Mobile Text Message Marketing. Marketing is one of the most important things you can do as a business owner. Without a marketing strategy and targeted advertising, many businesses simply do not make it. Many business owners think that simply having a store front or running an ad in the yellow pages is all they need to do and soon realize, it's not that easy.
In today's world, businesses big or small are finding more and more challenges when it comes to traditional marketing strategies. Running an ad in a local publication or paying for a spot in the yellow pages, just doesn't produce the same results they once achieved and are very expensive.
The reason why this is happening is that we are in a rapid changing communication age. With the birth of the Internet and number of internet-ready cellphones expanding globally, the effects on marketing are tremendous and are taking the marketing challenges to a new level. International businesses large or small are facing the same challenges.
The technical requirements associated with setting up a website, understanding social media, creating campaigns that will promote brand and convert traffic into buyers, are all part of the requirements necessary to market a business in today's world. The problem is many business owners need to focus on running the business and do not have the time, can't manage, nor have all the skillset required to create and manage an effective marketing program.
One new marketing method that will have a tremendous impact on businesses globally has to do with mobile text marketing. Mobile text marketing targets cell phone users in a very unique way. Similar to the time when e-mail marketing was brand new, mobile text marketing has a much higher response rate. With response rates at 90% plus, business owners need pay attention and incorporate this strategy into the overall marketing strategy.
There are a lot of reasons for the high response rate in mobile text marketing. Here are a few:
* When a user receives a text message they almost never ignore it due to the alert features on cell phones.
* It's considered more personal than an e-mail because it is used primarily by personal friends and family. So, the user always responds to a new text.
* Most businesses have not yet utilized this strategy so; the opportunity is here right now to be on the cutting edge of this new marketing concept.
* Users do not ignore the messages when received.
* Messages are short and to the point.
* Newer cell phones display the message right on the front of the screen.
* Users almost always have their cell phone on them.
* Cell phones do not require internet access to receive a text..
* Almost every cell phone made today has text messaging built in.
The most important factor is that cell phone users out number internet users worldwide. With the rapid increase in internet-capable phones, there will also be a proportional increase in a business' ability to market to a cell phone user.
For those who don't know, here is how mobile text marketing works in general. Let's say you want to run a campaign to offer a discount for a product, service, or an event. As a business owner, you would target your existing customer base first. You would offer a coupon or discount, when a user sends a text message from their cell phone to your advertised campaign word. An example of this would look something like the following:
To receive a discount today, text "specialoffer" to 41242
What happens is the customer wants to receive a discount, so they text the word to the number. Then they immediately receive a response back with a promo code or message authorizing a discount. They are also informed they will receive future discount offers and can opt out anytime. Your customers are ok with this since they are already patrons of your business. This process all happens automatically.
Now, a month later you decide you want to have a sale or run a special on the weekend. If you didn't have a mobile marketing strategy, and in order to let your customers know you're having a sale, you would need to run an ad in the newspaper, pay for ads on TV, run an ad on the radio, send mail outs or some other means to let them know. This is expensive and takes time to plan and the customers response time may not coincide with time advertised was received.
But, as a smart business owner, you simply send out a text message to your existing customers and because you know they will read it, your sales are a success. You managed to increase business with the least amount of effort and greatest response.
With traditional marketing, the customer would need to read their junk mail, newspaper ads, or be in front of the TV at the exact time your ad ran. But with a cell phone in hand, your customer receives your promotion. You didn't need to pay for expensive ad materials or hope the customer was in the right place at the right time.
Did I say this was powerful, cutting edge stuff?
There is an added benefit to marketing this way. Consumers do not receive junk mail from you and you won't kill a tree to run an ad in the local paper.
Did I mention it is good for the environment?
In today's world, a customer will jump at the opportunity to do something good for the environment. This is especially true when it doesn't require much effort from them. I think most of us would be willing to receive a promo code to our cell phone in comparison to a bunch of junk mail at home that fills up our mailbox and usually gets tossed in the garbage and then finds its way to our landfills!
