Waffle House has introduced its mobile SMS text locator marketing campaign to drive sales.

The company partnered with Where 2 Get It, to launch its first two-way text campaign. Waffle House claims that it has already seen a 47 percent increase from January to February for opted-in subscribers.

?The strategy is just to make it easier for customers on the go to find their closest Waffle House,? said Kelly Thrasher, a spokeswoman for Waffle House, Atlanta, GA. ?It's about the customer experience and accessibility.?

Where 2 Get It offers search, Web, social media and mobile-based locators including search engine marketing to businesses.

Text for a waffle
Consumers can text the keyword WH and their ZIP code or city and state to short code LOCATE (562283) to find the closest restaurant.

This gives consumers who are on the road the ability to find a restaurant wherever they are and can also drive consumers in-store.

In addition, the company is using send to phone from their corporate Web site store locator as well as a mobile locator.

When a consumer visits its Web site from an iPhone or BlackBerry it will automatically redirect them to a mobile locator.

The mobile locator is made with the mobile consumer in mind so it displays the information in a handset-optimized format.

Waffle House has about 1,600 restaurants in 25 states and does most of its advertising via local, grass roots efforts.

Here is the SMS campaign's call to action:

Mobile waffles
Waffle House also offers mobile coupons via the My Coupons application.

My Coupons features bar code scanning and has a built-in bar code generating technology that lets consumers save and share coupons, as well as present them during checkout.

The coupons are a one-time usage offer. There is a serial number encoded in the coupons, which also lets advertisers track returns on their advertising (see more).

"We want to serve everyone who wants to eat with us,? Ms. Thrasher said. ?Every demographic eats with us so we don't have a specific demographic on this initiative.

?This text locator is not dependent on the phone type, anyone who can send SMS can use it,? she said.

Waffle House is not known as a technology-driven company, so for it to use the text program is a big step.

There are currently only two opt-in points in use.

Waffle House is considering coupons via text messaging as well as a mobile locator application for the iPhone, but nothing is confirmed to move forward yet.

?Waffle House has table tents at all their restaurants advertising the text locator and how it works,? Ms. Thrasher. ?Also, they have a text-to-go box on their homepage and they send out a regular club email to about 5,000 customers.?