Overview:  We all know that there are mobile marketing campaigns and, then, there are mobile marketing campaigns. 

It’s time to wake up.  If you’re not seeing exponential sales growth and revenue gains on your mobile marketing campaign, you’re just not doing it right.  Or, maybe your vendor isn’t giving you the deal you need.  Or maybe…just maybe…you’re stuck in the 90’s again…

1)  This is one of the more important facets of the mobile marketing segment. Look at what you’re paying for your mass texting service.  If you’re a single location or entity, and you’re paying more than a total of $350/mo for a 3000 member-based text messaging service with unlimited text messages to each member, you’re paying too much.  It’s time to seek out a more reasonable provider.  They’re out there.  We talk with them every day about their services.

2)  Check your interface and dashboard for your texting.  Are you able to access your interface online to send your text messages and divide your messages into subgroups so that the targets are clear to both you— and to the recipient?  Subgroups allow you to both geo-target and demographically delineate who receives the message, when, and what the message is—and, more than anything else—set a value for what you want to offer.

3)  Look at your offer.  Is it a compelling offer?   Bidding on coupons may be trendy, but is probably not going to get you where you want to go.  Look at Twitter and Facebook and learn from what is being said in the social media.   Focus on whom you’re targeting, what the most compelling text offer is going to be, and recognize that 97% of your recipients who receive your text are going to view it within twenty minutes.  

Let me say that again for emphasis. 

97% of the recipients of your text are going to view it within twenty minutes. 

Try that with any type of a coupon offer.  Try that with direct mail.  Try it with newspapers.  Try it with television.  It’s a brave, new world, folks.  Get on board the train now before it leaves the station.

4)  Be absolutely certain that every channel of marketing gains the client or customer’s permission for texting them.  It’s their cellular telephone.  Some of them actually still have to pay for text messages, and if some carriers have their way in the near and mid-term horizon, they may have to pay more.  Be sure the value you offer your customer is compelling enough to drive their interest.  Don’t think of this as if it’s a spam email situation, because it’s not.  Don’t waste stellar opportunities.

5)  Recognize that 2 out of 3 Americans consider themselves frequent texters.  Last year, over 5 billion texts were sent worldwide.  This is the new reality. Your clients want to hear from you and see the offers you can put in front of them.  Some services even plug GPS and barcodes into some of their texting opportunities.  If smart phones can display them, text can probably send them.

If you run a restaurant, and have a list of 10000 proven clients, what value can you place on a text promotion run at 1 PM inviting 2500 of those proven clients to have dinner on a special that evening?  How many will respond?  50?  100?  What is the value in terms of traffic building, or value bundling?   Given the opportunity to put a message directly in the hands of your client, what message will you offer?

If you are a real estate broker, and have a list of 500 purchasers of homes, and want to make an offer to those recent purchasers,  how many will respond?  If you do it by mail, 25?  If you do it by cell phone, 150?  Remember, you put the message directly in the hands of the recipient. 

If you are a business owner of any type, and you want to impress your customers, and they’ve given you permission to text them, send them a message to thank them for their business.  Talk about making an impression.  Saying “Thank You” is never wrong.

OK, it’s your turn.  Given your ability to send a text message to your customer base, what offer will you make? 

Author: Alan Guinn has been at work changing business for the last 38 years. For the last seven, he’s owned his own Consultancy, The Guinn Consultancy Group, Inc. and has worked with clients around the world online, in print, and in radio and television.  See his website or call him at 917.224.6782.