The Mobile Marketing Blog - TellMyCell

3 Reasons to Use SMS Marketing for Event Promotion

 

Looking to increase the footfall at your next event? Whether it’s a conference, exhibition opening, concert or nightclub event, SMS marketing should be part of your planning kit. Text message marketing makes it easy and affordable to reach out to large numbers of people via mobile - and for recipients to share texts and spread the word on your behalf.

Here are three ways SMS marketing can make event planning easier and more effective.

Get People Talking

SMS is a great way to spread the word about what you have planned for your upcoming event. Have a special guest in attendance? Or want everyone to know the delicious menu you have planned? Mass texting is a fast and easy way to get in touch with all of your mobile subscribers with the latest event updates and announcements, building excitement in the lead up to the big day. It’s also a useful way to send subscribers a reminder a day or two before the event - this can help to increase the last-minute number of sign-ups and decrease the number of no-shows.

 

RSVPs

Allow mobile subscribers and invited guests to pre-register for your event via their cell phones. This simplifies the whole process:

 

• It makes it easy for you to keep track of who’s coming and who’s not
• It’s a quick and convenient for your guests to RSVP, making them more likely to register
• You can then use mass texting to send them important updates and personalise the experience for them
• It also makes it easy to keep tabs on who registered but then decided not to attend, helping you identify areas that you might need to improve to increase attendance next time

Post-Event Feedback

You can put SMS marketing to use to help you plan even better events in future. The two-way nature of text communication makes it ideal for collecting feedback from your guests after the event. Guests are more likely to respond to a simple text poll, question or survey via the convenience and speed of mobile than they are online or via mail. Whether you choose a short poll, survey, ask guests to simply rate the event or send any feedback they like, you’ll gather valuable information. It’s one of the quickest ways to find out what worked and what didn’t, what guests loved about your event and the areas that need improvement. Use the info you’ve gathered to improve future events, planning and communication.

Creating a Time Limited Text Message

 

Time limited offers remain one of the most effective marketing tools on the planet. Consumers just can’t resist acting on exclusivity and the chance to snap up something they want before it’s gone. That’s why you see this marketing technique used across the board, from TV and radio to print ads and product displays - and now on mobile via text message marketing.

If you’re looking for a way to grab more attention with your mobile marketing strategy, here’s how to create time limited text message offers that really deliver.

 

What’s Your Time Limit?

For maximum impact, you want to get the the balance just right between:

 

• A time limit that’s short enough to get customers excited and create a feeling of urgency.

 

• A time limit that’s practical, making sure you give customers enough time to actually visit your business in person or online to use the promotion on offer.

 

The type of offer and the sector you operate in will help you determine the right kind of timescale for your customers. For online businesses, time limits can be as short as ‘For Today Only!’, as it’s quick and easy for people to hop online and visit your site. For businesses like restaurants, giving a day or two’s notice gives people time to plan and book.

 

Mobile is Different - Mobile is Fast

When people get an offer via text, they act fast. With high open and read rates, text message marketing makes it easy for customers to act on offers immediately. This means you need to think about your mobile time limited offers differently from offers placed in print ads, for example. The immediacy of SMS is perfect for last-minute deals - but if your time limit is too long it makes it all too easy for customers to forget all about it.

Crafting Your Message

You have limited space, 160 characters, so make your call to action short and sweet. Recipients typically only need to know a maximum of three things:

 

• Your offer
• Its time limit
• How customers redeem it

 

‘2-for-1 mains this Wednesday’ or ‘Free online shipping for the next 48 hours!’ keeps things short, direct and delivers all the info you need. You want to avoid people having to scroll down through your message reading lots of text. Time limited offers are designed to grab attention, and short, punchy texts do this best.

 

Try your own text message marketing program by signing up with TellMyCell here.

The Dos & Don’ts of Using Humor in Your Text Marketing Campaign

 

Incorporating humor into your text marketing efforts can help you grab attention and engage more with your audience. It’s also a great way for your brand to show some personality, helping it stand out from the crowd. A surprising, new and funny campaign can attract a whole new audience and increase your subscriber numbers too.

But get the wording or the topic wrong and you run the risk of alienating or even offending your subscribers.

 

If you’re keen to add some funny to your next text marketing campaign, here are some simple dos and don’ts to help you get it right.

