More On Marketing To Mobile Devices and SMS

I got this comment/insight from Edward Sattaur of Jam Mobile a while back (sorry for the delay) regarding my post, Marketing To Mobile Phones With SMS:
“Marketing to mobile phones has been conducted since my previous firm Wysdom brought it to life in Canada in 1999 with a web-based alerts service called web2pcs. Now that the carriers have it together with inter-carrier text messaging, it represents a real opportunity to connect with an audience on an intimate level. What really needs to be understood by marketers is the importance of promoting the service on a number of different channels in order for it to be effective. The medium is still in its infancy and in order for it to get off the ground there is a heavy requirement to educate. This whole space is being defined as we speak. Kudos to those colleagues of mine who are out there evangelizing the medium. That same effort must be put into building solutions that truly benefit the user in order to get him/her to Opt-In.”
I think Edward is right at a top-level view. The main component that’s still unclear is what will be a compelling enough message to make customers opt-in and continue to benefit from it. Do we really want our mobile devices ringing and buzzing with marketing messsages? A flash-in-the-pan campaign may bring immediate results, but will it result in more loyalty and raving fans?