Text Marketing Companies - What Services To Look For?

Text marketing companies help you carry on your campaign by sending text messages to your customers. It is necessary that you see what kind of text is being forwarded or whether you are opting for a self service, specialty self service or a business texting solutions for campaigning purposes.

According to a research conducted in the year 2008, there were 360 text messages sent and received on an average by cell phone subscribers in US every month; it was a greater figure when compared to 210 voice calls a month. The statistics indicate that US people have a substantially accepted text messaging as a form of communication. The figure has risen in the two years that followed and that is why, more and more business people are taking the help of text marketing to connect with customers.

As the trend for marketing through messages is on the rise, there are hundreds of companies that are offering you the facilities of text marketing. But, here are some basics that you should know about what text marketing entails before you choose a company to help you out. First of all, there are two ways in which text messages can be sent; namely, SMS and SMTP. While SMS is the real kind of text messaging, SMTP is sending an e-mail which appears like a message. SMS involves a fee and a coding technology while SMTP does not. But does that make SMTP a more attractive option for you? In that case, think twice. If you are really serious about promoting your business and linking with your customers, SMTP may not be a nice option for three reasons:

1. There is a huge probability that your messages sent via SMTP will not get delivered to your customers. You may in turn think that text marketing is of no use.

2. Even when the messages sent via SMTP get delivered, they might open you to legal complexities for varied reasons.

3. You may end up harming the reputation of your company.

It is therefore safe to see that the company you choose does not use SMTP services. However, not every company that makes use of SMTP is a spammer. It is advised that you look for a short code of five or six digits being provided to you so that you know you are on the safer side.

Now, once you know the difference between the SMS and SMTP services, your choosing a company to help you in text marketing can be rather difficult. It is recommended that you make your move by taking into consideration the services they provide and judge them as per your requirements. The services could be of various kinds:

- Self service: In the companies that offer you self service, you are required to sign up and take care of your own marketing campaign. You could do it yourself or ask your internal marketing team to take the responsibility. It is required that the company you choose is able to track your delivery and provide effective monitoring.

- Specialty self-service: Here, you have the benefits of having a pre-programmed schedule and integrating your own offers and messages is a trouble-free job.

- Managed service: The companies ensuring managed service helps you by actually doing the text messaging on your behalf. You must look into how effectively they communicate with your marketing team to do the Text Marketing for your company.