Whether you are considering your first venture into mobile marketing, or you have several campaigns already under your belt. There are a few key things to bear in mind before proceeding.
- Keep it relevant - To maximise your possible returns on your mobile campaign, keep your content relevant to the audience that will see it, this will vastly increase the likelihood of seeing a return. For this reason we would generally recommend avoiding bulk text messaging, or in-app advertising which generally do not supply useful demographics to allow you to correctly target your campaign.
- Do not purchase lists of mobile numbers for your campaign - This public is constantly being bombarded with an increasing volume of unsolicited text messages and are beginning to tire of it. By purchasing a list of mobile numbers in order to broadcast SMS messages to, not only will you fall fowl of point 1 above, but you run the risk of annoying the very people you are targetting.
- Use bulk text messaging sparingly and have an opt-out - You've noted points one and two, but still think bulk messaging is the right solution for your business. Perhaps you have decided that it is a good way of pushing out information to your customers and others that have previously shown an interest in your products and services. We recommend using such promotional activities sparingly, even if the person knows who you are, and the content is relevant, it can still seem intrusive, and the more often you do it, the more intrusive it will be. Use it sparingly and ensure you have an easy 'opt-out' option that will ensure that person does not receive text messages from you again.
- Provide an opt-in text message solution - By using your traditional advertising channels, whether that be print or digital, you can promote an opt-in or even a one-shot mobile campaign. This is done by advertising the consumer to text a keyword to a short code in order to receive something in return. By doing so, they are giving you permission to send them something back but have also expressed an interest in what you do. Such campaigns can also be used to gather additional information, such as prompting the consumer to also include their email address in the original text message. There are mobile marketing platforms that will not only manage the text message response, but also fire off an email to the person automatically.
- Follow up wherever you can - For an opt-in campaign as explained in the previous point, you receive the consumer's mobile number, and in some cases their email address. Follow it up. That person has expressed an interest in your product or service so call them, engage and try to convert that warm lead into a sale. Retain that contact data for future marketing campaigns.
- Make it interesting - Whether you have an opt-in campaign, use bulk messaging, or in-app advertising, unless your promotion is interesting, it is going to be ignored. Offering vouchers or discounts by mobile is a powerful tool that can enable you to engage with the consumer. Alternatively give them something else of value that you feel will be useful to them, like a free e-book or a tip sheet. Anything you can offer the consumer in your campaign that has value to them combined with a low or even negligible cost to you will ensure your campaign achieves maximum levels of engagement.
Stick to these simple guidelines and you should start to see a healthy return on investment from your mobile efforts while building up trust and interest from your current and future customers.