I would love to offer direct outreach services to my clients using fancy-cool delivery-vehicles such as texts, but I am scared. People freak out when you text them out of nowhere, even if you’re a friend. So, be really careful about the following information:
“More than half of the nation’s 230 million cellphone users are involved in text messaging, making the cellphone a major new marketing media for corporate brand-building campaigns, as well as a rapidly growing tool to drive consumers to company web sites.” Via EarthTimes
I love the theory of marketing via SMS (text messaging)! However, I am leery because even with opt-in and double-intentional-opt-in, the tolerance for marketing text messages is even more insanely low than the intolerance folks have for marketing email.
I personally receive around 500-750 emails/day and never understand why people who receive 20 freak-the-hell out. That’s not my issue, that’s for a licensed therapist.
What is my issue is is that if I were to recommend a text messaging campaign at all, I would recommend you use it only once and then ask for explicit opt-in approval every time thereafter; otherwise, you’re so screwed and, unlike email direct messaging, recipients of even a perceived spam text have their carrier for recourse and they can enforce much unhappiness your way.
With SMS marketing, you need to act like you’re speaking to either an ADHD preschooler or a husband: you need to ask three times, remind three times, and then ask again three times.
Only through constant reinforcement will you build a relationship and a memory as to why you’re sending texts to their phone inbox. Even then, the trust you build will be fickle, fragile, and a single perceived abuse will result in all of your trust-relationship being thrown into the chipper.
Chris,
Maybe I’m nuts, but who are all these folks text messaging?
Most of the decision makers in my life (I provide marketing and growth consulting to businesses) range in age from 45 – 65. Reading text messages, let alone writing one, is extremely challenging.
Furthermore, the baby boomer generation has more expendable income than any other. How many of them would begin to consider text messaging as something they would use or read?
I think, for now, text messaging as a marketing tool comes with lots of caveats.
They’re text messaging the children of those 45-65-year-olds, Lewis, that’s who.
Don’t send out text messages to your list without asking. Run a promote and let them sign up for the messages through the short code. Then they can opt out at anytime.