March 8, 2010

In the year 2000, almost no text messages were sent anywhere on the planet. This year? It is estimated that there are 130 billion being sent every month (and only 18% are from my daughters!).

The point is, if you want to make an impact with your marketing, you have to go to where the eyeballs are, and increasingly, they are looking at text messages on mobile phones. Certainly that is what the big boys have concluded. If you haven’t noticed, text marketing is hot, hot, hot:

·      Dunkin Donuts wanted to increase the sales of lattes among high school and college kids in the Boston area, so they sent a text coupon out to those who opted in. The result was a 21% increase in sales.

·      The Barack Obama for President campaign announced the selection of Joe Biden via text. 2.9 million people registered to receive the text.

·      Our friends here at American Express had a contest during Wimbledon whereby spectators would guess the winners of the next day's event.

These days, small businesses are getting in on the act. Ice cream stores are texting specials, gyms are offering free trials, chiropractors are texting coupons.

Here’s how you can join the party:

1. Consider your audience.  Texting is especially effective with younger people, although it is by no means exclusive to them. The important thing is this – people on mobile phones are, well, mobile. Any campaign has to take this into account. They are not watching TV, they are not sitting at their computers. So whatever you decide to text, just be sure that your product or offer fits the audience you target.

2. Don’t spam: A text or SMS ad campaign must comply with CAN-SPAM rules so be sure to structure your campaign legally.

Essentially, with a text campaign, you have two options: Push and pull.

·      Push is when you send unsolicited text messages. Not only do people not like that, they have to pay for it, so it’s a double negative whammy.

·      Pull is when people opt-in and give you permission to text them. That is what you want.

The best way to create your opt-in list is simply by letting your clientele know that if they sign up for your text campaign they will get exclusive offers that others won’t get. You can get the word out in your store, on your website, via email, in your advertising, through Facebook, and via tweets: “Sign up now for our text alerts and be the first in line for our popular Sunday special!”

Any list you create will be far more effective than any list you buy.

3. Choose the right service: As with anything, there are inexpensive text message service providers and gold-plated ones. The cheaper ones will let you send or receive a batch of SMS messages for a set fee. For example, with Salon.TextAlert.com beauty salons can easily and affordably send promotional texts to clients.

More sophisticated SMS marketing services offer campaign software, a dashboard, reports, customer databases and more. An all-in-one service like MobileCommons allows you to create a list, start a campaign, track it, and refine it as necessary – just as you would with any ad campaign.

You can use a service like MobiQpons which allows people in your area to sign up and receive coupons for discounts. Only people within 10 miles of your business will receive your coupon.

(Another factor to consider is whether you want to have your own short code, i.e., “text in Idol07 to vote for Adam Lambert.” You do this by applying for a short code, though this is both time consuming and expensive.)

4. Create a campaign that will work: Cell phones are, even still, relatively free of a lot of advertising. As such, your campaign has to fit in with the culture of the mobile phone. People use them when they are on the go, and they use them for fun. Contests, polls, sweepstakes, games, and of course promotions and coupons work best.

I hope that helps. Got2go!

Join the conversation ( 13 )

• Dominic Gluchowski 1 months ago

  

  It would be great to develop an application that detects users proximity through the use of their phone GPS and send them the relevant offer straight to the mobile when they are close to the store. We are currently developing this functionality for http://www.ilovecoupons.com.au/

• Jonathan Madnick 8 months ago

  

  There is an alternative that you should consider. It is called a long code, or a long number, or a virtual mobile number. Learn more at www.longnumbers.com.

