MoBuzz

First I would like to give a huge Thank You to the Warriors Forum. I have been coming here for years and years and have gained so much useful information. So I finally decided to try and give a little back.

Here is the basic idea of how I am making $ with Mobile Marketing.

1. I offer A in house SMS plan, helping my client to build there own opt in list to send coupons to thru the use of table tents, flyers, QR codes and of coarse incorporating this into there current marketing. They receive 2 keywords and 500 texts to start. (nothing new here I know)

2. I offer them a free mobile website when they sign up on a monthly plan.(month to month with no commitments) It is free as long as we are working together, if they decide to opt out then they can purchase it for 199.00. (Again nothing new)

3. I create or optimize there Google Places add. Reviews, keywords in images, videos ect.

For this Package I charge 299.00 a month.

Although I was able to sign up a few decent clients I found that there was one common objection as well there was one mistake I found myself making.

First the mistake I was making was getting to excited about the tech behind what I was offering. Talking way to much about HOW IT WORKS and not enough about HOW IT WILL BRING IN CUSTOMERS. I have read it many times on this forum and it is worth repeating. THEY DO NOT CARE HOW IT WORKS, JUST SHOW THEM THAT IT WORKS.

The most common objection I faced was getting businesses to commit to a monthly fee when it WILL and DOES take time to build up an in house opt in list. In other words getting them paying a monthly fee in hopes of it working down the road is tough. They need to see the results. I had the following two choices as I seen it.

1. Give them a free month to build up there list which I do not like to do, it requires a lot of work and time on my end, and if the client does not follow thru on there end it can all be time wasted.

2. My second choice was to show them IMMEDIATE RESULTS. But how can you do this. Here's what I did. I created what I call Napa Mobile Deals. Napa is just the town I am in. I created flyers, a small website, word of mouth, offered select businesses a free text coupon for letting me put up a flyer in there biz, I put up a banner on a busy street ( i had a friend that owned a biz on the main st. in town so that helped) basically I did what it took to build up my own opt in list. I put text "Napa" to 12345 to get great deals and discounts from your favorite local businesses on everything. I also decided to donate 20% of all profit to the local food bank. Although I did honestly do that to try and help the community, I have to admit it really helped when talking about the program to prospects. So NOW I have my own opt in list, on top of the services I provide I can also show them immediate results by sending there coupon out upon sign up and paying for there first month.

Sorry for such a long post, just thought it may help someone, if not, my bad ; )

P.S.
I am now looking to take the program to the next town over

P.P.S.
Another mistake i made was not researching the SMS provider I chose to use. I very recently had to switch to a new provider which is ending up to be quite a pain

LIVE NOW

BrandyM

Awesome, I really like how much work you put into building your own list. I can see how that one coupon blast could help seal the deal. How many subscribers do you have? What SMS Platform were you using and who are you using now?

MoBuzz

I currently have about 1500, but its starting to grow pretty fast. I do not want to say what Platform I was using because I know how far one negative comment can go. But after countless hours of research and info overflow lol, i decided to switch to Lime Cellular. They just seemed to be the best overall fit for me.

tpcmedia

Good for you. I like the "immediate results" to seal the deal.

MoBuzz

Thank you, it is great to help close. What I like is that it gets them excited about building there own list. Meaning they will put more effort into it which will ensure they get the best possible results.

Eric S

Nice post... I'm working on a business plan for something similar for small to medium town mobile marketing. I wouldn't mind talking and bouncing some ideas off you sometime if you were up for it?!

Meyowza

Im working on building my list too. It's nice to have some weight to throw around when you have a power list already in hand.

CEO/Founder of MeYowza Inc. Get your FREE Mobile Landing Page & QR Code Generator w/ Analytics HERE.

SYSTEM I USE TO GENERATE LEADS FOR MY BUSINESS...MUST WATCH VIDEO HERE.

MoBuzz

Thanks, I would be glad to help any way I can.

Austin357

Nice idea and it seems like you worked out the initial bugs.

