Short message service (SMS) advertising campaigns can be an important part of a business’s marketing strategy, but there are factors businesses should consider when developing SMS advertising campaigns. Good planning and the ability to track success and make changes can help your business develop a successful SMS advertising campaign.
SMS advertising is a small but growing part of many businesses’ advertising campaigns, and as text messaging continues to expand as a form of communication among all demographics, more businesses will want to consider developing SMS advertising campaigns. SMS advertising uses text messages, which are limited to 160 characters or less, to encourage customers to buy their products or services. These bulk text messages have the ability to be very effective because they can be targeted to the right customers at the right time.
When developing SMS advertising campaigns, businesses should consider the following points:
- Determine Market – Especially if they have not already done so, businesses need to determine their target or niche market, or those customers who are most likely to buy their products or services. Businesses can hire marketing specialists to do this research or do it themselves, but it is important to know the audience you want to reach before you spend money on an advertising campaign.
- Create an advertising budget – Do some research about what SMS advertising campaigns and other forms of advertising cost, and determine how much you want to and can expect to spend in each category. These numbers will probably change over time, but by having a budget you can get a realistic idea of how much you are able to invest in advertising. Your advertising budget normally should include multiple avenues for reaching customers, and not just SMS text messages.
- Decide on a general message – What message do you want to get across to customers? It is important to do this before actually sending any messages. Focus on the strengths of your business and what makes it stand apart from the competitors. If you already have an advertising campaign in other forms of media, tie your SMS advertising campaign into these ads. Though SMS text messages cannot transmit images or sounds, it can include a short slogan or tag line, and of course the name of your business, and these should be used consistently in all of your advertising.
- Set up an SMS message service – There are several ways to do this, including leasing a short code for customers to call or signing up for an SMS message service that allows you to send messages from your computer.
- Get customers to opt-in – You will need customers’ mobile phone numbers to start your SMS advertising campaign, and for it to be successful you need them to want to receive messages from you. You can offer coupons or other exclusive deals to customers who sign up to receive SMS text messages from you. Do not collect customers’ phone numbers or send them text messages without their consent or you will drive away many more customers than you will attract and possibly violate the rules of your SMS service provider.
- Start creating your SMS advertising messages – These should be short, easy to understand, and encourage customers to take some sort of action. You should not use texting lingo or grammar like “u r” or “lol” in most cases. A good example of a short, action-oriented message might be, “Buy one, get one free smoothies with exclusive code ‘Thirsty’. Bring a friend and come in today. Annie’s, Great Ice Cream Since 1953.” Or, “Big sale today. Come in for 10 percent off everything in the store at John’s Sporting Goods, Where Houston Gets Its Gear.”
- Send messages with appropriate frequency – How often a business should send SMS advertisements varies depending on the business, but it should be often enough to keep your business fresh in the customer’s mind, but not so often that it annoys them or causes them to ignore or block your messages. For most businesses, once a week or every other week might be a good number to start with as they test out SMS advertising campaigns. Of course, when a business sends an SMS advertising message, it should always have something interesting to say.
- Track your success – Keep track of the SMS advertising campaign sales/success and make adjustments as necessary. By offering special codes or offers through SMS advertising it is easy to tell which customers are drawn in by the SMS advertising campaign and track how much revenue the SMS campaign is bringing in. From there, business can begin making adjustments in the markets they are targeting or the messages they are sending.
These ideas can help businesses start developing their SMS advertising campaigns. As they get some experience with SMS advertising, businesses can make adjustments to get the most out of bulk text messaging.