Mobile tips and strategies
Making use of cost-effective mobile marketing technologies to market products, special offers, events, competitions, promotions and new products and services can have a great impact when executed correctly.

SMS technology is providing a simple, yet efficient platform to improve direct marketing and customer relationship management in many companies. 

When to use SMS

Text messaging is short, to the point and immediate, however it does enter the customer’s personal space. Bearing this in mind, bulk SMSes shouldn’t be used for just any marketing campaign. Rather, SMSes are best suited to messages that have a deadline or those where information is needed by the company.

You can use SMS to complement existing digital marketing activities. It is a great medium to get an updated email address for example. Put processes in place to trigger an SMS when an email has bounced three times as part of a continuous data cleansing exercise. You can also use text messaging as a means of gathering email addresses before you embark on email marketing or if you need to send eBills to your customer base.

Think of other ways to implement marketing campaigns on the mobile platform

Mobile marketing isn’t only about sending out bulk SMSes. Mobile can be the ideal partner for marketing campaigns, by way of short-code numbers or mobi sites, as customers have their mobile phones with them constantly.

Short-code numbers can be used for competitions or as a way to provide instant information such as balance enquiries on loyalty points for example. You can also use short-code numbers to gather information like an email address by placing the number in-store or on direct marketing material.

MMS can prove valuable too as a means of promoting a new service, product or even prompt in-store activity with a short message that incorporates images and sound.

There are important “do’s and don’ts” for marketers.

The most important “do’s” are:
  • Ensure there is a reply path, so that the recipient can easily unsubscribe at the least cost.
  • Personalize the message with the recipient’s name.
  • Start the message with the sender’s brand name, so that it is identified up front.
  • Regularly check replies and honor requests to unsubscribe.
  • Clearly communicate how to unsubscribe.
  • Use “STOP” as a general default unsubscribe keyword.
  • Report any unsolicited commercial messages.

Do not:
  • Send messages exceeding 160 characters (or it requires two messages).
  • Use sender ID, because if the recipient responds, the reply will be lost in cyberspace.
  • Send messages from a premium rated SMS short code, as this prompts reply without revealing the cost.
  • Use capital letters unless it is to highlight something critical, or a capitals brand name, or the message’s “call-to-action”.
  • Use SMS “talk” or “speak” such as phonetical abbreviations – the target market may not appreciate it.
An SMS campaign must provide an opt-out facility for recipients to decline any further SMS communication. If a recipient requests details of how the sender obtained the cell phone number, the sender has 10 business days in which to provide an answer with specific details. It’s not enough to respond with a generality such as ‘from a database’.

The SMS must also include contact details of the sender, preferably a website address and include an option to unsubscribe.