According to Nielsen Mobile, we know the typical U.S. mobile subscriber sends and receives more SMS text messages than telephone calls. Be honest. Do you know anyone (with a pulse) who doesn’t have a mobile phone? They may not all be “textperts” but we all know the audience is huge and growing rapidly (roughly 500% increase in two years).
The big advertisers are paying attention: Coke engaged over 1 million mobile customers in Q3 of 2008 for the My Coke Rewards program.
Politicians are listening: Obama revealed his pick for running mate via SMS (text message) to millions of anxious mobile subscribers.
Hotels are getting heads in beds: Marriott reported more than $1.25 million in gross revenue in the first 100 days since the hotel chain introduced direct mobile Web bookings.
Restaurants are putting mobile where the mouth is: Papa Johns Pizza reported $1million in revenue from mobile phone pizza orders in just 6 months.
Charities, however, may be the biggest winners: According to 2009 forecasts, charities will benefit from micro giving. Donors who normally write checks or call in with a credit card can now text in a donation and leave their wallet and checkbooks alone. 2008 marked the first year a non-profit organization could receive a donation via text message without the carriers taking a cut. The result? Donations made via mobile phones this first year surpassed all donations made online in its first year (1997). Annual online donations have grown to a whopping $10 billion for 2007, but you can expect exponential increases for mobile giving as well.
According to Nic Covey, Chicago-based director of insights for Nielsen, “The text-message audience is there, it’s now up to marketers to create a reason that consumers would want to relate to them through such a personal and immediate medium.”
In addition to the core financial needs facing non-profit organizations, Causes have struggled with the perception that they are simply advertisers trying to sell us something. The audience is there. The means to communicate are in place. Now it simply comes down to the Message.
This is what has us here at MobileCause so excited. It’s the ability for causes to reach a large audience with a convenient, timely message and allow them to interact and give wherever they are.
What will that Message be? We’ll keep you posted.
The audience is all ears.
…and all thumbs.
