The SMS Marketing Blog

One of the biggest challenges of coming up with awesome SMS Marketing messages every single day is...well...coming up with awesome SMS Marketing messages every single day. What used to be exciting becomes a grind, and the temptation to just throw out something uninspired can become overwhelming. When you're in that space, consider some of these techniques to get reinspired for SMS greatness.

• Make Time For SMS "Pencil Tapping"
  Because it takes so little time, it's easy to relegate your SMS creativity to the spaces between other tasks. This not only leaves you with insufficient time, but often adds stress and time pressure to the process. Instead, block out time to come up with a week worth of SMS ideas at once...and defend that time as vigorously as any other appointment. 
• Protect Your Ideas
  Promise yourself you will never cross out an idea during a creative session. Once you've generated ten or twenty, you can then eliminate or change the ideas that weren't right for the job. But if you judge your ideas as you come out, you'll end up judging those ideas before you explore them fully. 
• Take a Walk
  A little exercise stimulates your brain and gives you time to let your creative side ramble a bit. A quick walk around the block or up and down the stairs at the office can give you that exercise, or you can schedule your devoted creative time for after a workout. If you know that's the schedule, you'll already be noodling during your gym time. 
• Focus on the Small
  One major roadblock to creativity and motivation is becoming intimidated by the size of the task at hand. If you're having trouble getting started, focus on a small thing -- like a single line or choosing what product to promote -- to get moving. Once you've finished that first task, you'll have established enough momentum to carry you through the rest of the day. 
• Cheat and Steal
  If you're absolutely out of ideas, churn through your most successful broadcasts for ideas you can reuse and repurpose...of go through broadcasts from merchants you follow, or even your competition. You don't have to reinvent the wheel with every post, and once you've repurposed one broadcast you'll have primed those creative pumps enough to keep going on your own. 

What do you do to stay creative when the ideas aren't coming? Tell us your best techniques in the comments below.

Owning a small business means working with a smaller budget than larger organizations. This means cutting corners in some departments, and doing without the bottomless supply closet you'd find in a major corporation.

Even though you can't buy every new business gadget on the market, a few tools you simply can't do without:

1. A Calendar. Any Calendar.
   Given how little time small business owners have, and how many demands get placed on that time, it's amazing how many still try to make it through life without a calendar and schedule. It doesn't matter whether it's a paper wall calendar, an advanced paper planner or one of the hundreds of electronic versions. Your life will be better once you're using one. 
2. ELance and oDesk
   Small businesses lack the budget to hire full-time staff for every task. ELance and oDesk are hubs for freelance professionals looking for gigs. You'll be able to choose from outsourcing tasks to cheap labor to finding local professionals to do the job. Prices stay low because of the competitive environment.
3. Hootsuite and/or Mailchimp
   Hootsuite lets you plan and time posts to various social media platforms. Mailchimp helps you organize and run email lists and broadcasts. In both cases, these tools cut much of the scut work out of your marketing communications, freeing your time to make sure all of your communications are brilliant. 
4. A Smart Phone
   Yes, you can get by with a regular cell phone. No, that regular phone won't coordinate your communications between your phone, text, email, calendar and social media. It won't let you read reports while waiting in line at the bank. It doesn't let you use the countless apps designed to make running a business easier. If you can afford smart phones for your whole team, it's usually worth the investment. 
5. Google Analytics
   Google's analytics service analyzes keyword and website performance to help you figure out how good a job your web team is doing. Without its metrics, your web marketing is pretty much a shot in the dark. If your business model relies heavily on web promotion, you should invest in Market Samurai, the upgrade for-pay version of this concept. 
6. Square
   If you remember the bad old days of leasing credit card machines and paying exorbitant processing fees, you love Square even if you've never heard of it. This is a small attachment you plug into your iPhone that lets you process credit cards anywhere you go. Combined with an order tracking app that connects to your bookkeeping, it replaces between three and five 20th-century tools. 

Readers, what tools save your bacon every day? Tell us about them in the comments below...

Spring has definitely sprung in most parts of the country. Although everybody and their uncle will be shooting out SMS broadcasts about Mother's Day and Memorial Day, the most effective SMS Marketing will be a little more unique.

Try these templates for seasonal SMS to put a little spring in the step of your bottom line for the month.

