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Making short codes the call to action in ads

Steve Leonard is general manager for off-deck at Motricity
By Steve Leonard

CNN’s Rick Sanchez stands before you on television, encouraging you to text-in your feedback during his interactive news program. Feeling inspired to contribute, you send your two cents to short code 44546: “Mickelson’s got this one in the bag.” The cable network then thanks you for your contribution and offers to deliver you breaking mobile news alerts from its fellow Time Warner Inc.-owned sibling magazine, Entertainment Weekly.

Seldom attuned to the latest in pop culture, you opt-in. After the third SMS update on the Lindsay Lohan/Samantha Ronson scandal, Entertainment Weekly prompts you to visit its mobile Web site and subscribe to the publication. Realizing the text alerts just aren’t enough, you deem it a worthy purchase and your relationship with these media powerhouses continues to grow.

Where am I going with this? Mobile marketing is evolving. According to Nielsen, 71 percent of current users are using data services to connect to the Internet. Among non-users, 49 percent anticipate using mobile Internet services in the future. The growth of the mobile Web brings the opportunity to enhance text message marketing with a level of fulfillment that previously did not exist.

Earlier this year, Motricity predicted that the short code would become the go-to call to action for advertisers. Remember when every commercial or print advertisement started to include a URL for more information? Mobile marketing is ready to claim that spotlight with short codes. Fulfillment is the key driver for the growth of SMS codes being the call-to-action in advertising.

A targeted SMS message sets the stage, but by presenting the chance to continue the engagement through the mobile Internet, the opportunity to provide fulfillment is there.
If the SMS message also includes a discount code or segmented microsite that appeals to the preferences of that mobile phone user, the consumer/marketer relationship is deeper and more rewarding than other static efforts.

Mobile marketing is not siloed like other types of marketing, which require a billboard, television, computer, phone call, physical visit to a store or a combination of these to complete the cycle. Mobile marketing doesn’t just create an interaction that begins and ends – the response is measured and the brand can drive consumers to engage elsewhere or more often.
Furthermore, those engagements are personal and take place on a device that’s usually run by one person.

Put yourself in the consumer’s shoes: If I see a Web site URL in a magazine and I go to that site and browse it one time, that’s great. But it’s not measurable. Will the advertiser or company ever know that I browsed that Web site based on me seeing it in that magazine ad? But if I respond to a text message – you know where it’s coming from.

We are still hardwired to view every single text message that comes through to us. Once I, as the consumer, have given that company or brand permission to interact with me, there is an ongoing, measurable relationship. A Web site can’t reach right back out to you. An SMS can.

The first step for marketers is to embrace the short code as their call-to-action in all advertising materials. From there, embrace the growth of the channel and give your audiences new opportunities to discover all you have to offer in a dynamic new channel.