.

Create a Refer a Friend Campaign

Do you already have a small list of loyal mobile subscribers? If so, you may want to consider creating a 'refer a friend' campaign to get the word out about your business. Use text message marketing to reach your existing customers, and offer them an incentive in exchange for new referrals. For example, those who refer five friends can receive 10 percent off their next meal purchase. This is a sure fire way to grow your mobile subscriber list quickly.

Let customers know about your mobile list through various channels to increase participation.

Are you a business owner that's interested in growing your mobile subscriber list? If so, there are a number of easy ways to get started. Consider leveraging print marketing, adding your mobile call to action to your website, spreading the word about your mobile list to your email subscribers, and creating a campaign that allows your customers to refer a friend and receive special offers. Are you ready to launch your first text message marketing campaign? Try Club Texting for free today!