1. Here Comes the Rain Again
   If you live in part of the country that gets lots of May showers, make a game of it. Hold contests for the best rainbow pictures, or offer discounts based on how many inches of rain came down the day before. You'll be topical and local while simultaneously fostering that sense of community people feel during inclement weather.
2. Fun Running
   May marks the beginning of the fun run/triathlon/adventure race season in many states. It's the first month that's really warm enough for casual athletes. Celebrate success by sending out a coupon for anybody who brings in a runner's bib. You can also reverse the idea by having customers text in their race times. Post them on a whiteboard or other sign indoors, and give a deal to everyone who participates.
3. Those Other Holidays
   Every month has its share of "junior varsity" holidays, and May is no exception. A little imagination will make these broadcasts both educational and profitable. Some lesser-known May holidays include
   • Lost Sock Memorial Day (9th)
   • National Dance Like a Chicken Day (14th)
   • Visit Your Relatives Day (18th)
   • National Hamburger Day (28th)
4. Take Them Out to the Ball Game
   Spring sports season is in full swing at your local high schools, meaning there's a ball game every week the people in your neighborhood care about. Post current scores, or offer a deal when the home team wins. The same goes for other spring sports like track & field, golf and tennis.
5. Gardening Time
   Though the hard-core gardeners have been raising plants in their garages all winter, May is the month the rest of us get working on our yards and gardens. You don't have to run a landscaping business or home improvement center to make relevant SMS. Even a bar can offer a half-price drink for people with dirty knees.
6. School's Out For Summer
   Late May is when the earliest releasing school districts close up shop for the summer. If your business deals with children or youth, a countdown series all month long will be well-received. If you deal mostly with parents, a series of deals to help prepare for the added hassles might succeed.

Share what you do with your May SMS below. Bonus points for photos of your National Dance Like a Chicken Day picture contest.

Not every boss is as tech-friendly as you are, and even those who are might be enamored with social media or pay-per-click options. Whether your job depends on solid SMS engagement, or you just think it's a good idea, here are a few arguments to get The Man (or The Woman) on board.

SMS Marketing is...

Immediate: People respond immediately when they receive a text message, even if it's just to glance and forget it. Smart texting includes SMS polls, contests and short-term offers to test just how many people are engaging with the message. That means you know the same day what messages work and which don't. Compare that to the fire-and-guess methodology of yellow pages, broadcast and print advertising.

Inexpensive: If you have an in-house expert handle things, SMS is almost literally free -- it just costs the time your team spends generating content, managing subscribers and checking results. If you do hire an outside service to manage your broadcasts, the cost per impression still comes in far lower than most other media.

Measurable: Measuring ROI on advertising is hard. There's time lag, confusion about which message made the sale, and the nebulous concept of "brand recognition." With SMS, you have a daily report of specific numbers to show what percentage of subscribers saw, responded to, shared or engaged with your message. Combined with the immediacy of the reports, you can fine-tune your SMS campaign at a level that's unique among marketing modalities.

Scalable: Even with bulk discounts, it costs much more to send 5,000 mass mailings than to send 500. Not so with SMS. With the right plan, the cost can literally be the same as you grow your company and subscriber list. This is because you don't actually make a second copy of anything as you invite in more people. It's all automated and digital. The only added cost comes as you cross the thresholds of your text service plans.

Effective: Reports show that SMS coupons get opened within 15 minutes of sending, and are redeemed at 5 to 10 times the rate of paper coupons. Compare that to the effectiveness of your most recent mass mailing or newspaper spot. The only medium that does nearly so well are those "daily deal" sites like Groupon.

Is your boss raising objections we haven't knocked down here? List them in the comments, and we'll give you the perfect rebuttal.

What could you do with an extra hour every work day? That's a total of 250 hours a year -- about a month worth of work days. That kind of time could revolutionize your small business, improve your health or give you the work-life balance you deserve. The trick is making that hour happen. There are three basic strategies for finding that kind of time...

Drop Commitments

Are there activities taking up your time that don't contribute enough to your life? If so, drop them like the bad habits they are. Some examples:

• Watch one less hour of televisions each day.
• If you're sleeping eight hours a night, try seven. But don't go for six instead of seven, or five instead of six.
• Reading is great, but you can listen to an audiobook or a podcast while in the car rather than sitting and reading.
• Is there a social commitment (PTA, service club, HOA) that takes your time but you're doing out of obligation rather than the commitment's value?

Boost Productivity

You've heard about "work smarter, not harder." This is doing exactly that -- finding hacks that can make you work so smart you have an hour left over when the work is all done. 

• Get 30 minutes exercise each day. Some productivity experts say this will boost your productivity by at least an hour.
• Schedule your day each morning, and conform to that schedule as much as you can. 
• Give yourself permission to close your office door during peak work times. What your team needs can wait -- and you can work free of interruptions.
• Answer email only two or three times a day. The constant email habit wastes hours. Ditto for social media.

Delegate

You're the boss. If you can put some tasks you've been taking on into the hands of your trusted minions, that's time you can spend on the work only you do best.

