With SMS Marketing, both the consumer and the advertiser are relieved of managing large volumes of information. Traditional advertising mediums must dedicate a bulk of their communication to the “how” – how to contact the company, how to find the product, how to complete the transaction.

By eliminating the necessity of “how” information in audio and print adverts, SMS marketing allows both the consumer and the advertiser to focus on the product or service, and its benefit to the consumer.

In addition to freeing advertising space and time, this also alleviates memory pressure on the consumer. With SMS marketing, the consumer must simply text an easy to remember codeword to a small string of numbers, otherwise known as a shortcode. This can be done immediately, while still engaging with the original advertisement.

Using automated software, the consumer will then receive an immediate response containing all necessary information including contact information. This information can then be stored on the mobile phone, available for reference at any time.

In addition to an automated text message response, SMS marketing captures the mobile number of those who contact the shortcode. This allows companies to send non-automated messages to individuals or groups that provide personalized follow up on the original contact.

Consumers are becoming quickly familiar with SMS systems, particularly as similar systems are used for voting for television competitions. However, the challenge lies in the limitations of the mobile devices themselves.

Currently, text messages cannot exceed 160 characters, including spaces. This limits SMS marketing copy, requiring intelligent and talented copywriting solutions to ensure maximum word efficiency.

SMS marketing is also largely limited to text, although picture and video messages are becoming increasingly supported on new mobile devices.