SMS Media Group Announces New API for its SMS Ad Manager

Mobile Operators and Publishers Can Now Monetize SMS Inventory to Create a Powerful Media Channel.

SMS Media Group (SMSMG) today announces a new API (application programming interface) for its SMS Ad Manager. The SMS Ad Manager enables mobile operators and publishers to send text messages that are ad-supported to opt-in cell phone subscribers allowing them to monetize valuable advertising inventory.

As companies and wireless carriers build their opt-in lists, they simultaneously create a highly effective advertising channel. The SMS Ad Manager is an ad-serving technology that inserts targeted, 60-character text ads at the bottom of messages. These ads can be served by list, age, gender and full geo demographics of subscribers that opt-in for SMS alerts. The SMS Ad Manager also manages advertiser needs such as frequency, reporting, and tracking response.

"Mobile operators have a huge opportunity in playing a role in the mobile advertising ecosystem along with Apple and Google," says Sheri Wells, CEO of SMSMG. "Forty percent of mobile users between 18 and 35 want advertisements on their phone that are targeted and relevant to them," says Wells.

The SMS Ad Manager is available as a hosted solution or accessible via an API that allows carriers and mobile publishers to immediately embed ads in their messages and create a new revenue stream.

For more information on SMSMG's SMS Ad Manager, go to https://smsdelivery.com/admanager.asp

Customers Slow to Pay?
Send them a Text!

In these economic times, where customers are slow to pay, text messaging comes to the rescue streamlining communications and offering a greener more cost-effective way to get cash flow in the door. Adding SMS to your accounting and collections process is a great way to remind customers about overdue invoices, speed up the payment process and improve your relationship with customers.

SMS can be used in a variety of ways to improve the accounting process including reminder alerts when an invoice is overdue, notifications on future billings, and personalized customer messages.

SMS is fast becoming the preferred method of communications, especially for younger adults. It's quick, easy-to-use, and always with them. There are now more than 285 million U.S. wireless subscribers (91% of the population). Over 1.4 trillion texts were sent in the U.S. in 2009.

For companies, text messaging saves time and money. Making collections calls is very time-consuming, and the cost for sending out paper invoices is only increasing. The cost for sending a reminder via SMS is just a few pennies compared to the 44¢ it takes for postage alone.

So, if you're having a hard time getting those payments in the door, consider using SMS to collect!

Retailers to Drive Mobile Advertising to $12 Billion U.S. by 2015

The future of mobile marketing will be coupons that drive consumers to ecommerce sites to make a purchase.

According to new report, Mobile Marketing & Retail Strategies by Juniper Research, the mobile retail market will be worth a whopping $12 billion in the U.S. by 2015. The report states that the current mobile retail marketing is $4.1 billion and is expected to grow by 24% annually over the next five years.

Mobile offers retailers a fantastic way to stay in touch with consumers when they are on the go with opportunities ranging from SMS coupons to mobile ecommerce. Mobile coupons and advertising will comprise of the majority of the revenues generated.

Retailers are currently testing out the various mobile ad platforms with ad-hoc campaigns that fall into two categories: mobile web and SMS marketing. Howard Wilcox, report author and senior analyst from Juniper Research says, "as digital ad spend is increasingly transferred into the mobile space, then mobile advertising will gradually reel in and overhaul coupons."

The future of mobile marketing will be coupons that drive consumers to ecommerce sites to make a purchase. "Everything that can be done on the Internet, can now be done on the cell phone," says Sheri Wells, mobile marketing expert and CEO of SMS Media Group. This represents an exciting opportunity for merchants looking to engage consumers and drive retail sales.

Through SMS marketing, retailers can communicate with their customers on a regular basis offering coupons, promotions and sale announcements. Retailers need to catch up to the existing mobile technologies and opportunities available to them. The majority of online retailers do not have a mobile e-commerce site yet, which represents a huge opportunity for developers. Most retailers also are still not capitalizing on the text messaging trend of building an opt-in mobile subscriber database that they can send offers to.

The opt-in database is an asset that retailers cannot afford to miss out on. SMS coupon broadcasts to a retailers' customer database can generate extremely high response rates ranging from 5% to 25%. When an SMS broadcast is used in parallel with a mobile ecommerce site, recipients can click right on over to make a purchase with their mobile device.

Retailers can easily launch an SMS list for their customers to opt-in to by leveraging existing SMS platforms. One such service is SMS Media Group's SMSdelivery Hosted Platform. It provides an easy-to-use, web-based interface that manages lists, subscribers, broadcasts and reporting of SMS campaigns. The platform also has a mobile web design tool for creating mobile web sites that really brings the entire mobile strategy together using a single service.

For more information about the Mobile Marketing & Retail Strategies report, visit http://juniperresearch.com/

To learn more about SMS Media Group's SMSdelivery platform, visit http://smsdelivery.com

Original SMS Bible Service Goes Global, Offers Ads

Aliso Viejo, CA - Text messaging pioneer and CEO of SMS Media Group, Sheri Wells, founded her company in 2002 with the launch of the first SMS Bible service called Mfaith. Now her company has become a mobile solution provider for some of the largest media companies in the world, and her flagship product that subscribers count on receiving everyday has gone global.

Recognized as one of the leading SMS messaging experts in the world, Wells has launched text messaging campaigns and applications in over 200 countries for media brands and leading companies including Reuters, Nielsen and Voice of America.

"When I started mfaith, there was no web-based SMS management system here in America, so I built my own," says Wells. "Text messages were sent differently back in 2002 and there were no rules or regulations," states Wells.

Wells selects the verse each morning to be sent to her subscribers, and if she gets too busy and happens to miss a day, she hears about it from her loyal audience. "Thank you for the inspirational messages" says a T-mobile subscriber... "mfaith gets me through the day, thanks," says a Verizon subscriber... are just some of the thousands of comments she receives for the service. "I enjoy providing the service and I appreciate the fact that people really like it," says Wells.

Mfaith leverages SMS Media Group's web-based text messaging platform, SMSdelivery and SMS Ad Manager, now the core of Wells' service offerings for businesses that wish to launch text-messaging applications. By leveraging her platform, she's able to manage subscribers and broadcast automatically. "All I have to do is select the verse I plan to send and hit a button!" remarks Wells.

The mfaith service is free to subscribers other than their standard text messaging rates. People of faith can sign up by going to mfaith.com or by texting "mfaith" to 53203. Her business model for the service is ad-supported, and she leverages her platform's SMS Ad Manager to set up text-based ad campaigns to monetize the daily messages. "The Christian market and mobile channel together create a powerful marketing opportunity for brands," says Wells. The channel offers tremendous buying power from consumers interested in everything from computers to personal products to vacations and investments.

Mfaith is now available through 700 carriers in 200 countries. Subscribers outside of the U.S. can text "mfaith" to 447950081488 to sign up for the service.