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Mobile texting paradoxically sounds like “old news” as far as new technologies are concerned. After all, we were able to send each other texts before our mobile phones even had color screens. While the Western world has focused on smartphones and flashy apps that let you pull up RSS feeds, find information, or fling exploding birds at structures, SMS marketing is still a hugely important part of our mobile lives.

Consider that while smartphone adoption has been slower than anticipated, nearly every mobile phone user in the U.S. is capable of sending and receiving text messages. Additionally, SMS has become increasingly important in developing countries where the penetration of feature phones far outnumber smartphones.

Companies or small business that can nail down their SMS marketing strategy, especially when the space is still ripe for innovation, can open up a number of opportunities. We spoke with four mobile experts for some tips, advice and insights on how to include SMS in a global business strategy.

Small Businesses Can Reach a Broader Consumer Base/>

There’s a huge population of consumers in the U.S. who do not own smartphones, notes Tom Cotney, CEO of mobile marketing firm Air2Web. “And if you’re going to provide some kind of customer service capability on mobile phones, you really need to reach as much of the population as possible.” That isn’t to say that mobile apps are useless, but having a way for text to complement or introduce those services can help you reach a larger base of people. This is especially true in developing countries where the percentage of smartphone users is even smaller.

Even though it may seem like global mobile marketing is just the purview of large, international companies, small businesses can also jump in. “We are a small business with no outside funding,” said John Pelphrey, CEO of One-Txt, an SMS broadcast service. “The trick is to find the right niche, something that you’re knowledgeable about and have some connections in and work it from there.” Pelphrey saw opportunities on continents like South America and Africa where cell phone access is more common than landlines or even open class='blippr-nobr'>Internetclass="blippr-nobr">Internet access. “Their first access to the outside world is their cell phone,” Pelphrey added.

The Mobile Phone is an Intimate Technology/>

It’s one thing to say there are opportunities in global mobile texting. It is another thing to come up with a plan and put it into action. For Pelphrey, a successful strategy is about intimacy and immediacy: “To have the right information for the right person and at the right time.”

Most expert advice focuses on capitalizing on the intimacy of a cell phone. “The mobile phone is the most personal form of technology there is, barring hearing aids and other medical technologies,” Cotney said. Rather than sending out a text blast, treat your messages like a conversation with the customer while offering them value: “You really need to offer consumers a foundational benefit as the primary reason for having a mobile relationship with you.”

Limitations/>

Of course, mobile texting isn’t all just sunshine and rainbows. There are some key limitations to consider before jumping in. First, SMS is necessarily limited by its character limit. In the U.S., text messages are limited to 160 characters — which is fine if you’re checking in with friends but more difficult when you’re trying to connect with or sell to consumers. That limit further varies by country. While Asian countries are closer to 70 characters, their individual characters usually have more meaning than Western letters.

There’s also the problem of getting your message to its destination. “There’s no single international body that goes and hands out short codes,” said Andrew Kenney, Chief Operating Officer at ONEsite. “You have to get one for a specific region. Carriers won’t deal with the particular brands.” After that middleman, it’s important to think of how your audience receives your messages. Not everyone has premium messaging or unlimited texts, Kenney warned. Texts can be expensive for your consumers, so make sure there’s value to make it worthwhile.

Ideally you could set up regional offices to best understand the communities you’re contacting. If that’s out of the budget, try to set up a contact already living in that community or do your research to make sure you know what times of day people are most social or what kind of information or language will be most effective. “Every country, every tribe, they’re all going to be different,” Pelphrey said. “You can’t take the lessons you learned in South America and take it to Africa. Those cultures are so distinct even within a few miles of each other.”

Is SMS Marketing Here to Stay?/>

One hesitation businesses have when it comes to SMS is determining if it is a dying breed of marketing, especially when faced with smartphones or the increasing emphasis on mobile apps. While SMS has greater reach, it also has less interactivity. “It’s certainly possible to set your DVR using text, but it’s not a great user experience,” said Griswold.

Anyone worried about text disappearing as a marketing tool should consider that 2008 was the first year that text messages outnumbered cell phone calls. Cotney cited a study that showed users get mobile text alerts seven times more than they used to with feature phones. “Text is not just a technology, it’s an actual type of interface,” Cotney said. “Usually the older a technology, the less frequently it will be used, but text will be around for a long time.”

Tips and Tricks/>

There are a lot of ways to approach SMS marketing, whether you’re a big company or a small startup looking to branch abroad. There are basic tips like offering your consumers real value, emphasizing intimacy, and being conscientious of cultural norms and traditions. Part and parcel, Kenney advised that “people should go do their research and they should pick partners that they can trust to build long-term relationships.”

