The Italians have a reputation for style. Sebastian Korbel, director of Korbel Web Design in Italy, seems to be proving that there is some substance to this claim. Not all web design is structured over a prolonged period of time. Sometimes, a client will want to market a new product as quickly as possible and time is of the essence. Even during the standard web design process, communication with the client is vital to ensure their complete satisfaction. Using the ability to forward email to mobile as Sebastian does gives you another level of customer service. If you can incorporate forward email to text message software into your business, you will find there are further benefits.

Designs On The Web

The facility to forward email to sms means that you can keep your clients updated on the progress of their website every step of the way. Whether it’s new pages for an existing site or building a new one from scratch, keeping your customers in the loop can prevent any unnecessary slip-ups or misunderstandings. And, given that you can forward email to mobile with this software, you can even launch SMS marketing campaigns from your computer.

From Email To Text – And Back Again!

The software that allows you to forward email to text message does exactly what it says on the tin. It converts the email on your computer into a text message and sends it to your customers’ mobile phones. If you need quick approval on a web page or aspect of design, you can simply fire out the text, knowing that it’s going to hit the relevant mobile in seconds. And, to make things even easier, your client can send you a text from their phone, which will be converted to an email that you can access from your MAC or PC.

Research tells us that around 85% of phone-users carry their mobiles all day, so it’s a fairly safe bet that your message is going to get through when you need it to. If your customer is out and away from their computer, the same message sent by traditional email could be left in their inbox for hours before they receive it. If you send that same message to a mobile phone using SMS messaging, they’ll get the message instantly. It could make all the difference between a happy client and one that’s less than impressed by your communication skills…

More Than A Lifeline

There are further benefits to being able to forward email to mobile phones:

● You don’t just have to use it to stay in touch with clients – if you’ve got employees out in the field, you can keep them up to speed with any important information

● You can send messages and receive messages abroad, so you and your clients can stay in touch without incurring hefty international phone bills

● You can send messages to people who aren’t able to access their emails

● You can forward email to mobile phones in virtually any language. Just let the software do its thing and the language barrier suddenly becomes a thing of the past

There’s no substitute for the personal touch and being able to forward email to text message means you can drop individual messages to the right people when it counts the most, from wherever you are in the world. All you need is access to a computer. “La communcazione ė la chiave”, as Sebastian might say.

Mr S Arnold from Camberley runs a team of mobile engineers. On a daily basis, they will visit domestic and commercial premises, often racing against the clock to meet their clients’ demands. The email to SMS forwarding system that he has used since 2007 has helped him stay ahead of the competition and exceed his customers’ expectations. Being able to forward email to mobile at the click of a mouse has, according to Mr Arnold, “streamlined our communication with mobile engineers and continues to be a vital tool with it now being used in our sales team – as well as the servicing and engineering departments.”

Engineers Without Frontiers

Part of the deal for Mr Arnold and anyone in charge of a fleet, is that often you’ll find yourself needing to be in constant contact with engineers or drivers, whilst simultaneously being in contact with the customer. That particular business juggling act is no mean feat, even for the most adaptable multi-tasker. But, what both the client and the engineer have is something that Mr Arnold can use to his advantage – the mobile phone.

The email to SMS forwarding software allows you to convert an email into a text message and send it from your computer directly to any number of mobile phones. So, if you want to send a message to your engineers you can forward email to mobile phones using your PC or MAC, whilst dealing with your client in the traditional way. If there happen to be any changes to your client’s requirements, then you simply fire a message down the wire to the relevant engineer. That way, your engineer is fully informed before he arrives on site and your customer knows that they’ve got the right firm for the job. It’s not trickery, simply a faster and more effective method of communication.

Forwarding To The Future

As Mr Arnold pointed out, the benefits of email to SMS forwarding don’t have to be restricted to just contacting your employees.

