Are You Following the Golden Rules of SMS Marketing?

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Key takeaways

• Create an irresistible, exclusive and high‑value offer. SMS needs a strong value proposition to succeed.
• Keep texts short: single SMS messages are best (providers cap single texts at 160 characters).
• Avoid text speak and excessive slang, stay formal, concise and clear.
• Don’t duplicate the same offer across channels since exclusivity preserves urgency.
• Send messages considerately: a reasonable default window is 9 A.M. to 9 P.M., then optimize with audience data.
• Use consumer feedback (surveys, forms) and time‑zone awareness to refine timing and cadence.

Introduction

The practice of SMS marketing is often viewed as a purely high reward proposition – and for good reason. With mobile device usage continuing its meteoric rise in terms of acceptance and adoption, as well as the preference of many target audiences to connect via this channel, it makes plenty of sense to consider SMS marketing as a “can’t miss” inclusion in your greater outreach game plan.

However, the truth of the matter is that you can easily come up short on this front and let all of this potential fade away if you’re not considerate of the needs of the person on the other side of the screen. If you’d rather not fall prey to this easily avoided situation, let’s spend a few minutes talking about the golden rules of SMS marketing and you can implement these guidelines in your next campaign.

Nail Down Your SMS Offer

As Matt Baglia of Business 2 Community explains, the golden rules of SMS outreach are all about doing right by your audience and creating the best experience possible for these valued consumers. With this in mind, there’s no better place to start the discussion than with your core offer or value proposition.

Specifically, Baglia notes that if you want to create a lasting and enjoyable experience for your viewers when they open your texts, you’ll need to key in on the following points:

• Aim for an Irresistible Offer – You don’t have space to write a novel in your SMS message, but utilizing enticing wording and building excitement is crucial to the process.
• Keep Your Offer Exclusive – Duplicate or identical offers on social media and other channels can be a real buzz kill for viewers and diminish the sense of urgency created by this offering.
• Don’t Skimp on Value – People except substantial value, so provide a high quality coupon or deal that goes well above the bare minimum.

If you can nail down these fundamental pieces of the SMS offer puzzle, then applying the rest of the golden rules should feel like second nature as you tweak and refine your mobile offerings.

Get to the Point with Your Message

Going a step farther regarding your actual text body content, Mickael Bentz of Adobe’s Digital Marketing Blog suggests taking the “short and sweet” approach. Most service providers cap single texts at 160 characters, so aiming for this character limit is preferred as you start planning out your message.

Should you fail to adhere to this guideline, you open yourself up to firing off a message that arrives in two or more pieces. While this doesn’t seem so bad at first glance, dealing with multiple notifications, messaging fees, and even just disjointed content can all draw the ire of audience members who expect more from marketed texts.

Don’t Mess with “Txt Spk”

Stuart Marburg of The Sydney Morning Herald also notes that utilizing colloquialisms, lingo, and other “txt spk” is far from desirable. While there is something to be said for trying to speak the language of your audience and promote a friendly connection, creating a true sense of urgency and imparting the details of an offer becomes far more convoluted or informal with “lol” and other slang cluttering up the message.

The reality of the situation is that staying formal and concise is far more impactful. Yes, it’s okay to have a little fun and spice up your content with humor from time to time, but respecting the parameters of the customer-brand relationship is vital to staying in-line with the golden rules of SMS marketing.

Be Cognizant of Text Timing

The final golden rule covers the need for punctuality and awareness of time zone differences in the mobile inbox. Usually, sticking to messaging your audience only between 9 A.M. and 9 P.M. is a good place to start when laying out the borders of your acceptable texting time-frames.

Of course, your unique audience needs, preferences, and time zone restrictions can augment this standard viewpoint significantly. Because of this realization, you’ll need to put your consumer data and harvested responses – surveys, feedback forms, etc. – to good use to tweak and optimize your particular text timing conventions.

If you’re able to handle these timing considerations appropriately, and address the other rules and guidelines covered in this post, then there’s no reason why your next text message campaign can’t be your best program yet. The only question left to answer now covers whether or not you’re ready to follow the golden rules of SMS marketing and take your audience by storm in the mobile inbox.

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