Mobile Marketing: Too Much Texting?

(Editor’s Note: Today’s post is by Ashley Spade, part of our “Consumer Viewpoint” guest post series about all things mobile)

While you may want to receive a timely text alerting you of half-price Snow Cones for the next 45 minutes just as much as the next person, we’re all hesitant to sign up. Maybe we had a bad experience with signing up for Snow Cone Land and receiving 12 texts an hour. We might be jaded from too many Facebook notifications from businesses or a pile-up of tweets about deals on flavored popcorn.

Whatever the reason, people may not be too hip to the idea of giving out their cell phone numbers at the drop of a hat. Fair enough. But, if you’re a business and you want to use text message marketing responsibly, here are a few tips to help you please consumers, and keep them coming back for more.

Good Ideas

The Team Approach:
Combining your text message marketing with other forms of mobile marketing like social media and email marketing is more effective for reaching customers and it means that you can update less via text. You can send out a text or two here and there, with deals, but also pointing back to your social media and email.

 Controlled Updates:
Moderation is key when it comes to mobile marketing. People want updates, but not too many. Men and women between the ages of 25 and 35 are most likely to sign up for a text marketing campaign. Chances are that these people are smartphone users, busy and well connected. If you send too many updates, gimmicky promos and irrelevant content, they’ll opt out as quickly as they opted in.

Timely Updates:
People sign up for text marketing with the expectation that they’ll get the timeliest updates possible. With the amount of time we spend glued to our phones, taking advantage of half-price Snow Cones for the next 45 minutes isn’t hard with the right information in our hands at the right time. Send updates that are both timely and relevant to your business.

Bad Ideas

Too Many Updates:
The number one, proven method of getting yourself un-friended, un-followed, unsubscribed or blocked is over-sharing. With all the information on web we have to take in, reading novella length Facebook status updates, 39 consecutive tweets or 7 text messages is just too much. Limit your text updates to several per week for regular circumstances. If you’re doing event coverage, the number will obviously be much higher, as users expect it to be.

 Irrelevant Information:
Keep your updates strictly relevant to exactly what you’ve advertised. If you promised Snow Cone deals and updates, don’t repeatedly ask users to sign up for pizza coupons.

Phone Spam:
In line with over-sharing and sending out irrelevant information, sending spammy messages will have you quickly black-listed. Be honest and straight-forward with your promotions. If the pizza coupons are honestly a good deal, just say so but keep references to a minimum. Avoid using too many exclamation points, or promising deals that aren’t true.

Whatever approach you take, always follow the golden rule of marketing: treat consumers the way you’d like to be treated.

About the Author:
Ashley Spade is a law student in Chicago. When not pulling all-nighters at the library, she spends her time scouring thrift stores for vintage fashion treasures, reading case briefs while on the treadmill at the gym, and volunteering for local animal shelters. Follow the adventures of Ashley and her furry sidekick, Sir Winston Pugsalot the First, on twitter: @ashspade or check out her fashion blog: www.beltsandbangles.com