Businesses large and small looking to reach customers effectively for Valentines Day are turning to the ubiquity of SMS marketing on the mobile phone. So says messaging firm Clickatell, which has published its latest guide, the 2010 Valentines Mobile Marketing Handbook.
Clickatell notes that according to this years National Retail Federations (NRF) Valentines Day survey, the average consumer will spend $103 (66) on traditional Valentines Day merchandise, up from $102.50 in 2009. The NRF also predicts that US consumers will spend a total of $14.1 billion on Cupids holiday this year. Last year, more than 1.06 billion messages were sent on Valentines Day.
Clickatell notes the ongoing popularity of SMS, citing a recent study from Portio Research that predicted that worldwide messaging revenues would reach $233 billion by 2014, and another from Dialogue Communications that found that 67% of mobile users would like to receive text alerts for everything from medical appointments to bill payment.
This Valentines season, the most popular forms of social media, SMS and Facebook, will help retailers generate more awareness and buzz about brands, products, services, and special offers instantly and effectively, says Clickatell CEO, Pieter de Villiers. Retail offers can be delivered to more than 4 billion consumers via SMS, including more than 500 million Facebook users instantaneously, making it that much easier and natural for offers to be passed along virally. Never before has it been so easy and effective to reach billions with relevant, targeted, opt-in based offers.