Marketing Focus: We're all text mad

Britons are now sending a billion texts a week, the same figure as the whole of 1999 and 25 per cent up on last year. The sharp increase has even shocked the mobile phone industry. The source of the figures, the Mobile Data Association, has upped its forecast for 2007 from 48 billion texts to 52 billion.

This is significant news for pubs. Behind the rise lies the fact that more businesses are communicating by SMS and that texting is no longer simply a youthful pastime. Everyone, young and old, is using texts, and that means you could be using the channel to market your pub.

High street bars and clubs have been doing so for some time. But there's now no reason why more traditional venues shouldn't join them.

A number of companies offer the trade a web-based texting service, enabling licensees to send messages to customers - or a section of their customers - advertising events and promotions, with a minimum of fuss.

"Texting isn't just for young people," says Andy Merrick, a former licensee who set up Select SMS a year ago to target the mainstream pub trade. "Their grandparents have learned how to text, too."

He reports that pubs using the service typically see an uplift in turnover of between 10 per cent and 20 per cent.

One of the advantages texting has over other marketing methods is that it can be tightly targeted at customers who might actually be interested - and it's relatively cheap, too.

"It's just another form of advertising really, and it works well for pubs," says Steve Bibby at another supplier, Textvertising. "A mail-out goes to all and sundry and it costs you more. It's only 6p or 7p to send a message through us."

For further information visit www.textvertising.co.uk or www.selectsms.co.uk