• Bob Bentz 1 year 3 months and 25 days ago

  

  Savvy marketers must remember that text message marketing is just one aspect of mobile marketing that includes other services like apps. It is important to offer each of these in your marketing mix, but text message marketing will always be a pillar in your solution. Bob Bentz. www.84444.com

• Geoffrey Michener 1 year 4 months and 19 days ago

  

  Here is an interesting idea political candidates and the FEC needs to tackle. I think it is the future of political fundraising.
  
  http://smartmediagroup.com/text-to-give-the-future-of-political-fundraising-2/
  
  

• Joe brown 1 year 5 months and 4 days ago

  

  Coupons and great discounts using your mobile phone is brilliant and SO effective. http://www.voupons.com.au has come up with a great system. It has made it the esaiest way to dedeem offers. Shoppers can search for Coupons by catagory and postcode, send it to any phone for free and simply show you phone when paying and save! If you can llok at Voupons and give me your feedback that would be great. Thanks - and I hope you can "GET Vouped"

• Shruti Maidam 1 year 10 months and 26 days ago

  

  Sending a short code via the SMS, Email and validating that code on the Website via a custom landing page is the way to go. I am sure more and more companies would make use of these channels in the coming months. Great article.
  
  We, at Collagist, started offering text codes in the email newsletters and seen some success with better CTRs.

• Tim Tolbert 1 year 10 months and 26 days ago

  

  This is an excellent piece highlighting the growing convergence of Mobile Marketing as a seriously relevant and immediate marketing channel.
  
  I'll throw my hat in the ring also; we're Front Door Insights, a web-based 'software as a service' Mobile Marketing provider for small businesses and large national chains alike.
  
  Feel free to email me if you'd like to set up a brief, live demo of our platform and an overview of our Management Dashboard and seamless analytics. email tim.tolbert@fdinsights.com

• Michelle Stone 1 year 10 months and 26 days ago

  

  Another consideration is to ensure that a text messaging campaign is in compliance with the Mobile Marketing Association's guidelines and is in accordance with Consumer Best Practices. There is specific carrier-complaint language which needs to accompany mobile terminated messages. This language also needs to appear on a company's website for compliance audits as well as on any web registration or call-to-action (such as a banner ad, billboard, television spot, or other advertising medium).

• Steve Strauss 1 year 10 months and 26 days ago

  

  These are all very good points and I agree - your own list is the best list.

• PAUL ROSENFELD 1 year 10 months and 26 days ago

  

  With all due respect to Steven and his obviously sophisticated use of texting, I would strongly advise the typical reader of Open Forum to never, ever purchase a third party list of opt-in mobile phone numbers. The companies that do this have a very bad reputation (deserved) and all it takes is a few complaints for you to be in hot water with the telcos.
  
  So unless you're a very knowledgeable marketer, focus instead on building your own list.

• Steven Rothberg 1 year 10 months and 26 days ago

  

  Another consideration is whether you want to text just people on your own mailing list who have given you permission to do so or whether you want to use a third party list which has received permission from its subscribers. Either way, it is imperative that the permission to text be explicit and knowing. People who receive unwanted text messages can become your worst nightmare.
  
  If you build your own list, be sure to maintain copious records of when the person subscribed, on what web page or location, and exactly what was the offer. It isn't enough to just know that they subscribed but you need to know exactly what they subscribed to.
  
  For third party lists, we recommend that the list be double opt-in to help ensure that the subscribers really, really wanted the information. In other words, they must subscribe and then confirm that subscription.
  
  Finally, don't expect to get a great response to a text if people must sign up for something on your web site. For our clients, we include an HTML email follow-up campaign so the students or recent graduates typically first receive the text and that builds great awareness of the offer. Then, perhaps a few days later, they receive the email and that provides them with the convenience needed as they can click from that to your web site to sign-up for your offer.

• SHAHRIYAR NEMAN 1 year 10 months and 27 days ago

  

  Thanks for this article. Text marketing is great for small businesses because it can be done easily and affordably.
  
  Like Fanminder, Ez Texting (that's us) is an OPEN Member who specializes in providing SMS marketing services to small businesses. You can find us on Twitter (@eztexting) or email Amy (amy - at - eztexting.com) to setup a live demo. Or you can signup for free to try it out.

• PAUL ROSENFELD 1 year 10 months and 27 days ago

  

  Great piece. 99% of readers will want affordability AND easy to use, so try before you buy.
  
  FYI - We're Fanminder and a member of Amex Open Forum. We provide text message marketing services specifically for your small business and also offer free trial AND a discount for you. Happy to help... please email me paul@fanminder.com.