Did you know that in Quarter One this year, business marketing spend was up for the first time in two and a half years? That’s good news for the economy and even better news for those looking to see whether the time has come to review their ‘recession policy’ and really focus on driving their marketing strategy forward.

In times of recession, as we’ve seen recently, the marketing budget has often been the first casualty. However, we believe that the key is not to reduce your marketing, but to make it work smarter for you. Digital and mobile methods, such as SMS marketing, are the fastest growing areas of marketing for every type of business – and it’s not surprising when you see how read and response rates for bulk SMS campaigns far outstrip anything offered by traditional print advertising or email marketing.

So as business confidence is now matched by decision makers starting to re-evaluate the enhanced value of their marketing budget, what’s the best way forward for a business which needs to decide how best to connect with current and potential customers?

1. Look at your marketing mix with fresh eyes
If you’ve historically used direct mail or e-marketing campaigns, don’t assume that what worked in the past is right for today. A recent study by myb2bonline.com has shown that recession-hit SMEs have continued to send out campaigns based on old data – thereby increasing the ‘junk mail’ element and giving direct mail even less credence in the eyes of the consumer. If you’re passionate about attracting new customers, it’s time to think about how today’s consumer wants to be talked to. That’s where SMS marketing comes into its own, as the leading open rate marketing communication route.

2. Look for new business – but don’t forget those who have stuck by you
When on a new business marketing drive, it can be all too easy as a small business to put all your energies into finding those elusive new income streams, whilst forgetting to look after your bread and butter – your existing customers. Make a rule that your marketing activity should be 50/50 new and old business. Why not use your SMS marketing to send a loyalty voucher to existing customers who have fallen out of touch – and a referral reward to those who are still using you? What way, you’ll keep your customers happy and help drive new, recommended business to your door.

3. Make every marketing communication count
Whilst marketing spend is up and business confidence grows, it’s still wise to look after every single marketing pound in your business. Make sure your marketing is strategized, targeted and includes a definite call to action – every single time. General awareness marketing is hard to measure and even harder to justify in the current climate. Create a forward plan for your strategy and make sure you’re covering a good mix of your product or service portfolio.

Don’t be afraid to use seasonal and topical elements to tie your marketing communications to, but make sure that there really is a genuine and relevant product link. For instance, if you sell football shirts, all your customers should be receiving an SMS marketing message right now as World Cup fever hots up – but if you’re a florist, offering bouquets in all the World Cup teams’ colours is unlikely to be seen as smart marketing, more like ‘jumping on the bandwagon’.

Is your business in need of a little marketing savvy in order to shape up for the summer season, bulk SMS marketing strategies can give you just the push you need. It’s a whole new way to communicate with your customers, achieving unparalleled response over any other marketing media and creating that ‘personal touch’ which customers love – bringing them back to your door again and again. Take a few tips from the bulk SMS messaging experts, TextMagic, and you’ll be on the first step to making your sales figures really shine!

1. Planning a sale but not sure how to get the message out? Why not create a real PR story and send a bulk SMS message to your customer base letting them know that there’s an extra 10% off on the first morning of the sale? Encourage them to pass on the message to anyone who could benefit from the extra savings – and you’ll have a crowd at your shop front when you open for business. It’ll make the local newspapers and get your business some great free publicity – and who can say no to that?

2. Coupons are a great way to make customers sit up and take notice – and to get those slow-moving stock lines out of the door. Don’t waste time printing and distributing your coupons in the local paper or door to door – it’s costly and also unkind to the planet’s resources. Go green and get results by sending bulk SMS messages to your customer base containing a ‘text coupon’, which they can show at the till to get claim that money off.

3. Remember that the best bulk SMS marketing campaigns are two-way rather than one-way. Any campaign that encourages customers to interact with your brand or company brings the customer closer to you, both operationally and emotionally. BBC Radio 1, for example, use text messaging to great effect by encouraging their listeners to text in with ideas, thoughts and feedback – which is vital for any business to learn to understand their customers and perform better. Think about whether you could use interactive bulk SMS marketing to gain valuable feedback about your business performance and help you do things better. Don’t forget – it’s good business practice to include an incentive, such as a discount. If a customer puts them self out for you, make sure you return that favour.

4. Everyone loves competitions! Help your customers feel that they’re gaining extra value from your business by regularly contacting them via bulk SMS with promotions and competitions. Use SMS short codes (five figure SMS text numbers) to help hone the entry process and make entering those competitions easy and fun for everyone.  SMS short codes give your company real identity and are far more memorable for the consumer, meaning you’ll get much better uptake on your promotions.  Before you know it, you’ll have a flurry of customers texting ‘WIN’ – or any chosen word – and as a consequence creating high profile awareness for your product or brand.

