Using SMS to build your customer list

If you are looking for an effective way to build your customer list, SMS is the way to go. With the right message, you can easily get the email addresses of your potential customers and you can easily tailor your campaign based on their current needs and target market.

Inferred permission and the Spam Act

Although SMS is covered by the “Spam Law”, you can still send SMS messages to a cold list by making sure you have inferred permission. Inferred permission just means that their mobile numbers are publicly available – they provided their mobile numbers to various websites on the internet, yellow pages, newspapers or any other public lists. This gives you inferred permission to send them a marketing message.

Free Report – Free Gift

Since you are sending your message to a cold list, you had better offer something of value in exchange for information. An exchange of value is taking place here, it is not dollars but the exchange of your name and details. This will help build a relationship and you want to get that permission so that when you write to them you can help build the relationship.

Your target market

You must understand the medium you are using for your message to be effective. When sending your SMS message, you should know that there are at least 3 different groups that you can target. Generation Y, Generation X and the Baby Boomers. Generation Y loves SMS and they love using this technology and they will be receptive to any type of SMS they receive, even marketing messages. Gen Xers and Baby Boomers are different though, they just tolerate this technology. They would use SMS only to contact their children, or some of them know how to read SMS, but don’t know how to send SMS. With this in mind, you can tailor your message to your target group.

Your message

The SMS message is limited to 160 characters, so you must craft your message within those limitations. You need to be concise and clear about your purpose and goals so that you can have a successful SMS marketing campaign. Also remember your target group when writing your message, keeping in mind that Generation Y can easily send you their email address via SMS, while Generation X and Baby Boomers prefer to call their email address.

A sample SMS message might look like this for Generation Y:

“Hey, Get Your Free Report: 5 Ways To Make Money Using SMS ($97 Value). Text Your Email Address To This Number, Offer Expires Within 48 Hours.”

A sample SMS message might look like this for Generation Y and Baby Boomers:

“Hi, Get Your Free Report: 5 Ways To Make Money Using SMS ($97 Value). Call his email address at this number, offer expires within 48 hours.”