Mobile Marketing: An Interview With Adam Small, TEXTBYREQUEST

TCW: Adam, thanks for agreeing to talk to us about mobile marketing. First, tell our readers a little about yourself and the company you work for.

AS: I have been involved in information technology for about 12 years. The last eight I have served as the CIO for an electronics repair company that repairs about 100,000 cell phones a month. That work led my wife and I to create TEXTBYREQUEST, a mobile marketing company that enables our customers to integrate text messaging into their marketing efforts.

TCW: What caused the move to running your own business?

AS: For a long time I have desired to run my own business. I just hadn’t found that right thing that I was passionate about and felt would be worth stepping out for. One day I was talking to my uncle, who was retiring at 49, and asked him what he was going to do? He asked for suggestions and that led to a discussion about text messaging and to the start of creating TEXTBYREQUEST.

TCW: There are a lot of opportunities in the mobile arena. How did you decide what services you were going to offer? Why mobile text messaging?

AS: After looking around at the possibilities we decided on text because it is one of the only technologies that spans across all cellular platforms. Taking that a step further, we looked at the growth potential and costs associated with developing text products and services and realized that there is likely to be a large market that will want to take advantage of text as a medium but will not have the ability.

TCW: What did you do to get started?

AS: Research, we talked to consumers and potential customers, we looked at the costs, census information, timelines, the mobile industry and all the other things involved in mobile marketing. We compiled the data and developed a plan based on what we learned.

TCW: How did you find funding to get the company off the ground?

AS: Angel Investors. After the research, we ended up with a 30 page business plan and we presented to several groups. In the end we found funding through a resource that we already knew. The experience of searching for investors is one that I would recommend anyone go through. It is very educational and humbling.

TCW: What is the promise of mobile text marketing?

AS: Mobile text is a market that is only limited by the creativity of the person who uses it. We have customers that want to deliver transactional updates about financial accounts and others that want to send birthday reminders.

TCW: Who is your target audience?

AS: We are targeting a number of industries including restaurant, retail, real estate, networking organizations, event management and marketing agencies.

TCW: Can you tell us a little about one of your clients and how they are using mobile marketing? And, can you tell us how things are going? What are the results so far?

AS: Our restaurant clients are using Text Clubs (groups of opt-in only customers who want to receive mobile offers, informational texts, or reminder texts from the client) to create a VIP experience for their customers. They provide special event information, mobile coupons and last minute updates. Things are going really well for us. We are generating a lot of interest in our products with both businesses and consumers. The results are tremendous, the ability to get the right information in the right at hand at the right time leads to a much greater response. The concept is still fairly new, once it catches on we anticipate an even greater response.

TCW: Thats pretty cool. Who else is using your services and for what?

AS: We have a few Real Estate agencies on board using a mobile flyer option. For example potential home buyers may see a sign in the yard that says Text: HOME2000 To: 71813 to get information about the home, or click on an open house link on their web site to get a text to remind you of the open house and its location.

TCW: What lessons have you learned from these experiences? Can you help our readers avoid any of the mistakes you made?

AS: A lot of people think of mobile marketing as silver bullet for advertising. It isn’t. It should be one component of a carefully crafted marketing effort. If it is used in that way it can greatly magnify the end result of that campaign by creating a personal interaction with the consumer, making them a loyal customer.

TCW: What advice do you have for would-be mobile marketers?

AS: Make sure that you educate your customers about best practices.

TCW: Changing to mobile marketing is certainly different and can cause confusion among those who don’t understand the technology and have yet to get it. Do you find that you are also playing the role of educator, when common misperceptions get in the way of potential customers adopting the mobile marketing approach?

AS: Absolutely, almost every initial meeting we have is about education. It’s kind of funny because we don’t go in with the intent of selling our products. We go in to talk about how text could be used and usually by the end of the first meeting people are excited and start brainstorming with us about how text messaging could work for their business.

TCW: What are some of the common misperceptions about mobile marketing?

AS: Mobile SPAM and Premium Charges are the number one barriers and misconceptions.

TCW: How do you help to overcome these misperceptions?

AS: Our first step is to explain and educate. All of the services we offer are opt-in only. We will not send a message to a mobile phone without having first received a request from that person for that text. We believe this is the only way to make this a long term viable business. To combat the premium charge issue we indicate on all of our materials that only standard messaging rates apply and that we do not have premium rated programs.

TCW: Mobile marketing should be able to adjust by location. For instance, when I travel, the first thing I do when I get to the hotel is try to find the nearest Starbucks. If Starbucks could push this information to me [insert your name here], we see you are in a new location, 1,245 miles from home. Chances are, you’ll want a [insert regular drink purchase here] in the morning. Luckily, the nearest Starbucks is [insert address], just 2 blocks from where you are now. Do you need directions?

It seems to me this is possible, but likely to be very challenging to deliver consistently across all phone platforms because of a lack of mobile standards. What do you think about this idea and what obstacles are preventing us from doing this today? What needs to change for this to become a reality?

AS: I love the idea, and I think it is possible even now, it requires a lot of work though. The problem is twofold; the first part involves writing the programs to run on enough of the mobile phone platforms to achieve enough saturation to make it worthwhile. The second is convincing users to download and install the program on their phones and that the data charges won’t be much. The carriers and manufacturers are helping to solve these problems though. Manufacturers are releasing SDKs that make software writing easier and the carriers are introducing unlimited plans at much more reasonable rates. Even with this trend, though, it will still be awhile before we reach the point where we can drive data on such a localized and personalized basis.

TCW: Can you help us understand the bigger picture of mobile marketing and what the future looks like? What do you see in your crystal ball?

AS: I believe that we will all have a mobile device that does what our computer does for us today. We will all use this device as our primary means of electronic communication and entertainment. Mobile will become a major player in all marketing strategies but only those that provide value beyond advertising will stay in the game.

TCW: Adam, were almost out of time. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

AS: The mobile space is growing fast, but it isn’t all about marketing. Delivering the right content to your customer can be an extremely powerful way to create a lasting and loyal customer relationship.

TCW: How can readers who are interested learn more about your company?

AS: They can visit our corporate website at or call us at 1.888.506.2308.

TCW: Thanks for your time today, Adam. I’m sure our readers appreciate learning a bit about your company and the services you provide.

AS: Thanks Scott, we appreciate the opportunity.

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