Southwestern Vermont Health Care is a health system providing services to residents of the Bennington and Windham Counties of Vermont, northern Berkshire County in Massachusetts, and eastern Rensselaer and Washington Counties of New York. It’s also yet another example of a healthcare provider harnessing the power of SMS. The provider is encouraging the surrounding community to make healthy choices through a new service that sends inspiring text messages about well-being.

You might think that SMS, Short Message Service, is dwindling in the midst of free messaging apps. Just a handful of years ago, SMS texting was the most widely used data application. But smartphones have created a way for us to quickly message, often with groups, using a variety of platforms like iMessage and popular apps like WhatsApp. With all this, you might be surprised to learn that SMS is still one of the primary and most popular ways of communicating. In this post, we try to cover some of the reasons for that.

By year end, worldwide mobile connections are expected to reach 6.8 billion - nearly the entire population of the planet. So, a good marketer would tell businesses that getting on the mobile bandwagon is non-negotiable.

Opt-in SMS marketing is at the vanguard of the mobile economy as more and more people view smartphones not as a luxury, but as an integral tool in their daily lives for business and pleasure.

Text messages and the restaurant business are a match made in marketing heaven. From the biggest global fast-food franchise to the local diner, restaurateurs the world over are using the awesome power of smartphones to boost their campaigns. Here are some top tips for leveraging mobile technology for the good of your business: 

Most modern businesses have by now caught on to the power of social media as a marketing tool. Some have begun augmenting their web campaign with mobile SMS marketing. To have a really successful campaign, the key is to link each marketing channels in a way that serves their mutual advantage. The web has a huge potential reach, while a good text contact list offers targeted opportunities to engage with customers on a more personal level.