A Beginner’s Quick Start Guide to Text Message Marketing
You’ve read about text message marketing and you understand the basics of what to do and what not to do. The concepts are easy to grasp, but how do you get started? How do you actually do it?
Step 1 – Pick a text marketing service
The choices are so numerous it’s enough to make your head spin. Try narrowing the list down to ones that offer you a free trial so you can take the service for a test drive. The following are a few widely used services that allow you to test their software before you commit:
Step 2 – Set up a test campaign
Good marketing services make it easy for you to figure out how to set up your account and get started with the fun. If you can’t figure it out, then you might want to try a different service. Be sure you are able to set up your first campaign before your free trial runs out! You don’t have to get serious about what you want to say just yet, right now you’re just testing the ease of use.
Step 3 – Decide on a campaign approach
After settling on which service you’d like to use, it’s time to figure out what you’ll be texting your customers about. Some ideas to get you started:
- Exclusive discount codes available only by text message
- Announcements of upcoming sales
- Reminders that a sale is about to end
- Tips about how to use your product
- Helpful information about the industry you service
- An exciting new product you’ve added to your lineup
- Conduct a poll
The whole purpose of text message marketing (or any marketing for that matter) is to build awareness of your brand. This includes establishing your expertise in your field. This doesn’t mean boasting about your achievements (though you could certainly include them). Simply offering free information that people can use, builds trust.
Step 4 – Build an audience
Like email campaigns, you need to get some of your customers to opt in to receive your messages. Sending marketing messages to people without their consent is the quickest way to turn them off, especially where text messages are concerned. Thankfully there are ways to lure customers into signing up. Here are a few ideas:
- Offer a drawing. Customers can enter to win a prize by joining your text messaging list. Winner will be announced by text message only.
- Offer an instant discount. By signing up for your text message list, users can instantly get a discount code for your store that they can use immediately.
- Offer periodic free information. People may find health tips or inspirational ideas useful.
Promote your texting campaign on your website, on Facebook, via emails, or even postcards.
Step 5 – Start sending!
Wait wait wait, before you do, you should be well versed in these best practices. Text messages are very personal, and violating any of these best practices can either hurt your brand or get you into trouble.
Now, back to sending… In your excitement it’s possible you could send messages with typos or send too many in a short period of time. Don’t make people regret signing up for your text messaging. Carefully read it over, and make sure any coupon codes you are using are active.
Be patient. Building a following takes time, but if done right, your text message campaign could result in increased sales!
Zoe is a web designer by day and a caped super-hero by night. Okay not really, but she really is a web designer at Nexternal with over 14 years of experience coding HTML, CSS, and other magical web things. She also enjoys helping others, which is a bit like channeling her inner hero. Google+ Profile
