Wanted to post this in the appropriate thread and also add to it. Many of you have been in SMS marketing for quite some time. I received this email this morning from about changes from a current USA/Canadian Carrier.
"Rogers Communications has recently announced a policy change which shall directly impact SMS message delivery to Rogers Communications subscribers in Canada. Rogers Communications intends to block all Application-To-Person (A2P) SMS traffic sent to their subscribers beginning November 15, 2017. As per the official communication received from Rogers, it appears that they shall be blocking all SMS traffic originating from non-wireless (landline, virtual) phone numbers.
Rogers' stance impacts all IP messaging service providers, including Plivo. We're working closely with industry partners at this moment to present a unified opposition to Rogers' stance. We will share more updates on this matter as the situation progresses. Please reach out to us at https://plivo.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=66aaf9fb7e4c46e3f3fda238a&id=08c843ff50&e=0cda827992 if you have any questions."
SO, what does this mean? Basically when sending from any BOT or desktop platform or non mobile phone number Rogers is refusing to deliver them. I would say there is no chance this will stay. Way too many large companies using this platform now in bulk. If this stance continues it would be devistating to SMS marketing.
In addition I've posted some SMS marketing ideas to get the convo started over in this section.
So basically in order to make SMS work you need
1) An Auto Responder capable of actually sending and receiving messages along with respond in the manner you want.
2) A twilio, plivo, or any other account connected to the actual mobile companies to actually send and receive messages. Tier 2 providers almost NEVER actually deliver URL's with new filters that have been put in place. These companies will actually provide the phone numbers you can send and receive SMS messages to. Its also been suggested that short codes get links delivered better. Short codes are 5 or 6 digit numbers (instead of actual phone numbers). There is an application process for these codes that sometimes take months and are quite costly. Can be in upwards of $1000-$2000 a month.
Ideas-
#1 -
Cragislist Escort Section and Backpage W4M used to be an amazing way to generate a ton of traffic to Adult sites. Guys would simply post ads in the appropriate section along with the phone number and the bot would simply take over and send to a landing page which would direct traffic to cam sites or iframe verification pages. Payouts between $50-$75 for each signup. It has become increasingly difficult to post in BP sections and costs have gone through the roof to post. The difficulty of posting coupled with increasingly difficulty of actually getting URL's delivered via sms made it almost impossible to get URL's delivered without using high priced tier 1 providers for SMS. That model on a large scale is not feasible any longer in my opinion however I'm sure one of you will figure that out soon.
#2 -
Sending Mass SMS to thousands of mobile numbers that direct potential customers to whatever niche you are selling. These messages are obviously unexpected and can be problematic but still effective. There are big time laws in place for spamming so its important to actually make sure you are either #1 compliant with local laws in place or #2 a ghost Recently saw a guy that developed a software app and also had access to his customers contact lists. He sent a random SMS message to everyone that said "Hey (Brad) your friends (Joe) and (Bill) are currently using this cool new app called (app). Where aren't you? Go to (URL) to get it free today!!". Now I thought there was absolutely NO chance in hell this approach would work however the guy got a ton of free downloads just from personalizing the message like that. Just another example of a success story.
#3 -
Tinder traffic sent to adult sites. I've seen another thread on here of a guy that was generating email leads from tinder (probably making around $2 per email lead). Tinder is a great way to generate traffic. The problem is token costs coupled with SMS costs. SMS costs are generally .0075 both incoming and outgoing along with $1 per number per month so that can add up when you are generating a ton of traffic. If you have access to unlimited cheap tokens this may be the way to go. Tinder has always been difficult to direct traffic to URL's as they have filters in place to stop this. So the answer to this is directing them to the SMS Robot to let them divert traffic to landing page.
#4
One of the best things I see to use SMS marketing is the restaurant delivery biz. I owned a chain of pizza restaurants long ago and had a database full of thousands of mobile numbers. In the restaurant biz you spend thousands of dollars on marketing every week. It would have been incredibly easy to send out a mass message to all my customers saying "Hey its Bob over at the Pizza pit. Wanted to thank you for your biz and offer you 20% off your order today only, call me back at this number to redeem". I can see this model working incredibly well.
