SMS Marketing: The 8 Golden Rules
October 24, 2012 1:57 pm
SMS Marketing is fast becoming one the most essential and cost effective ways of marketing your brand, product or service. It does however for many marketers and business owners remain somewhat of a mystery. If you are about to kick start a SMS marketing campaign I suggest you stick to these eight golden rules of SMS marketing and you won’t go far wrong.
SMS Golden Rule #1: Never inundate your opt-ins with too many messages
The general rule with text message frequency is no more than 4 a month. Anything above this amount will become an annoyance and run the risk of your customers opting out.
SMS Golden Rule #2: Always give the customer the option to opt out at any time
We already discussed this particular aspect in this article: customers should always feel that they are in control of the experience and can opt out at any time. For both ethical and brand protection reasons no promotional text message should ever be sent without the functionality for the recipient to call a halt to further texts.
You should always include an offer in your SMS marketing campaigns.
SMS Golden Rule #3: Always include an offer
People want to be a part of exclusive clubs that receive special offers and discounts; they don’t want to have their phone cluttered up with junk texts. Keep offering them value and they will remain opted in and buying from you.
SMS Golden Rule #4: Never send out messages outside of business hours
As a general rule text messages outside of business hours, when consumers are relaxing or with their family, will seem intrusive. In some instances this can be stretched to 7pm or 8pm but it’s safest to stick to the rule. As discussed above don’t ever give your customers a reason to opt out.
SMS Golden Rule #5: Personalize your messages and use humor where appropriate
If your software allows and you have the data try and include your customers name in the text message. Consumers want to feel special and that you are taking the time out to talk to them personally and not just as part of a mass marketing exercise. Humor also works if it’s appropriate to the brand, the campaign and the audience.
SMS Golden Rule #6: Always be aware of other marketing efforts
SMS marketing will rarely, if ever, be the only marketing activity that is being utilized by a business or brand. When planning a SMS marketing campaign make sure you are aware of all other marketing efforts and link in where possible.
SMS Golden Rule #7: Speak with a consistent voice that reflects the quality of your brand
Don’t confuse your audience and dilute the power of your brand by speaking with different voices across the various marketing and advertising channels. If your business has spent a lot of time in building a friendly and playful tone for your brand, keep to this tone in all communications including SMS.
SMS Golden Rule #8: Be relevant and respond to current and local events where possible
Use current events like elections, sporting events, the weather and holidays as inspiration for sms campaigns that will make you seem in touch with the locality and your customer’s lives.
There is more to running a successful SMS Text Message marketing campaign than just these rules but it’s certainly a great place to start from.
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Categorised in: SMS for Business Service