Marketing with Non-Internet Smart Devices: SMS Marketing

The concept of SMS is an acronym for the English word "Short Message Service". SMS; It is the name of the service that sends text written up to 160 characters via mobile phone to another mobile phone. According to the annual reports published by the Information and Communication Technologies Authority, SMS is the most used mobile service after the speech. The discovery that companies can use SMS ads for commercial purposes to reach their target audience as well as interpersonal communication has enabled SMS advertising to be the first step to play an important role in the marketing mix (Sabanur Kıraç, 2012, p.27). Advertisers today use SMS services to communicate with both their own and the customer base they want to reach. SMS ads have some common features of telemarketing and e-mail marketing. Telemarketing is measurable activities implemented to find, create and / or retain a customer (Leiderman, 1990). A 1992 study by Stone and Wyman found that telemarketing has a 13 percent consumer acceptance rate. Although Tele Marketing is similar to SMS marketing, it is not as effective as SMS marketing method. Although SMS advertisements reach the consumer by phone, the fact that it was created via computer makes it less convincing and interactive than telemarketing (Sabanur Kıraç, 2012, p.27). Another advantage is that SMS marketing has less cost. This increases the number of those who prefer SMS marketing. The main advantages of e-mail marketing are cost-effective and digital processing (Jackson & DeCormier, 1999; Peppers & Rodgers, 2000).

On the other hand, its main disadvantages are that it is perceived and spread as spam and therefore the effectiveness and return rates of e-mail advertisements decrease (Windham, 2000). Although the concept of spam in SMS ads is not yet fully formed, the continuation of the transmission of unwanted SMS ads also decreases the return rates. In addition to telemarketing and e-mail marketing, SMS advertisements also provide some advantages that are specific to mobile commerce. Rask and Dholakia (2000) It has defined SMS ads as “the best salesperson in the pocket of your ideal customer”. Almost every person today has a phone. Therefore, thanks to SMS advertisements, the customer can be reached at any time. As with all other direct marketing and advertising tools, SMS ads can be personalized and customized and / or sent to the target consumer specifically for time and location (Wunker & Hughes, 2001). It can spread easily because it has SMS forwarding feature, and the main disadvantage of SMS ads is that it consists of 160 character text format, it cannot contain sound, music or images and is limited to a certain length. According to a study by Barwise and Strong (2002), SMS ads are most effective for low-priced products. Research on SMS ads shows that although they are considered as annoying, the acceptance of SMS ads is high when sent to the relevant people (Patel 2001). As unauthorized advertisements have been known for many years, the consumer also creates negative attitudes and disturbs the consumer (Bauer & Greyser, 1968). Annoying and unauthorized advertisements affect the consumer negatively and harm the brand (MacKenzie & Lutz, 1989; Abernethy, 1991). This is an important factor for companies to add mobile channels to marketing mixes. Mobile phones all over the world have gained an important role as a new advertising medium and in terms of contributing to advertising revenues (Barnes 2002, pp. 399-420). This is an important factor for companies to add mobile channels to marketing mixes. Mobile phones have gained an important role in the world as a new advertising medium and in terms of contributing to advertising revenues (Barnes 2002, pp. 399-420).

SMS is used today to communicate between friends and family. And SMS has a high utilization rate. Enterprises have also added the SMS tool to their marketing mixes to inform their customers (Leung, 2007). In addition, SMS advertisements are actively used to reinforce and support traditional media tools (Zhang & Mao, 2008). SMS ads are part of mobile marketing using SMS technology. SMS ads allow advertisers to deliver advertising messages to consumers via mobile devices (Zhang & Mao, 2008). In addition, SMS advertisements are considered one-to-one and one of the direct marketing ways (Xu, 2006/2007). SMS ads; It ensures that messages about goods, services and ideas reach consumers in a personalized and context-oriented manner (Rohm & Sultan, 2005; Grant & O ‟Donohoe, 2007; Xu, 2006/2007; Muk & Babin, 2006). SMS ads can create effects such as attracting consumers' attention, creating a return and creating brand awareness (Muk & Babin, 2006). SMS ads for marketers and advertisers; it offers many advantages such as ease of use, cost effectiveness, niche targeting, reaching the target audience anywhere and giving instant reactions (Rettie & Brum, 2001). Despite all its advantages, the main problem of SMS ads is that they are found disturbing by consumers (Muk, 2007; Klassen and Cuneo, 2007; Xu, 2006/2007). Nevertheless, the effectiveness of SMS ads higher than internet ads and marketing activities such as direct mailing ensures that SMS ads continue to be used as a valuable tool for businesses (Jelassi and Enders, 2004; Zhang and Mao, 2008).