I've been playing around with my pricing model a bit too. We try to show them some quick results in week 1 or 2 with a coupon campaign or a killer deal so we could get immediate opt ins. Once they see 5,10, 20, 50 people opting in during a short period of time, then most of my customers have no problem paying our monthly fee. They just need to see it working for them.

rugman

Great job! OK - why not keep it the way you are doing it and build YOUR list and charge local businesses to send out a coupon to YOUR list? Don't take a % like screwpon does - charge a flat rate.

Growing older but not up!

MoBuzz

Thanks, I am still working out some of the bugs but I am getting there. You def have the rite idea, once you can get a client excited about building there list your home. The thing I love about SMS is that you do not have to worry about upselling because there monthly fee will naturally go up as there list grows.

MoBuzz

Thanks and yes that is exactly what I am doing. When someone opts in the auto response lets them know they will receive one text coupon a day at 4 pm. That means i can send 30 (depending on how many days in the month) coupons out to the list each month. That is 30 clients per list @ 300 per client = $9000 a month. I am planning to cut the list off at 2500 subscribers. Then i will start filling up the next list.. Rite now I am sending out one free coupon when a client signs up for our local marketing program, but if they want to send to it again they would have to pay. The program is still pretty new so I am still playing with the numbers to find the rite balance between our profit and the customers ROI.

mcfcok

I really like the sound of this building a list and doing it in a groupon kind of way but just charge a flat monthly fee etc, just one problem I can't get get my head around the best way of doing it :confused:

I must admit I haven't had any dealings with groupon type sites so not 100% how they work.... I'm aware they do it by email but how do you manage it? say in your first month you get 1000 people opt-in and you sign up say 10/15 businesses how do you manage it from there? Any tips/ideas would be great!

Thanks

Dave

MoBuzz

Hi Dave, if I had 1000 people opt in and signed up 15 businesses the first month (these are actually very close to my first month numbers) I would send out one coupon per client a month and charge them around 149.00. I would send out a coupon every other day. Once you reached 30 clients your list is maxed out. I would not text to any list more than once a day. Even once a day is pushing it but if they know exactly what time to expect the text and the OFFERS STAY STRONG it shouldn't be a prob.

There are just to many ways of building your list to name. If I had a very low budget I would say flyers and hitting the streets are your best bet, that and signing up everyone you know of coarse. Make sure you only sign up locals.

Mobilize

Hi MoBuzz

Great idea on building your own list and prove to clients they can get customers at will.

Do you send out the coupon to everyone on your Napa list? 10% of 2500 is a lot.
I'm thinking if the deal is really good, there will be hundreds of people lining up outside.
Maybe too much for the biz owner to handle and pisses off customer who might get turned down.

Just an idea... keep one list and send offers in batches, offer1 to first 1000 on your list, 2nd offer to the next 1000. This way you can send multiple offers in one day and have more than 30 clients.

Thanks

cubaman

Hi MoBuzz,

I want to get started with mobile marketing, but I don't know what company I should choose as a white label. What company are you using and do you have any other companies that might be a good start for me?

Thanks in advance,

Cuba

MoBuzz

Great point, currently my list is at about 1500 but growing steadily. Rite now I am sending out to everyone on the list and have not run into the issue you mentioned however at some point I am sure that I will. My current plans are to cut off the list at 2500 and start creating another list so that I can have more than 30 clients as you mentioned. It is a tough line to draw and the stronger the offer the more likely to face this problem. One way i am keeping this problem from taking place is to make the coupon valid for 15 days min thus spreading out the response flow.

MoBuzz

I did not do enough research in the beginning and signed up with a service that did not address all my needs as things started to progress. I recently changed over to Lime Cellular after tons of research as I found them to be the best fit for me. Currently I am experiencing problems with transferring my list over so I strongly suggest doing your research and choosing the best fit for your business. My second choice would have been avid.

MoBuzz

Curious as to where the last post went??

mcfcok

Me too Buzz, something about you can't build up a list like you are and send texts on behalf of other businesses? That really true? Confused!

