This document provides a beginner's guide to SMS marketing. It discusses how SMS marketing works on an opt-in, permission-based model and why it is effective at engaging customers. The guide outlines best practices for SMS campaigns, including growing subscriber lists, running contests, testing different message types, and measuring campaign success through metrics like redemption rates. It emphasizes testing different approaches to find the most valuable campaigns for each business's customers.

1. Presented By
SMS Marketing:
A Beginner's Guide
Presented
by

2. I n t r o d u c t i o n
SMS Marketing has proven to be highly
effective when trying to engage your
customers. Over the years, as text messaging
became a communication tool used by more
and more people, the popularity of marketing
through this interactive method has also
steadily increased.
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More brands are using text messages to
relay promotions and coupons to their
fans. In addition, when partnering with
the right company, you can use the
technology in a number of other creative
ways that can enhance your customer’s
experience.
This guide will give you some basic ideas
about what SMS marketing means, how it
is best applied, as well as some examples
on creating effective campaigns.

3. What is SMS Marketing and What
Does it Mean to be Permission-
Based?
SMS Marketing is marketing to your customers
through a text message that can be sent to a
mobile phone. Marketing through text messages
is also considered Permission-Based Marketing.
In order for you to send marketing messages to
a customer’s phone, they will need to opt-in, or
in other words, give consent to receive a brand’s
marketing messages on their phone.
By customer’s opting-in to receive a brand’s
marketing messages, it is a strong sign that the
brand has just acquired a loyal fan.
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4. Why is SMS Marketing so Effective?
SMS marketing is one of the most effective
ways to market to your customers. The
messages are sent directly to a user’s phone,
so the delivery is immediate. Also, text
messages are very personal. While many
marketers may feel that this would be a
deterrent, the truth is that many users
actually respond to marketing messages
through SMS at a higher rate than email.
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Growing your Subscriber List
One of the most important things you can do
when you are building your subscriber list is
to make sure that your call-to-action is
included with any other type of marketing
you do. For example, if you run commercials
or print ads, you can simply include the
additional information for the SMS
campaign in order to get the word out and
gain more fans.
Many businesses also create signs that they
display throughout their physical locations
where people are more likely to look. For
example, if you have a cash register, placing
the signage at the credit card terminal, or on
the counter, is a great way for your
customers to see your code and join right
away.

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Contests
Another popular way of engaging fans and
growing your subscriber lists is by creating a
contest that will encourage people to join.
Contests add a value for first-time subscribers
to join your list since they must opt-in to be
eligible to win.
Contests will also work to keep current
subscribers engaged with your brand. Winners
can be notified via SMS to collect their prize
and losers may even receive a consolation
prize that will bring them into your location.

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Sending SMS Campaigns
The most important thing to do when
you are building campaigns is to ask:
Value is defined differently for different
businesses and customers. To test the
value of your campaign, you will need to
test which of those campaigns work best
by the response received from your
subscribers or redemption rates from
coupons.
Is this valuable to my customer?
Will this increase engagement?
Will it allow us to get to know our
customers better?

8. Engagement is an important part of
your campaigns because it gives value to
another important aspect of marketing
through SMS. Engagement increases
the level of personal communication
with your audience and allows you to
interact in ways that you can’t access
with other forms of marketing.
Engaging your fans to become a part of
your marketing team is one of the ways
you can measure how successful your
campaigns are.
Sending SMS Campaigns
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9. Using Trial & Error To Find
The Best Campaigns for your
Customers
As in many other areas, testing different
types of campaigns is a great way to make
sure you see what works best for your
audience. Without trying many different
ways to engage with your fans, you might
get discouraged to continue using this
method of marketing. Too many companies
stop using their SMS marketing services
because they feel that their subscribers
aren’t interested in receiving offers.
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10. Most of the time, it isn’t whether they
would like to see the offers delivered to
their phone, but that the offers being
sent weren’t relevant. Using a
combination of discounts, coupons,
event information and promotions will
usually allow you to cast a wide enough
net to cover the many different types of
offers that your customers may want to
see. Later, you will be able to measure
how successful each of these campaigns
were, and if they were relevant to your
subscribers.
Using Trial & Error To Find
The Best Campaigns for your
Customers
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11. Messaging Types
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O f f e r s
Offers are anything that you would send
to your customers such as coupons and
promotions. These are very valuable to
your subscribers and are usually the
main reason they may sign up to receive
your marketing through SMS. These
offers can be anything from a discount of
their next purchase, a message
informing them of a limited time
promotion you might be running, or
anything else that will provide the value
that your customers are looking for.

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P o l l s
Getting feedback from your customers
has always been an important part of
customer satisfaction. Many people rely
on third parties or complicated online
forms to get insight on how satisfied a
customer was with their service. Using
SMS to retrieve that information gives
you the ability to immediately have
your staff provide a response to your
guests.
For example, offering a survey near the
end of your guest’s visit to your
restaurant can give you fast enough
results that a manager can visit their
table to understand why they may have
rated the service a certain way. This
gives your staff the ability to take action
on providing the best possible service
and generating a positive experience
before the customer leaves the
restaurant.

