5 TOP TIPS FOR CREATING EFFECTIVE SMS MARKETING MESSAGES

When creating an SMS marketing message there are some very basic things in that you need to remember to do. We are constantly surprised at the amount of users that attempt to send text message marketing campaigns without these basic things in place. As an SMS is limited in size people try to save characters in a variety of ways and sometimes forget to put in the most basic of information.



You might think that an SMS is just 160 characters and that there isn't much to worry about, but you would be wrong. SMS is a very personal and direct medium, without considering carefully the content, delivery and calls to action in your message you could potentially see a lot of opt-outs from your list. However if you do it well SMS can become a powerful and well regarded part of your mobile marketing strategy.



1. Display your business name. 



So many people forget this most basic of information. There are a couple of ways to do this.



a) You can set the caller ID (number sent from) to be a name up to 11 characters (no spaces). The issue here is that it is not a number so recipients cannot reply to it and you still have to have an opt-out method in your message. Your message might look like this.



-----------------------------------------------------------------

From: TOPFASHION

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Members get 50% off all styles

tomorrow only at flagship store.

Open 9am, 100 Chapel Street, Prahran.



Opt-out SMS STOP 123 to 0429705882

-----------------------------------------------------------------



You can use manual methods to opt people out as well, but these are less likely to be used and continual messages to people that can't opt out easily will create a bad brand perception. eg.



For info or opt-out call the store on 03 1234 5678



The benefit of a name in the caller ID is that you get a little extra branding on the incoming message. The drawback is that you need to use more chars to include to the opt-out number.



b) The alternative is to use the opt-out number as the caller ID. You then must remember to put the company name in the message. eg.



-----------------------------------------------------------------

From: +61429705882

-----------------------------------------------------------------

TOP FASHION members get 50% off all styles

tomorrow only at flagship store.

Open 9am, 100 Chapel Street, Prahran.



Opt-out reply STOP

-----------------------------------------------------------------



With this method the message is slightly shorter and it is easier for the recipient to opt-out. Over time this will generate less complaints and be more positive for your brand.



2. Qualify the recipient



People NEVER remember why or how they got onto a mailing list, it could be as fleeting or inconspicuous as a competition entry, a survey or making an in store purchase and giving details. Smart companies and marketers are now collecting opted-in numbers from customers at point of interest and point of purchase. What they aren't doing is qualifying the recipient when they send out the messages. This is much easier to do on email as you have as many characters as you need to explain how they came to be on your list. With SMS it is a little more difficult.



Generally by identifying your company that will be a start, then just mention the relationship before the offer. e.g. Members, Customers, April Competition Entrants etc etc. By quickly mentioning how the recipient came to be on the list it will make them feel easier about the communication. This is especially important with your first communication.



3. Add an interactive call to action



You can easily engage a customer by mobile by adding quality calls to action. You can use SMS keywords to have people reply to the message with. This is great for event interest. eg.


-----------------------------------------------------------------

From: +61429705882

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Real Estate Legend Course Graduates. Free 

advanced course intro seminar starting in 

Sydney in November. 

Take your property skills to the next level.
Interested?
REPLY YES



Opt-out reply STOP

-----------------------------------------------------------------



With keywords you can also add auto-responders that can send further details and add them to separate lists.



You can also add URL's to mobile web pages, google maps, mobile video and even application downloads. There are a multitude of URL shorteners available that are excellent for use with SMS. http://bit.ly is probably the most popular and it has analytics so you can see how many recipients visited the link.



-----------------------------------------------------------------

From: +61429705882

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Real Estate Legend Course Graduates. Free 

advanced course intro seminar starting in 

Sydney in November. Take your property skills

to the next level.



Watch intro video on your mobile

http://lnks.to/relegends



Opt-out reply STOP

-----------------------------------------------------------------



4. Deliver good quality information and offers



I know this may seem a little simple but as mobile is such a personal medium you need to make strong, time sensitive offers to give people a sense of value from your SMS messages. They need to feel that they are getting something that others aren't and that it was a good decision to give up their mobile number.



Good SMS content can come in the form of freebies, discounts, mobile coupons, reminders, links to free applications, competition entries, mobile video, alerts. Just sending out a vague sale alert tends to come across as spammy and will probably result in an opt out. Most importantly make the recipient feel that they were special in receiving the SMS, with good SMS platforms like Burst SMS you can use database variables to insert the persons name and other details into the message. eg.



-----------------------------------------------------------------

From: +61429705882

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Hi [firstname], As a Club Fabulous Subscriber,

show this SMS to jump the queue this Saturday 

night 25th July. +50% off cover charge for you

and a friend.



