cool advertising method

[wood]

so, i don't want this to sound like a sales pitch, but i am excited about a new advertising medium i tried at my wash.

someone stopped at my wash to inform me of a new text message marketing program. through a web based program i have been able to send text messages to my customers. it only costs 10cents per. my first two times i sent out 350 messages and had a 15-25 % return, which impressed me.

furthermore, for 3 days i put a sign on my exit end inviting them to text me for a discount and have gained 185 more more cell numbers, which i can use for future messages i want to send out.

you can send out messages instantly to highlight specials, my detail bays were empty one day, i sent out a 30% discount and had 4 people respond and booked them on that day and the next.

the young guy who was in my area said they have open territory so i said i would pass it along to help him out.

go to cmstext.net. his promo code to enter and get more info is 55196789. you can get more info online. also, he has an email. contact andrew at cmstext2009@yahoo.com

its been an up and down season, got excited about this and wanted to share.

wood

 

[pitzerwm]

I guess, my question is why would you need him. You could gather the cell numbers like you did and start your own program. If you need a web page for them to go to, you could also create that yourself. I would be careful with what you agree to, because they are actually, CMSText a Division of American Mortgage Lenders of KY.

 

[wood]

the web based program that i was referring to was for you, the owner to sign up, set up, input phone data and manage from the cms text site . you would develop your own keyword. for an outgoing message, you send the customer the promotion/sale. when i display a sign, they would text the keyword and number (41513) and receive my phone coupon/promotion instantly. therefore, it works outgoing or incoming.

as far as the cms text/mortgage relationship: from my research the company who developed this is out of finland. he is the u.s.a. rep. i prefer to look at the glass as half full, and not so negative. this method is so much less expensive then direct mail and to this point has given me better return.

you really need to go through the web info at the site to get a full understanding of its capabilities.

wood

 

[pitzerwm]

I agree that a person should look at it, and make an informed decision. Having to give them a lot of info before they tell you anything, puts some people off. If its trouble free and cheap, why not. Its a good concept for sure. Problem is that there are many scams out there that you need to do your research before you jump in to anything.

BTW, other than using it, I assume that you have no direct or indirect connection on the financial end?

 

[Jeff_L]

I think the idea of sending a text to customers advertising a discount on your service is a great idea. One thing I would worry about is annoying customers at the same time. If they voluntarily give you their number knowing that on occasion you will send them a discount text and are okay with it, then full steam ahead! However, I'd be darned sure that they understand it. I personally wouldn't want to receive advertisement texts on my phone, but that's just me.

About how you're generating the text messages. If you're paying .10 per text per line, then in my opinion you are overpaying for advertising. There is absolutely no reason why you couldn't create a contact in your email address book for each customer, then create a distribution group, then send out your advertisement text for free.

Again, nice idea on the advertising, just be careful on the execution and how much you spend on it.

Just my .02

 

[Bubbles Galore]

I have been trying to find a way to do this at my wash also. I have been using facebook, twitter, and a blog to promote the wash, but thought that this would be another useful tool to promote. I have been working with my IT guy at work to figure out how I can optimize my Blackberry to send messages. I would consider it to be more of a frequent washers club. Great ideas though.....hhmmmm.....

 

[Waxman]

My Way~The E-Mail List

I recently put up a sign at the exit of my Touchfree; "We Want to Email You! Give us your email address and receive a free deluxe carwash!"

What a hit. I have added many, many names to my list. I can email for free (basically) as much as I want. I can give a coupon, tell about a special. Put in a picture, say what we're doing for special events and link to our website.

My place sponsors local car shows, gives out trophies at some, holds Vets Day carwashes, will have an open house this Spring, and is now doing express aftercare which is taking flight. There are many low cost ways to promote and market and you've gotta get creative. To me the email idea is better than texts and cheaper, too.

 

[wood]

follow up to my post:

1) the text is 10 cents per 160 character text, not 10 cents a line, but 10 cents total.

2) i tried email to, but had less success as far as a return goes. people always have their phone with them to receive a text. although the people with phones who receive emails is growing it still is a low majority compared to having a text package. also, the % of texts read vs. emails is probably 2 to 1.

3) other methods work as well, and i am not solely using this advertising method. i agree that you can't do it all the time. i have a promo about once a month via text.

4) no, i do not have a relationship with this product. i'm old school in that i like to share success with other operators. i frown on those new age business techniques that cut throat price, cheat the customer, cheat the supplier, distributor, bad mouth the competitor, ..............

wood

 

[easywash]

sounds good to me

$0.10 to get your marketing message directly into the hands of someone who asked for it.

THAT'S A BARGAIN!

Keep up the great work.

 

[bigleo48]

I worked in the wireless industry. From a technical standpoint, the service provider likely has access to or their own SMSC and are connected to the IS-41 CCSS7 signaling network. That way they don't need to know the carrier but just the mobile directory number of the called party. Through layer 4 SCCP routing, it will find it's way to the right carrier and mobile. I do not believe there is any inter-carrier tariff for SMS messages, but the end user pays (usually included in the plan). Nice way to make money.