Choose Your Topic

What do you want to joke about? Choosing a subject that directly relates to your brand will help your text marketing campaign achieve more impact. You might want to avoid sensitive areas like politics and religion, which run the risk of alienating or offending some of your subscribers. Food, fashion, law, retail - whatever your business, joke about your own area of expertise.

 

Lighten Up

You want to keep your funny text campaigns lighthearted and clean. Forget the toilet humor or anything rude or brash, as if you misjudge this it could lead to some offended subscribers and damage to your brand. Stick to simple jokes, plays on words, and make the most of puns - they’re a great way to raise a smile through the written communication of SMS messaging.

Make It Snappy

Remember you only have 160 characters to get them laughing. This means keeping your jokes, puns or phrases short. Forget overly long, multiple messages, which will only cost more to send. Get to the punchline fast with some succinct, snappy copy. This is where puns work really well, allowing you to get a laugh simply, through language.

Don’t Forget Your Brand Voice

Your brand’s tone of voice needs to be strong and consistent across all of your marketing channels, and this includes your text marketing campaigns, whether they’re humorous or not. Putting on a sudden change to a dry, sarcastic tone when the rest of your marketing has always been upbeat is only going to confuse your subscribers. Think about a funny tone that fits, and focus on lighthearted humor, which has wider appeal, rather than negative or sarcastic humor that can leave some people cold.

5 Ways to Make Your Mobile More Secure

 

Banking, shopping, doing your taxes, sharing and storing photos and more - as smartphone capabilities grow so too do the opportunities for hackers to get their hands on your private info. So how do you go make sure that your smartphone and the information it contains remains safe? Here are five straightforward tips to put to use this year:

Auto lock it

Your first line of defense when protecting your mobile is to set it to lock automatically. Set up a password that’s convenient to type and easy to remember. Chief technology officer for Perimeter E-Security, Andrew Jaquith, advises you stick to a password that’s long enough to "pair it with an auto-destruct policy - fail eight times to enter the right password and it deletes the data on the phone - to be sure your data will be safe."

To create a tough password that’s not easy for an opportunist or hacker to break, those in the know advocate the use of 15 characters. They’re 90 times more difficult to decipher than 14-character passwords. And you should always use a mix of letters and numbers to make your password a strong one.

Patches are your friend

Mobiles, like PCS, need regular patching to get rid of any weaknesses that might have popped up after the release of the device. Chief Technology Officer for security firm Lookout, Kevin Mahaffey, advises that users always accept updates.

"When you are prompted on Android, update," he says. These updates are there to keep you and your data safe. "For iPhone users, it's a bit more complex. You need to plug in and update your apps," he added.

Say no to shady apps

Steer clear of malicious apps, like the DroidDream app that attacked a quarter million Android devices inside a month, by only downloading from trusted app stores. Stick to popular apps to stay safe, and check out those app reviews -  those with a large number of comments and reviews are likely to be safer too.

Forget about jailbreaking

It can be convenient for sure, but there’s a reason mobile security experts warn against ‘jailbreaking’ your phone. Jailbreaking removes the digital-rights management that locks your phone to a certain carrier. The problem with doing that is the bulk of your phone’s security is directly linked to code signing and software sandboxing, and your device’s security can be instantly compromised when you mess with that.

Remember to back-up

Just like we’re always lectured to remember to back up our hard drives, the same is true for you mobile data. Thankfully, today’s smartphones make that easy. Getting into the data back-up habit means you’re far less likely to lose any important data, even in the event of a hack.

"Now that there is over-the-air syncing and updates, it's really easy to restore your phone," cloud security firm Zscaler’s Michael Sutton explains. "If your phone gets taken or the data deleted, it takes 30 minutes and your phone is back to normal."

Is the Mobile Wallet More Important to Retailers than Apps?

 

 

Apple Pay, Android Pay and Samsung Pay have ushered in a seamless payment system for the 21st century. Mobile payment methods are on the up, and increasing numbers of consumers and merchants are realizing the benefits of mobile wallets.

For businesses of all types, from multinationals to mom-and-pop stores, mobile wallets present a range of solid business advantages, including increased revenue and significantly reduced costs.

Want to find out why the mobile wallet is more important to retailers’ futures than apps? Read on...