MoBuzz

Exactly, I am thinking he misread what I am doing and deleted it himself. He prob thought I was mailing my coupons to the list my customers are creating which is not at all what I do. The list I create for Napa Mobile Deals is a completely separate list than those I help create for my clients. Napa Mobile Deals is just simply another business that I use under my platform to do SMS Marketing.

I do not see anything wrong with people opting in to receive deals from local businesses and me providing the platform to make it happen. BUT to be safe I will more than likely check into it and post my findings here.

mcfcok

Yes nice one mate, let us know!

TribalStyleMarketing

Great job! This is what I wanted to do, it's basically the Dan Hollings Groupon mini-method. Jason Lee has a nice WSO about it.

Congrats tho!

providence1877

This is the first time i heard about earning through mobile marketing, i found it interesting and so i took time to read all the comments posted but it gave me the idea that everyone here already knows how to do it and earn from it. Since i am a newbie in this forum and still working my way to find the best earning "thing" i could do online may i please ask what this is all about and how am i going to do it and earn from it too? Thanks!

providence1877

have you already earned from this?

MoBuzz

Hi, if you read the post on this thread I pretty much tell you exactly what I am doing. I am not sure exactly what you are asking. But YES you can def earn money with mobile marketing thru SMS campaigns and Mobile sites. Good luck in whatever you choose to pursue.

Mark Fromm

Hi MoBuzz,

You've got a great idea going hear but if I've got a key question to ask.

Are your clients sending out the same offer every month to the same subscribers? I'm thinking that unless it's a super deal that your subscribers would look for every month they would get tired of seeing the same offer month after month. Kind of what happens with coupon books and mailers.

Plus I'm also thinking that your clients would rather capture those customers for themselves once they come in the first time. One thing I've found with clients is they don't like to keep giving deals to the customers they've already got. They would rather increase the amount and frequency of purchase by those clients.

I guess what I see happening sooner than later is that your clients would drop out after one or two runs. Then you're constantly looking for new clients to fill one of those 30 spots.

Plus when you look at conversion rates if the list is only 2500 and they are getting texts everyday it's very likely that you would get on average only a .5% conversion rate which is only 12 people and most likely even lower than that unless it's a really super super deal. This is mainly because your list is receiving an offer everyday and will start to ignore it. 3-4 messages per month is the only way to keep them interested and engaged.

Not trying to be a downer but just realistic. With all the info out there about 97% open rates and 10% - 20% conversion rates clients will be disappointed right away and drop right out. You definitely don't want that to happen. Plus if clients start dropping out you'll end up with no funds to pay for your per message fees.

Plus in today's economy most people will subscribe but not be able to afford reacting to every offer. So worrying about breaking up the list because of hundreds of people showing up for the offer just won't happen.

Let us know how it goes for you in the next couple of months. I hope it does work for you though. If I think of anything to help I'll be sure to post it here for you.

Mark...

MoBuzz

Hi Mark, all very great questions. I am still trying to figure out how many of those things will work out as well. Here are a few of the ways I am planning on addressing those issues.

1. I plan to have a couple different list. For example if I have 3 different list and rotate them subscribers would only get an ad from the same business every three months. As well advertisers are sending to a new group each month.

2. I require the ad to be changed every month.

3. I only send out strong offers. When I discuss ROI with clients I talk to them in terms of a customers worth over 6 months or a year. Its my job to help them turn that new customer into a regular thru there in house SMS Program.

4. To follow up on number 3 we will set up an in house SMS campaign for them as well to create customer loyalty by sending them extra special offers once they have opted in thru their keyword.

5. I will also be sending out the occasional "text to win" for things like movie tickets, dinner for two ect to keep subscribers engaged.

The real purpose of Napa Mobile Deals is to show them how SMS can bring in customers and increase customer loyalty. Hopefully after 2 or 3 months they will have there own opt in list built (def will if i am doing my job) and they can focus on that.

Of coarse they can still mail out specials promotions if and when they want (as long as there is a spot open).

I do not mind working to keep those 30 spots full, after all I hope to have 100s of SMS Clients and having spots opening up will make that easier to reach. (i hope)

Again thanks for taking the time to write a well thought out post, I would love to here any ideas you might have.

