It's the end of the year and, as companies look forward to 2013, they'll start to plan out strategies for the new year. More than likely, marketing will be thoroughly examined, and a number of questions will have to be asked.

What went right in 2012? What went wrong? What can deliver a stronger return on investment next year? All of these questions will be pondered, and for many organizations, text message marketing may be the key to stronger campaigns in 2013.

As this blog has described in the past, text message marketing had a solid 2012. As the new year begins, we expect even bigger and better things for the SMS service. An article from Chicago's local NBC affiliate examines the rise of mobile marketing and suggests that the service isn't dying anytime soon, even as some have pondered whether or not the text message's best days are behind it.

Mark Simmons, a digital marketing expert, emailed the news source and said that text message marketing will only improve as smartphone functionality allows professionals to do even more with their messages.

"Retailers have an inherent advantage with SMS marketing," Simmons said. "Due to the geo-targeting capability of SMS marketing, potential customers can be messaged when in proximity to the advertiser's store, be it inside the mall or free-standing. Catching the attention of the consumer with a time-sensitive offer can be extremely effective since they are already in the shopping mindset."

So as your creative team spends the next few weeks deciding on what marketing tactics to take in the new year, consider the sheer number of mobile devices across the world and the immense popularity of the text message. Swift SMS Gateway offers the tools businesses need to launch highly-effective text message marketing campaigns.