There is also another advantage over traditional advertising. I call it the on demand factor. This makes it a must strategy for restaurant owners or businesses that operate in a daily entertainment industry.
Here is an example of the on demand marketing factor. Let's say you own a restaurant. You expect the coming weekend lunch crowd to be slow due to an event in the area during that time of day. So, you have a message sent out to your mobile list letting them know they can get a free appetizer at lunch - but for this weekend only. You do this two hours before lunch to a hundred people on your list. Then an hour later you decide that the response wasn't enough to fill the seats up completely and you believe you will have a few open seats. So, you quickly have another message sent to another hundred people.
The result:
An hour later you have a small line at the door. You managed to let your customers know about your special for the weekend only. You also filled the seats and maximized your business without over promoting. You wouldn't want customers that would have come to your restaurant without a promo code to be turned away due to an extra-long wait.
On demand marketing lends itself to maximum flexibility in timing and number variations. There is no other marketing strategy that has this type of on demand capability. I wonder what happened to the other restaurants in the area that didn't have a mobile marketing strategy.
To this point we have only targeted existing customers. You can build your customer base in a more powerful way. All of the traditional marketing methods still work and can augment your mobile marketing strategy. It is important to not be tied to other marketing channels for all your marketing needs.
One reason to not be handcuffed to traditional marketing channels is that they dictate to you the options and the cost for advertisements. Most of them can be expensive because of the media that must be designed for the ads. The biggest factor is that the consumers of a particular media channel belong to that media company. But as a mobile text marketer, you can place your mobile text campaign word on printed ads, radio ads, and TV ads. This will enable you to capture more leads. When the consumer opts in to your mobile marketing list, you can then market to them over and over without paying the original media company another dime.
Building a list is one of the most important business strategies you can have. A mobile marketing list is the most effective.
Mobile text marketing may not work for every business. There are a few businesses where this strategy is very exciting. Here is a list of some businesses that could benefit:
1. Restaurants
2. Salons & Spas
3. Bars & Night Clubs
4. Florist
5. Theaters
6. Vacation Rentals
7. Events and Nightly Entertainment
8. Department Stores
9. Any service that the consumer does regularly
10. Most business that advertises a lot.
As you can see there are a lot of businesses that could save money on their advertising expenses while increasing their ROI.
So, how does a business owner get started?
Well if your business is a big brand, you can lease your own short code for $500 to $1000 a month. A short code is the number the campaign word is texted to. You will also need to pay web programmer money to develop a campaign management system to receive and respond to opt-ins. This can cost thousands of dollars to develop.
Option two; you can contact a mobile marketing consultant such as Rapid Action Marketing or Mobile Helpers and they will help tailor a marketing strategy to the size of your company and manage your campaigns for you. Plus they help build your list and leaving you to run the business. When you want to send a special offer out to your mobile list, you simply call and they will take it from there. They also implement various techniques to help increase opt-ins for your campaigns.
There are also many mobile text marketing platforms available. Most are tailored towards the big boys of marketing and priced accordingly. There are two in particular that I have found that offer all the features in the expensive services but at a price starting around $15 a month and as much as $1000 plus per month.
For the mid-size business, I recommend option two as the text marketing firm can get your mobile marketing campaign started right. But, for the smaller business a self-management option maybe the only option.
They will help tailor a marketing strategy to the size of your company and manage your campaigns for you. Plus they help build your list and leaving you to run the business. When you want to send a special offer out to your mobile list, you simply call and they will take it from there. They also implement various techniques to help increase opt-ins for your campaigns.
There are also many mobile text marketing platforms available. Most are tailored towards the big boys of marketing and priced accordingly. There are two in particular that I have found that offer all the features in the expensive services but at a price starting around $15 a month and as much as $1000 plus per month.For the mid-size business, I recommend option two as the text marketing firm can get your mobile marketing campaign started right. But, for the smaller business a self-management option maybe the only option. See Author Bio for recommended services...
