Your SMS marketing campaign can be a key driver of sales for your company. However, it won't help your business push products or services if your customers don't know it exists. The first step in implementing a successful SMS marketing campaign is to inform your customers about it. From there you can outline a key strategy regarding:
- How you plan to roll out mobile text messages.
- What your goals are in sending messages.
- When you plan on texting.
- How you want readers to act and respond – and opt out, if necessary.
However, we're kind of getting ahead of ourselves. After all, you're reading this article to learn how to opt customers into your mobile text marketing campaign. To do so, here are some tricks:
"Email and direct mail can still be handy tools to spread the word about SMS."
1. Use existing marketing efforts: Even if you want SMS mobile messages to replace archaic processes (email and direct mail), they can still be handy tools to spread the word. In fact, you can use them to develop a marketing campaign about your SMS marketing initiatives.
For example, if you have a lengthy list of email and mailing addresses (we hope!), you can send customers a few distinct messages over weeks or months detailing your mobile text marketing plans. Of course, just like SMS marketing, only send email and direct mail to customers who have given you permission. Doing otherwise will not only damage your business relationship with them, it's also probably illegal.
2. Provide incentives to opt in: Many customers don't mind helping your company succeed, but they'll be especially interested if you provide them with an incentive when you begin advertising your SMS plans. You could offer discounts, for example, to the first 20 people who sign up. Or, depending on your company, you could begin your campaigning with a fun trivia game. If you're an entertainment company, for example, your first campaign might include a series of questions sent to customers over the course of a month. Each week readers would receive, via text, one trivia question. Those who answer all of your questions correctly receive a prize.
If you want help with your mobile text marketing processes, contact a third-party specialist.
