Spotlighting is a means of bringing our customers together and profiles not only individuals but mobile innovations as a whole, demonstrating different mobile messaging uses and highlighting our customers' mobile way of thinking.
The immediacy and relevance brought to customers via their mobile handsets is one of the strongest ways to engage in meaningful communication with those you want to build closer relationships with.
Interflora helps "Say it with flowers"
Tuesday, 12th February, 2013 -
One of the nicest ways to express a personal message is to "Say it with flowers", and that's exactly what Interflora help their customers do. Since its beginnings in 1908 at the Berlin flower markets, Interflora has grown to become one of the world's largest flower and gift relay companies, through its extensive network of around 70,000 member florists throughout Australia and around the world.
In 2012, Interflora Australia engaged SMSGlobal to provide an SMS solution that would help Head Office to communicate with their national network of one thousand florists. For Interflora, one of the main benefits of SMS is that it enables Interflora to contact florists with immediacy that just wasn't possible with email. Anna Chalabarczuk, Marketing Manager of Interflora Australia explains;
"As small business owners and operators, our retail florists don't always have the time to regularly check emails, however they carry their mobile phones with them at all times."
This Valentine's Day Interflora is also planning to use SMS to enhance customer experience and increase the efficiency of the fulfilment process. Interflora's mobile platform will also be complimented by SMS, as it will be shortly added to Interflora's key marketing channels, driving both revenue and engagement for the brand.
Order your Valentine's Day flowers now at www.interflora.com.au
SMS helps to fine tune Auto
Monday, 30th April, 2012 -
Quite simply The Car Buyers buy cars. They've put in place a smart business model and set of tools which make the process particularly easy for customers.
We recently spoke to Robbie Calcutt from The Car Buyers to get some insight on the business (past and present), its use of mobile messaging, its geographically disbursed network and Australia-wide customer base
The Car Buyers operations concept originated from a small car dealership some 7 years ago and business operations, in its current form and strategy commenced 2 years ago. "Our business model has done some changing since first being developed and with the competition in this market exploding, it's crucial for our business to stay steps ahead," said Robbie. "The Car Dealers first integrated SMS as part of the business some 5 years ago - mainly for lead generation and follow-up. "Today we still do both those things and now additionally use SMS alerts for a geographically separated national sales team."
"An integral part of who we are and how we market is our Dedicated Number. 1300 Car Buyers is our advertised customer contact number and as a large number of leads come through this channel, it's important to make sure it hums along nicely".
Detailing the various aspects and benefits of using mobile messaging, Robbie outlined some of the main reasons the business use SMS as a tool to grow and further enhance their business and service offering. "SMS has enabled us to attract finance leads, embark on mass communication, engage and reactivate our customers and keep our database up to date in using the opt in and out facility. Further, demonstrating that SMS can play a big part in building good protocols and process, our management console only allows you to label a lead as 'lost' by sending a SMS first." Robbie said.
To find out more about The Car Buyers, go to www.thecarbuyers.com.au
Robogals founder wins Young Australian of the Year
Friday, 16th March, 2012 -
Founded in July 2008, Robogals is an entirely student run, international Not for Profit organisation of volunteers. The organisation aims to increase the involvement of girls in engineering careers and studies – a cause and vision which SMSGlobal has supported since the year following Robogal’s inception in 2008. “We’re both proud and privileged to have been a part of the growth and development of Robogals” said Paul McKenna, SMSGlobal COO.
Fast forward 3.5 years, 19 chapters and six countries later, Robogals has delivered robotics workshops and talks engineering to over 4,000 girls.
More recently, Robogals founder and engineering advocate, Marita Cheng was awarded the prestigious title of Young Australian of the Year. A modest, yet enterprising Marita, 23, accepted the award in front of 15,000 people and a national television audience of over one million. “Only 9.6% of engineers in Australia are women, and the rate of women in engineering degree courses has remained around 14% since the 1990s” said Marita. “We're very grateful to SMSGlobal for having supported our cause since 2009.”
“Robogals has SMS integrated into our web portal and we use it mainly to advise volunteers on upcoming school visits, training sessions and meetings,” said Mark Parncutt, Robogals Operations Director. “All the chapter’s Executive Committee members use the system and find it very flexible, secure and effective,” said Marita.
Since being awarded with the Young Australian of the Year title 5 weeks ago, Marita has been to the U.K, U.S.A & Jamaica. She won a scholarship last year (Churchill Fellowship) and in one week, since returning back to Melbourne, she’s had nine speaking engagements and 15 interviews with press and media.
Marita continues to spread the word on Leadership in Engineering for women and recently took part in a series of Qantas inflight advertisements. For more information on the interesting and inspirational work Marita and Robogals do, visit Robogals by clicking on the logo below.
Febfast: Sending grog on a holiday
Wednesday, 14th March, 2012 -
Febfast challenges people to go without alcohol for the month of February, simultaneously raising money to help young Australians overcome alcohol, drug and mental health problems.
