If you have an audience that’s big on text messaging, consider using Broadtexter to reach them.

Broadtexter allows you to create an opt-in box for your website – but instead of subscribing to email updates, your customers are subscribing to text message updates.

Once they’re in your Broadtexter database, you can text message them anytime you like – and should you need to, you can also text message them in regional groups – i.e. only send a message to people in a certain location.

Text messaging marketing hasn’t really taken the “internet marketing” crowd by storm yet – i’d be really irritated to receive a text about every big launch, for example.  But…  Looking outside of the pure marketing potential of this once, what about providing a service to your text message subscribers?

Anything that lends itself to frequent updates that rabid fans will want to know as soon as possible lends itself to text messaging marketing.  Think football scores, stock updates, interest rates.  In California right now, we’re in fire season – betcha people (like myself) who live in areas threatened by fire would love to have an instant update whenever there’s breaking fire news.  Take that concept to the hurricane states.

If you’re using broadtexter as a way to provide information to your subscribers (instead of just sending direct offers over and over again) you may wonder then how you’d monetize your building subscriber base. You have a few options:

1. You can send them the updates via text message, but ask them to visit your website for more details (i.e. “Lakers over Celtics 109-104, visit http://www.yoursite.com for game highlights”).  The destination site you send them to, your site, is then monetized by adsense, affiliate offers, perhaps an insiders-only membership club
2. Send them the info they asked for, on time, make it valuable and relevant, and from time to time, send them an offer (affiliate or your own product).  Assuming you’re providing good value via your regular “updates” messages, peopel WILL be reading your texts and therefore will respond to your offer.  This is similar to email marketing in that providing value is important in building trust and establishing your relationship with your subscribers.  If you don’t have that, they won’t be reading you.
3. Let’s say you were providing a service that actually WAS sales based.  I.E. updates to the internet markeitng community of industry news, or perhaps a “price watch” service where you monitor several sites for the best price and availability for a hot product, like the new Iphone.  In this case, people are EXPECTING to be buying something, in which case you could have an affiliate link thrown in to just about every message.
4. Taking the concept of “text link ads” to text messaging marketing: that is, selling adspace in your messages (or as a solo message to your subscribers) to parties who have something to offer them.  If you have a niche of people who want updates weather, a company selling at home weather watching tools would be interested in purchasing a mailing to your customer base from you for a flat fee.  In that “mailing” they could tell your subscribers about their products, or possibly offer them a freebie (free shipping, for example) to reach a new set of consumers.

Whatever you do, you want to be your subscribers hero – the person that’s providing them the information they need, right as it’s breaking.

Head on over to Broadtexter and grab an account while it’s still free.