According to a report from the Australian Marketing Institute, almost 40% of Australian marketing executives are expecting their marketing budgets to grow in 2012, with advertising campaigns targeted at mobile devices.The report states that 46% of marketers are doing more marketing via mobile and SMS, up from 34% in 2009. The survey shows enormous potential for mobile marketing in 2012.The obstacles of mobile marketing continue to grow, QR codes have not become standard on mobile phones (and probably never will) and then there are the low-reach technological innovations such as location-based “check-ins”, apps, mobile websites, mobile payments and more! Most campaigns haven’t moved away from the simplicity of the text message.With this in mind, what are the 12 best SMS campaign tactics to take into consideration for 2012?1. SMS Sender ID – By making it clear who the message is from, the receiver is aware that it is a legitimate message and can see this before they open the message.2. Call to action – The text in your SMS that invites someone to respond.3. SMS action plan – What will you do when you get a response? Send another SMS?4. Personal context – Using a personal writing style such as “we” and “you”.5. Know your Audience – By understanding your demographic you won’t offend. If you’re sending an SMS to the elderly don’t use modern day “text talk” or you could choose to send Voice SMS.6. Personal significance – The receiver needs to be able to understand “why have you text my mobile phone?” As a rule of thumb, ensure the receiver is able to opt-out of your message.7. SMS appeal – What’s in it for me? What’s in it for person who you are sending the message to?8. Minimalism – Can your message be easily understood?9. Hyperlink – Got a lot to say and texting smart phone users? Then why not think about an integrated approach and include a hyperlink in your text, directing the receiver to a webpage. This is becoming increasingly more popular with the large number of smart phone users.10. Viral content – Include a deal to encourage recipients to pass your SMS onto their friends and family – spread your SMS much further than your database list.11. Choose the right time to send – Not too early, not too late – If you’re targeting Saturday shoppers, ensure the message if received before they have started planning their day.12. Choose the right SMS provider – Make sure that your SMS supplier delivers your messages quickly, so the messages are received when you want them to land. Do your research when choosing an SMS provider because some aggregators have message delays, making messages arrive in the middle of the night – causing annoyance.
