MANSFIELD, Ohio – Braintree tenant Steve McKown, the entrepreneur featured in the Eye on Entrepreneurs series last May for his marketing business MoCoopinz, has since rebranded the company to become TextLoyal. “We are still MoCoopinz LLC, doing business as TextLoyal,” said McKown. “It’s hard to make a name change, but it went pretty smoothly and we’re doing well.” The rebranding, he noted, stemmed from a suggestion by Braintree Business Development Center CEO Bob Cohen. McKown is a Braintree tenant, and said he thought the suggestion made sense: finding a name that better suited what the company does. “We do texting; we do loyalty; it’s TextLoyal,” said McKown.TextLoyal offers a kiosk-based customer loyalty program, where customers sign up to receive discounts, rewards, and special offers via text messaging from participating companies. Companies can even use the software to let customers know of closings due to inclement weather.“It works just like a punch card, but there are no cards to carry,” said McKown. “The customer just punches in their phone number on each visit.”TextLoyal, noted McKown, is excellent for any kind of company with repeat business, including salons, restaurants, and boutiques. One client has over 7,000 customers utilizing the system, said McKown.Text message marketing is an effective way to reach customers, noted McKown, “Our phones are very personal to us, so every text that comes across, we read.”He added that 98 percent of all text messages get read, usually within the first five minutes. “There’s nothing that can touch it,” he said, comparing other forms of marketing. “Email marketing is lucky to have a 20 to 30 percent open rate. That’s not even a read rate, that’s just open.”“Look at how many unread emails you have. And how many unread texts do you have?” explained McKown.“It doesn’t mean everyone will respond to the offer, but they’ve seen it,” he said. Whereas things like commercials, billboards, and the like may not even be noticed, he added.The TextLoyal system only offers direct marketing via text to customers that opt-in. “The Mobile Marketing Association works really hard to make sure there’s no spam, and we follow all their guidelines. We don’t spam people. We are working hard to keep text marketing from going the way of email marketing – where emails don’t get read because there’s so much spam,” said McKown.The company has expanded its horizons with new mobile responsive websites. McKown described the mobile responsive sites, “The website will look the same on a computer, a laptop, a tablet, and a phone. It will respond to whatever size screen you are using.”“We also offer different things within the websites: we have smart codes that show ratings in the search engine, we have easy connect, a customizable contact form crafted for your needs, and streams. With streams, we can actually stream social media websites, monitor and engage with your social communities. So reviews will show up on the website, which helps with optimization, putting your site higher in search engine searches. That’s something most don’t offer,” he said.McKown noted that a mobile site is very important for businesses, and mobile responsive sites offer easier site navigation for those used to desktop.MoCoopinz LLC, doing business as TextLoyal, is locally owned by McKown and is a licensee of SMS Masterminds, a division of SpendSmart, a publically traded company.Through the parent company, TextLoyal is now affiliated with Off Day Trainer, yet another expansion for McKown. Off Day Trainer is a patent-pending software that grows personal training businesses by engaging clients with automated text messages.A trainer will sign up to use the service, explained McKown, and the potential client will text in and fill out a questionnaire and schedule a personal appointment, thereby letting the trainer know their fitness goals ahead of time.“The name comes from the fact that on off days, clients will get motivational texts and the like to keep them going. It’s a great way for trainers to stay in touch with their clients,” said McKown.