That's it for now, just wanted to open it up for dialogue and throw around some ideas. I'm always around to answer questions.
"Rogers Communications has recently announced a policy change which shall directly impact SMS message delivery to Rogers Communications subscribers in Canada. Rogers Communications intends to block all Application-To-Person (A2P) SMS traffic sent to their subscribers beginning November 15, 2017. As per the official communication received from Rogers, it appears that they shall be blocking all SMS traffic originating from non-wireless (landline, virtual) phone numbers.
Rogers' stance impacts all IP messaging service providers, including Plivo. We're working closely with industry partners at this moment to present a unified opposition to Rogers' stance. We will share more updates on this matter as the situation progresses. Please reach out to us at https://plivo.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=66aaf9fb7e4c46e3f3fda238a&id=08c843ff50&e=0cda827992 if you have any questions."
SO, what does this mean? Basically when sending from any BOT or desktop platform or non mobile phone number Rogers is refusing to deliver them. I would say there is no chance this will stay. Way too many large companies using this platform now in bulk. If this stance continues it would be devistating to SMS marketing.
In addition I've posted some SMS marketing ideas to get the convo started over in this section.
So basically in order to make SMS work you need
1) An Auto Responder capable of actually sending and receiving messages along with respond in the manner you want.
2) A twilio, plivo, or any other account connected to the actual mobile companies to actually send and receive messages. Tier 2 providers almost NEVER actually deliver URL's with new filters that have been put in place. These companies will actually provide the phone numbers you can send and receive SMS messages to. Its also been suggested that short codes get links delivered better. Short codes are 5 or 6 digit numbers (instead of actual phone numbers). There is an application process for these codes that sometimes take months and are quite costly. Can be in upwards of $1000-$2000 a month.
Ideas-
#1 -
Cragislist Escort Section and Backpage W4M used to be an amazing way to generate a ton of traffic to Adult sites. Guys would simply post ads in the appropriate section along with the phone number and the bot would simply take over and send to a landing page which would direct traffic to cam sites or iframe verification pages. Payouts between $50-$75 for each signup. It has become increasingly difficult to post in BP sections and costs have gone through the roof to post. The difficulty of posting coupled with increasingly difficulty of actually getting URL's delivered via sms made it almost impossible to get URL's delivered without using high priced tier 1 providers for SMS. That model on a large scale is not feasible any longer in my opinion however I'm sure one of you will figure that out soon.
#2 -
Sending Mass SMS to thousands of mobile numbers that direct potential customers to whatever niche you are selling. These messages are obviously unexpected and can be problematic but still effective. There are big time laws in place for spamming so its important to actually make sure you are either #1 compliant with local laws in place or #2 a ghost
Recently saw a guy that developed a software app and also had access to his customers contact lists. He sent a random SMS message to everyone that said "Hey (Brad) your friends (Joe) and (Bill) are currently using this cool new app called (app). Where aren't you? Go to (URL) to get it free today!!". Now I thought there was absolutely NO chance in hell this approach would work however the guy got a ton of free downloads just from personalizing the message like that. Just another example of a success story. #3 -
Tinder traffic sent to adult sites. I've seen another thread on here of a guy that was generating email leads from tinder (probably making around $2 per email lead). Tinder is a great way to generate traffic. The problem is token costs coupled with SMS costs. SMS costs are generally .0075 both incoming and outgoing along with $1 per number per month so that can add up when you are generating a ton of traffic. If you have access to unlimited cheap tokens this may be the way to go. Tinder has always been difficult to direct traffic to URL's as they have filters in place to stop this. So the answer to this is directing them to the SMS Robot to let them divert traffic to landing page.
#4
One of the best things I see to use SMS marketing is the restaurant delivery biz. I owned a chain of pizza restaurants long ago and had a database full of thousands of mobile numbers. In the restaurant biz you spend thousands of dollars on marketing every week. It would have been incredibly easy to send out a mass message to all my customers saying "Hey its Bob over at the Pizza pit. Wanted to thank you for your biz and offer you 20% off your order today only, call me back at this number to redeem". I can see this model working incredibly well.
That's it for now, just wanted to open it up for dialogue and throw around some ideas. I'm always around to answer questions.
