SMS Text Marketing

If you own a mobile phone, the statistics are pretty greatly stacked in your favor that you may have received an SMS text message throughout the span of your life from a company trying to promote itself via this innovative marketing channel.  In fact, according to recent findings from IBM (News - Alert), one in five marketers power marketing campaigns with nearly 32 percent of mobile marketers leveraging text messaging to connect with both current and prospective consumers.

E-mail service provider Mailigen has published three related do’s and don’ts that those who continue to turn to SMS text marketing should remain concerned ABOUT. Let’s analyze the do’s first, shall we?

1. Do carefully evaluate the ideal time to power a text message initiative

 In order for an SMS text marketing message to be effective, it must be sent right when the promotion begins. If it is issued too early, customers will forget about the active promotion and if it is sent out too late, they will simply ignore it. Timing is key to the success of a getting individuals to make a move so be sure to select a time when respondents can be informed with enough time to then take further action.

2. Do offer a call to action

 According to an article featured on the Business 2 Community website, “SMS messages are short and simple, you only get about 160 characters. You don’t have to explain everything in your SMS message but do cover: what, when, where and why.” No matter the tool you choose to use for communicating, e-mail or text message, one of the most important if not the most important element of this message is a brief and to the point call to action.

3. Do drive communication

 If a customer has a question or demands more information about a certain product, it is your job as the marketer to enable two-way communication with an audience. When creating the message, design it in a fashion so that people it is being sent to can respond with ease. This will ultimately lead them to return to you in the near future when advertising different promotions.

Now that we have that covered, how about looking at some things you should avoid like the plague with SMS text marketing?

1. Don’t send too many people the SMS text message, instead designate a target audience

“Mobile is considered to be more personal than e-mail. So by receiving irrelevant text messages people will be more irritated than by receiving irrelevant e-mail. And vice versa – because SMS average open rate is close to 100 percent, relevant content in text messages can bring exceptionally high results. Segment your audience in groups with as much in detail as possible and then send relevant information to each of the groups,” the piece added.

 2. Don’t keep a stringent schedule

While it is very important to issue newsletters on a continuous basis and in real-time, don’t just send something for the sake of sending it. This could lead clients to become overwhelmed and ignore future messages.  Wait until a promotion or campaign is about to be launched, then send!

3. Don’t over explain everything  

Selecting your words wisely is what can be the difference between drawing in someone’s attention or the reason behind them going to a competitor. A direct message can even eliminate the chance of skipped letters or a message just not being clear.

The article concluded, “In SMS marketing less is more. You’re better off focusing on clarity, directness and easy to understand messaging. If the wording and call to action are eye-catching, don’t worry, people will seek out additional information.”