Founded in 2007, the febfast initiative has seen well over 20,000 Australians ‘send their grog on holiday’ in February, and since inception, febfast has raised an impressive $4 million.
Howard Ralley, febfast’s National Director spoke to us briefly about the 2012 febfast strategy for success. “With 2012 being the first year we’ve used SMS, it’s been great to implement another form of engagement through the integration of a friendly and direct communication method,” said Howard.
“The ability to send tailored direct messages to segments of our database, married with precise timing, allowed us to send relevant and timely messages to our audience,” added Ralley.
Indeed febfast are timely ~ ‘Beer-a-clock’ messages were sent at 4pm on Fridays, and with a tone which resembled that of a friend motivating another friend, their new communication strategy succeeded to build both results and trust amongst those who took on the challenge.
“Tips were also shared to particular criteria group,” said Howard. “Messages like ‘Hang in there’ and ‘If someone offers to buy you a drink this weekend, get them to chip in to your sponsorship instead,” were all effective ways to encourage a select criteria of our database. Even Valentine’s Day saw the febfast team roll out “Love your Liver” affirmations through SMS”.
“Now that we know that mobile messaging works, we’ll continue to develop mobile tactics to support the febfast cause – keeping participants motivated, engaged and informed is what we strive to achieve. Marrying SMS with Social Media (namely Twitter & Facebook), we succeeded in delivering communications to the community”.
2012 febfast supporters, friends and ambassadors can be found here http://febfast.org.au/joinourcommunity/ Should you or your company wish to partake in febfast or simply require more information on the initiative, visit the febfast website.
Australian and Euro fashion labels creating a stir
Wednesday, 15th February, 2012 -
Brave and sassy ladies fashion boutique, Enlace Fashion, launched one and a half years ago. We interviewed owner, Anastasia Vatunskuya recently to explore the ways they navigate their market and stay ahead of the competition.
“Carrying selected Italian, Brazilian, Spanish and Australian labels, Enlace Fashion is not only about stocking what our customers want – stylish label clothing, jewellery & shoes” said Anastasia. “It’s about communicating the change, seasons, events and news that provokes interest in an ever changing and competitive world of design and fashion. And it’s for this reason, we integrated mobile messaging into our business model immediately.”
Their retail store occupies boutique real estate in fashionable Double Bay, Sydney and introduces labels through holding launch events, dinners and participating in fashion shows. “We use mobile messaging for sales, promotion, new arrivals, reminders and operating hour notifications” said Anastasia. “Our philosophy and attitude to communicating with our customers via mobile has become somewhat of a religion now that we know how our customers like to be kept up to date”.
“The thing about fashion is that it changes so frequently. You really do have to have a good, reliable communication model in place to ensure you can share news with haste. SMS helps us do this” said Anastasia. “It’s quite simple really. We continue to grow a loyal customer base and following by sharing information about our lines the way our customers want us to.”
Consciously Creating Corporate Calm
Wednesday, 8th February, 2012 -
With client coverage in Australia, NZ, Canada, UK and the US, Stillness Reminders, based in Bondi, Sydney is about bringing calm back into our lives.
“A subscriber based initiative, text messages are sent to customers at random points in the day, to remind them to pause, breathe and re-centre.” says Dr Samantha Graham from Stillness Reminders.
Samantha and Susan Joy set up the business about a year ago and with SMS at the centre of their core offering, they naturally integrated its use upon inception. “The product that SMSGlobal provides us is the heart of our business, complemented by High Performance Mind corporate meditation workshops” Samantha said. “Subscribers can either choose a message from our list or provide their own powerful messages or affirmations, and these are sent via SMS, through the SMSGlobal platform. ”
When asked where the inspiration for Stillness Reminders came from, Samantha’s response was simple: “In a meditation”. “Wanting to help the global network of people who are aware they need tools to deal with the stresses of the modern workplace was our driving force. The messages are sent to subscribers at random times in the day and as the name Stillness Reminders suggests, they remind people to interrupt the constant stream of thought our busy lives create - if only for a minute”.
Curious and interested, we explored what type of subscribers Stillness Reminders attracts. “All sorts, from home-based individuals to strung-out corporate execs”, said Samantha. “Anyone who wishes to transform their life from one of anxiety and pressure to one of resilience, productivity and increased calm. Many of our subscribers have felt the benefits of Stillness Reminders quickly. It is amazing what a difference it makes to be gently reminded to pause, breathe and regain perspective, – all after reading a simple message” said Samantha.
So if you’re someone who longs to be in their ‘peaceful place’ more frequently you should visit Stillness Reminders at www.stillnessreminders.com now.
^ TopReal Time Table Reservations Online
Friday, 27th January, 2012 -
Offering diners real-time flexibility to book and edit reservations, Obee Table Reservations is a booking system offered to Restaurateurs, enabling patrons to make table arrangements online. “Obee Table Reservations is a cloud based app, developed using PHP and a MySQL database, and the system can be used anywhere an internet connection is available” explained Owen Parry, Obee Table Reservations Managing Director.
