In the last several years, small businesses have discovered many ingenious ways to market their businesses while getting the most for their advertising dollar.  Due to the fact that small business budgets are a lot less than large businesses, they need to be more creative with that budget.   SMS marketing is the key to getting the most out of that marketing budget.  Here are five clever techniques for SMS messaging for your small business:

1.                   Think about each campaign before you start sending messages to your subscribers.  Make sure that it conveys a single message or idea per text.  Limit the amount of messages that you send, being mindful that short code text messages are paid for by most recipients.

2.                   Send offers that are exclusive to your subscribers, but allow them to “refer a friend” by adding  a link or code that they can forward to others so that they can join your list.  By offering special perks to subscribers only, your list may become a “hot item” that people want to be invited to.

3.                   Run special contests to create excitement about each campaign.  Be sure to set out what the rules are, how long the contest will run, what the prizes are, etc.  This can all be included on a landing page where people are sent from your initial message when you send bulk SMS messages.

4.                   Increase the size of your list by including an opt in or call to action with your other marketing campaigns.  Send out invites via Titter or Facebook and encourage people to sign up for your SMS list with the promise of a special offer if they do – a special discount code or other exclusive offer may be enough.

5.                   Have an app created for your small business that can be easily downloaded via an offer through a SMS message.  The app can be something really simple, so long as it has to do with your business.  People love free apps, so if yours is something useful, they will be sure to download it and use it.

Many businesses are just discovering the power of SMS marketing.  If you have a small advertising budget, then you need to be extremely careful in how you allocate and spend that budget.  SMS marketing is one of the least expensive and most powerful methods that you can use to market your small business.  If you are thinking about hiring a marketing firm to help, be sure to read text message marketing companies reviews to find a company that you can work with to get results for your small business.