SMS Marketing for Large-Ticket Sales is the fourteenth in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business. 

Entry By Jason Brick

A lunch time or happy hour coupon is probably the most recognizable SMS marketing broadcast. It's a short-term offer intended to bring in customers on an impulse buy, or to add an appetizer or similar small item to something they were going to buy anyway. In this context, text marketing has a proven track record of success.

But what about higher-ticket items? If you sell pianos, or cars, or long-term services like legal representation or karate lessons, a "weekend warrior" coupon isn't going to get the results you want.

This doesn't mean an SMS message can't get you results. A recent eCommerce Predictions report notes that mobile commerce can actually spur large-ticket purchases more than everyday purchases. The trick is tailoring your mobile message to make this true in your shop.

Here are some Dos and Don'ts to help you get started:

Do integrate your message with your mobile and traditional websites, making it easy for potential customers to do research on their own.

Don't include unnecessary time pressure, like you would with a smaller ticket item. You can hold special sales from time to time, but sophisticated customers will resent a "high pressure" feel.

Do provide insider information in your posts. People who purchase luxury items like to feel "in the know" – and will remember the source for their behind-the-scenes knowledge.

Don't ignore the value of freebies. Offering a free accessory, or an entry into a sweepstakes for a free high-ticket goody, can be the gentle push your broadcast list needs to make a buying decision.

Do respect the time scale of purchasing high-ticket items. You'll send fewer messages than for other kinds of business. Too many messages can mean extremely well-in formed customers &ndash for your competition.

Don't limit your options. If you have two potential market demographics, set up two different SMS campaigns – with each tailored for the tastes and values of that demographic. One thing large-ticket SMS has in common with less expensive merchandise is that it's all a numbers game. The more people you reach meaningfully, the more sales you'll make.

Do make things as personal as possible. Include customer names, and your own name, in your message. Direct readers to your top salespeople and technicians. As they come closer to a buying decision, a personal relationship is likely to steer them to your door.

Don't forget to include a call to action with every message. It may not ask for a sale, but it should elicit a response so you can track what works and what doesn't.

6 Steps To Your Best Mobile Plan for the New Year is the thirteenth in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.

Entry By Jason Brick


You can want to run a successful mobile campaign in 2012 all you like, but without a written plan your chances of having one are slim. Like any other ongoing project, without a plan, the "daily grind" of your SMS plan will take a back seat to other tasks. Regardless of your personal vision of mobile marketing success, you can apply these six steps to help you set up your plan for the new year:

Step One: Determine Budgets
Set a realistic fiscal and scheduling budget for your SMS marketing plan, based on what you know from the last two to three years and what you project for the coming months. Use this to determine what's a realistic amount to commit to your mobile marketing. If you set goals that aren't in line with your available support, you're almost certain to fail.

Step Two: Set a Rhythm
Based on how much time and money you can put into your mobile program, decide how often you will send out an SMS broadcast. Can you afford to do it once a week? Every other day? Once you know how many you can send, set strategic days and times that garner the best response. For example, a lunch-based restaurant would avoid weekends and evenings, while a dinner crowd place would target those times with virtual coupons.

Step Three: Account for Events
Check the regular calendar and the calendars for your other projects to find special events that might affect your mobile marketing plan. Holidays, for example, might interrupt your usual flow with people leaving town. If you live in a tourist area your market might be flooded with people during the summer months or Spring Break. You can also support new products or promotional events by including them in your SMS campaign.

Step Four: Set Benchmarks
This is where you define success. Unlike finite projects, you won't brush your hands one day and be finished. Rather, you'll compare the ongoing progress of your campaign against an evolving set of metrics like number of broadcasts, size of recipient list and conversion rate. Assign each number a specific date, to review progress at least every quarter.

Step Five: Assign Responsibility
Make results somebody's job. That person may not be responsible for every detail of the SMS campaign, but it's his or her job to coordinate everything so that your plan goes off on schedule. If you leave the plan without somebody responsible for and in charge of it, it becomes nobody's job -- and the job won't get done.

Step Six: Remain Flexible
Remember throughout the year that this is your Plan of Record . A POR isn't a holy writ, but rather the idea people can set a good case to change. You'll hit snags and unforeseen events throughout the year, but having a plan to alter is better in uncertain times than having no plan at all.

Service-Based Marketing For Your Small Business is the twelfth in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.

Entry By Jason Brick

The great thing about mobile media is that it's so cheap and easy anybody can do it

The bad thing about mobile media is that it's so cheap and easy anybody can do it. 

This double-edged media sword makes it hard for small businesses with small marketing budgets to stand out in the noisy crowd of electronic voices. Service-based marketing, though, will let you stand out in the best possible way: by giving back to the same community that keeps your business afloat.

Step One: Find a Cause
Choose a cause you care about, preferably one served by an agency or non-profit in your local area. Some examples include:

• Reducing pollution
• Hungry families
• Homeless families
• Diabetes (or Cancer or AIDS) awareness

Once you've chosen your cause, reach out to a nearby group dedicated to that problem. Most major metro areas will have one or more. Local chapters beat national organizations here because you'll have better opportunities for "face time."

