Thursday, 29 November 2012

Dos And Donts of SMS Text Marketing

SMS Text Marketing is earning a highly favorable reputation as a form of communication between consumers and businesses. One of the main reasons why this marketing technique is so successful - is because it can be applied to nearly any business out there, large or small. SMS Text Marketing is simple, and affordable. It used to be a technology used by only Fortune 500 companies, but not any longer. Small businesses are finding local packages that work very well on a smaller scale. Many marketers already use text marketing; however there are some out there who are fairly new to this industry. Email marketing jumped to popularity a few years ago, and still remains a common way to market. SMS Text campaigns can go hand in hand with email marketing, as well as easily be combined with traditional marketing efforts. Here are some tips for getting started.

1. Make your call to action clear: SMS messages are short, but this isn’t to say your message won’t be powerful. Think carefully about what to say in your 160-character limitation that will have the best impact. Give people direction about what to do upon receiving you message. Don’t be vague. Answer the four questions: What? Where? When? Why?

2. Take advantage of 2-way communication: Text messaging is interactive. This is one of the reasons people love it so much. The reason you are using an SMS campaign, is to encourage interaction between customers and your business. Allow them to reply to your texts for more information, or use a keyword for a special promotion.

3. Timing really is everything: Don’t send a text message in the middle of the night. This used to work with email, because your message would just be there when the customer checks their inbox – but text messages are instant. This can be very beneficial if timed correctly, however you don’t want to come off as intrusive or annoying.

Don’ts:
 
1. Don’t send out irrelevant messages: Segment your database into smaller lists, based on preferences. Now direct your marketing messages to each list, so that people receive marketing text messages that they will appreciate. If people find messages relevant all the time, the success rate is extraordinarily high.

2. Don’t be afraid to add links: Instead of trying to shorten words, or use abbreviations in your 160-characters to squeeze in a message, include a link to direct someone to further details about your business. There is even a cool way to shorten links now, for ease.

3. Don’t over do it: Nobody wants to get text messages from your business every day. In addition to remembering that timing is everything, it also important to space your messages in an appropriate way.

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