● You can use the two-way system to update your customers on arrival times or ask them to contact you

● Just as you can forward email to mobile, the software can also reverse the process, converting your clients’ text replies into emails that will pop up on your computer

● Because you can contact bulk numbers at once, you can even use the facility to launch marketing campaigns directly from your desktop to as many mobiles as you want

● The system also allows you to send emails in virtually any language, adding a personal touch to any foreign clients you might have on your list

Keeping your engineers in the loop is only the tip of the iceberg, but it means that they can contact your clients even quicker. When you’re supplying a mobile service, communication is the name of the game. Nobody likes hanging around, waiting for something to arrive, with no news to keep them going. A little communication can go a long way and, as email to SMS forwarding is proving, adds the personal touch that customers want from any business.

Bulk SMS marketing is proving increasingly popular with all types of businesses. Quick, easy to use and effective, it also lends itself to working well within lead generation strategies and marketing campaigns. Here we find out how bulk SMS marketing helped Magnetic Marketing pull in the customers.

Dez Futak spends his working day helping businesses create effective marketing strategies. But when it comes to his own marketing, Dez has found that the benefits of bulk SMS marketing have proved to be a big attraction to potential new clients.

Dez runs Magnetic Marketing, based in Basingstoke in the south of England, and has adopted SMS marketing as part of his core marketing strategy. By using it as part of his lead generation strategy, he has been able to not only bring in new business for himself, but also recommend it to other organisations to help their marketing process too.

Quick and easy to set up

SMS text marketing systems makes it easy to deliver targeted, group text messages to consumers in a quick and cost-effective way. The system allows people like Dez to deliver their marketing message straight into people’s pockets. And with texting being one of the most popular forms of instant communication, it’s effective at getting the message across every time. The result is that by incorporating SMS messaging into a general strategy, new leads can be generated that can easily convert into real sales.

SMS text marketing gives you a number of key benefits including:

• The chance to maximise your ROI, giving you great value for money

• The opportunity to build up a strong communication link with existing and new customers on the go

• Stimulate new leads by using smart text messaging solutions such as SMS coupons, dealer locators and promotional SMS games that your clients will want to interact with

• Build a strong brand awareness by getting people interested in your brand through an opt-in SMS campaign, SMS freebies, contests and sweepstakes

• The ability to carry out detailed monitoring of your SMS campaign’s performance and to adjust your strategy instantly according to the results

SMS marketing hasn’t just allowed Dez to boost his own business, though. He’s been busy recommending it to businesses he works with on a daily basis, and monitor what kind of responses he’s been getting too. “SMS messaging is very easy and quick to set up, and its email to SMS gateway allows me to monitor, in real time, leads that are being generated both for my primary business, and those business I support through Magnetic Marketing Ltd.” He has found the service to be comprehensive, allowing him to plan marketing campaigns carefully for maximum effect.

So are you maximising your business potential? Does your messaging system allow you to combine it with lead generation tactics, or are you still just ‘hoping’ that the message will get through? SMS text marketing is proving increasingly popular with businesses across the UK, so why not optimise every potential lead?

If you’re in the travel and tourism business, excellent customer service is more important than ever – for in such a competitive market, it can be the one thing which separates you from the competition. Not only that, a dissatisfied customer who has received poor customer service is a dangerous weapon – for it can take just one bad review on a travel website to turn future customers away.

So how, as a business owner or operator, can you use the right methods of communication to ensure that you create happy customers, each and every time?

The answer is simple – make sure that bulk SMS is a vital part of your customer communication strategy. Bulk SMS is a straightforward and highly effective way to ensure that your customers receive updates, confirmations and key information about their holiday or service purchase – without the risk of losing vital emails to the mercies of a junk folder or wasting your customers’ precious time on the phone.

So how exactly does differing parts of the travel and tourism industry use bulk SMS to best effect? Here are just a few examples on how SMS is the travel industry’s best friend.

1. Booking Reservations Confirmed by SMS
When a customer has made the important decision to book your transport, accommodation or tour, it makes good business practice to immediately confirm that booking or payment so that they have a record of their reference number and the comfort of knowing their booking has been received. Via a simple SMS message to their mobile number, you’ve provided them with a record which they can carry with them at all times – particularly important when travelling and access to email isn’t always available.

