Marketing is one of the most important things you can do as a business
owner. Without a marketing strategy and targeted advertising, many
businesses simply do not make it. Many business owners think that simply
having a store front or running an ad in the yellow pages is all they
need to do and soon realize, it's not that easy.
In today's world, businesses big or small are finding more and more
challenges when it comes to traditional marketing strategies. Running an
ad in a local publication or paying for a spot in the yellow pages,
just doesn't produce the same results they once achieved and are very
expensive.
The reason why this is happening is that we are in a rapid changing
communication age. With the birth of the Internet and number of
internet-ready cellphones expanding globally, the effects on marketing
are tremendous and are taking the marketing challenges to a new level.
International businesses large or small are facing the same challenges.
The technical requirements associated with setting up a website,
understanding social media, creating campaigns that will promote brand
and convert traffic into buyers, are all part of the requirements
necessary to market a business in today's world. The problem is many
business owners need to focus on running the business and do not have
the time, can't manage, nor have all the skillset required to create and
manage an effective marketing program.
One new marketing method that will have a tremendous impact on
businesses globally has to do with mobile text marketing. Mobile text
marketing targets cell phone users in a very unique way. Similar to the
time when e-mail marketing was brand new, mobile text marketing has a
much higher response rate. With response rates at 90% plus, business
owners need pay attention and incorporate this strategy into the overall
marketing strategy.
There are a lot of reasons for the high response rate in mobile text marketing. Here are a few:
* When a user receives a text message they almost never ignore it due to the alert features on cell phones.
* It's considered more personal than an e-mail because it is used
primarily by personal friends and family. So, the user always responds
to a new text.
* Most businesses have not yet utilized this strategy so; the
opportunity is here right now to be on the cutting edge of this new
marketing concept.
* Users do not ignore the messages when received.
* Messages are short and to the point.
* Newer cell phones display the message right on the front of the screen.
* Users almost always have their cell phone on them.
* Cell phones do not require internet access to receive a text..
* Almost every cell phone made today has text messaging built in.
The most important factor is that cell phone users out number internet
users worldwide. With the rapid increase in internet-capable phones,
there will also be a proportional increase in a business' ability to
market to a cell phone user.
For those who don't know, here is how mobile text marketing works in
general. Let's say you want to run a campaign to offer a discount for a
product, service, or an event. As a business owner, you would target
your existing customer base first. You would offer a coupon or discount,
when a user sends a text message from their cell phone to your
advertised campaign word. An example of this would look something like
the following:
To receive a discount today, text "specialoffer" to 41242
What happens is the customer wants to receive a discount, so they text
the word to the number. Then they immediately receive a response back
with a promo code or message authorizing a discount. They are also
informed they will receive future discount offers and can opt out
anytime. Your customers are ok with this since they are already patrons
of your business. This process all happens automatically.
Now, a month later you decide you want to have a sale or run a special
on the weekend. If you didn't have a mobile marketing strategy, and in
order to let your customers know you're having a sale, you would need to
run an ad in the newspaper, pay for ads on TV, run an ad on the radio,
send mail outs or some other means to let them know. This is expensive
and takes time to plan and the customers response time may not coincide
with time advertised was received.
But, as a smart business owner, you simply send out a text message to
your existing customers and because you know they will read it, your
sales are a success. You managed to increase business with the least
amount of effort and greatest response.
With traditional marketing, the customer would need to read their junk
mail, newspaper ads, or be in front of the TV at the exact time your ad
ran. But with a cell phone in hand, your customer receives your
promotion. You didn't need to pay for expensive ad materials or hope the
customer was in the right place at the right time.
Did I say this was powerful, cutting edge stuff?
There is an added benefit to marketing this way. Consumers do not
receive junk mail from you and you won't kill a tree to run an ad in the
local paper.
Did I mention it is good for the environment?
In today's world, a customer will jump at the opportunity to do
something good for the environment. This is especially true when it
doesn't require much effort from them. I think most of us would be
willing to receive a promo code to our cell phone in comparison to a
bunch of junk mail at home that fills up our mailbox and usually gets
tossed in the garbage and then finds its way to our landfills!
