Mobile Marketing tips for Small Businesses

Written by Chris Smith


Continued from page 1

While onrepparttar subject of privacy, you must ensure that when you do market to people via their mobiles, you give them a way of opting out of receiving further communications from you. Allow them to text you back withrepparttar 119607 word ‘Unsubscribe’ or ‘stop’, for example.

>>What’srepparttar 119608 best way to collect mobile numbers? The simplest way to get customers’ mobile numbers is to ask them. If you run a bricks and mortar business, ask customers for their numbers when you are talking to them or in your newsletter, brochure, advertising or direct mail. Similarly, if you run an online business servingrepparttar 119609 local area, ask them for their number when they inquire or purchase or when you email them. If necessary, incentivize customers to give you their number by, for example, running a competition or draw and offering a prize.

Bear in mind that if you are a small business, mobile marketing using text messages will work best if you are targeting your local market. If you run, say, a dry-cleaning business, there is little point marketing to people onrepparttar 119610 other side ofrepparttar 119611 country.

>>How can my business use mobile marketing? It depends on your business but, for example, you could use it to inform customers of new product ranges that may be of interest to them, or special offers and special events. Or you could invite them to participate in a competition. Just make sure your messages are targeted.

>>What does mobile marketing cost? Mobile marketing costs are low – it doesn’t cost a lot to send a text message. However, costs may vary depending onrepparttar 119612 mobile network used. Talk to your phone company.

>>What should I say in my message? The message length available to you is 160 characters so plan your messages carefully, keep them brief and torepparttar 119613 point and make each word count. Include a call to action in each message such as “call now” or “come intorepparttar 119614 shop now” (andrepparttar 119615 opt-out instructions).

>>I’m still not sure… If you are not sure whether mobile marketing will work for your business, why not try it and see. A small campaign will cost very little (especially compared with something like direct mail) and your business could be in for a pleasant surprise as a result.

Chris Smith is involved with Mano Design ( http://www.mano-design.com ) - a Vancouver Design and Marketing agency and is also a freelance copywriter.


The Great Direct Marketing Conundrum

Written by Daegan Smith


Continued from page 1

  • Telemarketing: For telemarketing you can userepparttar same list as for your direct mailers. Take care to suitrepparttar 119606 message to a telephone call; keep it short and conversational. Telemarketing, by far gets yourepparttar 119607 quickest result. One phone call can get your sales team appointments for demos or a meeting to talk about your company. Another valuable response it can get you is a confirmed negative answer. This will help you fine-tune your list better and not waste any more time or money in trying to contact a person who really doesn’t need your services or is plain not interested.

  • Postcards: One ofrepparttar 119608 biggest advantages of using postcards is its “openness”, literally. Use compelling and creative copy on postcards. Team it up with visual content, and nine times out of ten,repparttar 119609 receiver is more likely to give it a read rather than dump it inrepparttar 119610 bin immediately. It is an effective and a very affordable way to contact and keep in touch with your existing and potential customers.

  • Email: Withrepparttar 119611 WWW beingrepparttar 119612 life source of home businesses, can you ignore email? It is easilyrepparttar 119613 most affordable and time saving direct marketing tool, that can get your message across to thousands of people and allow them to respond just as easily. Decide onrepparttar 119614 copy very carefully, so that it stands out above allrepparttar 119615 junk mail that account holders receive every day. You can buy mailing lists, again from list brokers. Fine-tune your message so as to be able to pack inrepparttar 119616 most relevant information in a short paragraph. Add visuals, links to your website and contact information. This should include a phone and a fax number a postal address and a contact person’s name.

    Before you begin a direct marketing exercise, spend considerable time on evaluating what tools would berepparttar 119617 best for your business; effective but not cost-prohibitive; how would you tailor your message for brochures, mailers, emails etc., so as to break away fromrepparttar 119618 clutter and maximize impact. Once you are through with this, spend time on creatingrepparttar 119619 mailing list withrepparttar 119620 right names. If you are able to bring downrepparttar 119621 cost of your direct mailing exercise to even 30 cents, but have a mailing list of 20, 000 people, all wrong names…. every cent has gone downrepparttar 119622 drain! Someone once said, “There is a difference between Efficiency and Effectiveness. Efficiency is doingrepparttar 119623 right thing, but Effectiveness is doingrepparttar 119624 thing right!” So work at making an effective direct marketing plan and see your business expand and become financially more robust.

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