Archive for February, 2012

Every advertisement or promotion of your interactive text message marketing program must include the following.

Message and data rates may apply

The carriers are beginning to crack down on advertising that does not include this message with the promotions.  It is critical that this message be included on all advertisements promoting your keyword and short code.

ComScore study shows that 74.3% of American mobile phone users are using text messages.  That compares to 69.2% in Canada and trails the EU5 by a considerable margin at 84.4%.

It is a big election year and many political candidates will be using our voice broadcast, or “robocalls,” to reach voters. The question came up as to how the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 fits in with political candidates. You probably know that political candidates are given more leeway when it comes to outbound telemarketing without a bonafied opt-in.

Under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991, politicians and campaign volunteers may call voters on their landline or wireless phones. But when a campaign uses an auto dialer to leave a “robocall” (precorded message), calls to wireless phones are prohibited. In short, it is:

• legal for a campaign to call voters on their landline phones using an auto dialer to leave a robocall without the “prior express consent of the called party.”
• illegal for a campaign to contact voters using to use auto dialers and robocalls to their cellphones without prior express consent.

The same rules apply to text messages. It is:

• legal for campaign workers to send texts to voters’ cellphones. For this service, political candidates can use text message marketing services such as 84444.com.

To learn more about TCPA, please visit the FCC’s websites on telemarketing and SPAM texts.

Please do not consider this legal advice. You should consult your own attorneys to get your own legal opinion.

A study by the National Restaurant Association shows that 1 in 5 restaurant goers want to receive daily text messages from their favorite restaurants.

1 in 5 restaurant visitors want to receive text messages from their favorite restaurants.

No matter how bad the economy may appear to be, Americans are eating out more often.  According to the National Restaurant Association, sales at restaurants are projected to grow by 3.5% in 2012 to reach a record $632 billion.

And, restaurants create jobs–lots of them.  Overall employment in the restaurant industry will reach 12.9 million this year, accounting for 10% of the total US workforce, according to the National Restaurant Association.

Technology is part of the trend.  Nearly 40% of restaurant customers said that they would like to order on tablets.  The same percentage indicated a desire to use smartphone apps to look at menus and order delivery from an app.

Text message marketing is also gaining momentum with restaurants.  While 30% would like to receive an email with daily specials, 20% now say that they would prefer to receive daily specials via text message marketing.

Here is the direct quote from the National Restaurant Association:
What’s more is that in today’s über-connected society, email and text messaging are proving to be an effective way for restaurant operators to reach their consumers. Roughly 3 in 10 of adults said they would like to receive an email with daily specials, while about 1 in 5 prefer text messages with similar information. If a restaurant’s specials were available on Facebook or Twitter, nearly one-third of consumers say they’d be likely to sign up, indicating that social media continues to be a powerful marketing tool.

Fantasy football blog site Fantasy Football Sideline used 84444.com to conduct its vote for Football’s Hottest Wives.  Over 26,000 votes were cast for Football’s Hottest Wives in the annual competition sponsored by Fantasy Football Sideline and Fantasy Baseball Dugout.  Matt Schaub’s wife Laurie repeated as the champion by overtaking an early lead by Julie Dorenbos, wife of Eagles Pro Bowl long-snapper Jon Dorenbos.

Wayne, Pennsylvania – For the second consecutive year,

Voting by text message helped earn Laurie Schaub the title of Football's Hottest Wife.