How do you set up a SMS campaign for a local business?

him77 · 11th Apr 2012, 02:21 PM

I was just interested on how you guys set these things up?
I was going to focus on point of sale methods, but I was also going to add table tops, displays, and special offers to get the numbers. Does anyone have a layout or a outline in general of how to do this in a better or more organized fashion?

beeswarn · 11th Apr 2012, 02:48 PM

Yes. Have signage, but don't expect signs to work as well as you want them to. We're all accustomed to ignoring them. Your clients must train their employees to encourage people to sign up.

SMS works exceedingly well when the following two conditions are met

1. You have a large list of people to market to
2. You send compelling offers to the list.

worthapennyseo · 11th Apr 2012, 03:28 PM

What's SMS guys?

beeswarn · 11th Apr 2012, 04:04 PM

SMS = Short Message Service, or text messaging. In this case we're speaking about sending marketing messages via SMS

WillR · 11th Apr 2012, 06:44 PM

The best way to do this is to have a little sign near your checkout. You then prompt your employees to say to the customer just as they are about to pay... "Hey, have you seen this promotion we are running. If you text 'Discount' to this number, I will give you 10% off this bill right away."

How many people do you think are going to say not to an instant discount?

This also means you are building your list full of ONLY those people who have already spent money at your business. This is the best type of list to build. A buyers list. Don't waste your time trying to target those who have never bought anything from you before. Repeat buyers are the livelihood of any successful business.

xlfutur1 · 12th Apr 2012, 01:26 PM

Drawings are good ways to collect numbers. I have a pizza client that gives away a large pizza every week to one mobile subscriber. Works great.

DigiMan · 12th Apr 2012, 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by WillR

This also means you are building your list full of ONLY those people who have already spent money at your business. This is the best type of list to build. A buyers list. Don't waste your time trying to target those who have never bought anything from you before. Repeat buyers are the livelihood of any successful business.

As usual, Warriour Will, thou art the guru of Mobi Mkting...and TY very much for another excellent insight.

Your fan & WSO customer,
DigiMan

WillR · 12th Apr 2012, 06:25 PM

Originally Posted by xlfutur1

Drawings are good ways to collect numbers. I have a pizza client that gives away a large pizza every week to one mobile subscriber. Works great.

Drawings like this can be good but just remember the type of person you are attracting. This has been one of the problems with Groupon and other coupon websites. They have literally put many businesses out of business.

Sure, they attract a large amount of people through the door to try your product or service but the type of person they are attracting are those who are always looking for special deals and coupons and won't buy from you again unless they get one. These are not the type of customers you want to build your business around. I would much rather build a list of people who have purchased from me in the past.

If you wanted to have some type of giveaway competition then I would promote it only to those who are paying for their regular order.

"Hey, thanks for buying from us. We have just created this special VIP pizza club for only our best customers. We give away a free large cheese pizza every day and also hold special pizza tasting nights when we are testing new flavors. Just text 'YES!' to 1234 and we will add you to the list. All I ask is you don't spread that around please as this is only for our best customers."

Do you think that would work?

Mark Fromm · 12th Apr 2012, 08:55 PM

Originally Posted by WillR

Drawings like this can be good but just remember the type of person you are attracting. This has been one of the problems with Groupon and other coupon websites. They have literally put many businesses out of business.

Sure, they attract a large amount of people through the door to try your product or service but the type of person they are attracting are those who are always looking for special deals and coupons and won't buy from you again unless they get one. These are not the type of customers you want to build your business around. I would much rather build a list of people who have purchased from me in the past.

If you wanted to have some type of giveaway competition then I would promote it only to those who are paying for their regular order.

"Hey, thanks for buying from us. We have just created this special VIP pizza club for only our best customers. We give away a free large cheese pizza every day and also hold special pizza tasting nights when we are testing new flavors. Just text 'YES!' to 1234 and we will add you to the list. All I ask is you don't spread that around please as this is only for our best customers."

Do you think that would work?

Spot on as always WillR! That's the stuff that works.

Mark...

mrtrance · 28th Apr 2012, 05:07 PM

Originally Posted by WillR

The best way to do this is to have a little sign near your checkout. You then prompt your employees to say to the customer just as they are about to pay... "Hey, have you seen this promotion we are running. If you text 'Discount' to this number, I will give you 10% off this bill right away."

How many people do you think are going to say not to an instant discount?

If it is a sit down restaurant then this would work when the server brings them their check and gives the same message as above correct? Or right before they bring the check and asks if there is anything else they need and when they say no they can throw the 10% discount offer and then go to get their check with the 10% taken off?

I think another idea I read here I think is if say you had a party of 4 come in for dinner the server can offer them a free appetizer if each persons joins their VIP club by texting the keyword to the shortcode. This way you get 4 optins instead of 1 if that one person is the only paying for the bill.

What do you guys think?

TrumpiaTim · 28th Apr 2012, 05:36 PM

Great ideas already listed in this thread, but a simple way is to ask how business owners are currently marketing. From there, take their existing marketing strategy and add mobile keywords to it. For example direct mail, table tops, yellowpages, radio spots, etc.

This is less imposing and it allows you business owners to start going mobile with their current strategy.

patking76 · 29th Apr 2012, 11:25 AM

Originally Posted by TrumpiaTim

Great ideas already listed in this thread, but a simple way is to ask how business owners are currently marketing. From there, take their existing marketing strategy and add mobile keywords to it. For example direct mail, table tops, yellowpages, radio spots, etc.

