DUM! DUM! Dum DUM! DUM! DUM! DUM!….

I couldn’t help hum the Olymic theme, if only to drown out the anachonistic bagpipes being played during the march-of-athletes portion of Beijing’s opening cermonies. But the TV commentators suddenly caught my ear when I heard the words “text-messaging” and “contest.” Turns out that even among Olympic athletes, SMS marketing plays a big role.

Weightlifter Eva Maria Dimas carried her country’s flag during El Salvador’s entry into the Bird’s Nest stadium. While most flag-bearers are chosen according to their fame, popularity, or intriguing back story, Ms. Dimas won the honor thanks to an SMS contest. In a nationwhide text-messaging poll, she received a whopping 73 percent of her countrymen’s vote.

Details about the contest, unfortunately, are hard to come by. But likely it was either an Olympic or athletic organization in El Salvador that put on the SMS quiz–and the benefits likely reaped could also help sports groups in any country with their marketing endeavors.

If the El Salvadorans used the right platform, they could compile information from poll respondents. After someone texted their vote, contest organizers should have sent a reply SMS thanking them and asking if they wanted to receive further information related to sports–such as news alerts,ticket sales, and special merchandise offers. If the voter said yes, organizers could then (A) place the voter’s phone number in a database, and (B) ask for more information such as name, age, gender, and city of residence. Such data would be crucial for successful future targeted campaigns.

Heck, maybe Green Bay can rally its denizens by holding a poll on what they think should be done to Brett Favre for his defection. The only flag they’d allow him to wave would likely be one of surrender.

Eydie Cubarrubia, Marketing Communications Manager, mobileStorm
“I’d rather you text me”

Last week I wrote about plane crash survivors who were saved with SMS. Though public safety workers in British Columbia initially couldn’t find them, one of the victims was able to text-message information about their whereabouts, leading to rescue. But there’s been another dramatic SMS rescue: An Irish air traffic controller texted landing instructions to a pilot after the plane’s electrical power, communications, and radar failed—averting disaster and possibly the deaths of five people on board.

The Irish Times reports that the pilot had used his cellular phone to try calling air traffic control in Cork, but soon lost voice contact. The controller, however, then texted the pilot—using SMS messages to tell him he had a radar signal on the aircraft and to guide the plane in.

“The controller should be commended for his actions,” said air accident investigator John Hughes, who called the event a “serious incident.”

Talk about the ubiquitous-ness of SMS. Under high pressure, the air traffic controller (1) knew that texting often works in situations when voice calling won’t, and (2) quickly switched to SMS communications with the pilot, telling him what he needed to know to safely land. I’d say this shows that for denizens who use SMS, texting has become second nature.

And that’s why marketers really should pay attention to stories like these. The majority of consumers are texting like never before, meaning that SMS should be leveraged to reach them. The airplane incidents I’ve noted prove this, but marketers new to the technology might still be wary.

Luckily, here at mobileStorm we have blogs that explain even the most confusing aspects of text-messaging, and white papers that explain the basics of SMS marketing or that spell out why SMS is so important for savvy marketers. I won’t guarantee that you’ll be able to land a plane, but you just might save yourselves from being out-marketed by the competition.

Eydie Cubarrubia, Marketing Communications Manager
“I’d rather you text me”

By the time you read this, you might already know Sen. Barack Obama’s running mate for the U.S. presidency.

And that clearly illustrates the strength of SMS.

As most people know, Mr. Obama’s long-awaited announcement has been expected to be delivered by text-message to supporters who’d subscribed to receive SMS alerts about his campaign. As of this writing (late Monday), the declaration was “imminent.”

Sure, the candidate was also going to post news on his Web site and send out email messages to other subscribers. But few people are in front of their computers 24-7, while most people have their cell phones with them at all times. So those who’d subscribed to get texts would be the very first (other than wife Michelle, I suppose) to know Mr. Obama’s wannabe-VP.

