HOW TO
START GSM SHORT CODE BUSINESS
In
August 2008, Barack Obama's presidential campaign made a political spectacle
when it attempted to announce Joe Biden as the vice presidential candidate over
SMS text message. Before the campaign could send the text message announcement
to supporters, mass media scooped the news and broke the story, but the
magnitude of the campaign's mobile efforts is noteworthy.
It
was estimated that the Biden text was received by 2.9 million mobile phone
users in the U.S. over the course of that weekend, making it one of the
biggest, broadest mobile marketing stunts to date. Why make such an important
announcement over a text message? It's no new insight that the media landscape
exploded in the past decade to yield dozens of new marketing channels. Why tap
text messaging as the outlet for one of the campaigns most important messages?
Surely not for buzz alone...
The announcement over texting is a highly
visible example of short code marketing-marketing messages sent over text message
through a Common Short Code (CSC), or short code. A short code is essentially
an abbreviated phone number used for text (SMS) and multimedia (MMS) messaging.
Today, short codes are used not just for marketing vice presidential candidates
but for marketing TV shows, cars, soda, deodorant and dozens of other goods and
services. In the past two years, the medium has become a mainstream marketing
vehicle, so much so that Obama's use of the medium yielded not just buzz but
also a large and engaged audience for the Biden announcement.
What is Short Code?
Have you ever participated in a promo
where you have to send a word or letters to a certain number and then have your
phone credit deducted?.
SMS short code is a 5 or 6 digit number,
just like a phone number, but shorter and easier to remember. SMS short codes
are used to receive and send out text messages to consumers and are issued by
the short code provider. Short codes are leased (not owned) on a monthly basis
by companies or SMS service providers. Many companies use SMS short codes to
run their mobile marketing campaigns because they allow consumers to text back
to any messages received. This facilitates customer interaction and two way
communication, which builds relationships, customer loyalty and generates many
opportunities for targeted mobile marketing.
To
send out messages to consumers you must use an SMS short code - this is a
requirement of network operators, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) as
part of their best practice guide and may soon be covered by legislation. SMS
short code simplifies the process of launching a focused text messaging
campaign - whether you're interested in using dedicated short code or shared
short codes, for long or short term campaigns, whatever industry you're in,
there are mobile marketing solution for you.
Now,
you too can join in this mega money opportunity. You can start your own
promotions using short code or you can sell short code to others. In this
step-by-step article, I will expose you to the huge potential in short code,
both as a user and as a reseller who wants to operate your own short code
business. This will be an eye opener for you. You may have been hearing about
short code and wondering how to get into it, here is your biggest opportunity
to join in the short code bounty.
How Short Code Works
A
short code makes it possible for you to bill customers through their phone
credit. It's the fastest way of getting millions of people to donate money if
you are an NGO, or Church, etc. or get paid for digital products like music,
ringtone, etc. Also, it's the fastest way to promote your business and get
paid, or offer lottery service. However, in simple layman's language, it's the
easiest way to get millions of people give you money in exchange for something
as an incentive. Good short code content can rake in millions in 120 days or
less.
For
example, when you sign up for a short cord you get a keyword to help you direct
your traffic to yourself. A keyword is your own personal name in a short code number.
when anyone text that keyword to the short code number, the persons phone will
be debited for a certain amount and from that amount the network operators will
pay you a percentage of it for being the owner of that keyword. This money will
be paid to the short code provider, who in return sends your share based on the
amount stated to be paid per SMS received. If the amount is N15 per text-in you
will receive when people text-in 100,000 SMS to your keyword within that
period, you will get paid for 100,000 SMS multiplied by N15 - and that will be
N15 million.
There
is no official „Code of Practice‟ or PRS Regulatory body in Nigeria. Therefore,
service approvals are granted by the Nigerian networks. If you wish to launch a
campaign, please send all of your promotional material, plus the expected
message flows to your short code service provider. They will pass this onto the
operators for feedback. Adverts are usually in EnglishIt is standard practice
and there could be penalties if you don't include:
•
Price displayed in local format, e.g. Nxx + standard network rates·, e.g.