This is less imposing and it allows you business owners to start going mobile with their current strategy.

Trumpia kicks ass! I use them for my company! Best service available hands down!

hoffman · 29th Apr 2012, 11:23 PM

Firstly decide what type of SMS campaign you need. Use broadcast text messages to share a single message with your audience. Alternatively, set up a campaign allowing people to enter contests, participate in voting or surveys or make purchases or donations.

xlfutur1 · 30th Apr 2012, 07:24 AM

one thing that you need to find out is how these types of promotions integrate with the client's POS software. Keep in mind that they will need to be able to track everything from an accounting standpoint, and if they have every waitress and waiter arbitrarily giving 10% off every order, it could turn into an accounting nightmare.

One thing you could do after opt in is have the sms sent back with an URL to a reedemable mobile coupon. Then the coupon can be redeemed only once right then and there and the client will be able to track the redemptions. They only get the coupon when they opt into the list.

11th Apr 2012, 02:21 PM	#1
him77 HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2011 Posts: 281 Thanks: 186 Thanked 26 Times in 11 Posts	How do you set up a SMS campaign for a local business? Share on: I was just interested on how you guys set these things up? I was going to focus on point of sale methods, but I was also going to add table tops, displays, and special offers to get the numbers. Does anyone have a layout or a outline in general of how to do this in a better or more organized fashion?

11th Apr 2012, 02:48 PM	#2
beeswarn Advanced Warrior Join Date: 2011 Location: USA Posts: 550 Thanks: 228 Thanked 166 Times in 108 Posts	Re: How do you set up a SMS campaign for a local business? Share on: Yes. Have signage, but don't expect signs to work as well as you want them to. We're all accustomed to ignoring them. Your clients must train their employees to encourage people to sign up. SMS works exceedingly well when the following two conditions are met 1. You have a large list of people to market to 2. You send compelling offers to the list.

11th Apr 2012, 03:28 PM	#3
worthapennyseo Porntunate Member Join Date: 2012 Posts: 15 Thanks: 2 Thanked 1 Time in 1 Post	Re: How do you set up a SMS campaign for a local business? Share on: What's SMS guys?

11th Apr 2012, 04:04 PM	#4
beeswarn Advanced Warrior Join Date: 2011 Location: USA Posts: 550 Thanks: 228 Thanked 166 Times in 108 Posts	Re: How do you set up a SMS campaign for a local business? Share on: SMS = Short Message Service, or text messaging. In this case we're speaking about sending marketing messages via SMS

11th Apr 2012, 06:44 PM	#5
WillR Digital Marketer War Room Member Join Date: 2010 Location: Australia Posts: 12,472 Thanks: 1,984 Thanked 8,187 Times in 4,079 Posts	Re: How do you set up a SMS campaign for a local business? Share on: The best way to do this is to have a little sign near your checkout. You then prompt your employees to say to the customer just as they are about to pay... "Hey, have you seen this promotion we are running. If you text 'Discount' to this number, I will give you 10% off this bill right away." How many people do you think are going to say not to an instant discount? This also means you are building your list full of ONLY those people who have already spent money at your business. This is the best type of list to build. A buyers list. Don't waste your time trying to target those who have never bought anything from you before. Repeat buyers are the livelihood of any successful business.
	. ➨ Here's How to Make Your First $177 Online This Week Using the Piggyback Method... .

12th Apr 2012, 01:26 PM	#6
xlfutur1 Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: 2005 Location: Michigan Posts: 1,112 Thanks: 13 Thanked 249 Times in 154 Posts	Re: How do you set up a SMS campaign for a local business? Share on: Drawings are good ways to collect numbers. I have a pizza client that gives away a large pizza every week to one mobile subscriber. Works great.

28th Apr 2012, 05:36 PM	#11
TrumpiaTim www.trumpia.com War Room Member Join Date: 2011 Posts: 824 Thanks: 2 Thanked 65 Times in 58 Posts	Re: How do you set up a SMS campaign for a local business? Share on: Great ideas already listed in this thread, but a simple way is to ask how business owners are currently marketing. From there, take their existing marketing strategy and add mobile keywords to it. For example direct mail, table tops, yellowpages, radio spots, etc. This is less imposing and it allows you business owners to start going mobile with their current strategy.
	[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC] www.Trumpia.com Trumpia: The Most Completed SMS Text Messaging Software & API Solution.

29th Apr 2012, 11:23 PM	#13
hoffman Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2012 Posts: 59 Thanks: 2 Thanked 6 Times in 6 Posts	Re: How do you set up a SMS campaign for a local business? Share on: Firstly decide what type of SMS campaign you need. Use broadcast text messages to share a single message with your audience. Alternatively, set up a campaign allowing people to enter contests, participate in voting or surveys or make purchases or donations.

30th Apr 2012, 07:24 AM	#14
xlfutur1 Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: 2005 Location: Michigan Posts: 1,112 Thanks: 13 Thanked 249 Times in 154 Posts	Re: How do you set up a SMS campaign for a local business? Share on: one thing that you need to find out is how these types of promotions integrate with the client's POS software. Keep in mind that they will need to be able to track everything from an accounting standpoint, and if they have every waitress and waiter arbitrarily giving 10% off every order, it could turn into an accounting nightmare. One thing you could do after opt in is have the sms sent back with an URL to a reedemable mobile coupon. Then the coupon can be redeemed only once right then and there and the client will be able to track the redemptions. They only get the coupon when they opt into the list.