We all like to think that we’re marketing experts. We’ve been in the game for a while, maybe even had some success, and with that success comes a certain degree of smugness. Let’s face it – there are things we could all do better as marketers, from using sms polls to do market surveys, to better sms automation. Here are six things every sms marketer does wrong, and how to turn these mistakes into strengths…

  1. Information overload – Text is supposed to be short and sweet. If you’re running into your character limit or even sending multiple texts, you’re overdoing it. Try using a service like bit.ly or tinyurl if you need to link to more information.
  2. Too many texts – SMS accounts are the last “personal” consumer communications channels. If you’re constantly spamming your users with text messages, chances are you’ll find yourself in the trash folder sooner rather than later.
  3. Too soon – If you get a new signup for your SMS list, don’t immediately start sending in-your-face text marketing. Build a level of trust with information texts before you start the sales pitches.
  4. Unprofessional – Do you use “text-speak” or have spelling and grammatical errors in your texts? Fix them immediately. Remember, this isn’t like texting your friends. Business texting must remain professional. 
  5. Inefficient – If you’re spending hours sending texts from your mobile device, you’re doing it wrong. Investing in a good sms automation system will help make your life a lot easier.
  6. Not testing – Good texting software also allows you to segment your recipient groups and text your text results. Breaking large groups into subgroups organized around a certain trait (gender, buying patterns, etc.) will help you pinpoint the strategies that work with certain groups and those that don’t. Making sure your strategies are as optimized as possible is essential to the success of an SMS marketing campaign.