It seems like there’s another SMS-based mobile marketing company entering the game every day, so to stand out they need to take the approach a step further, or establish something unique with their service, or target a certain demographic, etc. A brand new company, only launched a month ago, looks to add a few more layers to the basic SMS/MMS mobile marketing channel.
The company, called UGotItFirst.com, features all the normal SMS marketing features and platforms you’d expect. Members can sign-up and complete an online profile that lays out their likes and dislikes when it comes to marketing via their mobile phones, and when a participating advertisers is matched to the preferences of that user, a coupon is sent via SMS. It’s a complete opt-in approach to marketing that this type of service has pioneered. Advertiser’s can choose the demographic to market to, to reduce cost and increase targeting, which is always the number one goal.
Every time a user receives a coupon via SMS their account is credited with a nominal fee for agreeing to receive it. Once the user’s account reaches $25, the user can either request a check to be mailed, use the money to shop in UGotItFirst’s online shopping portal, or donate the proceeds to charity. The user’s online control panel can even be used to stop the messages from being sent directly to the phone, and opt instead to have them queued and downloaded when the user is ready.
Above and beyond these “not-so-knew” features, UGotItFirst offers a few other free services that can be beneficial to members. Every member gets access to a member’s control panel that in addition to the mobile marketing aspects of the service, allows the member to create and grow a contact list of friends and family that can be used for things like group texting and event notifications and invitations. A member can indicate in their profile what types of events they’d like to attend, and when a matching event occurs, an invitation can be sent via SMS to the user’s phone. The user can then simply show the invitation at the event to gain access.
In addition to getting paid to receive the marketing messages, user’s can also opt-in to receive surveys to be completed on their mobile devices. Unlike other so-called “get paid to take surveys” scams, the ones included in the service are legitimate and offer only monetary compensation as opposed to gift cards, and other nonsense. Also, since they can be completed directly on the mobile device, it may give someone something to do while waiting in line, or riding public transportation, and so on. Not a bad idea if you ask me.
The last noteworthy feature that deserves mention is the fact that user’s start to build their own network from day one of using the UGotItFirst service. Each member is provided a series of banners and other content that can be placed on user’s websites, social networking profiles, etc. When people sign-up via one of these banners they’re included in your network, and you get commissions on their activities. As your network grows, the more commissions you’ll earn. It’s an obvious approach by UGotItFirst to grow their service virally, and it makes a lot sense. If user’s can earn money, they’ll sign-up as many people as they can. The network spans down four “generations” and you get paid every time anyone in your network receives a coupon via SMS. There was no mention on just how much you get paid per transaction, but I would assume it’s no more than $.10 like other similar services.
As I mentioned, the service just launched their website on March 13th of this year, so It will be interesting to see what happens with them, but by the looks of their forum, their already sporting over 2,000 registered users so far.
