Can we compare SMS marketing to traditional marketing communications?

Nowadays most companies acknowledge the importance of SMS marketing in reaching and interacting with their customers (Kavassalis et al. 2003; Dickinger et al. 2004; Tsang, Ho & Liang 2004; Sharl, Dickinger & Murphy 2005; Muk 2007). However, there is much discussion in the press regarding the effectiveness when it comes to SMS marketing. Are customers willing to accept, reading and using SMS messages: how effective is SMS marketing compared to traditional marketing communications? The goal of this study is to investigate, on the one hand, the effectiveness of SMS advertising compared to traditional marketing communication for different aspects and, on the other hand, to analyse to what extent consumers are willing to accept commercial messages on their mobile phone, since the effectiveness of SMS marketing highly depends on this. The research results indicate that location and time, incentive, advertising appeal and product involvement have a significant positive influence on the attitude towards the ad, the attitude towards the brand and the consumers’ purchase intention for SMS advertising and not for the traditional marketing communications. In addition, the research results indicate that an incentive is necessary (especially for young mobile phone users) to increase the willingness to accept these kind of messages.