Increased revenue and sales

Paying via a mobile payment system is fast - just touch, and go. The result is quicker service, and the ability for more consumers to be served in the same space of time. More customers paying for goods means more revenue for merchants.

Apps are great for helping businesses engage with consumers, showing them products and offering them deals and promos, but buyers don’t have the ability to make a purchase as easily this way as they would if using a mobile wallet.

Using a mobile wallet also allows businesses to sell more products and services during traditionally slower periods. Mobile payment systems mean you can connect with clients and customers wherever they are in the world, so they can check out anywhere, anytime.

Reduced costs

Payment processing fees are one of the largest expenses after labor for many merchants and retailers and food service operators. Secure mobile wallets significantly reduce this cost as well fraud losses.

Apps remain riskier than mobile wallets, with apps being vulnerable to hackers accessing private customer information, including their credit card numbers, addresses and bank account details.

 

Opening businesses up to the world

With more and more of us completing more of our daily tasks and shopping errands on the web, merchants want to get in on this online marketplace. As consumers get used to making purchases on their mobiles, it’s imperative that businesses are there to help make mobile purchases swift, convenient and secure. Today’s mobile-enabled consumer doesn’t have to visit a physical store to profit your business. Reaching out with a rich and interactive experience means attracting customers, wherever they are in the world, to make a purchase via internet-based mobile tech.

 

Presenting a new marketing platform

A recent Forrester Research report predicts that within the next five years mobile wallets will have become a crucial marketing platform. Mobile tech can create real connections with consumers, and mobile brand loyalty is key. Businesses are set to mobilize their branded content and loyalty programs to target consumers with offers and promos in real time.

 

Easy payments

Mobile wallets make purchases simpler. A user only has to enter their information once, then they receive secure PIN numbers via text message that they use to complete the purchase. While some apps require users to re-enter their info for every single transaction, all mobile wallet shoppers need is a simple PIN entry to complete their purchase.

 

Get Started with your own mobile marketing campaign at TellMyCell.com!

5 Mobile Marketing Ideas for Valentine's Day

 

Second only to Christmas in terms of holiday spending, Valentine’s Day isn’t just a special occasion for couples, but for retailers too. Whatever your industry, your marketing strategy can use a little adjusting to take advantage of the surge in spending that happens around the most romantic day of the year.

Recent research carried out by the National Retail Foundation forecasts that Valentine’s spending will grow by 13% over last year, and the bulk of that spending will come via tablets and smartphones, with seasonal special offers and mobile coupons playing a significant part.

Cupid’s arrow could give your sales a love boost this year with a little help from these 5 clever mobile marketing strategies.

 

1) Meet the Last-Minute Man

Anybody out shopping on Christmas Eve can tell you that last-minute spending is something that goes hand in hand with the holidays. Try as we might to plan ahead, life has a habit of getting in the way, and sometimes we just don’t have time to gift shop until the eleventh hour.

 

In 2013, Adobe found that spending on gifts increased steadily through January and early February, then spiked significantly during the last five days before February 14th. Just like Christmas, there’s a notable number or of consumers who leave Valentine’s shopping until the last minute. They’re the ideal target market for last-minute mobile coupons and mobile marketing tactics.

 

2) Make a Microsite

You can really make a splash with your Valentine’s Day message by creating a separate themed microsite or landing page. Don’t worry about using it as a direct sales channel. This is where you need to hand control over to your most creative team members. From themed giveaways and photo competitions to Valentine’s Day quizzes reward visitors with the chance to win prizes, like a romantic vacation getaway.

 

The value of having a dedicated holiday microsite is huge. It’s also a great way to show you’re really serious about the Valentine’s offers you’re making, while making the most of design elements to impress new customers.

 

3) Couples’ Discounts

Valentine’s Day is about couples getting together, so it lends itself perfectly to two-for-one or ‘bring a partner’ offers. Incorporating two-for-one offers into Valentine’s-themed mobile coupons is an easy mobile marketing strategy with the power to drive traffic to any business.

4) Let Passion Fuel your Marketing

Valentine’s Day is the perfect opportunity to inject some passion and originality into your marketing. Brainstorm some fresh ideas to kick of the year, and encourage audience engagement. A Valentine’s app, social media campaign, or Valentine’s gift tips a la Tiffany’s Concierge of Love service can make an impact and drive sales, clicks and shares.