13. Another way polls can be used is for
segmenting your subscribers into
categories based on their interests. This
comes in handy when you provide a
number of different services. For
example, casinos offer multiple types of
services that attract a number of guests.
Many may visit the property for gaming,
but there are also those that only go to
enjoy the restaurants or shows. If your
subscribers are only interested in
dining, you are then able to send
relevant offers that are tailored to them,
making your messages feel more
personal.
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P o l l s

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V i r a l M e s s a g i n g
Viral messaging is a patented process that
is only available through Mobile Connect
by SkyWire. It allows your customers to do
your marketing for you by forwarding
relevant messages and offers to their
friends and family. This helps grow your
subscriber list and reward your most loyal
customers for promoting your brand.

15. T r i g g e r e d E v e n t s
Triggered events is an SMS that is
triggered by a particular action, and is a
patented feature of Mobile Connect by
SkyWire. It is scheduled for a later date
and helps automate the SMS marketing
process.
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For example, you offer your subscribers
a coupon towards their next purchase
and would like to get their feedback if
they use it. For those that actually
redeem the coupon, a message can be
triggered at any time after the
redemption. This feedback can be sent
back to your system via SMS without
the need for third party systems such as
online surveys.

16. T r i g g e r e d E v e n t s
Triggered messages also allows you to
drive additional visits to your property
or guide them around your property by
scheduling messages based on how they
redeem your offers. An example would
be for a casino to send a follow-up
coupon to a subscriber for a free drink in
the bar 90 minutes after they have
redeemed an offer for a discounted
appetizer at one of the casino’s
restaurants.
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17. Unique Ideas and Alternative Uses
Sometimes the software for SMS
Marketing is used in alternative ways.
These creative uses give brands the
power to engage their customers in ways
that go beyond a simple text message.
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For example, Pinnacle Hotels and
Resorts have a “Text a Towel”
campaign. A guest can simply text the
keyword with their room number to the
special short-code to receive fresh
towels in their room. This message is
sent directly to the front desk or guest
services staff to respond.
Another successful use for this service is
for delivery confirmations. The flower
delivery company, FTD, uses Mobile
Connect to send delivery confirmations
to those who subscribe.

18. Mobile application developers can also
use SMS Marketing to send direct
download links through SMS so users
can quickly, and easily, download the
applications without having to hunt for
it in the app store.
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Nightclubs can use SMS marketing
software to build guest lists, in addition
to sending offers and promotions for
special events.
Apartments can use SMS for residents
to schedule work orders. The system can
verify that the phone number they
received a work order from is on file and
submit the work order in the system
queue.
Hotels can also give guests the ability to
check out via SMS, so guests do not have to
spend time visiting the front desk when it is
time to leave.

19. Colleges and Universities send students
links for the campus maps, on-campus
events, and alerts.
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Golf Clubs can use polls to get
information from their players and
provide information on available tee
times and special events at the club.

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Measuring SMS Success
In order to fully understand the
effectiveness of your SMS campaign, it’s
important to measure your data
regularly. Calculating list growth will
provide a percentage to measure how
many subscribers your campaign is
gaining (or losing). The churn rate will
help determine how valuable your
subscribers felt a particular message
was. If the churn rate is particularly
high after a message goes out to
subscribers, it may be wise to reevaluate
the type of message or campaign you are
currently using.
# Of current subscribers
LIST GROWTH:
# current subscribers - # previous subscribers
previous subscribers
CHURN RATE:
# of subscribers who opt out

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Knowing your redemption rate is
essential for understanding what offers
are the most popular with your
subscribers, and calculating your cost
per redeeming subscriber will help you
understand how much it is costing you
to bring a subscriber into your
establishment, the lower this number is,
the better your return on the SMS
campaign is.
Redemption rate
REDEMPTION RATE:
# of subscribers redeeming an offer
# Of current subscribers
COST PER REDEEMING SUBSCRIBER:
cost to send SMS to one customer

22. Regulations and Compliance
Before you head out to build campaigns, it’s
also important to understand some of the
regulations surrounding marketing through
text messages. If you are marketing through
a text message and forget or do not know
which legal disclaimers need to be included,
then your company can be held liable and
subject to penalties. Its important to inform
your subscribers of what it is they are
signing up for, whether it be weekly
notifications, monthly discounts and
coupons, or the chance to win prizes.
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23. Let your subscribers know how often you
will be sending them messages, and
closely monitor your campaign so you
don’t go over. Once you have broken the
trust your subscriber has, it can be
difficult to get it back and you may lose
subscribers over an unnecessary
message.
Each customer opting in must explicitly
agree to the terms and conditions of
doing which may be done with a simple
reply. Legally, subscribers must also be
notified of any charges that may apply
and be given information necessary for
opting out.
Regulations and Compliance
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24. Resources
http://www.business2community.com/mobile
-apps/sms-marketing-0962895#!bKv4lg
http://www.tatango.com/blog/5-must-haves-
for-advertising-your-sms-campaign/
http://www.tatango.com/resources/video-
measuring-sms-advertising/
http://www.skywire.com/solutions/mobile-
connect/
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