Step Two: Plan an Event
Host an event – either at your location or in a prominent area like a parking lot at a major intersection – to raise funds for that cause. Use a "hook" somehow related to your business to make it memorable. Print coupons or gift certificates for everybody who participates.

Bushido Martial Arts of Hillsboro, Oregon, for example, collected over three tons of food by having students stand outside local grocery stores with signs saying "Will Teach Karate For Food." Everybody who came out of a store with a can for the l ocal food bank got a coupon for a free week of lessons.

Your event doesn't have to focus on fundraising; you can also focus on awareness – such as renting an air compressor to "top off" cars for free and improve gas mileage.

Step Three: Tell Everybody
Once you've set a date, it's time to activate your social media team.  Use every media channel you have access to, and spread the word. It's rarely worth it to pay for advertising, but you can write a press release for the local paper. The local group you've partnered with should help you with this – either with their own publicity team, or by providing graphics or other support.

Step Four: Broadcast Live
Use SMS, Twitter and Facebook to post ongoing progress reports on the day of your event. Let recipients know how many people are already there, about upcoming special speakers or other activities, and your progress towards your goal. You can also use the feed to organize a "flash presentation," by encouraging hard core fans to show up all at once.

Step Five: Recap
Send a follow-up press release to the local paper if you didn't get a reporter on scene. Send a mobile broadcast with thanks and final results. When you present your earnings to the local charity, get photos and post them on your website. Tell everybody about it, and include a coupon offer for  anybody who brings in a copy of the story.

Service-based marketing requires some creativity and a front-end filled with hard work. Used successfully, it's worth the investment of time and effort.

Getting More Out Of Social Media With SMS Marketing is the eleventh in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.

Entry By Jason Brick

Synergy occurs when two productive activities combine to create a total greater than the sum of their individual parts -- like chocolate peanut butter cups. If you do it right, SMS marketing and social media marketing can create this same kind of effect. Both provide positive mobile experiences, which can build on one another in a reinforcing upward spiral. 

Social Media Marketing
You can link your social media presence to your SMS campaigns with regular posts and tweets containing a call to action, along with your keyword and short code. Your most engaged customers will self-identify by becoming part of both mailing lists - and help your marketing go viral by sharing and re-tweeting your message.

This works best when your social media presence is professional, effective, and up -to-date. Here are a few tips make sure that's true.

• Use different keywords for different platforms. When fans respond, you'll find out which platform reaches the most people.
• Incorporate mobile functionality into your social media presence, such as Facebook's check-in feature. These contacts keep you front of mind in clients' awareness, even without a call to action.
• Add videos, images, and interactive widgets to your social media pages -- creating a dynamic and memorable experience people will want to follow.
• Include your social media information in your letterhead, signature and business cards.

SMS Marketing
Linking to your social media in your text marketing message creates a feedback loop. Readers visit your site and end up following or subscribing. They then get messa ges that encourage them to participate even more in your SMS...which leads them to your social media. It's a key part of combining these two powerful initiatives into a synergistic whole.

For this to work, both campaigns must be interesting and relevant -- otherwise it will simply feel like you're giving them twice as much spam as their competitors.

• Use SMS to point to social media updates only when relevant to your clients. Humor, news, and statistics are all good choices - some better than others, depending on your industry.
• Never repeat the same post over multiple channels. You can point to a post you think people will like, but plagiarizing yourself feels like spam.
• Encourage SMS voting and similar participatory programs, but announce the results on your social media program. Those who vote will cross over to learn the outcome.
• Adopt an "elite" program, by offering discounts and other rewards to fans who sign up for SMS and multiple platforms. This can include "private" broadcasts only for this group.

Want to try it yourself? Head over to Ez Texting to start enhancing your social media efforts with SMS Marketing.

Your Social Media Team is the tenth in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.

Entry By Jason Brick

To a large corporation, "Social Media Team" means a group of professionals earning high salaries, whose job it is to promote the business using the web. To a small business, it means something else entirely. Your team will consist of fans and friends, most of whom aren't even on your payroll. Since you don't have the budget to cover the web with mention of your brand, you'll rely on the quality and enthusiasm of the content your team puts out there - and on their ability to inspire retweets, shares, and similar viral techniques.

Each small business social media team is different, but in most you'll find some of the usual suspects. Let's meet them, so you can identify those people in your own customer base. 

The Exchange Guy
It's possible he's a pro - or he might be a social media or PR hobbyist - but he loves wha t you do for him. A work-in-trade agreement can mean bartering for expert advice.

The Raving Fan
She's probably already touting you in social media. This is that one customer who loves your shop, and likes you better than your own family. Official status, and the opportunity to help, is all she needs to happily lend a hand.

The Early Adopter
This guy might have been one of the first in your door, or he might be a new arrival. Either way, he's enthusiastic about early access and the inside scoop. You can get him on board with insider information - especially if he gets to share it with his friends.

The "Kid"
Right out of central casting, this is the teenager who comes into your shop even when she has no official business. She seems interested in the industry, or maybe just the counter staff. Either way, you can give her valuable experience for her resume by getting her involved. 