 

5) Put Social Media at the Heart of your Campaign

 

Your social media channels - Facebook and Instagram especially - are visual, and February 14th offers up a whole world of romantic imagery you can use to overhaul your social media presence. A simple change of background, a themed reworking of your logo, or some humorous and shareworthy posts can help you connect with the holiday spirit and attract attention.

 

Power your Valentine's Day marketing campaign with a mass texting program at TellMyCell!

The Untapped Marketing Potential of Groundhog Day

 

In this age of cute, where furry critters get more YouTube views than Taylor Swift, you’d be crazy to let the potential of Groundhog Day marketing pass you by. It may not be as big a retail holiday as Christmas or Valentine’s Day, but Punxsutawney Phil can help you reach out to wider audience with some creative promotions.

From promo offers to engaging with your audience on social media here are a few mobile marketing ideas to help you make the most of this fun annual event.

 

Six more weeks of winter? Ask your fans

Find out what your audience thinks. Will Phil see his own shadow? Is summer on the way or are we in for six more weeks of winter? Get your customers in on the action and, across your social media channels, encourage them to make their own predictions. Offer up a reward for a winner chosen from among the correct guesses to give respondents a reason to get involved with the fun.

 

Groundhog Day discounts and giveaways

One of the simplest, low-stress Groundhog Day marketing moves is to simply promote a site-wide discount for 1-day only (Groundhog Day, of course). Just require a coupon in order to be eligible. You’re free to get as creative as you want with your one-off offers, but you could try free shipping, discounts on purchases above a certain value, or giveaways of plush groundhogs with purchases.

 

The gif that keeps on giving

Groundhog Day gives you a great opportunity to harness the power of cute. Create a funny animated gif to liven up emails, facebook posts, MMS messages and Tweets. Whatever Groundhog Day-themed offers you want to promote, using animated photos or illustrations of these cute little animals is a surefire way to catch your audience’s attention and encourage more clicks and shares.

 

Winter and Spring-themed specials

Think big and you can base product or service promos on Phil’s prediction. If it’s six weeks of winter, it gives you the chance to offer a special discount on winter items - from sweaters to snow tyres depending on your business. If Phil welcomes in the spring, you can too with special offers on new season items or services - from gardening to spring season cuisine.

Groundhog Day only rolls around once a year, but it’s a great opportunity to get really creative with your mobile marketing ideas. Have a brainstorming session and don’t be afraid to think outside the box on this one - it’s a weird and wacky event, and your marketing can be too.

SMS Marketing for Beauty Salons

 

Beauty is a competitive business, and attracting and retaining clients is key to every salon’s success. Text message marketing is a great way to turn heads and attract clients without having to turn your marketing budget upside down.

Simple, low cost and versatile, SMS marketing is also one of the most effective marketing tools out there. With 90% of American adults owning an SMS-enabled mobile, and text messages read more readily than emails and social media posts, 

Here are some of the ways that SMS marketing for beauty salons can add some va-va-voom to your business.

 

More bang for your buck

Running a beauty salon means long hours and working weekends, so when you put your time and effort into marketing you want it to pay off. 

With an email, you can see from the subject heading whether it’s one to open or one to trash. That’s why email has a weak open rate of 28-33%. Text messages on the other hand? They boast an open rate of 99%. They’re direct, they’re short, and they’re more likely to be read, so make the most of it.

 

No more no-shows

One of the most effective ways that SMS marketing for beauty salons can increase efficiency and cut your costs is via appointment reminders. Missed appointments means missed revenue for you. A simple text reminder to clients ahead of their appointment time reduces the number of no-shows. It also provides a convenient and quick way for your clients to let you know if they can no longer keep the appointment or want to reschedule. 

 

Boost your competitive edge

SMS marketing creates a more level playing field between large, name brand salons and smaller salons. While you might not have the marketing budget for expensive graphics and billboard ads, texts allow you to reach just as many potential clients and create personalized marketing that’s just as good, if not better, than the big boys.

 

High impact engagement

Texts beat email hands down when it comes to open rate, but they also boast an impressively high engagement rate.

 

• SMS has eight times the engagement rate of email

 

That means people are more likely to take action after reading a text than they are after reading an email. For your business, that means you can actually target fewer people with your marketing while still having the same number of leads converting to sales. While widening the reach of your SMS campaigns means a bigger boost to client numbers.

