Putting together a mobile marketing campaign differs from implementing a traditional e-mail marketing campaign in several significant ways. For starters, it needs to be strictly opt-in. Then there’s the fact that instead of viewing the message on a computer screen, the recipient of a mobile message is probably reading it on a few square inches of a hand-held screen.
Several benefits compensate for these apparent drawbacks, however. Because the percentage of mobile spam is far smaller than that of e-mail spam, mobile messages are less likely to be rejected out of hand by recipients. What’s more, according to the “Mobile Marketing How-To Guide” from Lyris, “because your customers are used to a give-and-take when they text for personal reasons, mobile marketing leverages this dynamic. Therefore campaigns like sweepstakes, voting, and surveys are well suited to mobile marketing.”
Because of these differences, you need to take several additional steps and measures when developing a mobile component to your e-mail marketing efforts. In its guide, Lyris outlines several of them:
- Order any short codes you’ll need. Short codes are the special telephone numbers used to send SMS (short message service) and MMS (multimedia message service) messages. They’re typically shorter than full phone numbers and often customized—say, “FREE1” or “OFFER.” “Think of short codes as the response URLs for the mobile world,” Lyris advises. “Be sure to order enough codes to support offer test cells, follow-up offers, and responses.” You might also want to use different codes for the different media you use to promote the offer, to aide in tracking and analysis. Customized, or vanity, codes can take up to eight weeks to order, so if time is of the essence, you’ll have to opt for a random short code.
- Get carrier approval for your campaign. Rather than contact each carrier directly, you might want to delegate this step to a mobile messaging service provider.
- Develop an offer to motivate people to opt in to receive your messages. Coupons, text-to-win sweepstakes, games, and mobile-only offers are some tried-and-true incentives to encourage customers and prospects to opt in to receive mobile marketing messages.
- Integrate your mobile efforts with your other marketing channels. Now that you’ve got the offer, you need to communicate it. Because of its opt-in nature, mobile marketing doesn’t work well on its own. Drive potential participants to opt in by promoting your campaign via other channels: your website, direct mail, in-store displays, outdoor advertising, event marketing, TV and radio commercials, print advertising...
- Test your message on various provider networks prior to deploying. This is akin to making sure an e-mail message renders properly across a range of internet platforms and providers.
- “Provide a directory that allows subscribers to text the word HELP to get more information,” Lyris suggests, “particularly for more-complex or feature-rich programs.”
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