If you’re a business owner, chances are you’re already thinking about your marketing strategy for the upcoming holiday season. For most businesses, the holidays are the busiest time of the year. It’s when shoppers are out in full force trying to purchase all the presents. From Black Friday and Cyber Monday to the day before Christmas, your goal should be making the most of the holiday season by attracting customers and boosting sales.
One of the most cost effective ways to do this is through text message marketing, or SMS marketing. For just pennies per text, you can send a message that 98% of recipients will view. No other form of advertising can offer those kinds of results for that kind of price. With that in mind, here are some mobile marketing tips for the holidays:
1. Build a mobile database now.
If you don’t already have a database of numbers you can text you need to begin building it now to be ready in time for the holidays. Offer incentives to customers in return for their permission to receive your texts. Then start experimenting with different coupons to see what works and what doesn’t so you’ll be ready when the holiday season begins.
2. Christmas starts the day after Thanksgiving.
For shoppers at least, the Christmas season begins the day after Thanksgiving, that’s when people expect to find the best deals for all the people on their Christmas list. This one day shopping event is so successful because it’s limited to one day only. Create that sense of urgency in your customers by sending a text about Black Friday deals. Emphasize that the deals are for one day only, or for a few hours only.
3. The majority of people do their Christmas shopping last minute.
That means keep the deals coming all the way up to Christmas day. Another great way to gain the attention of last minute shoppers is by giving them a few present ideas. This is where multimedia message service (or MMS) is especially helpful. Rather than being limited to just 160 words, MMS allows you to send pictures of products. And as everyone knows, pictures are worth more than 160 words.
4. Don’t forget after-Christmas sales.
Many customers expect great deals in the days immediately following Christmas. Send a text the day after Christmas that includes a mobile coupon. Because mobile coupons are ten times more likely to be redeemed that print coupons, you can expect the holiday shopping to continue after Christmas.
5. Don’t forget texting etiquette.
Just because many shoppers will be out and about at 5:00 a.m. on Black Friday to start their Christmas shopping doesn’t mean you can start texting them then. The rules that apply to text message marketing still apply during the holidays as well. Be respectful of when and how often you send messages.
Above all, makes sure your texts are personal and that they offer your customers something of value and your text message marketing campaign will be a success this holiday season.