MoBuzz

I should add that I wouldn't fully agree that people will get tired of seeing the same adds once a month, or atleast different offers from the same businesses once a month. Having worked as a sales manager for ValPak and the Money Mailer I can say the opposite is actually true. Clients that mailed once or twice did not receive the greatest results. In fact clients that committed to 6 month campaigns or longer see the best results. With the numbers starting to improve after 3 or four months. I am not saying that this is what will happen with my program More of just a general thought. The fact that my list will be 2500 compared to there mailings being a min of 10 000 per could be a huge difference. Hopefully the open rate swings it in my favor.

BizGrabbers

Remember that those paper coupons coming in the mail are received....what? at most once a month? And they come in the mail. not in a text message on a person's phone every day.

I agree that SMS coupons marketing is a great idea. Even after researching several different business ideas, I finally landed on SMS Marketing and Mobile Websites. By the way, I went with one company and quickly switched to Lime also. Their new mobile website builder is awesome. You just have to learn all it can do and don't take the basics as that's all.

After having said that, I would not want to be getting a coupon every day.

Maybe I'm wrong about the general population. I usually am.

Keep us informed about how you're doing. And Good Luck,

Mike

MoBuzz

Hey Mike, yes you are correct in that Valpak ect arrives once a month. Sending a text out to the list once a day may prove to be to much. That is def my biggest concern. I am trying to make the daily coupons less painful for subscribers by letting them know that they will receive the coupon around for pm everyday. If its a coupon they like they can just save the text., if not they can just delete it. As well I am trying to keep the offers very strong, buy one get one ect. I am also thinking of doing a weekly text to win contest, where subscribers can win a free dinner for two or movie tickets ect. I just have to do the math a little more to be sure that with the cost of the text and the give away to be sure it doesn't eat to much into the profit.

Either way I am sure in 6 months the program will look alot different than it does now because of adjustments that will need to be made. If in the end it does not work out but I get 30 more SMS clients along the way I would say it was still worth the effort. I am pretty good with retaining my clients so it should workout.

Did you have any problems switching your list over to Lime? Been a nightmare for me, not that it has anything to do with Lime.

BizGrabbers

I switched before I had any clients with the other company.

If I remember right, the other company we are talking about says that your list is yours, that own the list. Forgive me if I'm not right about that. But if that is the case, it seems that they should be able to simply provide you a file of the list and then you could upload them into Lime's platform.

MobileDave

This is my second post here and I think it's a brilliant idea. It creates more value for the community and the businesses. It's a great way to promote locally owned businesses.

MoBuzz

Thanks Dave I agree. The feedback from the community seems great so far.

Adwizard

MoBuzz,
I, like yourself have a long history in direct mail. I was mailing coupon magazines to nearly 1 million homes in northern Ohio since 1993. Your ideas are right on target... people who opt in are asking for your offers...don't be worried about sending to them. You obviously know the value of getting a good offer for everyone involved... keep it up!

I am doing with mobile something very similar as you are... I will "rent" out my list to some businesses but the ultimate goal being to help the businesses build their own list. Most don't realize their list is the most valuable asset they have in their business. It is my job to teach them how to keep their customers engaged.

Now... to solve the 30 client dilemma ... what is wrong with sending out a list of 5 different offers like this.

DO YOU WANT ANY OF THESE GREAT OFFERS? TEXT BACK THE KEYWORD TO 12345 AND WE WILL SHOOT IT STRAIGHT OVER... WE PROMISE!!!
1. $5.00 OFF LRG PIZZA from abc pizza - text PIZZA
2. FREE DINNER BOGO from abc restaurant - text BOGO
3. FREE PEDICURE with a manicure from abc nails - text NAILS
4. FREE HAIRCUT with any color from abc hair - text HAIR
5. $3.00 OFF CAR WASH from abc wash - text WASH

Send them 5 offers at a time and pray they text back wanting all 5 coupons!!!

I am working now on a method of collecting more targeted info on my opt ins so I can make my own list more valuable and effective... I.E. I can text for you Mrs. Prospect 700 women in your immediate vicinity between the ages of 40-50.

