The power of the mobile channel is something that every business needs to appreciate. If you think about it, it’s a marketer’s dream. When was the last time you left home without your mobile phone? As long as the golden rules of marketing are observed – relevance, convenience, timeliness, then the possibilities are almost endless. With that in mind, here are 10 ways marketers can utilise this channel.
- VIP preview campaignsThis is a great added-value service you can offer to a select group of customers by alerting them to new stock arrivals, exclusive viewings or personalised offers and if you encourage your VIPs to forward the SMS to a friend in order to expand your customer base.
- Launching a new product?Send customers the latest information about your new product, including their nearest point of sale. Give your customers the opportunity to reply in order to receive bonus packs or free samples.
- Sale campaign promotionsWhy not tell your customer database about your latest sales promotions in advance via SMS. You can send a simple text message to inform customers of upcoming sales, a new store opening in their area, limited offers etc straight to your customers, regardless of where they are.
- Virtual couponsHow about sending a virtual coupon to some of your customers which they can then present to receive a discount, special offer or free entry? If you give customers the option to reply to the SMS with the details of a friend or family member who might also be interest in receiving a coupon, you can build brand awareness and increase your customer base. You can set up your message to be received at a specific time, such as lunch times, bank holidays, Mother’s Day etc.
- Making your campaigns viralEncourage recipients to pass your SMS onto others. This increases the credibility of the message. Incentivise them by offering entry into a competition or specified discount as a reward. This can be particularly effective when promoting an event or show.
- Steal the march on your competitorsSay you’re a retailer and you’ve just managed to obtain the latest products at a rock bottom price. However you only have a limited window to sell the items before your competitors obtain the same stock. Placing a newspaper advert or direct mailing your customers would have long a lead time. SMS provides a great channel to communicate the news instantly.
- Give your email newsletter an extra pushDo you send an email newsletter to your customers every month? Increase your opening rates by sending an SMS featuring the highlights or headers of your latest edition. You could even include a link in the SMS body to the online version of your newsletter if most of your recipients are likely to have internet capability via their phones.
- Updates to customer detailsDo you have a missing field in your customer database or need additional demographics? Rather than employ a costly telemarketing company or have to send out a costly questionnaire, why not simply use an SMS campaign asking the recipient to reply with the required details in order to be entered into a prize draw, or some other incentive. You can easily track all customer replies
- Test marketingTest marketing can be an expensive exercise through traditional channels. Using SMS is cost effective channel which is quick and easy to set-up.
- Pre-ordersPlanning to launch a new product soon? Contacting your customers via SMS and giving them a chance to pre-order for a discount or an exclusive bundle of products, will allow you to gauge the likely demand for your product before you launch.
Have you used SMS in an innovative marketing campaign recently? Please let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
