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Today’s smartphone owners don’t just like their devices, but they really, really, really like them. And be prepared to add a few more ‘reallys’ in the next few years.

A 2014 Pew Research Center study showed 44 percent of phone owners say they sleep with their device nearby so they don’t miss calls or texts, and 29 percent say they can’t imagine living without their phone.

Phone owners have now become the perfect audience for businesses to send texts too, either through direct person-to-person messages or through a text blast service that automatically sends a message to hundreds or thousands of audience members.

Owners also tend to open texts within minutes of receiving them, and may take a suggested action just as quickly, like clicking on a link taking them to a special offer.

Utilizing a text blast service makes sense as an especially effective way to reach so many fans who have expressed interest in receiving info and offers by text.

Customers will appreciate being contacted on a device they are attached to, and may even feel like it’s a personal contact.  Your business will save time and money by not having to text so many people individually, or worse, by using traditionally less effective and more expensive media like digital ads or email newsletters.

The following items should be kept in mind when considering preparing and executing a blast program.

• Do make sure your audience has consented. This is a combination of a courtesy of not wanting to waste someone’s time promoting a product or service that doesn’t interest them, and following applicable laws about electronic solicitation. If unwanted texting becomes a regular practice, the texter could find themselves facing fines or even blacklisted from their ISP.
  
  
• Do learn the mechanics of the text blast service. They are all designed to be user-friendly, and hopefully there will be online help or at least a step-by-step guide to organizing your audience, inputting your database, composing your message and sending it out.  You may not need to learn all the behind-the-scenes mechanics about software platforms and SMS aggregators, but the service should at least allow you to create and schedule different messages for different groups.
  
  
• Do identify yourself. Your audience may not connect your phone number with your business, or even remembering signing up. So quickly tell them who you are. A name with the business name can create even more of a personal connection. “Hi, I’m Bob from X Company, and since you are interested in us, here’s a cool new offer you’ll love.”
  
  
•  Don’t take too long to get to the point. Texters believe they’re busy, so they may not mind checking out your offer, especially if they recognize you from past text blasts, but they may not want to read a lengthy message when there are so many other texts coming in.
  
  
• Don’t overdo it. As much as you want to get excited about building a legion of fans and getting all of them as excited as you are with frequent messages, consider contacting your audience only once or twice a week. This will help them remain familiar with you and your brand, maybe even start looking forward to them if they are sent on certain days, but not feel that you’re contacting them too often.
  
  
• Do send them to a landing page. Your link should take them to a new page especially for this particular offer. It doesn’t just include the product/service and any special deal, but additional info about your business. This is more effective than including a deep link to the product page, or to your homepage.
  
  
• Don’t expect a response back. A text blast service should be an effective and automated way to contact many people at once, but you don’t necessarily want them all texting you back at once. Your service should create options for them to respond with questions, comments or ‘remove me’ requests. But you really want the easiest action to be for them to click on the promotional link.
  
  
• Do vary your message. Even if you have similar themes and offers in campaigns, create unique messages to the same audiences. This is to keep things fresh, but also since it’s easy for customers to keep track of all past texts from you on their phones, you don’t want to be perceived as sending out reruns.
  
  

A text blast service can be a useful component of an overall SMS campaign. It saves you time and also can be enjoyable to your audience, who may see this automated feature as a personal connection. For more suggestions or to help create your own campaign visit Trumpia.com.

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