A Guide for Small Businesses Setting Up a Mobile Marketing Campaign

Many business owners in a reactionary response to less affluent economic times can sometimes completely suspend all marketing activities. However with each consumer euro being fought for even harder than before its essential that businesses continue to market their product or service. In truth all business owners should be re-focusing their marketing efforts and not simply slashing them for the sake of reduced costs. In short they should be concentrating on getting the maximum possible ROI for every marketing and advertising euro spent.

Many businesses went through the boom years not knowing which of their marketing activities were working the best. They had a designated marketing budget, they spent it on a number of activities and customers were a plenty… times were good. All they knew was that something was working so it didn’t really matter which.

These days it’s crucial that business owners know exactly who they’re marketing to and how successful that marketing effort it is being. They must keep themselves front and centre of their ‘perfect prospects’ more consistently and nurture that relationship as it is these ‘perfect prospects’ that will get a business through tougher times.

So who are these ‘perfect prospects’?

Is it the people in the car passing by the neon billboard ?
Is it the person listening to their radio while at the gym?
Is it the guy muting the adverts during the nightly news?
Or is it the girl scanning through her favourite glossy magazine?

Truth be told, it could be any of these people but then again it generally never is. It is however the people who have given you permission to personally market to them, through the medium of their most on hand possession – their mobile phone.

By running a mobile club business owners are marketing to their ‘perfect prospects’ 100% of the time. These are people who are giving you permission to market to them with special offers and insider deals. What other marketing medium can offer a business this level of targeted marketing to such a captive audience?

According to the 2011 Trend Watching report one of the emerging trends of 2011 will be Price Pandemonium. This means that increasingly, consumers will demand to be a part of exclusive networks and groups that receive special offers. So in 2011 consumers are going to demand value like never before and joining special offer clubs will become as common place as being a member of a social network. Businesses need to be at the forefront of this trend and not rowing in behind their competitors when it’s already an established practice.

The following are the basic steps to starting and growing a mobile marketing club for your business:

1) Chose your mobile marketing agency carefully. They will need to be experienced with running text campaigns and offer you advice on all aspects of the process.

2) Secure and maintain a database of opt-ins. This is a highly important step and is the process of gathering the mobile phone numbers of the customers who have consented to receive marketing texts.

Real World Example – A pizza business placed a flyer inside every pizza sent out for delivery with instructions printed that allowed the customer to enter a competition to win “FREE PIZZA FOR LIFE” if they texted in and agreed to join their mobile club.

3) Always calculate your ROI before running the campaign, this will allow you to sculpt your offer around the potential response rate. Any mobile marketing agency worth its salt will be able to guide you on the expected response rate based on the perceived value of the offer.

4) Ensure a clear opt-out process is available. Customers must feel that they are in control and can opt out at any time. In a recent survey 70% of UK consumers said they were happy to receive mobile marketing messages if they were incentivized and in control.

5) Be creative, be original and be memorable. Use humor where appropriate and try to reflect the qualities and characteristics of your brand.

6) Be reactive and use the medium in and around events of national or local interests.

Real World Example – On the day of the 2010 budget a Dublin restaurant offered every member of their mobile club a free bottle of wine with any meal for two to “Drown out the sorrow”.

7) Always include an offer and avoid bland run of the mill advertising. Opt-in’s only want to hear about special deals and discounts that only members of the club can receive. They will opt out very quickly if they feel they are not getting real value.

There are more people with a cell phone than a television, computer, internet or any other media you can think of! So to not use this medium to speak to your customers would seem like a missed opportunity. A good mobile marketing agency will be able to have you up and running with a SMS campaign for a very modest outlay. Added to this the very low cost of text messages when bought in bulk, it really is the most cost effective form of marketing you are likely to ever experience.

Need to cut your marketing and advertising costs? Need to concentrate on your target market? Want to maximize your ROI for every marketing euro spent? Want to nourish the relationship with your existing customers by offering them discounts and special deals? Mobile Marketing through a mobile club is the perfect vehicle for all of this.

So don’t wait around while your competitors steal a march on you. Start accumulating those opt-ins today and see the real difference it will make to your bottom line – You won’t be disappointed.

Source: http://www.bt8j.com/a-guide-for-small-businesses-setting-up-a-mobile-marketing-campaign/ by Brian Stephenson on 13th September 2011.

Want to know more and feel it yourself? Contact us at +603-8996 4780 or sales@moceansms.com