The global mobile industry is, beyond any doubt, one of the fastest growing industries in the world. Text messages have become a part of our daily life. The flow of communications has reached approximately 60 texts a day for the average user and the numbers are predicting sunshine and rainbows.

Since the first message, sent in 1992, SMS has opened the door for emerging markets, new products but also regulations and standards that are shaping the way organizations communicate with their clients.

Let’s take a moment to look at some of the most famous text messages in history and see what they can teach your business.

Barrack Obama focuses on list building to win election

“Barack has chosen Senator Joe Biden to be our VP nominee” was the message millions of Americans received in August 2008, during the presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain.

This one text message heralded a new era of political communication, one marked by a personal approach and innovative use of different mediums, the SMS among many others. The innovation helped to create Obama’s image as a youthful leader, and the message itself remains a prime example of targeted texting put into practice.

The point to note is about the importance of list building. Obama’s team did not choose its contacts randomly, but through careful identification of potential voters. Team members reached out to people who were likely to care, thus maximizing the impact of the message. This practice is well worth emulating for everyone planning SMS campaigns of their own.

Make your message clear – your company’s reputation is at stake

In 2009, the Canadian transport minister, John Baird, sent a message to Stephen Harper, the premier. It was only three words long: “Thatcher has died.”

Unbeknown to both the Prime Minister and general public, it was not the famous Margaret Thatcher of the UK who had passed away, but the cat belonging to Mr Baird, which just happened to have the same name.

Word of the Iron Lady’s demise spread quickly, and reportedly an official statement was being prepared. Moral of the story: make 100 per cent sure that your messages, SMS or otherwise, will be understood correctly. Once they are out, there is no way to get them back, and the damage (however humorous) may be done already.

Send holiday greetings to your customers, like Neil Papworth did

When Neil Papworth, a 22-year-old British engineer, sent the first text message back in 1992, he never imagined that the popularity of the communication medium was going to hit the history books. His message, “Merry Christmas,” was sent to his boss’s cell phone using the Vodafone network.

At the time, mobiles lacked the complexity we are now used to. What today might not seem like an inspiring Christmas greeting, years ago represented the starting point of a new communication channel. If you think about it, the door was opened for a new generation of business. The worldwide mobile messaging market was worth $202 billion in 2011 and is predicted to reach $310.2 billion by 2016 in the US, according to Portio Research.

The market now has 4.5 times more subscriptions than there are personal computers and landline phones, 2.3 times more mobile accounts than internet users, and 3 times more subscribers than television sets in the world… and all this started with a simple festive greeting 22 years ago!

Sometimes those simple messages, even holiday greeting can boost your sales more than expected. Remind yourself to customers on important occasions and they will remember you.