2. Change of Itinerary or Booking Details? An SMS seals the deal
Holidays and travel bookings are often subject to changes on both sides. Whether it’s a last-minute change of plan to the customer’s arrangements, or unavoidable transport delays, bulk SMS is the fastest and most secure way to ensure that those important details are transmitted quickly, wherever the customer happens to be. SMS is a better bet than a phone call, for information such as flight numbers, time of arrival or other facts are already written down – meaning that there’s no chance of misunderstanding or miscommunication.

3. Self Catering? SMS creates great communication without undue disturbance
Many people choose self-catering accommodation for the simple reason that they require a peaceful, uninterrupted holiday period. SMS messages can be read at the customer’s convenience and don’t interrupt the flow of their holiday. Use bulk SMS to communicate messages such as where to find the key, emergency contact numbers and names, or even just to welcome them to their holiday cottage or apartment. Even if this information has been sent through on email previously, that email printout can often be the one thing which is left behind – so by confirming details by SMS message, you’re ensuring that your customer has all the information they need to hand.

Bulk SMS is simple to operate and by using a Pay As You Go service such as TextMagic, it’s cost-effective for even small companies to operate – there’s no requirement to sign up for a contract and you can manage your spend easily. You don’t need special equipment or even a high level of IT knowledge to connect with your customers via TextMagic bulk SMS, for there’s a selection of easy-to-use software solutions available, which are all free of charge to users.

Choose between the use-anywhere convenience of Web to SMS, which can be accessed from any computer with an internet connection or the email-like simplicity of the downloadable software TextMagic Messenger – it’s up to you. You can even send and receive SMS messages directly from your existing email client such as Outlook with the Email to SMS option – meaning that all your customer messages are kept in one place. It’s a simple as that – and your clients will love the fact your communication is second to none, earning you brownie points on the review websites!

Winning new business can often be about being ‘the early bird’ – reacting quickly to new business leads and enquiries before your competitors do. That’s why marketing agency Magnetic Marketing Ltd turned to the TextMagic SMS messaging service – with the business benefits quickly becoming clear.

Dez Futak, owner of Magnetic Marketing said, “When you’re in business, it’s vital that you can respond to leads straight away. Getting in contact quickly with a potential new customer can make the difference between winning the business and losing it to another competitor agency. TextMagic gives me the ability to prioritise new business enquiries, wherever I am – and that’s key to the survival and growth of my business.’

TextMagic SMS prioritises new business leads

Magnetic Marketing of Basingstoke in Hampshire, which has been using the TextMagic SMS messaging service for around two months, has taken advantage of the Email to SMS functionality to drive enquiries from the website feedback form directly to staff mobiles via text message.  By prioritising the enquiries by transforming them into text messages, TextMagic separates out the high-importance messages from the rest of the emails received by the business each day – meaning that potential customers can be called back straight away, no matter whether staff are in the office or out on business. It’s a simple yet savvy way for a small business to seize new opportunities – helping busy staff who may be covering several different areas of responsibility to prioritise incoming messages and ensure that they never ‘drop the ball’ when it comes to new leads.

Business SMS offers a great return on investment

Dez Futak knows when he’s found an SMS messaging system that works and delivers cost-effective benefits – which is why he’s planning to offer the TextMagic service as a lead management function for his own clients. “As a marketing agency, it’s our job to advise our clients on how best to get more business, using online marketing, video distribution, social media and viral marketing. However, marketing your business is only half the story; there has to be great process in place to convert those leads generated by your marketing into sales. That’s why we’re looking to use TextMagic SMS messaging to streamline our clients’ response systems, in just the same way as we at Magnetic Marketing use it – to ensure that their business marketing spend delivers the best possible return on investment by driving those sales leads direct to the right person to deal with it, wherever they might be.”

There’s more to come, though – for Dez feels that there’s much more in the TextMagic suite of SMS messaging products which will be of value to his business. “I’m probably only using about 20% of the functionality that TextMagic offers as a service, so I’m keen to investigate other ways in which it can help my business. I love the fact that the SMS messaging service is scalable and there’s no risk – I only pay for what I use, with no contracts or commitment. That makes it the perfect choice to roll out to clients as a really cost-effective way of managing their incoming leads.”