Hope this info helps you!

Ed

P.S. I have spent years putting valpak and money mailer franchisees out of business... ironic now I'm trying to help one. LOL

P.S.S. I'm sure you have seen just like myself the struggling local newspapers occasionally hit on a local deal of the day program that would work better than anything else they ever had. Coupon users... they DO WANT deals every day!

icellular01

Amazing, I really like how much perform you put into developing your own record. I can see how that one promotion fun time could help close off the cope. How many members do you have? What SMS Foundation were you using and who are you using now?

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MoBuzz

Hey Mark I received your PM but I do not have enough post to reply, if you shoot me your email I will get back to you.

MoBuzz

Hey thanks, that is actually a really good idea, I think I will test that out and see what the results are. I think timing is everything and with the economy the way it is the bad stigma of "couponing" (if that is even a word) is gone and almost everyone does it. People are actually anxious to get a deal. I think the key is, and it will never change, and that is making sure the offers are strong and the results will be good.

gcbmark20

How did you set everything up MoBuzz for you to be able to give this kind of service?

You should sell a course on this kind of knowledge you have, I have seen courses out there that don't talk about anything you have mentioned here today all they talk about is designing graphics and E-mailing local businesses with examples etc.

Great post

MoBuzz

Thank you.. I was thinking about putting something together, Either free or just enough to cover time and expenses. If anyone with experience putting together WSOs would like to partner hit me up ; )

fitlife

Hi MoBuzz,

Great post! I too set up a Lime cellular WL and am adding Mobile Marketing to our Consulting business. We mainly deal with businesses in the fitness, recreation, sports, health, and leisure verticles/industries.

I like your ideas regarding developing an opt-in list for a specific geographical area (e.g. town) and getting local business to buy into your service of developing a mobile coupon for them and texting it out once a month to that list.

My questions are:
1.) How long did it take you to develop that list of 1000 plus opt ins?
2.) Do you do that first before recruiting business clients or do you do both simultaneously?
3.) I would think that early on your opt-in list would only get a few texts a week until you've recruited enough business clients. Is that how it works - Opt ins start receiving a coupon at 4PM maybe twice a week, then 3 times, 4, and so on until it's once a day?
4.) Do you post ads in local newspapers to build your opt-in lists? (e.g. Text: 'keyword' to 12345 and receive one text message at 4PM each day offering freebies and discounts from local businesses)
5.) Where do you post flyers you mentioned in earlier posts?
6.) If you are recruiting business clients while you're developing your master opt-in list, what do you tell them (business owners) in regard to how many people will be receiving the mobile coupon you develop and text out for them - Do you just give them the current count?
7.) How do you prove you have a list - do you show them a report?

Anyway sorry for bombarding you with so many questions, but any help you can offer will be much appreciated. Plus, we are looking for some a guideline or template that we can follow in terms of how many text messages to offer a business, at what price, what we should charge for servicing them monthly, how many campaigns we should commit to and at what price. We don't want to over extend ourselves and be tied up with one client at a price that causes us to lose our shirt. We don't want to do too little for the client and charge too much either. Again, any help will be much appreciated. We will certainly pass it on once we're proficient enough at the business. There's a great saying, which is also a paradox which states: "In order to keep success you must give it away".

Look forward to your feedback or that from others as well.

Thanks,

FitLife

Bizdeal

MoBuzz, I agree with others that this is a great post. Thank you for sharing your experience and giving us so many good tips.

My first question also has to do with how you got the first people to sign up for your list. What did you offer to them to get them interested? Did you offer a special deal/discount from the start or simply a promise to receive future deals?

Secondly, how much are you charging the businesses to send their ad to your list and how did you arrive at that figure ($149?)? Has your price increased since your list is also growing? I am becoming interested in following your example but also would want to know how to price this service.

Thanks again and best of luck!

BTW I was near Napa last weekend. Had I read this before, I would have visited.

