1.The seven deadly sins ofMobile Marketing

2. The seven deadly sinsof mobile marketingThere has never been a more exciting time to beinvolved in mobile marketing. Momentum is building andthe results are raising eyebrows even among the mostbattle weary marketers.Theres huge scope to generate wondrous, neverdreamed of response; but ignore a few simple guidelinesand mobile can be the most damaging venture ofyourcareer.2The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 3. Attention PleaseGetting the undivided attention of your averageNo, these competitors make up everything thatsconsumer is tough. There are so many things that are actually important in life. A few pertinent examplesfar more important to them than what you have to say. LunchYoure up against formidable competitors that you Footballhavent the faintest hope of challenging. These arent Wineyour commercial adversaries; theyre just a bunch of Catching the traincompanies trying to do the same things as you. Getting the lawn mowed 3The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 4. Sorry, youre notimportantConsumers simply dont care what you have to sayand frankly you have the slimmest of chances to gettheir attention, let alone getting them to part with theircash. So you see the mountain that marketers have toclimb. Its pretty daunting and most companies fall at thefirsthurdle. 4The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 5. Youre alsodisappointingAnd the news doesnt get much better. Youre going toSo, no matter how brilliantly youve put together yourdisappoint them 100% of the time.offer, or how cleverly youve compressed your message to just 160 characters, your text sadly is just anMake no mistake, when your text lands with its shrillunwelcome intrusion.alert on your targets phones, the first emotion willbe one of disappointment, possibly twinged withannoyance. Youve disturbed their day with a marketingtext. Thanks. Youre text will probably be seen as spam.(OK it might not technically or legally be spam but spamis in the eye of the beholder.) Text is a personal medium.The rules are different. This is not email. Mobile ismorepersonal.5The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 6. Drama QueenIsnt this all a bit melodramatic? Not a bit of it. The more If the answer to those 3 questions isnt immediatelycynical you are, the better chance your campaign has ofstrong, logical and persuasive then the battle dearbeing successful. Think like a consumer. reader is lost.Why on earth would I possibly respond to this text?Whats in it for me?Why would I stop what Im doing and respond?6The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 7. Onwards andupwards.So the challenge is to use mobile as way of cuttingresponse rates of any communication medium. Butthrough the stuff thats important to us and make your that in itself by no means guarantees you success.prospects pause, just for a nanosecond and considerIn fact, get it wrong and with mobile you can do farwhat on earth youve interrupted their day with. more damage far more quickly than the worst email or mailing campaign imaginable. One false move andWell youve made a start by considering the direct youredoomed.marketing channel with the highest delivery and7The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 8. And so to battleSo the road to a successful mobile marketing campaignis long and pot-holed. The purpose of this guide is tohighlight some of the more obvious pitfalls waiting toderail your campaignArmed with this knowledge youre much better preparedfor battle and youve just massively increased thechances of success.So here they are; the seven deadly sins ofmobilemarketing 8The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 9. 1. Forget a call to actionWe kick off with perhaps the most blindingly obvious sinSo the eager customer is hooked and wants to take youthat a surprising number of marketers commit. Havingup. But he cant. Theres no reply option, number to callsent out a superb offer, cunningly targeted and with real or website to visit. A splendid own goal and the type ofappeal, you forget to tell the customers what they have mistake that youre only likely to make once. Better stillto do next or include any contact details.though, dont make it all.9The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 10. 2. More haste, less speedMobile is unlike any other marketing channel. Its quick once its been dispatched. The mistakes are normallyto deploy. Really quick. You can have an idea in the minor such quoting an incorrect phone number or webshower and have the campaign landing on customers address but nonetheless render the whole campaign anphones by 9.30 the same morning. This most nimbleembarrassing cock up.of direct marketing channels has impatient marketersrushing to get their campaigns out in double quick time. So the golden rule is to send yourself and your colleagues a test sms. Pretend youre a customerOn more than one occasion though weve had panickedreceiving it. Does it make sense? Are the details correct?managers on the phone asking (more in hope thanHow could it be improved?expectation), whether its possible to recall a campaign10The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 11. 