Developing A Strategy For Real Estate Mobile Marketing. Realtors are constantly seeking new ways to control business costs, in a slow market. Placing print advertisements, and printing up fliers to leave at listings, may eat a sizable portion of a realtor's budget. Fortunately, real estate mobile marketing, as part of an overall digital strategy, provides a no-paper, low-cost avenue for reaching potential clients. This type of marketing also helps realtors to be more proactive with advertising, rather than reactive.
Mobile marketing is defined as communicating with customers via a mobile device. This capability appeals to a clientele that is rapidly growing more technologically sophisticated. Realtors who have mobile capability may assist buyers twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. This availability gives the realtor a competitive advantage, in the recruitment and retention of clients.
Realtors are set back in a reactive position with print ads, and even with websites. In both cases, realtors have to wait for clients to contact them about the property. Even fliers will never be picked up unless a client actually sets up a property showing. Ideally, realtors should be able to proactively market their listings to potential clients. Mobile capability will give realtors a platform in which to be more assertive, while, at the same time, saving money.
Digital advertising may be realized in a number of ways. When realtors list a new property, for instance, they may choose to send the information to clients, using text messaging. Or, when an open house is about to begin, realtors could sent a text message to interested clients in their database.
Realtors should also take advantage of SMS. For instance, realtors could establish a service, in which clients could text a keyword to a specific number, and then receive property listing information, right on their smart phone. SMS would replace the hassle of printing and carrying fliers to every property site, producing a savings of both time and money, while still delivering a valuable service.
Advertising is only one aspect of an overall digital strategy. Many clients use their phones to look at property information online. For this reason, realtors should ensure that their websites are easily navigated with a smart phone, and that they do not publish too much Flash content. Additionally, good visuals on a website are important, and realtors may even consider adding a video element to their pages.
Of course, there are even less expensive alternatives for digital strategy. One idea is for realtors to list homes on real estate websites, like Zillow or Trulia. Both of these websites feature high-quality mobile applications, and are rich in visual features. Another idea is for realtors to use social media to communicate with their client base.
Real estate mobile marketing gives realtors new, fresh ways to reach out to potential clients. Web and phone-based services offer convenience to clients, at a low cost to realtors, thus helping them to recruit and retain more prospective buyers. Utilizing all of the capabilities of computers and smart phones allows realtors to match their services to the technological savvy of their client base.
How to Handle a Large Volume of Customer Inquiries and Sales with Style and Ease. The telephone is not just another household device. Today, most of the businesses around the globe have at least one phone within reach to handle a multitude of purposes. From simple customer inquiries to order taking and processing, businesses give their phone numbers to their customers to provide them with ease of access to their needs whenever possible. This is to allow consumers or clients to be given a sense of relief in contacting the company if they needed something. Customers no longer have to drive all the way to the establishment or even purchase airline tickets (for some) just to talk to a representative.
The telephone is there to give convenience to the business' consumers and clientèle. But how about if we look at it in the business' end?
Everyone knows that when the phone rings, chances are a person will answer it most of the time if the telephone is within reach. Simply put, if the device is allowed to ring for long people will get annoyed by the constant ringing and answer the call anyway. Again, when the device rings someone has to answer to cater to the needs of the customer or the prospect. For the representative, they have to stop all their tasks just to cater to one client.
A business works like a clock; if one cog will not function right then the entire timepiece will not work at all. Therefore, if one employee stops working just to cater to one client or prospect then the whole business itself might as well stop for that moment.
But what if there are a lot of customers calling at the same time?
Here lies the problem and challenge for many. To better resolve all known issues with regards to catering the needs of clients and customers over the phone, businesses may as well outsource to professional contact centers.
