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Branding Laws · Internet Marketing · eMarketing · Internet Advertising · Online Branding |
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Branding Laws · Internet Marketing · eMarketing · Internet Advertising · Online Branding |
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How to use SMS Marketing Effectively
How to use SMS
Marketing
Effectively
A guide to using SMS and Mobile Marketing
including notes on the Spam Act.
By Craig Lambie
B Bus (Eco & Fin) RMIT
What Was That P/L
2
Table of Contents
Table of Contents...........................................................................................................2
Introduction....................................................................................................................3
Some Facts about:......................................................................................................3
Mobile Phones ..............................................................................................................3
Premium SMS...............................................................................................................3
Promoting - a guide.........................................................................................................3
Basics covered – Some points on Promoting.........................................................3
TARGET MARKET.......................................................................................................4
Headline a Gig! .............................................................................................................4
Promoting Ideas ..........................................................................................................5
GET a Street Team....................................................................................................5
How to use SMS Marketing to its fullest Potential...............................................6
Stage .............................................................................................................................6
Radio ..............................................................................................................................6
TV ..................................................................................................................................6
Gig Guide listing ..........................................................................................................6
Flyers............................................................................................................................6
Newspaper Ads............................................................................................................7
Posters ..........................................................................................................................7
CD Insert......................................................................................................................7
In Person.......................................................................................................................7
Incentives!....................................................................................................................8
Our Incentives ............................................................................................................8
Different types of SMS Codes...................................................................................8
The Spam Act..................................................................................................................9
References ..................................................................................................................... 10
3
Introduction
Mobile phone usage in Australia is growing at incredible rates, the uptake on
mobile content was slow to start, but the introduction of interactive TV
shows like Big Brother has seen an increase in the usage of interactive
services in line with our European counterparts.
The SPAM act bought in by the Australian Government to curb unsolicited
electronic messaging applies to both email and SMS type marketing
activities. In order to avoid being fined there are measures you need to
take outlined in the document below.
Some Facts about:
Mobile Phones
16M+ Mobile Subscribers in Australia
80% Market penetration
More than 72% of people 14-24 have a mobile phone
Premium SMS
Big Brother and Australian Idol increase awareness about Premium SMS
services in your Target Markets.
Australian Idol saw more than 900,000 premium SMS votes in a week (55c).
Promoting - a guide
Basics covered – Some points on Promoting
• Get Good - no point gigging if you are no good and no one is going to
like you, you will just put the venue of rebooking you and the fans
from seeing you again. A good experience might be remembered, a bad
one IS remembered.
• Get a support gig - network with similar bands, similar genres etc -
NETWORK - Cross promote each other and help each other, longer
term you can then get bigger together, share contacts, fans and other
great links.
• A logo is important element of the band/identity, like your name it is
important to get a good logo/name that identifies with your Target
Market
4
• Get a web presence - a MySpace site is Free and a great tool, put
some material up on it, NETWORK with your fans, get "Friends" on
MySpace etc.
• Email List/SMS List
o Maintain a good communication with you fans, use MySpace
bulletins, email and SMS to keep in touch with your fans, or
they will forget about you. Don't bother them to much either,
SPAM is just annoying, ensure you personalise your
communications as much as possible.
• Get as much info on your fans as possible in order to find your Target
Market
• SMS subscription tool - SMS "E whatmail" & Your Email Address to
19933111 to subscribe to my email list. You can do this too. SMS "e
yourlistname & fan@email.com" to 19933111 (Gold Package)
TARGET MARKET
This is something you need establish early in the piece. Who are your fans,
what other things to do they like, other music, influences etc. Where do
they hang out. No point advertising in Mag A if your fans read Mag B. This
helps with knowing what advertising is going to get through to your fans and
where to put it.
Headline a Gig!
For Starters you are getting paid for this, so do you Promote and how, and
how much of the budget should go into the promotion?
For example sake I am going to work with a $500 budget example for
promotion, so you have bought in around 100-200 people to your last support
act (venues love a full venue for the support act, when your supporting you
should get as many people there as possible by 930pm (if your playing at 10
for eg) otherwise everyone will come at 11pm to see the headline and the
support lose Cred for getting fans to the show. Be specific about being the
support and start time so people don't miss seeing you.
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Promoting Ideas
Community Radio White Boards, Free mention of your gig around Aussie
Triple J Friday evening mention with Mith
Gig Guide Listings - make sure you have a separate listing in gig guides for
every show you do, its free. Make sure you know the deadline for your local
Street Press and Mainstream Press!
For starters it makes the Press aware you exist, secondly the public aware,
they read your name in the gig guide week in and out for a few weeks, it
starts to sink in...."Oh yer, I read about that somewhere...."
Maybe do a poster run.
Be very specific with your posters, only put them up where
A. your fans hang out
B. your fans go that can come to the gig...ie over 18 etc.
GET a Street Team
- This is a group of fans that are die hard fans, they can do some of the
work for you.
