You need to have some knowledge of what to look for and expect from a mobile marketing plan. You need to know what resources are available to you, and who can provide you answers as to what you need for helping promote your business. The tips in this article can help you with how to start.
Have a telephone number database to assist your mobile marketing efforts. Cell phone numbers are not the only thing you will want to add to your list. You must get their go ahead before you begin. This can often be achieved by having individuals fill out online forms, or even using advanced text features to relay consent.
Keep setting expectations and keeping yourself safe, legally. After a person opts-in, or even during the process, inform them of how often they can get text messages from you. Also, give them an “opt-out” option if the messages are too frequent or if they want to avoid possible message charges. Always include the line, “standard rates may apply.”
Use dedicated short code. The can be pricey, but they insure that you keep your brand intact. Avoid shared short codes if you are a larger company. Not only because you want people to recognize your own code, but there may be some legal consequences if the other company sharing the same code abuses the system.
Never hide who you are. Tell your customer up front what your business is and who you are. You should never send veiled or confusing messages to your customers. People begin to feel threatened when they do not understand what is going on, so if you forget to do this, you may alienate some of them.
Steer clear of texting abbreviations. When you shorten your messages using chat speak, you make yourself and your business seem less professional and credible. Take the time to spell everything out to make sure your messages are clearly understood, and that you come across in a professional and polite manner.
Test your program before you start it. Customers do not like broken links, or dead images. Have your business, family, or even a few customers test your messages before you start sending them en masse to your market. Get their feedback to perfect whatever might go wrong, and your customers will thank you for it.
Your customers are the reason you are working. You need to know their desires and targets in order to market them correctly. If you do not know what your customer is interested in, you will not be successful in selling to them. Learn as much about them as you possibly can to be most successful.
Separate your customers. If you have a business that offers many different types of products or services, you may want to poll your customers to find out what they most want to hear about. Doing so can give you separate lists of customers with similar interests, so you will be able to send them information pertinent to them.
Make your mobile marketing campaigns interactive. Draw in your customers and offer them a way to interact with the system or amongst themselves. By engaging mobile users you will be solidifying your customer base as well as setting up future demand for more as each customer will be more likely to recommend your service.
Social media is not a buyer’s market; it’s essentially a large, ongoing conversation that you will need to participate in as a mobile marketer. You cannot be the proverbial salesman here. Instead, you really have to be a mobile user much more than a marketer. This means you need to focus more on communication and less on being authoritative.
When you are promoting a particular event, send the mobile marketing message a few hours or the day before the event. Customers that are genuinely interested in the event can easily forget the message if you send it several days before the event is to take place. You do not want your customers to miss out on anything.
Where your customers are located makes a big difference to how you’re marketing to them, so remember to use the proper context for your mobile marketing. If your customers are out and about on a Saturday afternoon, do you really think you’re going to be able to sway them with any offer? Realize where they are and what they’re doing at least to the best of your ability.
Use a platform that allows you to personalize your messages by way of tokens. Personalizing something is always a great touch. You can put your recipient’s name in every message making it a little more likely they will want to read it. Just keep in mind the 160 character limit when doing using tokens with email formatting.
When creating Quick Response codes (or QR codes), try using a URL shortening service first. By using the URL shortening service, you can create a simpler QR code, as QR code complexity is determined by the number of characters in any block of text that you use. A block of text with less characters creates a simpler QR code that is easier to scan.
Have a mobile application built for your brand, products or services. Just a few years ago the prices for mobile applications were astronomical, out of reach for for all but the biggest of brands. Today, the cost of entry is still pricey, but doable, and necessary for many. Getting your brand a location on the mobile screen can be the point of entry for a substantial amount of business.
As you have seen in these tips, there is a lot of knowledge you can acquire before creating your own mobile marketing plan, and it’s this knowledge that can help promote your business. Do everything you must to find out what techniques to include in your plan that are best for your business needs.
