Text messaging appeals to businesses and organizations as a powerful way to market to their audiences, as it is considered by many to be “the most intimate communications technology yet invented”. Political campaign strategists understand this and have made it a core part of their campaigns. A textbook example was President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign announcement of his vice-presidential nominee via SMS.

Mobile text looks to be important again in this voting cycle with the upcoming presidential election. “Texting,” said presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s digital director Zac Moffett states “is the cleanest channel available to engage with supporters.” However, he added that the spread of third-party groups spam-texting voters posed a real threat of polluting their message.

This idea touches on an important - and critical - aspect of the medium: Audiences should be comprised completely of members who have opted-in. That means that each person you plan to send a text to has explicitly stated that they are open to receiving SMS messages from your organization. The obvious reason is that you are not breaking any laws or rules of decency in sending unsolicited messages. The implied benefit for you in this is that you are reaching the people who have the highest likelihood of contributing to you, whether as customers or participating members.

So, how do you create a list of such great people? Advertising. You could include in an ad a mobile keyword and short code that people can text in or a link to online sign-up page to fill out in exchange for exclusive info or deals. Through these two marketing tools, you can collect phone numbers among other bits of contact information for future campaigns. And since those mobile keywords and links are so small and portable, you can plaster them anywhere - your storefront, posters, or food truck - for people to see and access.

Just as in politics, it pays to play fair!