Useful Guidelines to SMS Marketing
SMS marketing, also called mobile marketing, is a type of marketing which is done by sending business text messages from one mobile device to another, or from the web to a mobile device. Both small and large businesses have become interested in this area which is quickly gaining popularity because of the great number of people who are using cell phones. You can do the SMS (short message service) easily between cell phones, but if this feature is not present in your mobile device, you can send SMS online, via the Internet.
SMS marketing is a personal and direct form of marketing and can easily and surely reach potential customers. However, before you dive into this market place, or before you send SMS online, there are things which you should consider as your guidelines, to help you succeed in promoting your products and services.
The first thing to do before you can send SMS online is to collect mobile phone numbers. Doing this is not as easy as collecting email addresses. For one thing, people consider their cell phone numbers as sacred and they are not likely to easily give them to you, unless they know that you can be trusted. The second thing is that people are fearful that they might be scammed, just like in emails. So to for people to entrust to you their mobile contact numbers, there should be an assurance that their numbers will be used only for sending them exclusive offers, notices of their orders coming in, a reminder for an appointment, or anything related to a service that they contracted. SMS marketing should not be done by sending text messages to people without them informing about it before hand, just like what is done via emails and the social media.
There are more ways of getting the mobile phone numbers from people, besides asking them directly. You can have a sign up sheet for them in your register; you can also request them to submit a form to your site. You can also provide them a mobile number that they can text if they want to subscribe to your SMS marketing campaign. You need to be honest and clear with your potential customers. Tell them exactly what you will use their numbers for. And it will help if you do not send SMS online frequently – just once a month or a maximum of twice a month.
Once you have collected the mobile phone numbers that you need in your mobile marketing, you can start promoting your product or service. Another guideline is for you to know some laws and legal responsibilities that you need to fulfill when it comes to mobile marketing. An example is when a customer wants to unsubscribe from your campaign. You should immediately delete his or her number from your list, because it is illegal if you don’t. For some legal advice, it will be better if you can consult with an attorney to guide you in some legal matters. Having a third party provider will also help in your campaign, such as tracking the ROI, manage your SMS database, or embedding an unsubscribe message. Many of these providers offer free services and an interface which is easy to use. Choose one which has not so many subscribers, 500 at the most would be ideal.
To do SMS marketing, you need to just send SMS online in bulk.
Processing your request, Please wait....