5. Keep your customers happy by only texting them with relevant offers. You’ll get a much better response to your bulk SMS marketing campaigns if you spend a little time analysing your database for gender, age and buying habits – so that you’re not texting 16 year old girls with your latest offer on gentleman’s hiking boots.  SMS marketing campaigns are effective because they’ve not been infected with the spam issues which make the public so reluctant to open marketing emails these days – so think clever, target your communications well and your customers will love you for it. Even better, your sales will increase as a result.

Don’t forget that the real beauty of SMS marketing is that because people generally open texts as soon as they receive them, you can choose when your marketing campaigns are read. Think clever and you’ll make your sales soar. Not only can you seasonalise your SMS marketing messages – Easter, Christmas and Halloween for example – but you can pick the right time of day when customers will be most receptive to a particular product.  Send out a bulk SMS marketing message about your new lunchtime menu at 11.00am on a Saturday and bring hungry shoppers direct to your door!

If you’re in the property rental and management business, keeping in touch with – and on track of – your tenants can be one of the most challenging parts of the job. So when Oak Estates of Sheffield discovered the TextMagic suite of business SMS services, it dramatically changed the way the business operates for the better.

‘I wouldn’t know what to do without TextMagic’, said Diana Maratty of Oak Estates. ‘The text messaging service has brought amazing changes to the way we work. I estimate that TextMagic directly saves our business at least 15 man hours per week, so it saves us the cost of employing a part-time member of staff.’

So how exactly has the TextMagic business SMS service become such an integral part of how this successful Sheffield-based letting and property management agency operates  – and how can this huge increase in efficiency be replicated in other property management businesses?

Text Messaging Increases Response to Late Payment Requests

Diana Maratty explains, ‘We started using TextMagic SMS services in conjunction with our Total Letting Solutions software about eighteen months ago. At first, we used the service to chase up late rental payments from our tenants. As we manage over 250 different properties, chasing overdue rent was taking a lot of our staffing resource – and it’s vital to our business and to the owners of the properties we manage that rents are collected on time. Changing rental reminders from postal letter or emails to text messaging immediately decreased the amount of outstanding debt owing to us.’

So what’s the secret behind why TextMagic business SMS is so much more efficient at chasing late payments than email or letter? ‘Most of our tenants are young professionals or students and always have their phones at hand. Text messaging gets a far better response than other methods of communication. Immediately after sending a late payment text alert, tenants would be on the phone to sort out their outstanding rental payment. Not only has it improved our cashflow,  it’s significantly reduced the amount of time we have to spend chasing late payments.’

Property Maintenance Management is simplified via business SMS services

As soon as Oak Estates realised the value of TextMagic business SMS services in communicating with their tenants, they expanded its usage to include alerts for regular house inspections. ‘We’re legally bound to give tenants 24 hours’ notice before entering their properties to carry out maintenance or inspections. By using TextMagic text messaging to communicate with our tenants, we can not only gain access to the properties faster to carry out general maintenance and checks, but also respond quickly to urgent issues.’

The letting agency now uses TextMagic business SMS to keep in contact with key contacts in every part of their business – including maintenance contractors and landlords. ‘By text messaging job alerts, we can get contractors to our properties to carry out maintenances and repairs much more quickly – and that’s appreciated by our tenants and our landlords. We also keep our landlords up to date with essential information about their property via TextMagic, making communication much quicker and more streamlined.’

Business SMS saves letting agencies time, effort and money

Diana Marratty is adamant that the TextMagic business SMS system has revolutionised the way Oak Estates operates as a business. ‘Every letting agency, property management business and landlord needs TextMagic. It’s entirely changed the way we operate for the better – and knowing how TextMagic text messaging has improved our business efficiency, we could never go back.’

For more information on Oak Estates and its range of properties available in the Sheffield area for professional and student lets, visit www.oakestates.net or call 0114 258 5981.

Unhappy with the response rate on your email marketing campaigns? Now’s the time to change to SMS marketing, the clever alternative to email

Any company using emails to communicate with its customers will be all too familiar with the issues and frustrations which this style of communication can create. Email marketing has been part of business strategy for many years and due to misuse via selling of data lists, has gone from a convenient and effective method of communicating with a customer base to a strategy which is now largely mistrusted by customers and suffers from poor penetration rates.

So what’s the right alternative to email that will get through to your customers? The answer is SMS.

88% of emails are spam – business SMS gets the message through

It was recently estimated that a huge 88% of emails sent are spam. Unsurprisingly, this means that many of your email messages to your customer base will remain unopened or be sent directly to the junk email folder – not great news for building relationships with your clients. Furthermore, if you have vital information to share with your customers, such as delays on delivery times or the re-arrangement of appointments, how do you get past the problem that your email may never even be opened by your customer?

