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Are SMS Blasts Truly Dead?

Are SMS Blasts truly dead?

With the rise of messaging apps, social media and smart phone penetration, it’s an undeniable fact that the usage of person-to-person SMS has massively decreased nowadays. However, does that mean SMS blasts are truly dead for event marketing professionals? We think not. Read on to find out why SMS blasts should still be a part of your marketing plan, even in the years to come!

People always check their SMSes

You have one new message. People always check their SMS

You might ignore some message notifications from your messaging apps, but you will always check your SMS instantly most of the time. One reason is because you have no way to stop getting a notification for a new message. You can always mute notifications from apps. Another reason is that SMS often delivers important information from banks or merchants. That is why it remains a very effective way of direct communication.

Email is also an effective way to reach people, if you can pass the spam filter, AND if your email title is appealing for people to bother opening it.

Which platforms do they use?

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Your life would be much easier if everyone used the same messaging app. Nevertheless we have to face the reality. There are Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp, Google Hangouts, Viber, Skype, Slack, WeChat, iMessage, etc. That is not to mention there are many other apps out there catering to different types of users in different countries. No matter how popular an app is, there are always people who prefer different apps, as the same rule applies to social media. (Trust me. I know of friends who don’t have a Facebook account.) How can you make sure your message will be heard?

Why dealing with the headache of choosing among loads of messaging apps or social media? Let an SMS to the person’s phone solve the problem! Your important message will be 100% guaranteed to reach the expected receiver, and be read.

SMS doesn’t require Internet to be sent

No Internet? No problem! SMS doesn't require Internet to be sent

We know the chance your events will be held in a forest far away from civilization is very slim. So is the chance your attendees won’t have 4G or WiFi coverage. Still, it can happen, especially for NGO events that are possibly held in rural areas.

SMS will prove to be helpful even in the city for international attendees. If you are a regular traveler, you will notice incoming texts to your mobile are completely free in a foreign country thanks to roaming service.

Only half of world owns a smart phone

According to The Economist, about 50% of the world adult population owns a smart phone up to 2015. The rate might be even lower in countries that have less access to technology such as Indonesia (14%), Ukraine (14.4%), Vietnam (19.7%), Brazil (26.3%), to name a few, according statistics by Google Mobile Planet Tool.

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It means owners of a normal cellphone won’t be checking their social media, emails and messaging desktop apps very often.

Don’t exclude potential attendees to your event just because of the ubiquity of smart phones and social media! Again, I know of people of Generation Y who don’t check their emails more than once a week. They still use computers and smart phones every day for work and entertainment. #TeamSMS

Application-to-Person SMS is the new black

Application-to-person (A2P) messaging allows an organization to push messages to a handset regardless of geographical location and time zone. Typical uses include e-tickets, banking messages and many other value-add messages.

A2P SMS is claimed to be increasing at the rate of 6% CAGR by a columnist at Light Reading, despite the pervasiveness of spam SMS. “A2P messaging is now a key way for organizations to communicate with their customers”, he wrote. Revenues from A2P SMS messaging, according to Juniper Research, will be growing to almost $60 billion by 2018, up from $55 billion in 2013.

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Would you ignore the trend?

Conclusion

Are the above reasons persuasive enough to include SMS blasts in your next marketing plan? Do you have a different opinion? Let us know in the comments section below. Alternatively, tweet your questions about event marketing and mobile marketing to @gevme. We might select yours to answer in a future article.

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