Use MMS Marketing to Promote Your Community Theater

 

Mobile marketing is the perfect partner for community theater groups looking to promote shows and recruit staff and volunteers. Low cost, simple to set up, and incredibly effective, you can add even more impact to your mobile outreach by adding MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) to your mobile marketing strategy.

MMS marketing campaigns take all the existing benefits of SMS marketing and add striking visual to the mix. MMS allows you to send eye-grabbing graphics, splashes of color, photos and videos too.

While text message marketing is great for short and quick communication, like rehearsal reminders, MMS allows you to take the customer experience to another level – great for creating eye-catching invites to shows and events.

Here are a few MMS marketing tricks that can help you promote your theater group.

 

Keep audiences updated

Got a show or fundraising event coming up? Show off sneaky peaks of scenery and rehearsals and event reminders to keep your audience in the loop. As well as the addition of video and images, MMS also gives you the advantage of expanded character limits. While standard text messages are limited to 140 characters, MMS allows you to include extended content and text, so you can share all the essential info to promote your theater’s latest news.

 

Discounts via MMS

Major especially restaurants, already use MMS discounts to attract more customers. Sending a text that offers a discount to recipients alongside an image of a tasty meal or dessert works to entice in more diners, and you can do the same with your special offer and discount texts. Provide a call to action as well as a specific date when the offer is valid to encourage potential patrons to take the initiative and book those tickets.

 

Encourage feedback with MMS

MMS marketing campaigns can enhance audience engagement over and above regular SMS contact. Make the most of the visual and interactive capabilities of MMS communication and use it to gain valuable feedback at the same time as raising awareness of your theater. You can have some fun with poll and votes via MMS, asking people what name they prefer for an upcoming show, or for ideas for unusual venues. Or use the technique in-house to get quick feedback from cast, crew and volunteers about things light lighting set ups, costumes and more.

 

MMS competitions

One of the great things about MMS marketing campaigns is that they’re a two-way street. They make it easy for you to reach out to a large audience, and make it just as easy for that audience to reach you. Make the most of this aspect of MMS and encourage your subscribers to send you photos, images and videos of their own. Whether it’s inviting audition videos, photos of their own favorite theater shows or ideas for set design, it’s a great way to get people involved and feel part of your community theater and its activities.

4 Ways Mom & Pop Stores Can Use Mobile Marketing

 

There is nothing quite as special as a mom and pop store in the sea of capitalism. It is no easy feat to stay afloat when there are huge establishments taking over cities, but mom and pop shops offer a unique experience that cannot be found in large chains—genuine connection. Text messaging also offers a unique personal connection. Therefore, it makes sense for mom and pop stores to use mobile marketing too.  

Here are four ways you can stick it to the big guys and reap the rewards of valuable sales and loyal customers:

 

Alerts & Reminders

A way to get customers excited about joining your text marketing list is by offering alerts and reminders about events, inventory and availability, new items and services, or sales. Let your customers get the inside scoop so that they feel intimately involved with your brand and feel important to your store.  

 

Lovable Customer Service

Customer service is paramount for mom and pop shops. Many people cringe their way through corporate-owned shops because the experience may feel stale and rather generic. For that reason, many prefer to only interact with small businesses. When customers enter mom and pop stores, they want to feel like they are part of the family so use text messaging for greater cohesion. Although you can make a great impression during your physical interaction with customers, sending a follow-up question after a purchase can show you genuinely care about their satisfaction. Also, allow customers to reach you via text when they need assistance with purchasing something from you or with a purchase they made.

 

Individualized Coupons

The beauty of mom and pop stores is that you are able to interact with individuals and actually remember the encounters. Show your customers that their presence and business is acknowledged by creating customized coupons. If your customer has a habit of purchasing a certain item or if a customer endlessly gawks at an item they can't quite afford at the moment, offer a small discount on the item through a mobile coupon. This will help generate brand loyalty.

 

Personalized Messages

To keep your store a favorite amongst customers, develop your own creative strategy for personally reaching customers through texts. For example, if your brand is witty, send a funny text directed to a customer once a month or more. Or if you have a store that values community, gather data on what causes your customer supports, then send out inspirational quotes or links to events supporting the cause once a month.