That’s where the real beauty of business SMS messaging as email alternatives shines through, acting as a lifesaver to your marketing and customer communications.

Four mobile phones sold for every computer – that’s why SMS marketing wins

According to the GSM Association, there are now four mobile phones sold for every one personal computer. Mobile phones invariably stay with their owner 24/7 – which compared to the relatively short time people spend in front of their computers checking their email, just can’t be beaten. Additionally, business SMS messaging services haven’t been affected by the spam issues which the email marketing landscape struggles with, meaning that consumers have a far higher level of trust in SMS messages than they do in email. That’s why an SMS marketing campaign sent to customers as an email alternative will invariably be opened and read – and is most likely to be read at the time of delivery. The latest statistics from market research experts Frost & Sullivan state that the open rate for SMS messages is over 98% - that’s impressive, particularly when you consider you’re likely to get less than a 30% open rate from marketing emails. Business SMS has another benefit over email – you can choose when you want the customer to read your message.

SMS marketing is effective from any computer in the world

There’s a vast choice of different ways in which a business can take advantage of SMS technology as part of its marketing strategy. The TextMagic Messenger is a simple and cost-effective way of sending business SMS messages from a Mac or PC and the interface is available in 11 different languages – ideal for today’s businesses operating over many different territories. You don’t even need to be tied to an office computer, as TextMagic Online offers great two-way SMS functionality from a web-based application – meaning that your business communications are truly mobile and you can connect and communicate with your customers wherever you are.

But don’t just take our word for how invaluable SMS messaging is to business – Mrs Rimmer of land and property specialists Rostons Ltd agrees. ‘Our clients have commented on how useful it is to receive a text and it has put us at the forefront of our industry by using a service like this.’

Business SMS messaging delivers an unparalleled penetration rate over email marketing, enabling your business to communicate more effectively with your customer base and build that all-important confidence factor. If you’re serious about getting your marketing messages in front of your customers, then look for an alternative to email - SMS marketing is the only logical option.

More than ever it seems as if everyone is an expert at SMS marketing from the service providers to the advertising agencies who urge you to ride the mobile wave before you lose your competitive advantage forever. Yes, mobile marketing does have huge advantages, but how do you ensure that all of your efforts get customers to open their wallets rather than getting lost in a mobile abyss? The following are some best-practice tips to get you started in the right direction:

1. Target your SMS messages to the right people by making sure they have opted in to your service.

2. Know your customer’s history and determine which specific products and services they would be interested in.

3. Make your message personal, such as a birthday wish along with a special discount.

4. Offer a service or product that is valuable. For example:

Payment Reminder

Customer Survey

Invitation to an exclusive event

Mobile Coupon

Appointment Reminder

Important alert such as a smoke alarm reminder service that tells a customer when it’s time change the batteries.

5. Make you message short, clean and actionable.

6. Go viral! Create an SMS marketing campaign that is compelling and easy for customers to share with their friends. Better yet, why not incentivize them for referring a friend by integrating an SMS customer loyalty program?

7. Don’t overuse the SMS channel. More than once a week can be disruptive and a sure way to get valuable customers to opt-out of future updates.

8. Keep your customers anonymous by never sharing or selling their mobile numbers to other brands.

9. Invest in services like SMS Gateway API and Email to SMS that will save you time and money on your texting campaigns.

According to a new study by Portio Research, worldwide SMS traffic topped 5 trillion messages in 2009 and is expected to exceed 10 trillion in 2013. These are staggering numbers for sure, but how many businesses can actually say they are taking advantage of this remarkable flow of communication? The most common way to reach mobile phone users, also know as YOUR CUSTOMERS, is through SMS. Because SMS is a neutral feature on all mobile devices, regardless of service provider or hardware manufacturer, it has become the mainstream form of international communication. And because it is also very affordable, businesses of all sizes from mom-and-pop shops to major corporations will be taking advantage of this valuable tool and succeeding. Here are some things to consider now to prepare for the future.

1. Mobile commerce is expected to grow by $119 billion by 2015 which means your Point of Sale will be altered as people respond and buy things from mobile messages.

2. The way you connect with your customers is becoming more localized giving you the opportunity to capture them as they are walking by your door. Find out what mobile tools offer Location Based Services (LBS).

3. Discovering and delivering the products and services your customers WANT is getting easier as feedback on everything from movie screenings to restaurant reviews are being generated in real time.

4. Your ability to resolve support issues is increasing customer retention.

5. Look for Direct Mobile Payments (DMP) to become more of a reality as seen by the recent successful text-to-donate Red Cross campaign for Haiti.

5. Today’s mobile web is tomorrow’s Internet web. With Smartphone sales up 24%, the DMA recently estimated that more people will connect to the Internet via their mobile phone than their PC within 5 years.