"Text NIG (which is the country code) (space) ABC (which is your keyword)
to 35810. Cost: N100 + standard network rates.
•
Price immediately following the short code/keywords.
• Price
in at least 50% font size of the short code keywords.
•
Service promoted by {insert your address, P.O. Box numbers not allowed}.
How Short Code Services Work?
Once
you have signed up for a short code and gotten your keyword, you need to
develop a service or product through which you can then solicit for people to
send texts to that short code. As many people or times text were sent to the
short code bearing your keyword you will get paid. However, you must engage in
good publicity to attract high volume of text, backed by good SMS content to
encourage more people to text-in. Note that people are not just going to
text-in to your short code if what you are offering does not offer any value to
them.
And
apart from getting short code for your use, you can also get short code and
give to your local radio or TV presenters to use on their show. This will
attract high volume and both of you can share the proceeds. A good radio or TV
program has a lot of followers and that will give you a lot of traffic to earn
good money from your short code service.
How To Choose A Keyword
When
you signed up for a short code you will need to choose a keyword that your
„texters‟ would type each time they text the short code. A keyword can be any
name, it can be your name, company name, anything, but a name somebody else
have not used on a short code. Once you choose a name, availability will be
done first to check if that name you choose is still available. If it’s not
available you will choose another name. And each time you are advertising your
short code service you must tell your “texters” to send your keyword name to
the short code number. If they send text to the short code without your keyword
name the network operators will not pay you for that text.
How To Buy a Short Code Service
Before
now, short code services are exclusive for the rich and big companies. It was
expensive and made so difficult to obtain. Most of the reason for that is to
avoid “yahoo-yahoo” boys from coming there too. But now, it has been made open
for genuine customers to use short code to run their business or even make
money legally selling the service to others. However, once you are fingered for
fraud, you lose your short code service and all the money generated will not be
paid to you. You may even end up in EFCC cell. So, don’t even think of using a
short code for fraud because you will lose.
A
short code service cost N15,000 to set up one keyword name and extra keyword
costs N15,000 each. Also you pay N5,500 monthly fee for each keyword you want.
This amount is paid quarterly when you are ordering your keyword name for
setup. That means you pay N15,000 plus N5,500 for three(3) months will be
N16,500 and that makes it a total of N31,500 to get your first keyword setup
and run for three months till you get your first payment from your keyword.
From the proceeds you make from your first payment you can then continue to pay
for other month renewal fees.
Do
not fail in paying your monthly fees. This may result in the short code
operator deleting your keyword. A non-payment of your monthly fees can also
stop the payment of your revenue from text-in, and if someone else registers
that keyword they can benefit from all the hard work you’ve put in promoting
that keyword.
How You Get Paid From Short Code Ser vice
When
you sign up for short code service you have also signed up to get paid, getting
paid from other people’s money. Every time someone text-in to that short code
using your keyword the network operator credits some money into your account.
Although, they don’t do this immediately someone text-in, but in every 120 days
they will calculate all texts received in your keyword and send the money
through your short code provider who will finally pay you. That means in one
year you will get paid three times by the network operators. You are only paid
for the number of texts received from your keyword and it’s just a percentage
of the amount collected, and it’s about 5% to 20% of the amount billed per SMS.
Some pay more, while others payless. Before you sign up with a short code
provider or their agent or their reseller ask for the amount the operators
would pay per text received on your keyword – network by network.
When
120 days billing period is reached, the short code operator would present your
account to each of the network operator represented in your short code and the
operator will pay for the number of texts received on each of their net work.
Which the short code provider then remits your own share into your bank account
or issue you cheque covering the amount. And for transparency, request for a
statement with details of all question to confirm actual payment received. In
some cases network operators may have a bill different from what is in your
statement. Due to their superiority in this matter, their statement is the one
used for payment. It's what they say that you will eventually get at the end of
the end of the day.
