4 Tips for Text Marketing Beginners

You’ve started your new journey of communicating with your customers via text message and like many new software and marketing programs, the task of being successful can seem daunting. But our team is here to help you be successful. Below are 4 quick tips to get you on the path from a beginner to an expert in no time. 1. Be patient while build your text club list. Text marketing is powerful because once you send your text message, almost every customer will read it within just a few short minutes. The challenge is everyone starts with 0 customers to text.

Be patient and set goals to build the list over time. If you are a brick and mortar business with multiple locations, I’d recommend 150 new subscribers per month per location. Within a year you’ll have 1800 customers you can text. With the low open rates of e-mail, this would be like having 9,000 customers signing up for your e-mail club.

2. Ways to build your text club list.

Start by creating SMS Keyword campaigns and market through your social media pages and website. An SMS keyword is a unique word you promote for your customers to opt-in to receive text messages from your company. Your customers text your unique keyword to our shared shortcode 91681 and then they are asked to reply YES to confirm they want to receive text messages. Quick video tutorial below:

We recommend creating a different SMS keyword for each of the different places you plan to promote it. For example, create one for Facebook and send out an enticing Facebook post asking your customers to opt-in. If you can offer a product discount, this is the best way to get a quick response. By creating different keyword campaigns, you are able to track your different forms of marketing.

If you have a brick and mortar store, you can also order marketing materials from our website under Marketing Tools. We have several designs to choose from and you can quickly order table tents, posters, postcards and much more.

For brick and mortar businesses, we have a sign-up kiosk that can go at the front door, hostess station, or checkout counter. This is the number one way our brick and mortar customers consistently build their list. Below is an image of the kiosk.

3. Always add value.

Your customers signed up to receive texts from you, so you should start regularly communicating to your customers via text message immediately. We recommend planning your messages out a month in advance and sending a message every 7-10 days to keep your customers engaged and active. Don’t just send generic messages. Make sure you add value to your customers. Value could be discounts, new inventory arrival, or even a reminder of trivia night. CLICK HERE to download our marketing calendar for ideas.

You can also use drip text campaigns which can be created under Auto-Responders in your TL Connects account. Auto-responders can include birthday messages, anniversary messages, lost customer messages, and many more custom ones.

4. What is the difference between SMS and MMS?

SMS is a text message with a max of 160 characters and does not include an image. MMS is a text message with a max of 640 characters and can include a picture or animated gif.

We have all heard the saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words” and text message marketing is no different. Pictures do a much better job of getting your customers excited about you, your brand, and your products or services.

Happy Texting!