From the car wash owner's standpoint, you are using their services to get your message off. Now if you knew the carrier too, you could email SMS your customers for free. like 6125551212@pcs.att.com (not a real number) from your PC, so you would not need them or be concerned that some else (likely overseas) has your contacts in their database.

From the customers standpoint, this is tricky. I know I don't want to receive any junk mail from anyone on my phone. Some users pay for incoming SMSs thus costing them money. Lastly, delays can occur with SMSs as they are not time sensitive...so your customers may get the SMS overnight, etc. I'd be very weary of this and I personally would not use it.

BigLeo

 

[wood]

bigleo

- there is no delay, it's instant. see for yourself. text the word "car' to 41513. if it takes more then 2 min i will donate $50 to your favorite organization

- they provide me the number so they are opting in. they can opt out anytime they want.

lastly, when someone asks what time is it, do you always tell them how to build a wrist watch?

you guys can dissect this six ways to sunday, i will just keep the best return on advertising dollars in my 20+ years in business to myself.

wood

 

[bigleo48]

Wood,

- I manage an SMSC, there is nominal transit times that are very short if all is well. When there is a problem, then the messages get queued and thus the delay. Also if the person's phone is off, it will be queued until he registers. Finaly, what if the person travels to say Asia and thus needs to pay a few bucks for the message while he's roaming.
- I understand the customer is providing you the number, but you don't control the database. So you must trust the provider to do the right thing. As it grows, that database becomes very valuable and gives the provider the opportunity to resell it. That makes me uncomfortable.
-You are correct that I may have provided too much information on how it works, I guess I was thinking out the process to understand what they are doing. But it also demonstrates that I understand it.

You sound a little annoyed that I'm providing information to the discussion...which is kinda of strange since this forum is all about providing information for discussion. I appreciate the information you provided on this somewhat new way of direct marketing. Just because I won't use it at this time, doesn't mean that everyone shouldn't or that I won't in the future. When it comes to using these networks in new ways...it's an unregulated "wild west" out there. I prefer to watch things shake out and see where the pieces fall. For example, have you considered the legal ramifications of providing information about your customers to an outside source. I know in my jurisdiction, I am responsible for the information and if something bad happens, I am legally responsible.

BigLeo

 

[rph9168]

In our area a large car wash chain got involved in an unwanted fax lawsuit. Even though they hired a marketing company to send the faxes it cost them a great deal of money to defend themselves. I believe it ended with a small payment to the parties that sued and set a precedent against faxing advertisements. I would think this might go the same route if someone decided to sue.

 

[eda]

Boy, the sparks are flying on this idea. It seems the customer is the one supplying the owner the number, so it seems legal to me.

If I were to worry about who has my information every second of the day I would never be able to justify purchasing items on ebay, or on the internet in general. I understand there are people like that, but it is hard to live in this world otherwise. Furthermore, hackers steal info from banks and other places you provide information to all the time. so yes, you have to be careful, but you have to live also. I just check my accounts often to make sure no chicanery is going on.

Tell you what, I am going to stick my money were my mouth is: I am going to sign up with this text marketing thing and will update in a month. I probably have about 2,500 names in my drb, with half of them having cell numbers

Eda

 

[bigleo48]

Eda,

No sparks...just good discussion. Your comments are taking the "customers" point of view. I am not questioning the legality of it. What I'm saying is that as a business owner, you have a legal responsibility to properly handle the information you collect from your customers. In my jurisdiction, these laws have gone beyond what you would consider as reasonable. So I am careful not to give it to anyone at this point while it works it's way through the courts.

So I'm not saying this is bad...I'm just going to let others work out the kinks before I would consider jumping in.

BigLeo

 

[wood]

i know it is just discussion. didn't mean to sound to harsh. everybody is entitled to their point of view.

wood

 

[bigleo48]

Wood,

No worries...it does sound intriguing and I truly do appreciate you sharing this.

BigLeo

 

[easywash]

hmm

It seems to me that the customer has "Opted In" once they send a text to the Carwash Operator.

from then on it fair game! Txt the you know what out of them and make tons of money

If they don't like what you send they can alway unsubscribe.

You guys worry far too much

 

[eda]

Alright, as I stated in a previous post I signed up with the CMS Text program. My office help took the known cell numbers from are DRB Customer Tracking info and uploaded them on the text website.

I am sending out a text promotion to 990 customers. I will let you know how the response goes. The data entry system for the text website was pretty user friendly. There are some video tutorials that helped. The only thing that my girl didn't like was that it took awhile to input the cell numbers. However, I guess, once there in the system it's done.

I will update in a week.

Eda

 

[mmurra]

Wood-THANK YOU for turning us on to a great idea. New ideas like yours make it wothwile to visit this site!