Texting has become a more popular mobile activity than talking in the U.S., and despite recent strides in mobile advertising, marketers have not found an effective form of SMS-based advertising. The question is, will they ever?
Mobile users sent more than 1.3 trillion text messages between July 2008 and July 2009, nearly double the 660 billion calls they made in the same time period, Ad Age reports. Data from the Pew Research Center indicates that 68 percent of cellphone users 18 and over send text messages, including 95 percent of the coveted 18- to 24-year-old demographic.
Despite all that texting, mobile users aren't necessarily open to SMS marketing. A study by WPP's Mindshare found that 76 percent of consumers do not like to receive ads in text messages.
So what do marketers need do to crack into the next frontier in mobile marketing? For starters, they'll have to be open to failing a few times, according to Mindshare's Debbie Solomon, managing director-business planning.
"When you're a first mover you get a chance to learn things from the mistakes you make and successes that you have," Solomon said.
