UK businesses sceptical of SMS marketing!?

SMS marketing is very new in the UK and very recently a couple more solutions have appeared to make this even more possible for us off liners to implement over here (Trumpia and Twilio are the ones I know of).

It's clear reading threads here on the warrior that state-side, things a little different and SMS marketing is starting to catch on big time.

I am determined not to miss this opportunity as I feel that this is one of the most significant developments certainly since I have been internet marketing and can really see this working here in the UK as well.

So I've been practising a few pitches to local businesses that I know and also friends to see what they think of the whole idea.

First of all they all seem to pull a very strange facial expression as if I'm talking in a foreign language and when finally I manage to explain the concept to them the common answer is that they 'would not trust' a message sent to them from a strange number.

I then explain that it's not a strange number, that they have opted in to get messages from this person/place and that they would recognise it as a trusted source.

They then all seem to think that if they open the message or reply to it that they will be billed!

These reactions show the innocence of a virgin market and on one hand this is very exciting. On the other though it is frustrating that the general public cannot see the value of such a simple marketing system.

I am wondering if us Brits are just different to our American cousins and that maybe text marketing will never be accepted or understood this side of the pond!

Please tell me I am wrong as I feel I am positioned perfectly to take advantage of this coming wave of opportunity. Did you experience the same blank looks a couple of years ago when it first hit the US? Should I wait for a year or two or just be the pioneer?

Would love to hear your thoughts fellow warriors