There is also another advantage over traditional advertising. I call it
the on demand factor. This makes it a must strategy for restaurant
owners or businesses that operate in a daily entertainment industry.
Here is an example of the on demand marketing factor. Let's say you own a
restaurant. You expect the coming weekend lunch crowd to be slow due to
an event in the area during that time of day. So, you have a message
sent out to your mobile list letting them know they can get a free
appetizer at lunch - but for this weekend only. You do this two hours
before lunch to a hundred people on your list. Then an hour later you
decide that the response wasn't enough to fill the seats up completely
and you believe you will have a few open seats. So, you quickly have
another message sent to another hundred people.
The result:
An hour later you have a small line at the door. You managed to let your
customers know about your special for the weekend only. You also filled
the seats and maximized your business without over promoting. You
wouldn't want customers that would have come to your restaurant without a
promo code to be turned away due to an extra-long wait.
On demand marketing lends itself to maximum flexibility in timing and
number variations. There is no other marketing strategy that has this
type of on demand capability. I wonder what happened to the other
restaurants in the area that didn't have a mobile marketing strategy.
To this point we have only targeted existing customers. You can build
your customer base in a more powerful way. All of the traditional
marketing methods still work and can augment your mobile marketing
strategy. It is important to not be tied to other marketing channels for
all your marketing needs.
One reason to not be handcuffed to traditional marketing channels is
that they dictate to you the options and the cost for advertisements.
Most of them can be expensive because of the media that must be designed
for the ads. The biggest factor is that the consumers of a particular
media channel belong to that media company. But as a mobile text
marketer, you can place your mobile text campaign word on printed ads,
radio ads, and TV ads. This will enable you to capture more leads. When
the consumer opts in to your mobile marketing list, you can then market
to them over and over without paying the original media company another
dime.
Building a list is one of the most important business strategies you can have. A mobile marketing list is the most effective.
Mobile text marketing may not work for every business. There are a few
businesses where this strategy is very exciting. Here is a list of some
businesses that could benefit:
1. Restaurants
2. Salons & Spas
3. Bars & Night Clubs
4. Florist
5. Theaters
6. Vacation Rentals
7. Events and Nightly Entertainment
8. Department Stores
9. Any service that the consumer does regularly
10. Most business that advertises a lot.
As you can see there are a lot of businesses that could save money on their advertising expenses while increasing their ROI.
So, how does a business owner get started?
Well if your business is a big brand, you can lease your own short code
for $500 to $1000 a month. A short code is the number the campaign word
is texted to. You will also need to pay web programmer money to develop a
campaign management system to receive and respond to opt-ins. This can
cost thousands of dollars to develop.
Option two; you can contact a mobile marketing consultant such as Rapid
Action Marketing or Mobile Helpers and they will help tailor a marketing
strategy to the size of your company and manage your campaigns for you.
Plus they help build your list and leaving you to run the business.
When you want to send a special offer out to your mobile list, you
simply call and they will take it from there. They also implement
various techniques to help increase opt-ins for your campaigns.
There are also many mobile text marketing platforms available. Most are
tailored towards the big boys of marketing and priced accordingly. There
are two in particular that I have found that offer all the features in
the expensive services but at a price starting around $15 a month and as
much as $1000 plus per month.
For the mid-size business, I recommend option two as the text marketing
firm can get your mobile marketing campaign started right. But, for the
smaller business a self-management option maybe the only option.
They will help tailor a marketing strategy to the size of your company
and manage your campaigns for you. Plus they help build your list and
leaving you to run the business. When you want to send a special offer
out to your mobile list, you simply call and they will take it from
there. They also implement various techniques to help increase opt-ins
for your campaigns.
There are also many mobile text marketing platforms available. Most are
tailored towards the big boys of marketing and priced accordingly. There
are two in particular that I have found that offer all the features in
the expensive services but at a price starting around $15 a month and as
much as $1000 plus per month.For the mid-size business, I recommend
option two as the text marketing firm can get your mobile marketing
campaign started right. But, for the smaller business a self-management
option maybe the only option. See Author Bio for recommended services.