As a new year rolls around again industry commentators have made their marketing predictions for the coming twelve months.  And while social media looks like it will still be a dominant force in marketing campaigns, a  quick trawl through the predictions for 2010 highlights SMS messaging as the next important trend in marketing.

One advantage of push-technology, such as SMS alters, is that it enables businesses to connect the customer directly.  Mobile marketing via SMS and MMS communication gives businesses the enviable ability to deliver an advertising or brand message to receptive consumers in an instant.

Whether it’s a SMS message offering a coupon, an alert about upcoming events or an appointment reminder – a text is a great way to keep in touch your customer base.

If you consider that there are four times as many mobile phones in the world as PCs and that a text gets seven times the response rate of an email, it’s easy to see the advantages of mobile marketing.

So could 2010 be the long awaited year of SMS marketing?  Without a doubt SMS messaging has become critical for alerts and time-sensitive communication.  And true, some larger brands have been supporting their campaigns for a few years now with mobile messaging.  However, it looks like this year may be the one where SMS messaging become part of small businesses marketing repertoire.  As applications are developed for mobile devices and SMS /MMS services expand, more and more small business may be jumping on the SMS marketing bandwagon. 

Indeed, 2010 may well be the year that SMS marketing goes mainstream - used by international brands and small local businesses alike.  Given the ubiquitous use of texting and the rise in popularity of smartphones and their applications, mobile messaging looks set to take off with small- to-medium sized businesses.

2010 may well be the year of SMS marketing.