The services of contact center are always available whenever the need arises. Their aid is highly appropriate for those that cater to a large volume of calls per day through overflow call solutions. SMEs and even large business corporations would do well in acquiring these services.
For one thing, they no longer have to deal with the large volume of calls everyday while still being able to manage handling all the needs of the business' soon-to-be and existing purchasers. Calls can be redirected to a number of agents working in the contact center or inbound call center so that the client will not be placed on queue for a very long time.
These professionals are trained to help customers in their time of need for as long as their need is related to the business and nothing else. Inbound call centers make sure that their live operators treat each and every customer that call with due respect no matter how rude or how skeptic the purchaser may seem.
If the caller is a potential buyer, then the live operator can deal with the sale accordingly to the processes of the business. If the caller is already an existing customer, the live operator will then cater to his or her needs with utmost professionalism.
To outsource to these inbound call centers means the acquisition of a service that is trustworthy and fruitful for the business' end.
How To Make Your Online Business Progressive. This article is all about internet marketing, using the power of internet, a business owner can gain profits and be ahead of the competitors. Internet marketing is used to increase income and promote your own product in different sites. Internet marketing involves selling your product through email messages, as long as you have your own computer with an internet connection you can start working on your business. Negotiating with different clients via email is much easier, faster and hassle free. As an internet marketer, you must know on how to convince those who visited your website and your target audience. Show the advantages of the product, encourage the viewers to try on the product and tell them why they need it.
Internet marketing helps in increasing your sales, this is considered as the best strategy in order to make your product popular. Online marketer helps in increasing your sales, instead of hiring an advertising company which charges way too high prices for ads, lame commercials and billboards why not hire an online marketer? You’ll save more cash and the results are faster, expect to have increase of sales within a shorter span of time.
There are people who are expert in this field, they do know that taking your business online is not enough. The main goal of putting your business on the internet is to make it global, reach more people and make money online. You will need an online marketer who will make things easier for you. They provide virtual office, complete with the tools, training, technical support and other resources that your business needs. There are also mentors who will guide you in your business, these people are professional, backed up with vast knowledge and have a wide experience when it comes to business. Taking advises from these mentors is the key to become successful.
There are companies that help those who are in need of online marketers. A potential client must be referred, this is limited for qualified applicants only. Those who have potential are accepted. Not everyone can be accepted because the company wants to protect their integrity.
If you have an online business and you are selling a product or service, you must keep in touch with your visitors. Online marketers helps in communicating with your visitors by sending letters, emails regarding the benefits of the product and why they must acquire the product. Without follow – up, your business might be forgotten by the visitors, which only means you lose a client. As the owner you are too busy to handle all of these. Outsourcing will make things easier, let online marketers take some weight off your shoulders. All you have to do is count your profits and watch the sky rocketing sales of your product. Now that’s a way to have a successful online business!
High tech marketing for modest business enterprise. What is High tech marketing?
In a business market where senior managers have completely different consumer lifestyles than the younger talent, it’s time that everyone gets on the same page about marketing. Traditional marketing went along with the era of analyzing the daily newspaper-at the kitchen table and not on a mobile device. High tech marketing strategies can cover B2B marketing as well as what is targeted to end consumers. A high tech unified marketing plan will make sure that all of the high tech marketing platforms you choose to use will be monitored from a single place, with simple change controls.
High tech unified marketing can include outlets like facebook and twitter and other social media niches, as well as online spaces like blogs and community directories, search spaces and email marketing. Many high tech unified marketing experts recommend targeted SMS and mobile phone compatibility for increased conversions with B2B marketing. This might include gathering cell phone lists and texting out discounts, announcements, and important details to draw relevant attention. As many business owners have smart phones and other tablet devices, it’s an important part of your high tech unified marketing campaign to make sure that any email and website material as part of a B2B marketing initiative is formatted correctly.
