Before mobile email access and text messaging, we relied on our computers for even the simplest text-based communication. If we were in a meeting, in transit, or just away from our computer, we simply could not be reached via text-based communication (short of being passed a note during a meeting). With mobile email and text, even when we're not really available, messages are still put through and are waiting for us the minute we become available, even if only for a second. We are no longer tied to computers for text-based digital communication.
When text-based communication lost its ties to the traditional computer, it opened up a world of marketing opportunities. It enabled us to communicate without interrupting the recipients day, and it provided recipients the opportunity to consume our message when it was convenient for them and to save it or carry it with them for future reference. Mobile text-based communication—different from other types of direct marketing—gave us the potential for durable, portable marketing messages that could be consumed quickly and politely at the recipients leisure.