TextMagic SMS - a vital part of any business marketing strategy

As a marketing expert, Dez Futak understands what makes a good brand work. ‘TextMagic is a brand which delivers what it promises, clearly, simply and flexibly. It provides something quite unique which can offer benefit to nearly every business – and not only that, it’s got a great buzz about it. That’s exactly the kind of business partner I like to work with, which is why Magnetic Marketing is excited to be associated with TextMagic. If you’re serious about generating new business for your company, then you can’t do better than by doing it with TextMagic.’

About Magnetic Marketing
Magnetic Marketing is a UK-based marketing agency specialising in using video, social media, iPhone application and email follow-up services to help local businesses connect seamlessly with new customers. For more information, visit www.magneticmarketing.co.uk or call 0845 80 555 80

It’s no surprise to any business marketer that younger audiences are the biggest consumers of digital marketing. Social media is now the biggest single use of the internet, with sites such as Twitter and Facebook remaining kings of the scene. So, as a marketer, you may be forgiven in thinking that you should move your budget from SMS to social media. Right? Wrong.

Whilst social media is undeniably a massive draw for the youth audience, with usage figures rising all the time, this isn’t at the expense of SMS. In nearly every mobile-marketing conscious country in the world, smartphone usage is still centred around SMS – with research showing that youth in countries such as the US have over 75% of their phone activity exclusively on SMS. The fact of the matter is that whilst smartphones have opened up the market for apps, mobile advertising and social media wherever you are, these functions have only increased the youth consumers’ dependency upon their mobile phones – and SMS is still unchallenged as a way to communicate instantly, directly and privately with a single target.

Whilst sites such as Facebook have proven advertising programmes, the mobile site versions have less focus upon advertising – meaning that Facebook advertisers are still lacking a way to really engage with their target audiences on the go. Additionally, Facebook users will typically only update their page two or three times a day at most, minimising interaction time with the platform. As for the other social media giant, Twitter, whilst it’s a great way to build brand interaction, as a paid marketing medium it’s still relatively untested – with the biggest companies getting their feet wet first of all.

So, whilst SMS marketing is, in mobile terms, the grandfather of communication strategies, it’s still the unchallenged king. That’s why SMS marketing should be the centrepoint of your business marketing strategy. Here’s a reminder of what SMS marketing can offer which other mobile marketing business strategies can’t:

1. SMS marketing reaches all mobile users – smartphone or not
Why limit your mobile marketing reach to just those with smartphones, when the vast majority of phones out there are still based on traditional mobile technology? SMS marketing is simple, straightforward and doesn’t require Wi-Fi or 3G connectivity to get through.

2. SMS marketing messages are more direct than any other method of marketing communication
When consumers receive an SMS message, they open it – nearly always immediately. Unlike advertising, SMS marketing is personalised to the point of being singularly targeted to the individual. It has the power of telephone communication without the invasive ‘cold calling’ issue – meaning that your business can reach its target directly on a personal level whilst giving them the choice to read your message as and when they choose.

3. SMS marketing campaigns are highly measurable
With SMS marketing, you can set up any number of different promotional campaigns and voucher codes with ease and target specifically towards different demographics and shopping habits – providing your business with ultimate measurability. If you’re used to emailing your promotional vouchers out to your database, change to SMS marketing instead – with an open rate of over 90% as opposed to the typical 25-35% open rate of email, you’ll be amazed just how effective a well-run and targeted SMS marketing campaign will be.

So if you haven’t already stepped upon the SMS marketing gravy train, now’s the time for your business to make the leap. With companies such as TextMagic offering simple, Pay As You Go SMS solutions with no premium rate tariffs and no contracts, it’s also one of the most cost effective ways to deliver marketing results. Not only that – there are a host of different and easy ways to manage your SMS marketing campaigns, from the use-anywhere simplicity of the web based TextMagic Online to the straightforward downloadable software of TextMagic Messenger.

For ultimate ‘one source’ functionality, you can even integrate your SMS marketing into your email system with Email to SMS – giving you two-way SMS communication right to your normal email inbox. So don’t forget, SMS marketing is still king of the hill when it comes to mobile marketing – so make plans today to make it work for your business!