• Find somebody else to do every business-related errand you currently do yourself. All pickups, dropoffs, shopping, shipping and cleaning task should be off your docket. 
• Identify two or three tasks only you can do, but you could teach to a team member. 
• Hire your kids to take care of a few hours' worth of household tasks. It will free up your time and teach them responsibility.

In most cases, you'll find your five hours a week with a combination of the above methods. Think of it as a budget for your time. Just like finding extra money for a major project at work, you're creating "time income streams" to budget things you want to get done.

A lot of SMS Marketing content consists of one-off messages. You have an idea, or an event, and you shoot out a broadcast. A little while later, you have another idea and broadcast another text message. Rinse, repeat. This can be effective, but doesn't build the retention and front-of-mind awareness you'l see with a combined approach to your text marketing campaign. Here are four multi-message ideas to incorporate into your mobile marketing plans. 

The One-Two Punch
The simplest combination broadcast, this means sending a message that promises another message coming soon. This is the text message version of interrupting a sentence with "wait for it...." It builds anticipation and makes both messages more memorable and powerful. Some examples of a one-two punch include:

• Announcing a dinner special at lunch time, then sending the details at 3PM.
• Broadcasting a poll, followed by the results. 
• Sending the setup for a joke, then the punchline.

The Running Gag
They're not just for sitcoms anymore, and they don't necessarily have to be funny. Any theme you can use to link multiple broadcasts together builds momentum in a way individual SMS pieces won't. These can be iterations of a joke, comments on a hashtag-style common theme, or items in a numbered series. For example....

• Develop a habit of sending photos of a particular thing related to your business. 
• Top ten list in the Letterman style.
• A "Friday Fun" message delivering predictable content at the same day and time each week.

The Countdown
Similar to the running gag, but with a finite finish, this can build some of the highest anticipation and engagement. It's exactly what it sounds like: a series of broadcasts leading up to a finishing event or climactic broadcast. Try these examples, or make up some of your own.

• Daily updates for the 10 days prior to a sale or other event.
• Hourly coupons sent in anticipation of a midnight release sale. 
• A "Twelve Days of Christmas" style series leading to a holiday.

Some Assembly Required
This one is more involved, but can be among the most effective and fun combined SMS campaigns. Choose five to ten messages you'll be sending, and include part of a message in each one. Subscribers who pay enough attention to gather all the parts can put it together for a special deal, prize, or admission to an exclusive event. Bonus points for putting the message in a code, then sending the key as a final broadcast. Want to simplify a longer campaign? Use our free drip messaging feature to make it happen automatically!

What kinds of combined broadcasts have you sent out? How have they worked? Join the conversation in the comments below. 

That is all :)

"Rowdy" Ronda Rousey is a force in mixed martial arts. She won Bronze in Judo at the 2008 Olympic Games, and went on to win all 7 of her professional fights with first-round submissions using the same move every time. All the while, she's used a smart media strategy to build her personal brand to the point that she headlined the first women's fight in the UFC. Your business could do worse than to take a few pages out of her media playbook.

Find her on Facebook, Twitter, The Web & Instragram!

1. Have an Opinion
   Ronda started early with a willingness to speak her mind in interviews, and recent years have seen her Twitter presence grow into its own force. Though her comments are often respectful of those she admires, she has no problem "trash talking" people or ideas that get on her nerves. The controversial comments generate nothing but extra publicity, bringing those who already like her more fervently into her fan base.
2. Bare it All
   Rousey literally bared all in ESPN The Magazine's Body Issue, leaving only the parts covered by her strategically positioned gloves to the imagination. Businesses should strive for the same kind of tactical transparency. Rousey knew her mostly male fan base would respond to that kind of revealing coverage. What parts of your business will build trust and loyalty if you show your customers what's going on?
3. Be Unusual
   In a sport full of ultra-aggressive, high-testosterone fighters and their even more macho fans, Rousey is an attractive woman who frequently observes a vegan or vegetarian diet. This gets her more attention than others at her level by giving journalists extra information and fans something to talk about. Identify the things that make your business stand out, and find ways to celebrate them.
4. Stick With What You Know
   A judo champion and daughter of a judo champion, Rousey wins her matches with grappling skills -- in fact, the same grappling skill over and over. She sticks with what she knows and wins by being better at it than everybody else. Though it's good to branch out and be flexible, focus on becoming the absolute best in the places where you excel.

You don't have to rise to the top of your industry by threatening to break people's arms, but that doesn't mean you can't learn a thing or two from this fight sport champion. Readers, which of these strategies work best for you -- or which ones do you see your competition using well to your disadvantage?