For this young and dynamic company, operating and growing the business through the incorporation of mobile methods and technology was always going to be part of their strategy.
“The business started operations in December 2010 and within 2 months we’d integrated mobile as part of the program” said Parry. “There are three SMS components built into the program, the main method being Reminders, in which customers can reply back to. And the other two components are the Waiting List SMS (alerting patrons of the time their table will be ready) and a Marketing Services feature”.
“Restaurants that use our program give us regular feedback, especially on the key function feature, SMS Reminders. They all seem to be very happy with the functionality and reliability with one of our leading restaurants’, Italian & Sons, in the ACT, reporting response rates of 90% with two-way messaging”.
Lodging for a mobile student community
Monday, 23rd January, 2012 -
UniLodge pioneered the market for student accommodation management in 1996, and is the a leading provider of student accommodation in Australia. Unilodge now have in excess of 30 properties that cater for over 8,000 students across Australia and New Zealand.
“We started mobile messaging over 3 years ago and began rolling out our mobile communication strategy with SMSGlobal upon deciding that this was the best way to go”, says Bradley Brown, Property Manager – Operations for UniLodge @ Melbourne. “We integrated our Real Estate Property Management System with SMSGlobal’s platform so that messages can be sent to residents at a click of a button and the Outlook feature is used for some residences. We find having access to SMSGlobal’s platform an ideal solution for us – much better than using a third party gateway.”
Complete specialists in their field, UniLodge leverage on the benefits of mobile messaging for communication with tenants, landlords and contractors and whilst their mobile messages largely relate to matters about accommodation, key pick-ups, rental payments, and maintenance, they also use the method to organise and execute aspects of events they hold.
“We take pleasure in running a program called Community Spirit. It’s an integrated, student life program which, as the name suggests, assists to develop a community culture amongst our residents” said Bradley. “Some of the fun things we do as part of this program include ski trips, movies, dvd nights and wildlife adventures and forms a valuable part of integrating students from all round the globe”.
Focussed on quality, innovation, efficiency and customer responsiveness, you can find out more about the great work UniLodge do by visiting:
When a Nerdy Business becomes cool
Monday, 23rd January, 2012 -
Need a Nerd, as the name suggests is in the business of supplying nerds. It’s a mobile Onsite IT Support franchised business that resolves IT problems, supplies IT gear and provides technology support for home and business clients.
Both intrigued and amused, we interviewed Bill Brown, Need a Nerd’s Operations Manager to get some insight on how the Nerd business has grown and how mobile messaging is an integral part of the smooth running of their operations. “The business commenced in 2004 and we began using mobile messaging as a failsafe means of communicating job related information to our Nerd base about 4 years ago” says Bill.
‘Nerd’ is an endearing reference to Need a Nerd’s mobile and workshop Technicians - they have 35 of them.
And with 12 franchises throughout the NZ, Need a Nerd continue to grow their Nerd and customer base.
“We don’t only use mobile messaging for our Nerds” said Bill. “We also use it for communicating to our customers. From bookings, providing information, conversation and issues management. For us, SMS adds an immediate failsafe communication method and put simply, it’s used as a back-up tool in association with email. Having this back-up in place is particularly important because of the mobile nature of our Nerds and the high level of service we like to provide our customers”.
This level of service is confirmed on the Need a Nerd website where technical tips, live chat and the ability to book a Nerd 24/7 co-exist, allowing Nerd availability around the clock.
Passion for jewellery online
Friday, 13th January, 2012 -
At 50% - 80% off retail price, Adorjo offers the latest in fashion jewellery and accessories.
A recent SMSGlobal client, we spoke to Aure, Adorjo's Web Programmer about all things jewellery online.
"No retail shops necessary", declares Aure. "The way we do it cuts the costs for our customers and that's all part of looking after them".
Adorjo – pronounced Ador-jo, confirms a passion for designs and customers. 'Ador' deriving from the French 'I love' and 'jo', a latino accent in tribute to our melting pot culture.
The business which is only 6 months old, is growing fast – and no wonder. "We only started using SMS last month. Since then, we found Mobile Messaging allows us to advise of shipment and delivery and creates a perfect stage for lighter, more personal conversation with our customers" Aure said. "SMS is perfect for creating positive apprehension about receiving our product and the mystery gifts we include to customers who order $60 of product in any one order, can also be referenced in the message".
Aure proclaims that thanks to SMS, Adorjo can compete against the big boys! "We innovate when it comes to online SMS service and communication. SMS is more personal than emails and fostering relationships is easier and when we communicate through SMS, our approach is more personal."
As if these are not reasons enough to use mobile messaging, Aure reinforces the bottom line in his closing statement: "Saving money for our clients is the catalyst to our success. Our savings with SMS allows us to pass them on to our customers, so everyone wins!".
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