Cotney emphasized reach, namely, how many people is your mobile strategy going to touch? While mobile apps may look nice, they can sometimes be a case of prioritizing new technology over a real strategy. “Have a strategy and incorporate how many people you’re going to be able to reach when the product actually gets out there.”

Still, it seems that the most pervasive advice was just to get started. “If businesses think they may want to do text, it’s never too early to collect numbers for the opt-in lists. There are lots of ways to do it…” Paul said. “You don’t have to have everything in place. By the time you do start, you’ll have a head start.”

The cell phone is really the first piece of technology that people started carrying with them all the time, Kenney said. We use it to find our friends or find information on a daily basis. That personal proximity and it’s social capability allow us to have an intimate relationship with our phones and what they can do. SMS is an immediate way to capitalize on those qualities without having to worry about downloading an app or compatibility issues. SMS, if done properly, is an effective way to reach customers both domestically and globally.

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More Business Resources from Mashable:

- 5 Tips for Marketing Online to an International Audience/> - HOW TO: Build Your International Business Network Online/> - 5 Tips for Developing a Global-Friendly Website/> - HOW TO: Optimize Your Mobile Site Across Multiple Platforms/> - 15 Mobile Translation Apps for the International Businessperson

Image courtesy of iStockphotoclass="blippr-nobr">iStockphoto: fotosipsak & spxChrome

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It’s been another crazy week with the Web 2.0 Summit and Facebook’s big announcement about messages. With all of that excitement, it’s easy to miss one or two of the tools and resources we’ve been cranking out for you. Here’s our list from the past week or so.

In Social Media we look at how social good is become geo-aware and give you a walkthrough of the new Facebookclass="blippr-nobr">Facebook Messages. Tech & Mobile kicks off our gift guide with entries on iPads, Androidclass="blippr-nobr">Android, and some cool YouTubeclass="blippr-nobr">YouTube hacks. Business is loaded with startup tips from expert entrepreneurs and the importance of foreign languages for online businesses.

Looking for even more social media resources? This guide appears every weekend, and you can check out all the lists-gone-by here any time.

Social Media

• The Biggest Brands on Facebook /> In the past few years, big brands have started taking social media seriously, and Facebook marketing is a big part of the plan for many companies.
• The New Facebook Messages: A Walkthrough /> We’ve put together a screenshot walkthrough to help you make sense of what the new Facebook Messages product is all about.
• Checkins for Charity: The Rise of Geo-Social Good/> Can location-based networks bridge the gap between social media and the real world when it comes to causes that matter? Here’s a look at the promising future of the “charity checkin.”
• 5 Fresh Places to Find Great Online Video/> More and more sites are stepping up to help sift through the vast, expansive sea of online video. Here are five of our favorites.
• How Social Media Can Make Online Shopping Less Lonely/> A recent Harris Interactive poll shows that shopping, once a highly social activity, has become a lonely experience online. That may change with the rise of social shopping platforms.
• 11 Essential Apps for Managing Your Real Life Social Networks/> Even if you’ve mastered online social networking, you still need to keep tabs on your real life relationships. These apps can help you connect, coordinate, and plan across different social circles.
• Cats: They’re On the Internet /> We assume most felines view the web as a creative outlet, where dreams of becoming class='blippr-nobr'>Internetclass="blippr-nobr">Internet famous are within reach.
• Cracking the Mainstream: Why Social Gaming Is More Than Just a Fad/> Casual media has always co-existed with its long-form counterparts. Here’s why social gaming is a perfect compliment to today’s web.

For more social media news and resources, you can follow class='blippr-nobr'>Mashable’sclass="blippr-nobr">Mashable social media channel on Twitterclass="blippr-nobr">Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Tech & Mobile