Member: [number]



Full DJ lineup
http://lnks.to/clubfabulous



Opt-out reply STOP

-----------------------------------------------------------------



5. Don't try to be funky with text language



Shortening words and funky acronyms are used by people with no keyboard, some marketers try to use this language to save characters or 'connect with Gen Y', we find it is much better to speak in simple plain proper language. When marketing you need people to read and understand a short succinct message quickly, they don't need to be deciphering some kind of code.



Also people know you have access to a keyboard and plenty of time to think about what you are writing so you will come across as being a 'try hard' in the eyes of youth anyway. Keep it short simple and to the point.



By following these 5 simple tips you will have the basics down for creating powerful and useful text messages for your marketing campaigns.



The underlying concept is to treat peoples mobile numbers with respect, they aren't like email addresses people only have one. They can't just give you a purposely setup one just for collecting spam. They make a conscious decision to trust you with this data and should you abuse it you will be opted out and never be given the opportunity again.



To deliver quality test messages with free SMS opt-out compliance functionality built in, sign up for an account with Burst SMS. For a limited time we are offering $5.00 free credit on all new accounts. No obligation, no credit card required.

Burst SMS is a bulk sms marketing platform with a highly reliable SMS gateway and cheap SMS pricing. Get started for as little as 7.9c per message.

posted by Brad Down at 8/12/2010 02:24:00 PM 0 comments      

Simple SMS Marketing Guide

What is SMS?

SMS stands for Short Message Service and are generally 160 character text messages sent between mobile phones. SMS uses a unique network that alerts the recipient the second the message arrives. SMS is a very fast and personal communication method on par with a phone call in perceived trust.

Different types of SMS delivery

There are two main types of online SMS delivery. Direct connection where the SMS gateway is plugged directly into the telco’s in your country, and International routing. International routes are operated by SMS aggregators which a gateway can utilise to deliver more cost effective SMS campaigns than direct connection. Some international routes can be very unreliable and some providers will offer extremely cheap prices however you may end up paying the same as a more reliable connection as you still pay for messages not delivered.

The best SMS service will have a combination of good quality international routing and price. If you have a service that requires guaranteed delivery such as an emergency or alert service then you should use a direct local connection, even though this is still not 100% guaranteed to deliver it will give you the highest percentage of success. It will generally cost double though.

What is SMS Marketing?

SMS marketing is the practice of building lists of mobile numbers than sending SMS advertising messages to those lists. Lists can be built in many ways but there are compliance rules set by the ACMA on how people consent to be opted into your lists. Unsolicited commercial messages sent to a person is called spam and is illegal under the Australian Spam Act 2003. Mobile marketers usually use an online SMS system to manage the SMS sending process. These bulk sms systems range in price and functionality. The best SMS marketing platforms have a good combination of cheap SMS and web SMS features. Make sure you only deal with a reputable SMS gateway as delivery reliability can vary a lot.

Getting permission to send SMS

The idea behind consent is that the recipient should want to receive your message and find it useful when they do. There are two types of consent.

1. Express consent

• An opt-in checkbox on a web subscribe form. This checkbox must not be checked by default, the person completing the form must willingly select the checkbox to indicate they want to hear from you.


• If someone completes an offline form like a survey or enters a competition, you can only contact them if it was explained to them that they would be contacted by email AND they ticked a box indicating they would like to be contacted.


• Customers who have purchased from you within the last 2 years.


• If someone gives you their business card and you have explained to them that you will be in touch, you can contact them. If they dropped their business card in a fishbowl at a trade show, there must be a sign indicating they will be contacted by SMS.

The recipient must be clearly aware that he or she may receive commercial messages in the future. You cannot send an electronic message to seek consent: this is in itself a commercial message, because it seeks to establish a business relationship. Keep a record of consent, you may need to prove it later.

2. Inferred consent

• Through an existing business relationship. If an organisation has a strong relationship with the owner of the number such as a club member or service subscriber receiving messages may be implied.


• Through conspicuous publication of a work-related number.

Consent may also be implied by the publishing of numbers on websites, in magazines or other publications. The recipient must be identified as relevant to your message. eg if you want to send information about a technology product the recipient must be identified as the IT manager. If there is a statement that unsolicited commercial messages are not wanted you cannot infer consent.

Building lists?

Building a mobile marketing list should be done with care and good intention. As mobile numbers and SMS are a very personal way to communicate, people don’t want to receive messages from you that waste their time and are not relevant. By opting people in correctly and only sending them relevant and useful messages will they stay on your list.

Technically there are 3 ways to add numbers to your list.

1. By a website for with an SMS opt-in check box


2. With an SMS to a dedicated response number or short-code


3. Manually

Incentivising people to join your list?

