Perhaps you've heard the term SMS before? SMS is an acronym that stands for Short Messaging Service (also known as text messaging) and is a feature that is enabled to over 4.5 billion active users worldwide. This makes up approximately 75% of all mobile users. Though this service has been around for over 20 years, only recently has the use of SMS taken a rather interesting turn as more and more marketers are switching to the use of text messaging as a means to promote their service or products. SMS marketing is the overall king of mobile marketing as this form of business is expected to gross over $150 billion USD in 2013, and expected to grow considerably for years to come. Not only are the business people seeing great success, but there are specific market statistics that suggest that SMS business marketing may even eclipse internet marketing some day.

In 2012 there were approximately 8.6 trillion SMS text messages shared among mobile users. This is predicted to increase to over 9.5 trillion by a 2016 timeframe. Obviously, more people are texting. Try going anywhere in public without running into someone that is franticly clicking away on their mobile device, sending and receiving text messages at all hours of the day. Nokia provided data that suggests that mobile phone users look at their phone approximately 150 times a day.
In fact, 57% of all mobile users even bring their phone with them into the bathroom. It is almost as if mobile devices have become an extension of ourselves; perhaps comparative to an extra appendage.

SMS is a clear cut favorite among consumers as emails fall far to second place with much lower engagement rates. Not only are people carrying their devices everywhere, checking them almost impulsively throughout the course of the day, but SMS messages are checked almost immediately upon arrival (about 5 seconds total time) and are read 98% of the time. On average, emails are only opened a miniscule 22% of the time, which pales in comparison.

So why should you choose SMS marketing over more traditional methods to draw business? Yes, all of the numbers clearly draw a conclusion that mobile phones are glued to the hip of their target audience and are checked incessantly throughout the day, but that is no indication that SMS business marketing actually converts to sales. Well, believe it or not, a case study was conducted by Upstream, a prestigious analytics company, that found that 70% of people that were polled within the US admitted that they would like to receive offers via their mobile device. Not only that, but they found that marketing coupons were ten times more likely to be redeemed from SMS than those that arrived direct from mail or the newspaper. This is a clear indication that people WANT to use their mobile devices to purchase goods and SMS is the most convenient source for this option.

Some people may have a hard time believing it, but the age of SMS business marketing is upon us. The potential is almost unfathomable as so few people have ever even received an offer through SMS. If you are a serious business person, it would behoove you to take advantage of SMS marketing as this is a virtually untapped niche that is sure to bring in enormous revenue for years to come.