6 SMS Tips to Make It a Powerful Marketing Tool

SMS remains a powerful real-time engagement channel. Too simple in today's advanced mobile marketing arena? No way. Text messages are read and acted upon, fast. While a typical email can sit for days, 90 percent of texts are read within three minutes—now that is unmatched immediacy. In addition, 98 percent of messages are opened. Can you say the same thing about your most recent email campaign? I can't. Better yet, SMS messages can reach any mobile device so your efforts aren't limited to smart phones. As society becomes more and more mobile, the ability to send an instantaneous, interactive and cross-carrier messaging is an essential aspect of consumers' everyday lives. Using SMS, brands can engage consumers with polls, coupons, alerts, games, contests, sweepstakes, etc., while delivering the instant feedback and metrics/analytics needed in today's data-driven marketing environment. It is a cost-effective, low-risk way to engage consumers via mobile marketing. However, two-thirds of marketers still choose to forego this channel and rely solely on mobile-optimized websites and native applications as their "mobile strategy." (Opens as a PDF) If you are ready to enhance your mobile marketing strategy, SMS marketing success comes down to one thing (just like anything in marketing): execution. Here are six quick tips to keep in mind: 1. Mobile Messaging Can't Be a Standalone Initiative. It must be integrated into overall marketing programs to create a seamless customer experience. Coordinating your SMS efforts with existing CRM programs will provide a more comprehensive view of your consumers' digital activity—across the Web, email, social and mobile. Integrating all of these touchpoints in real time can drive a successful cross-channel initiative. 2. Push Metrics Beyond the Basics. Text messaging has become an important gateway to customer data. Make sure that metadata captured includes not just standard fields (e.g. ZIP code, date of birth), but also fields most relevant for your given business (e.g. shoe size, brand preferences). Track interactivity (e.g. delivery/open rates, response time of day) for every single interaction and deliver ongoing messages according to any patterns and insight found in the reports in the SMS channel and elsewhere. 3. Make It Personal. Consumers consider their mobile devices their social and business lifeline, so text messaging campaigns must be an extremely personal experience to be effective. Segment and target based on individuals and their known preferences (not just overall demographics) so you can send more personalized mobile messages and drive ongoing engagement. 4. Keep Up With Compliance Demands. As with all forms of direct marketing, the rules of mobile marketing change, but your company needs to play by the rules. Sitting on the governing board for the Mobile Marketing Association, I've witnessed some extremely alarming practices while helping to shape the next wave of regulations. Avoid costly audits and regulation traps by continually reviewing and updating your compliance action plan. 5. Choose a Technology Partner With Long-term Potential. This isn't speed dating. Make sure your technology partner can keep up with the fast pace of innovation and consumer trends so you don't get the seven-month itch. In addition, it should be able to provide advanced insight to help you analyze success along the way—segmentation tools, A/B testing, API connectivity, etc., are all must-haves. A good partner will not only help mitigate issues, but also provide constant feedback to ensure your campaigns are as successful as they can be, giving you the greatest ROI. A strong support system is key for having an effective SMS marketing campaign. 6. Simplify Everything for the Consumer. SMS is far easier and more effective for consumers than other direct marketing channels. Opt-ins are as simple as a quick text, accessing the content is fast/painless, and taking action/responding takes no time at all. Don't muddy the waters by jumping into complicated features right off the bat. Ease your business and your consumers into an ongoing mobile conversation with SMS to start. So now that you know how easy it could be to effectively add SMS marketing to your mobile mix, what are you waiting for? Your consumers surely have their phones at the ready. Matt Silk is head of strategy at San Francisco-based mobile messaging software and services provider Waterfall. Reach him at silk@waterfall.com

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6 SMS Tips to Make It a Powerful Marketing Tool

Matt Silk

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Matt Silk