How to Create a Text Marketing Campaign

I found this in a newsletter I receive.... In the year 2000, almost no text messages were sent anywhere on the planet. This year? It is estimated that there are 130 billion being sent every month. The point is, if you want to make an impact with your marketing, you have to go to where the eyeballs are, and increasingly, they are looking at text messages on mobile phones. Certainly that is what the big boys have concluded. If you haven’t noticed, text marketing is hot, hot, hot: - Dunkin Donuts wanted to increase the sales of lattes among high school and college kids in the Boston area, so they sent a text coupon out to those who opted in. The result was a 21% increase in sales. - The Barack Obama for President campaign announced the selection of Joe Biden via text. 2.9 million people registered to receive the text. - Our friends here at American Express had a contest during Wimbledon whereby spectators would guess the winners of the next day's event. These days, small businesses are getting in on the act. Ice cream stores are texting specials, gyms are offering free trials, chiropractors are texting coupons. Here's how you can join the party: 1. Consider your audience. Texting is especially effective with younger people, although it is by no means exclusive to them. The important thing is this : people on mobile phones are, well, mobile. Any campaign has to take this into account. They are not watching TV, they are not sitting at their computers. So whatever you decide to text, just be sure that your product or offer fits the audience you target. 2. Don't spam: A text or SMS ad campaign must comply with CAN-SPAM rules so be sure to structure your campaign legally. Essentially, with a text campaign, you have two options: Push and pull. - Push is when you send unsolicited text messages. Not only do people not like that, they have to pay for it, so it's a double negative whammy. - Pull is when people opt-in and give you permission to text them. That is what you want. The best way to create your opt-in list is simply by letting your clientele know that if they sign up for your text campaign they will get exclusive offers that others won't get. You can get the word out in your store, on your website, via email, in your advertising, through Facebook, and via tweets: Sign up now for our text alerts and be the first in line for our popular Sunday special!� Any list you create will be far more effective than any list you buy.