MoBuzz

1. It took me 3 or 4 weeks to hit the 1000 mark.

2. I first offered the service free to a few businesses in order to have coupons to send out during the list building process in the beginning. I had an advantage in that I have sold marketing services in my area for sometime now.

3. The first two weeks I did not send out a single coupon, just an auto response thanking them and giving the the launch date to expect to start receiving coupons.

4/5. No I am not a big fan of the newspaper, but I did put signs up in the businesses that I gave the initial free trial to. I used to work for a local radio station so I used that method. As well I am going to be offering the radio station a cut of the profit for any of there clients wanting to use my SMS service to make their ads more interactive. I just told them that either way I will be targeting their clients and they will have to work with me in incorporating my services either way, why not do it on the front end and get a %. Having done sales for them in the past they know I will follow thru. Waiting to hear back now, but looking good. I also had my kids go out and hand out flyers ect.

5. Yes I always give them a current count.

6. I will actually login and show them my list.

The bottom line is just get out there and spread the word, people seem to love the idea as coupons are "in"

MoBuzz

I simply promise them great deals on things they will actually want. not 5$ off a smog ect. It cost them nothing and is very easy to opt out if they decide it is not for them.

How much you charge is simply a matter of doing the math. Depends on what platform you are using ect. My main goal was and is to show them that SMS works and to set them up with there own in house plan. I want a residual income from them forever... In other words it is not really a stand alone product for me, although it could be.

fitlife

Thank You MoBuzz,

Sounds like we should call you MoBizz as you really seem to be in tune to some great ways to accomplish getting "More Business".

I plan to use a variety of methods to create a list for specific groups of towns and then get local businesses signed on for our coupon blasts. Thanks for taking the time to share your ideas and also answer my questions. I do believe you're creating some good karma by helping others. This will come back to you in a good way, mark my words

Later,

FitLife

Sharon Trainor

Hey MoBuzz

I am so glad I found your post, you have graciously shared so much valuable,
useful and informative knowledge regarding your own personal Mobile Marketing
methodology combined with other relevant and up to date info such as your
experience different SMS providers.

Thanks! You could package all of this info up into a great ebook
As someone else said above, I've gotten more out of your post than
I have gotten from some purchases.

Sharon Trainor

I also really like this (excerpt) idea very much, posted by Adwizard:

Now... to solve the 30 client dilemma ... what is wrong with sending out a list of 5 different offers like this.

DO YOU WANT ANY OF THESE GREAT OFFERS? TEXT BACK THE KEYWORD TO 12345 AND WE WILL SHOOT IT STRAIGHT OVER... WE PROMISE!!!
1. $5.00 OFF LRG PIZZA from abc pizza - text PIZZA
2. FREE DINNER BOGO from abc restaurant - text BOGO
3. FREE PEDICURE with a manicure from abc nails - text NAILS
4. FREE HAIRCUT with any color from abc hair - text HAIR
5. $3.00 OFF CAR WASH from abc wash - text WASH

Send them 5 offers at a time and pray they text back wanting all 5 coupons!!!

MoBuzz

It is a good idea but it means double the outgoing text thus double the cost for me...also instead of putting a coupon in their hand, you are giving them a chance to get 5 coupons in there hand... its a matter of doing the math and testing it.

P.S.
I would not want to trade more money in the short term for satisfied clients that give me 300 a month for the next ten years..

Adwizard

This really is a good string... anyone can take this info and do it exactly as we've discussed here. I cannot emphasize enough though and I'm glad MoBuzz that you stated it again... The main idea here is to get the businesses to develop their own list. I don't want to go out selling my list to prospects everyday to make a living. (Although when businesses use my list they always will want to again) The residual income that you will make in the long run is much more valuable from the clients and their lists. I consider myself an average person, like everyone else, and I like making money while sipping margarita's on the beach!

Do send out more than one offer at a time... three offers and your list is three times more likely to find something they will use and be thankful for being on your list for.

Wow MoBuzz... I just realized that I'm as lazy as most salespeople... lol

NerdGary

Mobile is the place to be .. period.

.::NATIVE ANDROID APP CREATOR SOFTWARE ::.