The Intern
One of your employees is probably already a social media enthusiast. Tap his knowledge and put him in charge. Though it's illegal to ask him to work for free, you'll find giving him a paid hour now and then will keep him inspired.

The Connector
You may know this woman from your local Chamber of Commerce. She knows everybody, and has probably already put you in touch with a handful of vendors and customers. She might be all over the Internet, or may still use a physical Rolodex. Either way, she may be your best chance of going viral.

The Crowd
You have a loyal core of regulars and hard-core fans. Giving them special rewards they can share with new friends means your m obile marketing messages get spread far and wide each time you tap this resource. 

Your team might be made up of one of each of these types, or several of one type. But whoever makes up your social media team, make sure you reward their efforts with elite status and occasional discounts. It will be the best value for expenditure your marketing budget has ever seen.

5 Ways Mobile Marketing Beats Print Marketing is the ninth in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.

Entry By Jason Brick

When you're ready to add mobile marketing to your in-place marketing plan, you'll have to learn some new tricks. Maybe you want to replace more traditional methods with a mobile message, or maybe you're thinking about expanding your mobile platform at the expense of some other options. Whatever the reason, consider these five ways mobile outperforms print, radio and television. 

1. Affordable Expandability
Although you get some discount for scale, 1,000 fliers cost significantly more than 100 fliers. The larger the audience, the more you'll pay for print and on-air ads. With mobile marketing, you'll pay a bit extra for bandwidth if you're broadcasting on a very wide scale, but for most small businesses, expanding your reach won't mean significantly increasing your budget. 

2. Instantaneous Response
Mobile marketing is a conversation. As your opt-in list expands, you know exactly how many people are receiving your message. Polls, contests, and discounts for responses, will tell you exactly how many people that broadcast engaged. This lets you know in real time which messages worked and which ones didn't. That's a lot better than waiting until next year to tweak your Yellow Book spot. 

3. Greater Engagement
Modern consumers want to feel invested and involved. If they don't, they'll just find the cheapest offer online. You can make your broadcast list feel like a club, by being responsive to replies. The more you  encourage this feeling, the better the results. Ironically, this means you can create the personal touch in a broadcast to hundreds or thousands of contacts. 

4. Simpler Process
Even a quarter-page, black-and-white newspaper spot requires graphic design, compelling copy, and formatting. Your mobile message is a short series of characters you can knock off in a few minutes. It's true that you'll have to put some thought and attention into what those characters say -- but you won't have to worry about all the aesthetic trappings that accompany traditional marketing. 

5. Contact Sharing
Sharing a print coupon means mailing it or handing it to someone. Sharing a TV ad means recording it and showing it -- or at least uploading it to YouTube. If a fan likes your mobile message, though, he can immediately forward it to other people he thinks might also appreciate it. Some of those recipients will opt in for your broadcast -- a benefit that did not exist for earlier marketing methods. 

6 SMS Coupon Formats to Reel Subscribers In is the eighth in a series of articles that we'll be posting this fall. Small Business Marketing Tips To Build Sales In A Down Economy will teach you how to use do-it-yourself tools like SMS, email and social media to effectively market your business.

Entry By Jason Brick

Print coupons have been part of marketing for more than a century, benefiting national brands and local small businesses. But according to marketing research reported by RestaurantReport.com, SMS--short message service coupons--can be up to 10 times as effective as print coupons at a fraction of the price. 

SMS coupons generate an immediate response when you create a call to action paired with a time limit -- the trouble is coming up with unique coupons week after week. One way to do it is by rotating several different coupon formats, sending them out in a pattern that produces new coupons.

1. BOGO
"Buy one, get one free" is a coupon classic that works just as well with modern marketing modalities. This can be a core value -- such as free entree with a purchased entree -- or a loss leader -- applying the deal to an ap petizer or similar small item. Offering a 50% off deal on any two items gives you two coupon formats for the same basic concept. 

2. Progressive Discount 
Offering 5% off for purchases over $30, but 10% off for purchases over $50 encourages your customers to buy more. Whether they stock up on staples, or splurge on dessert, the result is more profits for you. 

3. Hidden Upsell
In restaurants, this often takes the form of a free beverage with purchase of a side order. The customer gets a deal, but your profits from the side exceed your cost for the freebie. Retail can accomplish the same with thematically similar items, like free socks with each new pair of shoes. 

4. Website Coupon Codes
If you do a lot of Internet business, or want to start doing a lot, you can broadcast coupo n codes for customers to enter when buying through your web portal. These coupons can follow the formats of in-store coupons, or apply uniquely to internet commerce -- such as free shipping for orders above a threshold. 

5. Daily Deal
Groupon and similar sites have turned this kind of deal into its own niche industry. You can use the same trend by offering a short-term deal your customers can't refuse. Make subscribers part of the "in crowd" by extending the offer for extra hours only for them, or with an even bigger discount for bringing in a friend. 

6. Customer Choice
People like feeling involved and listened to. If you're having trouble deciding what kind of offer to make, hold a poll among your SMS subscribers. Not only will the winning team come in to enjoy their victory, but even the voters on the losing side will feel more attached to your business.