• 12 Fun Hacks for Getting More Out of YouTube/> There’s no doubt YouTube can be tons of fun, but when you get bored of watching clips the traditional way, there are a ton of sites that can help enhance the experience.
• 5 Excellent E-Card iPhone Apps/> E-cards are an environmentally friendly way to send a greeting — especially nowadays, when you’re more likely to have your friend’s e-mail address than postal address.
• 10 iPhone Apps for Wine Enthusiasts/> These 10 apps will help you better understand and appreciate this refined libation.
• Why You Need an iPad This Holiday Season/> The fact that you can grab an iPad today, it’s affordable and it’s just straight-up fun to use makes it one of our 10 big gadget picks for the 2010 holiday season.
• 10 Comfortable Lap Desks for Cozy Computing/> Who needs a big office setup when you can kick back on the couch and get stuff done with one of these stylish lap desks.
• The Unprecedented Rise of Apple iOS and Other Internet Trends /> Legendary Internet analyst Mary Meeker has some statistics she thinks every Internet executive should know.
• Why You Need an Android Device This Holiday Season/> Got your eye on a new smartphone for the new year? Here’s why we love our Android devices on a variety of carriers.
• HOW TO: Develop a Branded iPhone App on a Budget/> Branded apps are not just for big corporations with money to burn. They are well within the reach of every small business.
• Why You Need to Upgrade Your Router This Holiday Season/> Ready to make the leap from 802.11g to 802.11n? Have no idea what those numbers mean? Get the lowdown on one of our favorite feature-rich Wi-Fi routers – the Netgear RangeMax WNDR3700.
• HOW TO: Create Your Own Customized Short URL/> A custom short URL is a great way to build your brand around content links, and you can do it for free with a Bit.ly Pro account. Here’s how to set it up.
• 5 Technologies That Are Changing the Way We Drive/> From cars that drive themselves to in-car connectivity systems that support third party apps, innovation is changing the driving experience.
• Build It Yourself: 8 Fun Electronics Kits Under $100/> We’ve gathered a group of DIY electronics kits, ranging from $16 to $95, guaranteed to please the left-brained folks of any age or skill level on your holiday gift list.
• Why You Need a Vizio XVT3SV Series TV This Holiday Season/> Of all the TVs that we’ve seen in 2010, none have stood out as profoundly as those from the Vizio XVT3SV series.
• Troubleshooting Those Ill-Advised Texts/> Read on for tips on troubleshooting your terrible-TM woes.
• Why You Need an Amazon Kindle 3 This Holiday Season/> The 8.5-ounce, 4.8 by 7.5-inch device is fast, sleek, light, and almost adorably small. Here’s why we think it should be at the top of your gadget wish list.
• 4 Winning Web Design Tips From Ryan Carson of Carsonified/> We had the chance to chat with Carsonified founder Ryan Carson about some best practices and his thoughts on the future of web design.
• 8 Experts Break Down the Pros and Cons of Coding With PHP/> class='blippr-nobr'>PHPclass="blippr-nobr">PHP is a versatile programming language, but some of its biggest strengths can also yield limitations. We spoke with 8 PHP pros to weigh the factors.

For more tech news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s tech channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Business

• HOW TO: Land a Business Development Job/> Mashable interviewed six experts in the business development to get their tips on what it takes to become a business development professional at technology companies and startups.
• 5 Invaluable Marketing Lessons from an Epic Campaign for… Cream Cheese?/> As a branded social network, The Real Women of Philadelphia has turned 30,000 unlikely participants into a vibrant community of brand ambassadors. Here’s how Kraft made it happen.
• 5 Ways to Promote Your Social Media Efforts Offline/> Don’t overlook the real world when marketing your online efforts.
• Startup Advice: Inside Tips From Expert Entrepreneurs /> To gauge the pulse of today’s tech startup ecosystem, we spoke to a group of New York-based entrepreneurs and investors. Check out their tips for would-be entrepreneurs.
• Should Your Startup Apply for the sFund?/> Esteemed venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins launched a new fund called sFund last month. Learn more about whether your startup should apply.
• Are Groupon Stores and Do-It-Yourself Deals Worth the Risk?/> Groupon is rolling out a self-serve product called Groupon Stores that allows merchants to setup virtual storefronts and manage their own deals through the group buying site.
• 5 Signs That Coworking Might Be for You/> If these five signs describe you, it might be time to give coworking a try.
• Why Your Business Must Embrace the Foreign Language Internet/> Some of the fastest-growing online demographics are non-English speakers, and there’s a huge opportunity to own the search and social space around these markets before they get too crowded.
• HOW TO: Define the Role of Your Social Media Team/> A look at the basics of building a social media strategy: the goal of social media, who should be involved, and the responsibilities entailed.
• Social Media Marketing: 5 Lessons From Business Leaders Who Get It/> These five business leaders outperformed their peers in both quantitative and qualitative tests of social influence. See what you can take away from their success.
• How Social Media Can Make Online Shopping Less Lonely/> A recent Harris Interactive poll shows that shopping, once a highly social activity, has become a lonely experience online. That may change with the rise of social shopping platforms.

For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

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