Mobile Marketing from a Marketer

Mobile Marketing is a key component of our ExactTarget marketing mix. From capturing new leads, to driving brand engagement and delivering SMS alerts to our clients, mobile increases our return on our cross-channel marketing programs, and even cuts operational costs.

Filling the Funnel with SMS

Leveraging mobile as part of our marketing mix at events remains our most common use of SMS. The secret to success is simple – event attendees are concentrated, on the move, and almost always with a mobile device in hand (and often without quick access to a computer).

Over the past four years, we've tested almost every SMS/Event solution we can dream up...but we're always trying to push the boundaries to see if there's an even better approach. Here are some tips and tricks our past tests and successes have told us so far:

TIP: Start with a ‘Mobile Originated’ SMS message, beginning with someone texting-in a keyword and their email address to your short code. Make sure to be very clear about the value (and frequency) of what they will receive for providing this information.

AVOID: Keyword fatigue. Leverage keywords across multiple events. SMS and email messaging can be easily revised or refreshed to align with the latest event, but keeping the same keywords for more than one event at a time will improve internal adoption and external recognition. Limiting your keywords will also give you, the marketer, a manageable set of mobile messages so you can focus on keeping your content up-to-date and relevant.

ExactTarget USE CASE: Text RESEARCH youremail@domain.com to 38767 to receive ExactTarget’s latest SUBSCRIBERS, FANS, & FOLLOWERS research reports. You'll receive a one-time email and SMS response.

Ready for more? My next post will focus on leveraging Mobile to drive brand engagement.

In the meantime, take an in-depth look at five marketing scenarios, plus gain channel-by-channel analysis in The 2012 Channel Preference Survey.