Short Code Services That Makes Money
Once
you have a short code the next thing is to make money with it. You need to know
how best to make money with your short code. The most common idea is to run
lottery. I'm not against lottery, but I must be frank with you, lottery, would
require so much to be profitable for you. The biggest challenge with running
lottery is publicity. You need to create huge publicity if you want your
lottery to work and that would require a lot of money to pay for TV, Radio and
news paper advertisements. Alternative is to go for sponsors, but they can be
hard to convince. If you cannot muscle the funds for lottery, I advice you
create other contents that can generate traffic with ease. I recommend you
partner with radio, and TV presenters to promote your short code service. You
can buy a keyword just for their show for their viewers or listeners to text in
during the program. If it's a daily program, you are made. Weekly program with
huge fellowship is not bad. Alternatively you can lobby for a free slot in your
local radio or TV station to run your own program. Most of these local radio or
TV stations have local content. They need new programs. You can create one and
then use your short code service to receive responses from viewers.
Another
block buster in the short code business is voting contest. This kind of short
code service gives you big leverage among politicians; if you organize a voting
contest in partnership with your local TV or radio station for your kinsmen to
text-in, either to choose which party they want in the next administration or
which contestant is best suited to run the state, you will be surprised how
many votes that would pour in. Space would not permit me to fully express the
huge content of short code opportunity.
Shared Short Code Agent
An
agent can buy bundle of keywords, which they in turn resell and keep all the
profits. There are four different short code bundles an agent can buy at
ridiculous low rate and resell at N15,000 per keyword. The starter short code
bundle contains 10 keywords and an agent buys it for N25,000 only and sells
each keyword for N15,000. That gives over N150,000 income from an investment of
just N25,000.
The
bronze bundle is 20 keywords at N35,000. The agent makes over N300,000 from
selling the 20 keywords. The silver bundle is 50 keywords at N55,000. The agent
makes N750,000 from selling 50 keywords. While the gold bundle is 100 keywords
at N75,000. The agent makes N 1.5 million from selling 100 keywords. You are
receiving a genuine offer. The only challenge you may have is if you do not
market it well. As for this business, it's a bomb. You can also buy as many
bundles as you want. For instance, if it's the starter bundle you can afford
now, you can start with that and later when you finish selling you can buy a
bigger bundle. My only advice is for you to start now that the business is
still very young before many people get to know this and the competition
becomes stiff.
Shared Short Code Resellers:
The
big one is to become a shared short code reseller. The advantage over being an
agent is huge. As a reseller, you can even sign up your own agents to sell for
you. Unlike the agent that earns money just from selling keyword, a shared
short code reseller will earn money from short code monthly fees paid by the
short code customers. This one is big because every month your customer will
pay for their keyword service fee of N5,500 and a short code reseller keeps all
the monthly fees collected. If you have about 100 customers, every month when
they pay their N 5,500 each to you, that's about N750,000 every month to setup
a Gold reseller plan is N125,000 and you get to sell 500 keyword as a gold
reseller, and every month you pay N45,000 maintenance fee to the short code
provider. For a platinum reseller setup fee is N250,000 and he gets to sell
unlimited keywords. A platinum reseller also gets some share in the text-in
revenue.
Both
a gold and platinum reseller will have online access to create keywords
themselves and to manage keywords and view text-in traffic from their
customer's keywords. To be a reseller you will need to know how to use the
internet.
GSM Short Code Provider
Then
the biggest of them is to be a short code provider yourself, having a dedicated
short code number to yourself. You can sell keywords, hire your own agents and
even sell to resellers. Most corporate organizations prefer to own their own
short code rather than to share that of the short code provider.
If
you have your own short code it makes you a fully fledged short code provider.
You can then sell to customers from your short code. It's more profitable to
have your own short code if you can afford it. The setup fee is N750,000 while
monthly fee is N125,000. The main advantage is that you can share in the
text-in revenue of your customers. Although, your cuts per SMS is so small but
the advantage is in the volume if you have good contents running on your short
code.
If
you are really interested in making money using the internet, this is your
number one opportunity to get started in the short code business before many
others gets in before you. You can sign up with a short code provider directly,
or sign up with a reseller if you just want to be an agent.
