The USA government have teamed up with health specialists such as Johnson and Johnson, and Pfizer to create health alerts specifically for pregnant women.

The service "text4baby" is targeting new mums and pregnant women with health related messages. Using the baby's due/birth date the service is guaranteed to be timely and concise.

Because some mothers are unable to attend all appointments or just cannot pay medical insurance the health standards and survival rate of children is in decline. To combat this worrying trend the US government have decided that SMS is the only way to assist and advise mothers.

The decision to use SMS as the main communication method came from the fact that pregnant women use SMS more than any other communication method; presumably because its cheap, instant and easy to use.

The health reminders are sent thrice weekly with helpful information, developmental advice, dietary information and other health related suggestions.

The service, just like our own default SMS reminder campaigns, only costs the standard network rate to enter. All resulting reminders are absolutely free to the end user.

A local hairdresser near Brighton have used the SMS reminders service to increase their repeat visitation rate by 70%.

As with many services of this kind, the hairdressers clients were missing appointments and consequently having to reschedule and in some cases loose customer appointments. Forgotten appointments also meant some members of staff were without work for up to 3 hours, reducing profit margins exponentially.

By reminding their clients of their appointments they claim there has been an increased attendance resulting in a 70% reduction in losses.

What a great example - SMS marketing is not necessarily a gold mine, but it is a way to apply leverage to your business and amplify your efforts and marketing exponentially.

According to the research company Frost and Sullivan in the report "The Future of Messaging" text messaging will continue its prolonged dominance.

The report was compiled from 18 separate interviews of leading Telecom providers across the globe.

"Simple accessibility, ubiquitous network interoperability, ease of use, affordability and price predictability" were the words used by Ronald Gruia in reference to the SMS marketing medium.

With nearly 4 trillion messages sent globally every year and with this added accessibility, SMS is still the No.1 choice for mobile marketing professionals throughout the UK and beyond.

Definition: Bulk rate means the cost per SMS message in pence.

With the Text Works you will not be charged for your standard allocation of SMS messages. The bulk rate only applies when you are topping up your account.

To see how many message you will receive for free with each package visit our mobile marketing price page.

Definition: A bulk, or free message, is an SMS text message sent from an SMS marketing service provider to a phone without any charge to the end user.

The best way to use bulk SMS messages

We recommend using bulk SMS messages for service related campaigns such as SMS broadcasts, SMS alerts and SMS group messages.

Another powerful use for bulk SMS is to send targeted promotions for your products and services.

If you want to know more about our SMS campaigns why not visit our SMS services page.

With only 22 days left before the SMS competition closes who will be out lucky winner.

Take our SMS marketing quiz and find out how much you know about SMS terminology and marketing. Some parts of the quiz help to diagnose any issues you may have had in the past.

For the three runners up there are consolation prizes in the form of a link from our blog to a page of your choice!

With every passing year it seems our environmental awareness increases and the ongoing efforts to reduce our carbon footprint as individuals and businesses are improved by innovation and technology.

Globally governments are discussing carbon fixing strategies such as nurturing and encouraging the growth of Phytoplankton. Another clever invention to reduce the worlds carbon levels is the production of thousands of artificial trees that simulate the same carbon cycle of trees, fixing the carbon permanently. More experimental attempts include pushing air through sandstone on a huge scale to lock the carbon within the rock forever.

We at the Text Works believe that being green is essential in this day and age and have started implementing some simple and manageable ways to reduce our companies carbon footprint. For instance we are part of the national cycle to work scheme and even supply our employees with bikes on request. The remaining staff either walk or take public transport to get in.

If you have any suggestions or ideas to make our company even greener we would love to hear them get in touch with support any time.