High school talks to parents, students via SMS

By Giselle Tsirulnik

August 4, 2008

High school SMSical

How does a high school create a direct line of communication with its students? The answer is simple: Mobile.

East Pointe High School, Tucson, AZ, tapped Ping Mobile for the mobile effort. Parents and children are encouraged to text the keyword EPSCHOOL to the short code 74642.

"East Pointe High School opted to promote their high school's open house via Cox Communications' cable TV spots," said Shira Simmonds, president of Ping Mobile, Englewood Cliffs, NJ. "Their strategy was to not only promote the school and the open house, but to increase their student base as well.

Parents and students who text in are added to a database for school alerts.

Students who text in are sent a message back letting them know that they have been entered in a sweepstakes to win an iPod at the open house.

The message reads, "Present this msg @ our Open House @8495 E. Broadway on 8/7/08@6pm for an entry to win an iPod! Enroll there + get 9 more entries! Std txt rts apply. Code#24319."

Calls to action were broadcast in television spots.

"The client's challenge was in finding a channel that would be effective enough in communicating and reaching out to prospective students," Ms. Simmonds said. "Ping Mobile worked together with Cox to clearly define this message in the TV spots running as well as in the SMS content."

Ms. Simmomds said that mobile was the ideal solution for this particular effort.

The mobile device is so personal, that consumers never leave home without them, she said.

This is especially true with SMS users.

SMS is expected to generate $177 billion in global services revenues in 2013, according to ABI Research, New York.

The market researcher said SMS will account for 83 percent of all mobile messaging revenues through 2013 ( see story ).

Ping Mobile runs SMS-based mobile campaigns for clients across various industries.

For example, Las Vegas' Orleans Stadium Hotel and Casino used Ping Mobile to promote concerts (see story).

Additionally, the Wyndham hotel chain is running a mobile campaign for its Days Inn Business Place division to compile a database of prospects for remarketing. Ping Mobile is managing this effort as well (see story).

With East Pointe High School, mobile was a sure win because teens are avid fans of texting.

According a report by Samsung, teens send 455 text messages each month and receive 467, on average. This amounts to about 15 text messages sent and 16 received daily (see story).

"Mobile creates a direct line of communication between East Pointe High School and prospective students," Ms. Simmonds said. "Mobile is especially appropriate for this client's needs based on the fact that their target audience is students-demographically ideal.

"This mobile offer provided a way for the school to connect personally with students, while providing respondents with an incentive to take part," she said.

Comments on "High school talks to parents, students via SMS"

1. Leil Gapol says:

   August 5, 2008 at 11:34am

   This shows that SMS mobile marketing is not only for radio, print, brand, and tv, but also perfect for the Academe. It keeps the entire school community updated on what's happening, plus can also create different prize-driven contests to entice students' participation.