What High Tech Unified Marketing Specialists can do
If you discover that you might be staying caught behind the tides in the marketplace, consider at least an initial conversation with a B2B marketingor High tech marketing specialist. Even if you do not choose a long term service contract, initial conversations can shed light on many areas where you can make some baby steps of your own. They can start by introducing you to any relevant lingo, examine your specific industry and see how competitors have found success with high tech marketing, and take a look at how to bring your current goals to play in a high tech unified marketing plan.
They will have teams of specialists. From traditional marketing and new media marketing insiders to tech teams to strategic planning managers, a high tech marketing firm will offer a host of resources that you would not be able to hire individually yourself.
Choosing to expose your business through inventive B2B marketing campaigns will draw new relationships and clients. It is at least worth your while to open the conversations with a high tech unified marketing specialist in your industry.
The Critical Aspects Of Social Media And Its Overall Effectiveness. Social media has established a prominent presence as form of marketing utilized by companies in countless industries worldwide. There are a variety of inherent factors that can prove to substantially increase a company’s brand equity and visibility, or possibly victimize a company’s reputation. The way in which a social media strategy is implemented and monitored can go a long way in determining its overall effectiveness. Today’s market features a wide array of consumers who have certain expectations of brands, products, and services. Discontented and social media savvy consumers are simply awaiting any opportunity to voice their opinions via Twitter, Facebook, and associated social channels. This makes it even more vital for a company to thoroughly research and consider what methods of social media are most appropriate and beneficial to their needs.
There are a number of steps that can be taken in order to avoid the aforementioned social media disasters that occur frequently in today’s online marketplace. The first involves being realistic and properly understanding the relationship between conversations on social networks and other types of customer interactions. The next step includes utilizing a multi-channel strategy for customer sales and service. While social media is quite effective, interactions taking place at brick and mortar locations, on toll-free lines, and during online customer service chats are also very important in providing a comprehensive view of consumers’ opinions. The following step focuses upon viewing your data and evaluating the technology that is currently in place in order to understand consumer behavior and the voice of the customer. The final measure that can be taken to avoid social media disaster is to have a designated employee that specializes in the customer experience delivery chain.
A company that does not currently possess a strong presence in social media does not have to fear making a huge investment in social media. There are a number of low cost options that can be practiced to make that initial leap into the realm of social media marketing. Starting a blog about relevant industry news, trends, or intriguing applications of your product line is an excellent way to embark into the world of social media. Creating a LinkedIn group, Facebook page, Twitter account, a customers-only discussion forum, or a YouTube channel can provide unique opportunities to present and inform users and fans alike of current company highlights and information.
The key to a company’s successful use of social media is all about the results and the ability to properly measure them. Industry analysts are publicizing self-service business intelligence as the so-called “golden child” of 2011. In terms of marketing, one area that could widely benefit from self-service BI is social marketing. There are a number of best-practices that can be employed in order to measure social media effectiveness using BI solutions. Mapping out the ideal marketing process flow that will best transform prospects into quality sales leads is an exceptional starting point. Another practice involves determining the online marketing initiatives and campaigns that will be implemented to attract and engage prospects. Selection of the appropriate outlets to use is quite important in safeguarding the effectiveness of these initiatives.
Each initiative that comprises the marketing plan must then have a pre-established audience profile, outreach, value proposition, and budget that you are willing to spend. The most appropriate set of keywords must then be identified to ensure optimal website content that is designed for those specific keywords. Identifying and adjusting paths on social networks, aligning the website experience with specific landing pages, and setting goals for desired actions are all best-practice techniques in order to ensure continuity. It is also vital to measure all of the initiatives that are being used at a given time to display your activity, outreach, engagement, and outcomes. An even more thorough approach includes tracking all the way through to incremental sales, revenue and gross profit that is derived directly from online marketing. Business intelligence allows insight at the appropriate times during your social media campaigns. It offers the ability to instantly alter campaign focus and direction. Social media marketing can greatly benefit from the use of business intelligence as marketers can produce and exhibit greater value in their social media outreach campaigns.
