Marketers everywhere are shouting the praises of text message marketing. If you own a small business, most likely you’ve heard all the hype surrounding SMS. If you’ve taken the leap to go mobile but aren’t experiencing the success you were promised, you might be tempted to forget about mobile altogether. You may want to consider, however, that the problem isn’t SMS as a channel, but rather the strategy you’re using. Here are five reasons your text message marketing campaign may not be working as well as it could be.

Offers

The most popular use of text message marketing is to offer special deals to customers on your texting list. If you’re not getting the response you think you should be, it could be because the deals you’re offering aren’t exciting enough. Try offering the best possible deals you can afford. The better the deal, the more likely your customers are to redeem it and tell their friends about it. To really get the most out of a text message deal, make it exclusive to those who are opted in to your texting club.

Advertising

You may be under the assumption that because you’ve gone through the trouble of launching a SMS campaign, your customers will flock to it. This isn’t usually the case. If you want to build your texting list and start seeing success through text message marketing, you’ve got to let your customers know about your SMS campaign. Look for ways to advertise your texting campaign. Put out signs in your store, advertise on billboards and on your business’s website. A great way to jumpstart your text list is to offer a freebie as incentive for an opt in. The larger your text list, the more results you’ll see from your SMS campaign.

Call to action

The reason many SMS campaigns fail is that they lack a call to action. Never assume that your customer will know what you want them to do with your text. You need to include a brief call to action that lets them know what you expect them to do. It can be a mobile coupon you want them to redeem or a link you want them to share with their friends. Whatever it is, make sure your call to action is clear and includes a reward.

Mobile website

A SMS campaign is most effective when paired with a mobile optimized website. When your customers receive a text from you about a promotion, many of them will want to investigate further by visiting your website. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile devices, chances are you’ll lose more than a few potential customers.

Strategy

Finally, If your SMS strategy is lacking the strategy part, it’s not going to be successful. To really make the most of any marketing campaign, you need to have a solid plan in place. Before you send the first text message, make sure you’ve got a detailed strategy.

So before you give up on SMS marketing, try implementing these five tips and start reaping the rewards of text message marketing.

Source:  Business 2 Community