Getting Ready for Your First Mobile Marketing Campaign?

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In a world of endless marketing blogs, talking heads on Twitter, and a glut of information in general, sometimes it’s easy to get lost in all the jargon and buzz words. Unfortunately for those who aren’t already in the know with the latest trends and happenings in the marketing world, this can be a major turn-off. To keep you from hitting the brakes on mobile marketing before you ever get rolling, let’s look at some of the essential components of a great campaign. Once you’ve got all of this mastered and start shooting out texts to customers who are ready to put your discounts and coupons to good use, you can put your new found knowledge to work and start tweaking and optimizing your strategy with all of those concepts and tactics that used to look more like a game of Scrabble gone wrong.

Make a Starting Point

Are you even ready to start promoting your brand with mobile messages? This first thing to consider is one that might not make many other blog posts, but it still should on your mind as your learn about mobile marketing. In a lot of ways, creating a starting point impacts all the other steps we’ll cover as you get ready to connect with customers on their smartphones. By gauging just how much of the infrastructure you have in place – mobile landing pages, database tools for tracking customers, etc. – the entire process becomes much easier and way more effective.

Landing Pages Matter

Speaking of landing pages, now is a great time to talk about how important they are to mobile marketing. Basically, you can have the best text message plan in the world that literally makes an impression on every person that opens it up, but if your landing page won’t show up right on their screen, all of that work goes down the drain. A great mobile landing page is different from your regular landing pages because it keeps things simple with minimal graphics and maximum functionality.While being flashy and having lots of bells and whistles is great for regular forays into Internet retailing, cut all the fluff and keep it to the tools that your customer needs to make a sale. While it might go against your initial thoughts, think about how much you really want massive graphics that bog down load times when you’re trying to cash in a text discount on your coffee break.

First Name Basis

This one might be stepping things up in the complexity department, but having personalized messages is so important when it comes to connecting with users that it should be part of your plan from the start. While you’ve got limited real estate in an SMS message, slipping in a “Brian” here and a “Susan” there goes a long way. Just like your emails, though, don’t go overboard with the name game. If you do, it’s safe to say that you’re moving from savvy marketer territory to coming off as awkward and creepy. If you’ve already got a database for customers or an email list, you’re in great shape to start this part of a smart SMS campaign. If not, ramping up an opt-in list that includes promoting sign-ups in your store and other media – like social networks – can help you get moving.

Are You Getting the Most out of Social Media?

Another big question that needs a solid answer as you prepare to send off text messages is how good are you with social media? While it might not seem like there’s much overlap here, a great mobile marketing plan gets customers interacting with your brand on any channel possible. This includes everything from Facebook to LinkedIn, so you’ll need to be on top of your game.On your landing pages and even in your texts (if you can fit it in), linking back to your social media pages is a great idea. However, all these likes, comments, and shares won’t do much if you’re not managing the page to its potential. Before you start promoting your social media along with your text messages, make sure you’re not embarrassing yourself with a sub-par page or account.

A Little Help Never Hurts

What’s the best way to wrap everything we’ve covered up in a nice little package and ensure you’re ready to dazzle them with great offers via text message? Enlist the help of a marketing expert or firm. With this kind of support on your side, you can skip the learning curve and get right to connecting with customers on the go. If you’re always on the go yourself, you can definitely use a leg up to get your brand on their screens and in their minds.