How to Start an SMS Marketing Campaign
An SMS marketing campaign can be a powerful way to promote your brand or service. But to get the most out of your Mobile Marketing campaign here are a few things to consider.
Build your contact or subscriber database.
How will I build my mobile number database (mobile loyalty club): Mobile marketing is permission based marketing i.e. consumers must "opt-in" to your campaign. You cannot buy mobile lists or harvest numbers from other sources. So how will customers join your club. One method is to advertise a keyword and short code/virtual number on your premises, in your marketing literature, on your website etc. Customers text the keyword to the number and are automatically added to your mobile database. You will be surprised how quickly your list grows.
Think of new ways to reward your customers.
What is the value you can provide your customers: Don't simply throw messages at your loyalty club. Offer them value and reward their loyalty e.g. try sending them mobile coupon and mobile promotional offers that are not available to customers that are not in the mobile club, or send them updates on new stock items before anyone else etc. Mobile is a very personal channel and mobile promotions can bring significantly higher redemption rates than paper based offers when run correctly.
Consider the best ways to target your message.
How will you target your mobile offers to ensure the maximum return on investment: SMS marketing platforms like the uConnect service provided by uMobilize Promotions allow you to schedule when your mobile coupon, mobile offer or service message is sent. Or you can send the message to your mobile database directly from your mobile phone. So why not send your offer at an optimum time e.g. Restaurants can send special offers at 12:00 to drive lunch time traffic, Bars and Clubs can send "happy hour" offers. Also, why not target your offers. With uConnect you can store additional info about your members such as location, sex, product preference etc. Use this info to only send offers to appropriate/relevant customers, reducing your marketing spend and increasing your ROI.
Always consider the consumer.
How will your customers opt-out: No matter how good your mobile program, there will come a time when someone is not interested in your offers/messages any more. You must provide your customers with a mechanism to opt-out. When you are choosing your mobile marketing software or mobile marketing service provider make sure you ask them about the opt-out mechanism.
