Mowing the Digital Landscape

Are you hesitant to send text message ads? You’re not alone. R.J. Talyor, product marketing manager for the digital marketing firm ExactTarget says that “The cellphone is the last area that a person feels is still private. The people who have your cellphone number are typically your friends and family, so people are wary to give out numbers to people they know will market to them.”

So what can be done to alleviate this fear and to leverage the power of the mobile medium? The New York Times columnist Claire Cain Miller interviewed industry professionals on this very topic right after the record setting Obama VP text message went out. Based on what Ms. Miller found (no relation), she compiled the following list of best practices and lessons learned:

1. Use text messaging only for ads that are urgent and portable.
2. Keep your messages succinct and simple and include a specific call to action.
3. Be wary of timing.
4. Create buzz that spreads beyond the person who receives the alert.
5. Since consumers have to pay their cell phone providers to receive text messages, be careful not to send too many unwanted texts.
6. Advertisers should get clear permission from users before sending them text messages.

Sounds easy, right? Finding a way to get permission to send out your message to someone’s cell phone remains a challenge. And if you are a lucky enough to get the precious opt-in permission, don’t take it for granted. Save only your most urgent calls to action for a mobile campaign. Or risk having your opt-in pulled out from under your feet.

For a CliffsNotes version of the basics of mobile marketing, check out the following video: