• WHAT: A way to boost your business and connect with your customers via their mobile devices
• WHY: It's tough to cut through the advertising "white noise"
• COST: Varies from very little to expensive, but look at return on investment (ROI) instead of cost

Text messaging ain't what it used to be.  In fact, it ain't even what it was SUPPOSED to be.  Here's a little-known piece of wireless industry trivia that you can use to impress your friends (as long as they're kind of geeky... otherwise they're just going to roll their eyes and wish you had decided to call in sick): Text messaging was not designed to enable cell phone users to send messages to each other (what the industry refers to as "peer-to-peer").  Text messaging was designed so that the service provider (Verizon, Sprint, AT&T, etc.) could send a message from their center to you telling you that a local tower was down, that a bill was due, that you were approaching the maximum number of minutes in your monthly plan, etc. 

Obviously, text messaging has come a long way.  It's being used for everything from idle chatter between teenagers to informing vending machine route people when one of their machines is out of Coke.  As the cell phone becomes more of a combination wallet, key, communication, lifeline, entertainment and security device it will be used for more and more purposes.  One that may or may not be to everyone's liking is for marketing.  If you think that sending someone an email is a personal form of marketing think about the possibilities of sending text messages - direct marketing companies are licking their chops over the potential.  The possibility for spam is, of course, a worry, but there are legitimate, useful and productive marketing approaches that you might be able to use by offering an opt-in messaging service. 

Not every business is going to need this, but some are going to find good uses for it despite the stigma that may initially be part of it.  If you're a dentist you might be able to use email to alert your patients that it's time for their periodic checkup, for example, but you might want to contact patients by text message to alert them to open appointment slots due to cancellations (thus filling your calendar more efficiently and getting the patient in sooner - something that benefits you both).  

If you're a restaurant owner or other retailer the possibilities grow exponentially.  Imagine that you ask people to sign up for "specials" alerts - anytime that you have their favorite dish available, or want to promote a new item on the menu, etc., you send a text message asking if they want to receive a coupon.  (You can determine the life of the coupon, discount offered, etc.)  If they reply, they get a coupon which they can then bring to the restaurant with them; the coupon could actually be visible on the screen with a bar code that would specify the "good until" date. 

There are many companies that are offering services like this now in a complete package - everything from the materials to help you promote the offer all the way through the web site where you enter the coupon specifications, maintain your database of customers, etc.  One that I think does a pretty good job of explaining the way the entire process works is GoMoText.com - they have a pretty comprehensive site that gives a good overview as well as the gory details of how it all works.  There are a couple of compelling statistics that they quote, too, about 90% of all text messages get read (compare that to an abysmally low read-rate for marketing emails) and that - they claim - text message marketing is 30% more effective than other forms of advertising.  I'm not sure how they get to those numbers but it would be interesting to find out. 

You could do everything from run contests, offer coupons, conduct instant surveys/polls or any number of other things that you can customize based upon a trigger that sets off the alert.  For example, if someone wanted to get an alert everytime the wind was greater than 20 MPH on a certain lake, you could send that (sailors love that stuff).  Or how about when you have seats left at a theater performance that will held that night and you're willing to offer them at a deep discount because they're useless after the performance is over?  What if you're a clothing store that has a clientele that has to know when the latest/greatest/trendiest item arrives - don't you think the folks that are that trendy would warm to the idea of getting alerted by text message about it?  You could set up alerts for people when a particular size item comes in if they wear odd-size shoes, or have them participate in a daily/weekly poll to determine the coolest colors for a certain item - you get the information you need to place your orders with vendors and you offer a significant discount to people who respond to the poll within a certain period of time (or participate on an informal "advisory panel" of trendsetters).  

Texting is more interactive than email, less intrusive than a phone call and completely programmable.  It can be setup to work by date, time, events, results (e.g., if the home team hits more than four home runs you supply two-for-one pizzas and alert the recipients that they have 24 hours to order them) and much, much more.  

It's important to make this an opt-in process - anything that simply blasts out information indiscriminately is spam and could even be considered illegal.  But get people involved and they'll readily accept the occasional message from you.  It's an innovative, creative way to deliver your message to a select group on a timely basis.  In short, it's the marketer's dream.