Startup Guides > 6 Tips For An Effective Text Message Marketing Campaign

If you want to reach local customers and keep them coming back to your business, text-message marketing is one of the most effective strategies for doing so. While email marketing messages are opened by a small percentage of recipients, text message ads are typically viewed by almost all recipients.

SMS messaging is also an ideal way for sending coupons that will get noticed and used, at a much lower cost than printing physical coupons. Plus, mobile marketing is affordable, effective, and easy to implement.

Many small businesses aren't incorporating text message marketing into their marketing campaigns - probably because they don't yet understand how to get a campaign up and running.

So how do you get started using text messages to market your business, product or services?


Here are 6 tips:

1. Find the right mobile marketing partner

It would be extremely inefficient to text each of your customers individually. Instead, employ companies with services specializing in text message marketing to batch-send your messages.

2. Get your customers on board

There are strict laws against unauthorized text message marketing, so you can only send messages to customers who have given you consent to market to them in this way. How can you get their approval? Send out an email to your existing newsletter subscribers, and encouraging them to sign up for SMS messaging to receive a special discount on their next purchase.

You can also promote your SMS marketing campaign in your store and on your social media accounts, using discounts or raffles to encourage new sign-ups.

3. Send messages that will incentivize customers to take action

Customers will unsubscribe if you send messages that they don't see as valuable. Rather than texting them about your daily menu options, reserve the text for times when you want to share a special promotion, such as a BOGO (buy one, get one free) sandwich deal.

4. Use moderation

Sure, you'd like to send messages to your customers every day, but SMS marketing is too intrusive to use it on such a frequent basis. Businesses should take it easy, and text their customers no more than four or five times each month.

5. Time your messages appropriately

Make sure that you time your texts for maximum impact and minimum annoyance: Your customers won't be too pleased about being woken up by a message about your new coffee special at 3:00 AM, but they'd probably be much happier to hear about it when they're ready for a caffeine fix right before work.

6. Keep your messages short and sweet

You're limited to 160 characters in your text messages, and that doesn't even mean that you need to use all of the characters allowed. Remember that your marketing message must be far more concise than an email marketing campaign; therefore, stick with one specific call to action and keep your focus clear.

In addition to texting, you can also use short and sweet social media marketing to increase traffic and sales. Services like tweet ads and promoted company listings were created for small business entrepreneurs to tap into a growing, active network online without spending a lot on advertising.


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