In a 2002 study, Barnes found that SMS ads are an effective way to attract and attract young consumers. Especially for young consumers, SMS is one of the most preferred ways of communication (Tran, 2003). The easiest way to communicate with young people is to use SMS via mobile devices. For this reason, SMS advertising appears to be an important and effective way to reach the young target audience. SMS advertisements provide benefits such as brand awareness, customer loyalty and increased sales (Bragge et al., 2005, Sutinen and Tirri 2005). For this reason, advertisers should recognize and understand the important variables that affect the response of the consumer in their campaigns containing SMS advertisements (Stewart & Pavlou, 2002).

When we compare SMS marketing with other marketing methods, we see that it has unique features. Considering that all mobile phones are capable of receiving SMS and that consumers carry their mobile phones with them all the time, SMS advertisements enable the consumer to reach anywhere at any time (Bulander, Decker, Schiefer, & Kölmel, 2005; Nysveen, Pedersen, Thorbjørns, & Berthon, 2005). Measuring the campaign results of SMS advertisements that provide interactive communication and fast return is also quick and easy (Bulander, Decker, Schiefer, Kolmel, 2005; Yaniv 2008). The response and return rate of correctly targeted SMS advertising campaigns is much higher than similar campaigns through other channels. For example, according to a study by Rettie et al., while the return rate of SMS ads was 31 percent, the return rate of e-mail ads was measured only between 1-8 percent (Rettie, Grandcolas, & Deakins, 2005). In a similar study, the return rate of print media ads ranged between 0.15 and 0.60 percent (Kavassalis, Spyropoulou, Drossos, Mitrokostas, Gikas, & Hatzistamatiou, 2003). SMS advertising campaigns are one of the most effective ways to attract consumer attention because almost all of the consumers read at least some of them before deleting SMS ads (MMA, 2009).

SMS Ad Types

Barwise and Strong (2002) classified SMS ads into six basic types. According to this classification, SMS advertisement types; Branding, Special offers, Intriguing content that offers a short section about the product or service, Contests, Service and information requests, and Voting / surveys. Another variation of mobile ads was made by Bamba and Barnes (2007) as “push and pull models”. The types of campaigns we can examine in three main categories as push, pull and dialogue are also valid for SMS campaigns. Advertisers in push-type SMS campaigns reach individuals in databases via mobile phones. Push-type advertising campaigns from SMS ads are implemented one way and from the advertiser to the target audience (Sabanur Kıraç, 2012, p.31). The delivery of discount and advantage information to the target audience as a text message is a classic example of such campaigns. Push type SMS advertising campaigns are also an important tool for the advertising company to communicate with the target audience. Advertisers use these types of advertisements to reach their consumers in authorized databases Lawer and Knox (2006), Heinonen and Strandvik (2007).

In pull-type advertising campaigns, advertisers try to ensure that their target audience is a participant. By promising various awards, they want their target audience to reach them via SMS. Pull-type SMS advertising campaigns are advertising campaigns that target the target audience to reach the advertiser via SMS (Sabanur Kıraç2012, p.31).

One of the main goals of pull-type SMS advertising campaigns is to develop databases. In such SMS advertising campaigns, customers share their contact information with the company upon their own wishes. In addition, withdrawal strategies lead consumers to be more active and offer the advertiser a chance to get a faster return. It is frequently applied by means of adding offers to the end of informative messages such as weather or road condition, stock exchange or current news, or “send password win” (Salmenkivi & Nyman, 2007), (Katz-Stone, 2001), (Rettie (2005).