Email is dead!
Okay, it’s not actually dead. But it’s definitely time to start treating a mobile number and SMS marketing with the same priority and focus as email.
Why?
Because customers take their phones with them everywhere. You don’t need to settle for marketing to their inbox, when you can send an SMS message right to their pocket!
Smartphones make integrating your campaigns even easier because their web browsers allow you to display your existing landing pages. According to the Guardian, smartphones now account for more than 50% of phone sales in Europe.
Getting the numbers yourself
If you already have an email list, then it’s time to add a mobile number to your sign up form, giving your prospects an option to receive updates via SMS. Hotels are already doing this allowing a confirmation message via opted-in SMS complete with sat nav coordinates to plug right into a smartphone. Once they have the number, they have permission to send targeted offers.
Let’s say, for example, you have a weight loss or dieting site, and that you already have a whole site or landing page dedicated to your offer. Maybe you already give away an eBook or recipe book as an incentive for prospects to sign up to your email list.
Perfect. Simply add a mobile option into your subscription form, or better yet, create a second value-add specifically for mobile: “add your mobile number and receive daily encouragement by SMS.”
Buying the numbers
Make no mistake, getting a mobile number is definitely harder than getting an email address. But preferences are changing and people are becoming more comfortable with the idea of SMS marketing – especially when it is relevant to their needs.
Besides building your own SMS marketing list, you can also buy batches of numbers from others who run co-registration via CPA offers. Many of these marketers will sell you names and numbers segmented by interests, but this should really only be considered by marketers with experience in mobile marketing.
What and how to promote your offer
Beginning in SMS marketing can be as easy as adding a shortened URL to an SMS offer that sends the visitor to a mobile-optimised web page.
If your site isn’t optimised for mobile, that’s okay because today’s smartphones have capable browsers and most of your customers will be able to view some version of your site with little trouble.
Sending messages
Don’t worry, you’re not going to have to sit down and manually enter numbers in a phone.
Just like managing and sending out hundreds of emails to a list requires a specialised email management tool, sending out hundreds of messages to a list also requires a specialised service to make it easy to manage and send SMS messages in bulk.
A good system will allow you integrate your web forms right into your mobile database through an API. They will also make it easy to segment your list and connect directly to global mobile networks.
A robust SMS marketing platform will let you enter your campaign or offer once, and send it out to the whole list or just to the segment that you choose.
With the right offers and with a little experience, you’ll be well on your way to making SMS marketing an indispensable part of your outbound marketing.
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