3. Dont allow them to unsubscribeA short cut to the gates of mobile marketing Hades is So by omitting an unsubscribe option, youre not onlyto fail to offer your customers a way to get the hell off infuriating your clients but youre also breaking theyour list. Ive found the worst sinners in this area arelaw. Eeks! (Text Marketer customers have use of a freethe mobile phone networks themselves. As an Orangeunsubscribe service which comes with every account.)customer, theyre entitled to send me text messages,letting me know about their exciting new packages.What is not acceptable and indeed illegal, is to fail toinclude an unsubscribe option on the message itself.The rules on this are outlined very clearly by the ICO(Information Commissioners Office.) website. They statethat you must give them the opportunity to opt out ofreceiving further marketing messages each time. 11The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 12. 4. Treat everyone thesameMobile marketing has been around for over 10 yearsThere are no creative costs, youve got 160 charactersbut it still operates in the shadows of mainstream direct to get your message across and thats it. Whereas, withmarketing, a fact that has always bemused us mobile a mailing campaign you can only logistically offer 3 or 4industry types. It still acts as an also ran behind the different creative executions, with mobile you can run asmight of email or direct mail.many separate offers as you wish.Targeting and customer segmentation have long beenSo the opportunity is to give your customers servicesthe bedrock of any direct marketing campaign and quitethat are as closely targeted to what they wantright too.aspossible.Whats often missed though is that with mobile youcansegment your customers into far smaller andprecise categories.12The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 13. 5. Pester ThemYour message is an intrusion, unasked for andUnlikely. Having won trust and confidence, its all toounwelcome. So the reason for the disturbance had easy to blow it by blasting out a similar message thatbetter be good. If youre wily enough to have presentedworked so well last time. Consumers are weary andan offer to the right customer at the right time and cynical, so less is most definitely more.theyve responded positively, then youve doneincredibly well. You can so easily undo all the good thatTheres no hard and fast rule on the optimum periodyouve done for your business and brand by pushing between texts, but 2 to 3 weeks would seem to be ayour luck. sensible average.The logic goes that as theyve responded once, thensurely theyll be up for a similar offer a week or so later? 13The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 14. 6. Just Sell Sell SellAlthough mobile marketing is the most responsive directthe reaction from his customers has been surprisingmarketing channel, you can do much more with it than positive. He has spontaneously received thanks fromjust sell your wares. You can gain so much more trustcustomers about this service and even generated someand authority by mixing up your messages with otherfree pr in the local papers.information that might actually be useful. So instead ofjust seeing your sms campaign as a route to sales, you So if you use sms to do something slightly unusual,should also view it as a way of adding value to what based upon delivering a service rather than justyou already do.selling, then you might just end up with something that customers see as useful.One Text Marketer customer, Jim Bailey, runs theVauxhall dealer in Torbay. He mainly uses sms to sendout service and MOT reminders. In addition he alsosends out motoring tips at certain times of year,reminding people to check washer fluid, anti freezeand oil levels etc. This might sound a tad trite but 14The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 15. 7. Develop a pointless app99% of apps are useless and get used just once. This Unless your app is providing something genuinely usefulwas the stark finding of Blackberry, who reported that to the customer, then its really not worth going throughthe vast majority of the 200,000 odd apps are rubbish. the pain, cost and distraction of developing somethingEvery company and brand it seems, has felt it an that most users will think is pants.imperative to launch an app and be seen as a frontrunner in new technology. This has mainly been drivenby brand managers and their agencies, massaging egoswith little thought about how their new baby is going tobe useful. They also conveniently ignore the fact thatonly 25% of their target market will actually be able todownload or use it.15The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 16. So there they areBy no means an exhaustive list, but we hope a usefulHaving been around for over 11 years our advice isguide to help you avoid some of the more obvioussoundly grounded in experience and common sense, somistakes. please get in touch.Wed be delighted to discuss your campaigns with youThanks for reading.in more detail. We dont have all the answers but youcan be sure that well have an opinion. 16The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing 17. AboutText Marketer LtdWere a provider of business sms services. We aim toWeve been around since 1999 and have picked usgive our customers the best sms tools at the lowest some useful experience along the way.possible price. We help companies get up and runningwith their mobile marketing and always have a view on Website www.textmarketer.co.ukthe best way forward. Blog http://www.textmarketer.co.uk/blog/Some companies use our web based software to run allTelephone 0117 2050202their own bulk sms campaigns. Some companies useEmail info@textmarketer.co.ukour SMS API, allowing them to text enable their ownsoftware, service or web site.Over 110 marketing agencies have used us to helpdevelop ideas for their clients.17The seven deadly sins of mobile marketing