SMS marketing is the way of the future. It is a seamless form of communication to help businesses engage with their consumers. However, unlike other marketing channels, the success of SMS services lie in a business' ability to provide a service first. Leading with a promotion, before you build a rapport, can have immediate and negative effects.

SMS Marketing By the Statistics
Before we can discuss the benefits of leading SMS campaigns with a service, let's first look at the powerful numbers that support this marketing avenue. SAP recently confirmed that 64 percent of consumers believe that businesses should use SMS to communicate more often. The organization also provided the following consumer insights to marketers:

• 76 percent of consumers are more likely to read an SMS message more quickly than an email.
• 70 percent of consumers think that SMS or text messages are attention grabbing.
• 62 percent of consumers reported that in the future they will be more likely to use SMS or text messages to communicate with businesses.
• 36 percent of consumers felt that SMS messages were an added quality service.

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The latter statistic features the key phrase "quality service." At the end of the day, no matter which marketing avenue you choose, you need to provide a quality service to your consumers. Consumers are bombarded by marketing messages throughout the day. From their Facebook feeds to countless email promotions, it has become far too easy for a consumer to "swipe left" in an effort to mindlessly delete unwanted promotions. To avoid this pitfall, provide a service first. Create something that is useful to your subscribers before you begin to promote your wares.

By starting your consumer relationship with the SMS channel, you can begin to raise the quality of service that you provide. When the quality of service is at an all time high, you will be able to deepen long-term relationships by encouraging repeat businesses and customer referrals. To add the service component to your campaigns, you need to truly analyze the wants and needs of your consumers. Ask yourself the following types of questions.

• What can my consumer gain by receiving this SMS message?
• Why would consumers subscribe to SMS services?
• Why would my consumers prefer SMS messages to email?
• How am I improving customer service via SMS messages?
• What quality control measures can SMS messages provide that other notification systems can't?

In essence, you need to "walk a mile" in your consumers' shoes, before you can adequately provide them with a quality service. Once you have entered their mindset, you will find that it is far easier to build a rapport with your subscribers by providing them with a service, before you begin to send them promotions.

Tips For A Successful SMS Campaign
As mentioned earlier in this post, a successful SMS campaign starts by providing your consumers with a service. To help you create a positive consumer interaction and response to SMS campaigns, keep the following tips in mind.

• Tell consumers what exactly they are opting-in to; let them know what to expect.
• Create customized SMS responses during the sign-up process. -- Make consumers feel welcomed by sending more than a "thank you" note; include a reference to where they found you. For example, "Thank you for stopping by our store, located at 123 Sample Address. We are so happy to welcome you to our loyal flock of customers."
• Add a second request for confirmation. -- Let consumers know that you appreciate their outreach by sending an additional confirmation message, such as, "Please confirm that you wish to receive SMS and text messages ... we hope you respond with "yes" :)"
• Accommodate different phone types. -- While it is strange to think that some people prefer "dumb phones," the truth of the matter is simple: not everyone has a smartphone. Make sure that you can accommodate the differences between these two types of phones. For example, you might send the following request to someone with a "dumb phone," "We have a special offer for today only! Would you like an e-mail sent with this exclusive offer?"
• Make landing pages relevant to each SMS message. -- If you have sent a link in the SMS message, then you need to make sure that your subscribers are being sent to a relevant, and responsive, landing page. Nothing is worse than clicking on a link and being directed to a site only to find that it is completely different than what you expected it to be. A close second to the latter situation is clicking a link and being directed to a desktop friendly site that is very hard to read on your small mobile device.

No matter which tips you choose to follow, remember that your SMS services will only be as good as the level of trust, engagement, and response that they invoke. Create a rapport with your customers before you begin to send them promotions. After all, by creating a positive relationship, you will be better equipped to know what promotions your customers actually want. This customer-first approach will help you to create long-lasting and lucrative consumer relationships.

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