Build a new marketing channel and grow sales with SMS marketing

SMS, or short message service, is most commonly known as text messaging via a mobile phone. SMS is an innovative and exciting marketing channel for businesses of all types using subscriber cell phones to distribute promotional messages, information on product launches or special alerts to their customers

At the heart of its effectiveness, SMS marketing is based on the concept of "choice." People must request that they be sent your promotions—a marketer's dream! This request is simply performed by texting a keyword to a five or six digit number, called a short code. Once the text is received, the business has that customer's cell phone number available for use as a one-to-one marketing channel.

How does a business let its customers know about their SMS program?
Businesses of different types may use various strategies, but some typical methods include: in-store signage, table tents, register receipts, bag printing, radio announcements, billboards and Web sites.

What kind of keyword can a business use?
Businesses have the ability to choose a keyword that easily identifies their business. For example, the restaurant TGIF Friday's might select and utilize TGIF as their keyword.

How do I obtain a short code?
Expedite Media Group will provide a number that you can use for your promotional program.

How effective is SMS marketing?
SMS marketing has been shown to produce response rates as high as 70 percent—no other marketing channel, at this time, has a comparable success rate.

Why is it so effective?
Your customers like you, but they also want to save money. SMS marketing programs offer their members exclusive savings opportunities through special promotions. Everyone wants a deal!

Again, the high response rate is primarily due to targeting your promotions to people that like your establishment and have chosen to receive your messages. Furthermore, all of your messages will be immediately delivered to your customers, and virtually all of your text messages will be read.

What are businesses using SMS for?

• To announce new product
• To promote specials and promotions
• To send industry news
• To say "thank you" for your customers' patronage

What are some other uses for SMS marketing?
Ultimately, SMS can always be used to market your business whether you are sending coupons, useful information, alerts for upcoming events or reminders. By using SMS, you're providing value to your customers increasing customer loyalty, traffic and, most important, your sales.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)—how Expedite Media Group will improve your business

If your business has a Web site—or your business is your Web site—it is extremely important to be aware of where your Web page appears in the major search engine results. Have you taken the time to find out where your Web site appears in the rankings? Expedite Media Group's SEO service will improve your business by driving more traffic to your site—increasing your sales! What is SEO? Search engine optimization, more commonly referred to as SEO, is all about the location of your Web site in the search engine result pages. Major search engines like Google, Yahoo! and MSN have spiders that are dispatched out into the Internet, and rank pages according to numerous algorithms. Components such as coding and a Web site's presentation and layout all factor in to a Web site's natural ranking. SEO is the actual process in which we're improving the volume of traffic to your Web site by elevating the location of the site in the major search engine rankings.

How SEO works
It's important to know that SEO is a process. Specifically, it is the process of making your Web site more visible and accessible. It's also important to know that your Web site will not jump in the rankings overnight, as SEO progression can take a month or more. The reason for this is because the major search engines change their rankings once a month, and therefore, your site will show steady positive progress in rankings. It's extremely important to recognize that a large percentage of Web traffic is driven directly through the major search engines.

The importance of SEO
Research has shown that 50% of Internet users don't go past the first page of the returned search engine results. Of the remainder, only 15% of users go past the second page of search engine results. Therefore, the first two pages of search engine results are the "main street" of the Internet, and it is vital that your business is easily located by potential consumers.

How SEO will improve your business
In addition to a relevant and high quality Web site that is specifically designed to sway and pique the interest of prospective customers, SEO can be utilized as a marketing strategy. By ensuring that your business's Web page appears in front of as many people as possible, search engine optimization will aid in the increase of traffic and sales.