When we talk about SMS, we tend to think of it primarily in terms of marketing, promotion, getting the word out about your particular service or business. There’s nothing wrong with that, per se. Money may not make the world go around, but the profits made from buying and selling are pretty crucial. You see this perspective in play when professional publications discuss the state of the SMS industry. Take, for instance, this quote from an opinion piece in Telecoms.com:

SMS has long been a part of our lives. It is a trusted, secure and effective messaging channel for business and, based on its ability to reach 99.99% of handsets globally, proven to be the most effective way to reach customers. What’s more, in the increasingly crowded mobile communications market, most consumers will move attention to their SMS inbox over all other services, giving SMS an impressive 90% read rate in minutes.

Consider that opening phrase: “It is a trusted, secure and effective messaging channel for business …” Now SMS is certainly dependable, safeguards one’s privacy, and easily reaches its intended recipients. But that final “for business” part? Though well intended, it sells SMS so terribly short.

Imagine the following: Your kids are traveling on a church retreat. It’s several hours to their destination, a long bus ride clear into another state. Of course, you’re not an obsessive parent by any means, but you can’t help but notice that the routes their bus will travel is plagued with heavy traffic and stippled with accidents. Just before bedtime, though, your cell dings. It’s an automated text from the organizers explaining that the group arrived safely and providing local contact information.

Such a scenario is just one of many possibilities where SMS marketing can add value in a non-business-related setting. Doctors can remind patients of appointments made months prior, appointments that might not have made it into their calendars. Schools can alert parents and students of upcoming meetings and major assignments. Pharmacies can fulfill routine medication refills. Political campaigns can conduct polls or alert supporters to a candidate’s media appearances.

Can you see all of the different applications? The usual paradigm for SMS discussions involves dollars and cents, response rates and returns on initial outlays, campaign costs and completed objectives. We like talking about all these things at UltraSMSScript, yet we’d be the first to submit that they’re only the tip of the so-called iceberg. Just as the mobile phone fills every corner of modern existence, so SMS can provide utility that’s just as expansive. More than just marketing, it’s a tool for everyday living.

Josh Vallera

I am the founder and owner of UltraSMSScript. With over 14 years experience in multiple facets of enterprise level software development, my software engineering background led me to start my own business in the SMS marketing field. Realizing that there are nearly 5 billion mobile subscriptions worldwide, I knew there was enormous opportunity for businesses to start utilizing SMS in their overall marketing strategy.

While there are many SMS marketing *services* out there, I wanted to build something where my clients could install SMS software on their own servers for whatever domain name they wanted and not have to rely on expensive markup to send permission-based SMS. My goal was to provide a self-hosted platform, at a 1 time cost, linked directly to the SMS gateways and provide wholesale pricing from the start!