For a medium which was literally stumbled upon by accident – the idea was hatched because of spare capacity on the mobile networks – there is little doubt that SMS marketing has proved a major boon for brand owners.
And, with global mobile marketing adspend predicted to hit $20.6bn by 2015, few would doubt the power of the humble text message.
But where some see opportunity, others see the chance to bombard – after all, 77% of the world’s population now own a mobile, equivalent to 5.3 billion people, so there are rich pickings to be made for the unscrupulous.
While most of the global growth has been fuelled by emerging markets like India and China, here in the UK, the market is maturing fast. O2, for instance, reckons it will have 10 million of its customers signed up for the O2 More loyalty scheme – and potentially available to brand owners – by next year. According to one of its bosses, this makes the O2 customer base a ‘must buy’ for anyone serious about mobile advertising.
But before everyone gets carried away, the real issue with SMS is the not necessarily the part marketers think about first – who polices the medium. OK, it might be slightly dull, yet without adequate regulation all the best laid plans of marketers could turn to dust.
To be fair, this has not been lost on the DMA, which is calling on the Government to sort out the mess over SMS spam. According to a recent study, some 17% of those surveyed said they would complain to their network provider, 20% to Ofcom, 9% to the Office of Fair Trading, 4% to the Ministry of Justice, 3% to the Information Commissioner’s Office, and a massive 46% said they had no idea who to complain to.
And while today’s ban on ‘claims farming’ will no doubt end one major source of SMS spam, there will always be others plotting to step in, not to mention the rise in debt firms using the medium.
Without action, it won’t be just a case of meddling with the golden goose it will be more like blasting it with a blowtorch.
Charlie McKelvey is publishing editor of DecisionMarketing
Never going to happen – companies are still wasting millions on untargeted direct mail at about £1 a pack. A text message costs virtually nothing to send, so for most it’s worth the risk of upsetting a few people.
As usual apathy will out