Applications and Benefits
Promote your business over media such as newspapers, print, radio and TV
PremiumSMS is the perfect product for promoting your business over the media oulets of newspapers, print, radio and TV. The most popular oulets where PremiumSMS has been used with massive success is on the hit TV shows "Your a Star" and "Big Brother" . On these shows Premium rate SMS was used to allow the public to vote on their favourite act or housemate.
PremiumSMS has many applications and can be used to allow your audience to subscribe using their mobile handsets by SMS to:
- Enter a competition
- Enter a quiz or provide the answers to a quiz by text
- Enter comments to a comment line
- Carry out a poll
- Receive information services such as share quotes, GAA or Soccer results
A welcome partner which can enhance newspaper, print, radio and TV advertising dramatically
When PremiumSMS is used alongside any of the media mentioned it can enhance the campaign in a number of ways. For example if a newspaper runs a competition to enhance it sales, lets say for instance the competition is for a free holiday. The entrants to the competition must fill out an entry form cutout from the newspaper and send the entry form into the offices of the newspaper with their name, address and telephone number.
Each week for four weeks the newspaper publishes a number of questions which must be answered and returned to the newspapers offices. The entrants must do this every week in order to be considered for the draw for the free holiday. This is perfectly acceptable and generally the normal way in which competitions are operated but with PremiumSMS the exposure of this competition could be greatly enhanced.
Consider if the entrants could also enter the competition by PremiumSMS. This would enhance the competition in a number of ways.
- Potential entrants to the competition upon seeing the advertisement in the newspaper can pick up their mobile phone and enter the competition instantly.
- It's far more convenient for competition entrants to enter by SMS than filling out a coupon and hand delivering it or posting it into the newspaper offices.
- Competition entrants still need to purchase the newspaper every week because they need to see the questions so the newspaper doesnt loose out on sales.
- The difference here again is convenience because once the entrants see the questions in the newspaper they can text their answers to the five digit shortcode for a minimal cost (30c per text - Less expensive than a postage stamp)
- How many of us have seen similar competitions in newspapers on TV and radio and because of the inconvenience of filling out a form, buying a postage stamp and delivering it to a post box we forget all about the competition within an hour of reading the details.
- PremiumSMS makes it far more convenient and cost effective for consumers to enter such competitions so there is a greater likelihood of a larger number of entrants
- A larger number of entrants means more sales for the newspaper and greater exposure for the newspapers advertisers and sponsors if the free holiday was sponsored
- The ease at which the details of the competition can be passed on by SMS and spread virally amongst the family and friends of competition entrants also adds to the effectiveness of any campaign and increases the number of entrants
- In addition the newspaper can generate revenue from the SMS messages from entrants
This application of PremiumSMS will work equally as effective across all media if managed correctly
Increase your advertising exposure, subscriber numbers and customer base with PremiumSMS
If we take the newspaper, free holiday example mentioned above and we look at the scenario in which a Hotel wants to increase its sales of weekend breaks. If in the newspaper example a hotel was to sponsor the holiday say a free weekend away for two people. In return the hotel could advertise its facilities and products to the entrants of the competition. This enables the hotel to specifically target a market of customers who want to spend a weekend away in that area and at that hotel.
Increase the effectiveness of Promoting your business with Targeted Marketing
Another example of targeted marketing using PremiumSMS is providing the regular visitors to your music venue with a weekly update of whats on. You advertise to your customers informing them if they text 5**** with keyword GIG GUIDE they will receive a text every week outlining what acts are playing at the venue for that particular week. You are effectively targeting customers who you know attend your venue regularily and therefore you are encouraging repeat business. You can charge a fee for providing this information or you can decide to cover the cost yourself if thats more of an incentive to your customers to sign up for the service.
Increase the efficiency and speed of Products & Services Information flow to your customer
If your business is providing your customers with the latest information and the speed with which you can provide this information is important then PremiumSMS can be a very powerful tool for your business. For example, if you provide share prices to investors obviously its imperative that investors are kept up to date with the latest information so they can make buy or sell decisions on their share portfolio. Its easy to see why a customer would be more than happy to pay a small premium to receive this information regularily.
Contact the members of your Club, Society or Group instantly and cost effectively
If you are the organiser of a club or group you know that the time you spend organising sometimes overshadows the time spent in the activities you joined the group for in the first place. You can share this responsibility with PremiumSMS by setting up a subscriber account for the members of you group so they can text a five digit shortcode eg 5**** with the keyword WEEKLY. They will then receive a reply text with the activities, meeting times, venues etc for the club for that week. This reduces the time you spend organising considerably and allows you more time to enjoy the activities of the club. Again depending on your groups budget you can run this system as a premium rate text service and charge the members of the club a minimum amount i.e 30c per text or you can run the system as a free text service where the club picks up the cost of the texts. | 