To get people to join a marketing list there are different ways to incentivise them. Some examples are:

1. Run a competition with a prize


2. Run a survey and share the results


3. Offer future sale and discount information


4. Promise and deliver useful, relevant and valuable information

Targeting

As text messages are personal you should follow these rules.

1. Personalise the message, add the persons name.


2. Identify yourself prominently in the message.


3. Mention how they came to receive the message.


4. If you are promoting a location, only deliver to that location.

The idea here is to collect a name and a post code when you collect your data. By collecting this information you will give your recipient a much better experience and they will be less likely to opt-out of your list.

Allowing users to opt-out

By law a commercial text message must contain an opt-out method. This can be a phone number to call but it is now industry standard to allow people to reply STOP to a message. This method requires delivery from a response number that can receive and process SMS commands. Some SMS software such as Burst SMS includes this for free in their accounts.

Engagement mechanisms

Sending a promotional message is one thing but engaging your recipient is another. There are several techniques for engaging your recipient

1. Add a mobile URL to your message that shows them more information and a form for interaction


2. Include a response keyword that allows people to reply and get other automated responses back. These can be set up in sequence.


3. Receive orders and books directly via response. Confirm via automated message.

These are just the very basics but building on these basics you can develop sophisticated mobile marketing campaigns that can quickly build great lists of loyal customers. As long as you keep your lists clean and respect your recipients wishes to stop receiving text messages from you then you will have great success.

posted by Brad Down at 6/22/2010 12:27:00 PM 0 comments      

How to Track Facebook Ad Traffic Using Google Analytics | The Net Impact Roadmap

posted by Brad Down at 1/26/2010 02:09:00 PM 0 comments      

Add an image to your email signature that does not add the annoying little attachment.

Like to have a funky email signature with an image but hate those little image001.jpg files? You just need to create the equivalent code and paste it into your HTML. Easy peasy.

Run the following code in a PHP page

<?

$imageSource = 'imagefile.jpg';

if (file_exists($imageSource)) {
    exit(base64_encode(file_get_contents($imageSource)));
    }
    else {
        echo "Could not access file";
        }
   
?>

then copy the output into into the HTML like so:

<img src="data:image/jpeg;base64,<image code here>" width="150" height="100" alt="Image alt text" />

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posted by Brad Down at 11/11/2009 01:11:00 PM 0 comments      

Exporting PowerPoint Files from Keynote

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posted by Brad Down at 10/14/2009 05:13:00 PM 0 comments      

Setting up a uTorrent schedule using iCal alarms

Since I have finally figured out that TPG's off-peak hours are 2.30am - 8.00am I asked myself how can I realistically download anything in this period. I have been using uTorrent since the Xtorrent upgrade fiasco and the Windows version has a built in timer but alas not for the Mac. Apparently it is on the to-do list.

My first effort was trying to set up an Automator script to handle the opening and closing on uTorrent. I could slip into Mininova before bed and set my downloads the quit out of uTorrent the have my magic Automator script switch it on and off at my designated times. I thought the opening and closing of applications on a timer would be bread and butter for Automator but no...there is no scheduler in Automator.

What you can do though is set an iCal alarm to run an application or script. You can easily create an application in Automator to launch an application.

1. Open the automator application
2. Select the custom workflow
3. Search for "launch"
4. Drag the "Launch Application" script to the workflow
5. Select the uTorrent application
6. Select File -> Save As ->
7. Save the file as an application
8. Repeat this replacing the "Launch Application" with "Quit Application" script

Once you have your applications you can set up your schedule in iCal

1. Open iCal
2. Insert a new event at the time you want uTorrent to launch
3. Under alarm select "Open File"
4. Change iCal to uTorrent launch application you just created
5. Change 15 mins before to 0 mins before
6. Repeat this with the quit application at the time you want the application to close
7. Set your repeat schedule, I have mine set for every day.

This is a real workaround and I am positive a scheduler will be built in soon, but for now this works. As explained I simply fin the torrents I am looking for, start them downloading then quit out of uTorrent.

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posted by Brad Down at 10/12/2009 11:19:00 PM 2 comments      

more-info.mobi

We recently developed a URL shortening application. Unlike others it doesn't create super short URL's but it does create URL's that are action based. You can choose from several:



more-info.mobi

apply-now.mobi

enter-now.mobi

read-more.mobi

get-file-mobi

try-it.mobi

use-it.mobi

view-images.mobi

view-map.mobi

watch-now.mobi



Using action based URL's in text messages or on twitter you can cut down on characters in your call to action so that the URL itself is the call to action.



http://try-it.mobi/Gd

posted by Brad Down at 6/03/2009 01:39:00 PM 1 comments