Small Business Benefits of Text Marketing and SMS Marketing Campaigns

Small Business Beneifts of Text Marketing and SMS Marketing Campaigns

First off, I must be honest..there are occassions where I have “texted while driving”..I know “TWI”, but not as serious as the gentleman to the left on the motorcycle.

It is comical to me, however, how backwards it is to have an instrument where we can actually talk to another individual but instead we “type” a message to them.

As the ever persistant marketer, how can a small business benefit from a technology that is not going to go away anytime soon?

I fired up my trusty keyword research tool and found that there are 6 million searchs for the keyword “text message”…wow! So I did some more research, to find that 89% of the population use their smart phones everyday. And in fact, that they carry their phones with them wherever they go.

The phone is always within an arms reach of them. Yes, a great majority of them use their phones while even in the shower!

The smart phones even function as a pocket-PC. With the advent of 3G and 4G capable phones it is much easier and faster to access information on the internet via your phone. In fact, on a flight last week I watched an entire episode of my childhood favorites, “The Wild Wild West”,…on my phone, along with training seminar that I wanted to brush up with before a presentation. They have become so user friendly.

People are even using their phones while doing something else. For instance, while typing this I have checked and updated my Facebook three times and checked one of my email accounts.

So what are the potenetial benefits to a Small Business and what possible SMS marketing campaigns can be thought up to increase business.

First, of course, you must get them to opt-in to your SMS list, or simply put they have to subscribe to being on your list of phone numers.

So a restaurant for example could put in their window, “Text the word “Cheese Fries” to “90812″ for a free order of Cheese Fries. I don’t know why I’m thinking of cheese fries other than we were at the great philly cheese place the other night and had the best fries. Could have got cheese fries but didn’t..oh well. Then, the restaurant has their number and can advertise directly to that person basically whenever they wanted to. No postage for a mailer, no potential bounce or unopen rate if you are familiar with how horrible email marketing has become.

How about this for an idea,..

A doctors office, where you have an appointment, and of course those are always scheduled weeks in advance. The doctors office sends out a text the week of reminding you “Mrs Smith, just reminding you of the Thursday appointment at 3pm”.

What about a sign in front of a building that was for sale that said “Text “For Sale” to 56789 for more info on this building. The recipient would not only get immediate info for that particular property, but they would get on the real estate agents list to send them other like properties…talk about lead generation.

A plumber could send out monthly or quartly text reminders for service.

A bar could send out coupons or specials, “Just show your waitress this message to receive your discount”.

There are so many possible ideas of how to market and remember to it is going LIVE right to their hand.

And the best customers are the repeat customers because they are going to become the little advertising agents for you as they tell their friends and so the customer base grows…mushrooms!

It is always cheaper to retain customers than to try to go and get new ones!