The impending Veep announcement illustrates one benefit of SMS marketing: Giving audiences a sense of importance and exclusivity. Being the first to obtain something—whether an iPhone or knowledge of the country’s possible next vice-prez—is itself valuable to the consumer/citizen. Marketers in all industries could adapt this fact to their own situations, and perhaps sign people up to receive “secret” SMS notices about store sales, new merchandise, or events such as concerts that are not open to the unsubscribing public.

The Obama campaign’s use of SMS also shows how individual message marketing campaigns can be used within a larger strategy. The Illinois senator is no stranger to using SMS and other digital messaging tactics—indeed, I wrote about this nearly a year ago. I’m guessing the eagerly-awaited VP announcement has garnered gobs more subscribers for the campaign. As he enticed increasingly more voters and citizens to sign up for campaign news, the candidate increased his database of very interested supporters. As long as he removed joke contacts and practiced double opt-in, that is!

With the right platform, any candidate could easily create and organize such a database —by demographic, by voting precinct, and/or by contact preferences, just to name a few categories. Such detailed database management makes sense for a candidate who wants to ensure maximum attendance at local rallies—or for marketers who want to ensure that they reach consumers who are most likely to be engaged with the brands in question.

Jokers and moralists aside, it’s not necessarily bad that a presidential hopeful knows how to sell himself to an increasingly digital-savvy constituency.

Eydie Cubarrubia, Marketing Communications Manager
“I’d rather you text me”

RSS confuses many. Could be that the acronym itself makes it appear more complicated than it really is. So the first thing you should know is what RSS really stands for: Real Simple Syndication. Note the word “simple”!

Key benefits:

• 100% deliverability. If you offer your email and newsletter content via RSS, subscribers to your feed enjoy guaranteed delivery of your content.
• Pull, not push. By signing up to receive your feed, your subscriber is actively requesting your content and updates. This tends to indicate a higher level of customer loyalty and differs from the push strategy sometimes associated with email.

RSS is a great compliment to other digital marketing programs. It’s versatile and can be used in many unique ways. How can you apply RSS technology to your business? Check out ten examples of how companies currently use RSS:

• Orbitz.com, a comprehensive travel website, offers an abundance of services via RSS including airport updates, vacation deals, car rentals, and hotel specials.
  http://www.orbitz.com/App/ViewRSSHelpPage
  
• Amplify, a credit union based in Texas, uses a secure RSS feeder connection to keep customers up to date on what’s happening with their accounts.
  http://www.goamplify.com/products/services/onlinebanking/rss.cfm
• Boston’s Hidden Restaurants, a site showcasing lesser-known restaurants in the New England area, uses RSS feeds to update subscribers on new reviews. Similarly, Creative Loafing—an alternative newspaper and guide to happenings in the metropolitan Atlanta area—uses RSS feeds to update users on various categories including events and restaurants.
  http://atlanta.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/Syndication
• An Italian restaurant in Red Bank, New Jersey uses an RSS feed to keep patrons updated on specials, menu items, and other promotions.
  http://www.2senza.com/rssfeed.xml
• Cabela’s, an online retailer of sporting and outdoors goods, hosts an RSS feed that informs customers about new products and specials in its “Bargain Cave.”
  http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/category/category.jsp?id=cat21404&navAction=jump&cmCat=MainCatcat21404&cm_re=store*topnav*bc
• Vinfolio, an online wine retailer based in San Francisco, allow users to create custom feeds or subscribe to existing feeds to find out when new wines come in, or to read wine reviews and scores. http://www.vinfolio.com/customerService-rss.jsp
• Indeed.com, a job search aggregator, allows you to subscribe to custom job feeds and notifies you when new classifieds are added.
  http://www.indeed.com
• Belief.net, a multi-faith based website, uses RSS to deliver daily inspiration, faith-based news, and other information relevant to cultivating spiritual growth.
  http://www.beliefnet.com/services/rss/index.html
• UNICEF features RSS feeds to update subscribers on news, current features, and photo essays.
  http://www.unicef.org/rss/index.html

Shaneli Ramratan, Marketing Manager