by, Lesa Seibert, President, Xstreme Media

When you decide you want to start a mobile campaign, you have a few things you need to consider before you get started.  Here are three steps to take:
  1. Determine your goals. Who is your target audience? How will they benefit from your message? Do you hope to generate revenue, generate interest, generate traffic to your website, or all three? Define your goals and set benchmarks for what a successful campaign would look like.
  2. Choose your message. Your message should have a clear call to action. According to mobile marketing firm Punchkick Interactive, "over 90 percent of texts from SMS messaging campaigns are read by recipients, generating average response rates of 15 to 30 percent or more." With the potential for that kind of penetration, it would help to make sure your campaign is simple, memorable, and factual. One thing every local business should be doing, says James Citron, CEO of mobile video marketing firm Mogreet, is attach keywords to their mobile campaigns that will resonate with customers in order to create brand awareness.
  3. Pair your mobile marketing campaign with other social media. When Casa Del Mar, a luxury beach hotel located in Santa Monica, California, wanted to get the word out about drink specials, they doubled up on social media marketing. The hotel posted messages on Twitter and Facebook saying, "Text CASA to 21534 and enjoy unlimited champagne or Bloodys. FREE." Customers who texted received videos of the weekend brunch spread on their phone and received the beverage of their choice at the hotel. The end result was highly viral, with 250 redemptions.  Locally owned BoomBozz Pizza, uses text campaigns to receive discounts off of pizzas or combo meals.  When you receive your discount code on your phone, take it in next time you dine and receive your discount.  Another local campaign was hosted by Sam Swope Auto during the UK/UL football game.  You texted who you thought would win to a short code number and in return got a text coupon back good for 15% off of your next oil change or service.