British Columbia Innovation Council

Mary is a small business owner in Kelowna, BC. She owns a small boutique clothing store. It's a rainy Wednesday afternoon and as a result, business is slow. She logs into her StreetText account, selects 50 of her customers and sends a quick text message that says "Rainy Wednesday Promotion". Within hours, her store is busy!

Sound promising? It is. StreetText adds a layer of interactive marketing to a small business' existing marketing mix by enabling owners to deliver targeted messages and promotions direct to customers by text. StreetText incorporates SMS ‘text' technology and does not require an app to work.  Since most Canadians already know how to text, it transforms conventional marketing into interactive marketing and quickly enables potential customers to experience a variety of creative and spontaneous promotions from the business they already like.

With StreetText, it is also easier than ever to track the response and build a CRM of current and future customers.  Customers can also opt out at any time or if they enjoy receiving promotions or information from the business they can continue to do so. The application is completely free from a user's standpoint.

StreetText has advanced to the final round of the BCIC-New Ventures Competition: Regional. Recently, BCIC connected with Stephen Whiting for Simple Engine Media, providers of StreetText for Small Business, to learn more about the inspiration behind StreetText:

What's unique or innovative about your technology?

We are able to successfully deliver a message at the most valuable time for both the business and the customer. SMS is inherently social - it's one of the fastest and least intrusive forms of communication we have available to us. We include mobile web technologies and are very focused on providing analytics to our end users. However, what really makes us unique is how we use SMS to capture the right customers and enable them to push the messages to their core circle of influence. We are effectively growing customer bases in a very fun and interactive way.

What motivates you to do what you do every day?

The desire to be successful. Our entire team has worked tirelessly for a long time to build a great product that helps businesses. I love the fact that each day is different and is presented with its own opportunities to overcome and succeed.

What has been the most valuable part of the competition so far?

The validation of our concepts and ideas are invaluable. You get to stand in front of a few judges that do not know you or your company and pitch your idea and concept to them. There is no reason for them to be anything more than critical. As much as they like each business and want to help each entrepreneur, sometimes it is best to just let the entrepreneur know that they have a failed idea or concept.

What makes BC is a great place for startups?

BC by far is the best place to live, and now that we are connected to BCIC and Accelerate Okanagan, we feel like we can grow our startup right here at home. For our business the two most important things are the relationships and strategic partnerships we make. Thanks to the BCIC-New Ventures Competition: Regional, we are plugged in and exposed to people that can help connect our business.

What other awards have you received?

In November 2011, we placed second in Accelerate Okanagan's Jump:Start:Challenge.

Good luck to Stephen and his team at StreetText!  Winners of the BCIC-New Ventures Competition: Regional will be announced on February 23, 2012 in Kelowna, BC.

http://www.streettext.com/

https://twitter.com/StreetText

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