They Text…What Next?

I think by now we can all agree on the fact that Mobile is an increasingly powerful medium for which to market one’s products and services. With over 277 million mobile users, the majority of whom carry their device with them nearly 24 hours a day, reaching someone on their cell phone, in real time, can have true impact on their actions if done properly. This week we’ll take a look at a company who not only got people to text, but also knew what to do next.

First, let’s take a quick recap. There are a number of different ways to use mobile technology; one of the most prevalent is SMS/text messaging. As the most commonly used application in the world, it is not only simple but extremely efficient. Using text messaging for marketing also allows you to capture the cell phone number of anyone who texts in to the campaign in order to market to them again in the future; a vital part of impacting the bottom line!

Guinness the Beer used text messaging as their primary means of communication for their national Rate Your Pint Challenge. This contest took place in bars and restaurants around the country which serve Guinness Draft Beer. Patrons could Rate Their Pint from 1-5 by sending a text message with the rating to the short code 31759. Each consumer who texted in to enter the contest was entered to win a Home Pub.

Guinness ran the contest from November 2009 – January 2010. With thousands of people texting in to this year’s contest as well as contests run in previous years, Guinness has been able to build a very large mobile database. So how does that benefit them and what did they do next? “We created a live online drawing as a way to drive consumers back to particular accounts at the end of this program, which directly increased sales of Guinness while building further loyalty with their accounts,” said John Lim, CEO of Mobile Card Cast, Tarrytown, NY.

Throughout the contest, Guinness selected their top rated accounts (as ranked 1-5 via consumer texts) in which to host live drawing parties. A text message blast was sent out to all contestants who had entered the contest this year and those who opted in to receive future alerts prior years. “One of the great challenges faced in the mobile space today is maintaining your opt-in list and creating relevant communications of value that directly correlate to sales,” John Lim said.

The culmination of the program were the Live Online Drawing parties which Guinness held in top performing accounts around the country. So did the text blast work? Did people attend the parties? Well, the drawings were held over 3 hours on February 19, 2010. During that time period, 8,510 people texted in from 30 accounts nationwide to win additional gifts and prizes which included t-shirts, ringtones and jackets. That equals 283 entries per account and 1.58 entries per minute. All the while the bars and restaurants were packed with people enjoying Guinness!

Building a Mobile Database can be a powerful tool if used the right way. Building a database of motivated home buyers could be done easily through a Mobile Marketing system like Mobile Real Estate ID which was designed specifically for real estate professionals. A database of motivated home buyers who you could reach with new listings, tax credit information, or personal messages at birthday and holiday time would only further ingrain you in their mind as the real estate agent of choice. The next time they buy or sell a home – it’ll be you they think about first.

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