Steal These Ideas!: Marketing Secrets That Will Make You a Star, 2nd Edition

Texting, Messaging, and Mobile

Forget about texting and messaging for commercial purposes. For starters, it is not practical and this is not the way to endear yourself to customers of any age or mind-set. Mobile is another matter entirely. There are mobile apps for practically everything. Many are free; some are not. Your business should, if possible, offer mobile entry to your product or service. And by its very nature, when a consumer attaches to your mobile application, they are giving you permission to interact in this fashion.

The latest technique, which will only get more sophisticated and popular, is combining a global positioning system (GPS) with a mobile app. For instance, Zagat, the well-known restaurant rating service, allows its ...