Basically it is about giving them merch, tickets, sharing the rider at shows
etc in exchange for them to put up posters in specific areas and give out
flyers, etc where they hang out anyways - (Target Market)
6
How to use SMS Marketing to its fullest Potential
Stage
So often when gigs are mentioned on stage the details are brushed over,
When/Where/What?? I always find myself asking after a plug. To avoid
this, just ask them to SMS “yourcode” to GIGTXT to get the details. Great
if you don’t want to mention anther venues name on stage.
Code to Use: Standard Code or Automatic “Band” Code
Radio
Often people hear gigs on the radio and miss details, forget immediately
after etc. To avoid this, when plugging your gig, just ask them to SMS your
“yourcode” to get details, people only need to remember that as the number
for SMS should be in there phone already, if not tell them 19933111.
Code to Use: Standard Code
TV
When a gig is flashed up on the telly it is often ignored (except for diehard
fans) most youth will have their mobile phone close at hand while watching
telly, so as with Radio, just mention “yourcode” to get details, people only
need to grab their phone and SMS it to GIGTXT to get the details. They
are more likely to have their phone nearby than a pen and paper!
Code to Use: Standard Code
Gig Guide listing
Often Street Press will only print minimal details of your gig, get your
Website, Address of the venue and other important info to them with an
SMS. Just ask them to “yourcode” in your gig guide listings to get the full
details of your specific gig.
Code to Use: Standard Code
73% of people forget to go to gigs they read about in their
local Street Press!
Flyers
People always have their mobile phone, flyers get lost.
Ask people to SMS “yourcode” to GIGTXT on your flyers, instead of trying
to hold on to your flyer, punters can SMS and get the details in their phone.
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Code to Use: Standard Code
Newspaper Ads
When reading the paper, people often come across things they might enjoy
going to, on turning the page, the details are lost to them.
To avoid this simple ask them to SMS “yourcode” to GIGTXT in your ads,
editorial mentions instead of forgetting the details when they turn the page,
they can SMS and get the details in their phone for later reference.
Code to Use: Standard Code
Posters
Posters are everywhere, people are inundated with them. Most people will
forget the details when they walk away from the poster, let alone when they
get home. To increase the effectiveness of your poster simply ask people to
SMS “yourcode” to GIGTXT on your poster advertising. Punters can SMS to
get details so when they walk away from your poster; they have the details
in their phone for future reference instead of forgetting it.
Code to Use: Standard Code, for generic posters use Automatic “Band” code.
77% of people forget the details of a gig seen on a poster
when they get home!
CD Insert
When your fans are listening to your CD they can pull out there mobile phone
and SMS “yourcode” to find out when you are next playing live!
Great if they don’t have the internet, or more likely can’t be bothered
moving to their computer, get them the most up to date info!
Code to Use: Automatic “Band” Code
In Person
When you are talking to your fans, friends or colleagues, tell them to gigtxt
to get your gig details, then when they walk away you are certain they have
the info and it won’t get lost in their busy lives. Works great in Nightclubs,
loud bars and at Gigs!
Code to Use: All relevant
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Incentives!
Things you can do to encourage the Spreading of your GIG Info!
- Show SMS to get 10% off at the door?
- Show SMS at door to get a free drink card (controlled unique number id
system?)
Our Incentives
Anyone who sends an SMS goes into draw to win MP3 Player (members only)
Anyone who sends SMS (up to 1 hour before gig) goes into draw to win a
double pass
Different types of SMS Codes
There are a few different types of code words available
- Standard
o This would be used for once off promotion or gig
o Used on Flyers, Street Press Ads, Specific Gig Posters, Radio
Spots, Press Releases etc
- Band
o This is an auto-updating code word, put up to 45 days in advance
and next live gig is sent back.
o Used on Generic Posters, Stickers, Album Covers, Websites,
Forum Listings and Flyers
- Venue
o This is an auto-updating code word, put up to 45 days in advance
and next live gig is sent back.
o Used on Stickers, Posters, Flyers, Street Press Ads, Press
Releases, Radio Spots, TV Spots, Websites, Forums Listings and
all internal venue promotions
- Email List
o This allows punters to SMS to subscribe to a specified email
account
o Used on Stickers, Posters, Flyers, On Stage, At Merch Desk
and general word of mouth
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The Spam Act
The Australian Government introduced the Spam Act in 2003 with its first
case about to go through the courts at the moment (July 20, 2005 - Perth
Federal Court).
The Spam act basically covers all forms of electronic messaging with fines
for offenders up to $1.1m per day with a provision to seize ill-gotten profits
and to pay compensation.
To send an unsolicited message wether it is via SMS or email warrants a fine,
also harvesting emails from websites using software and similar activities
are considered offences.
To avoid the Spam act it is worthwhile noting the following from the Direct
Marketing Associations E-Marketing code of practice:
o Obtaining and maintaining consent;
o Keeping records of consent;
o Obligations in relation to viral marketing campaigns;
o Inclusion of accurate information about senders/message authorisers ;
o Provision and operation of a functional unsubscribe facility;
The code of practice is available for free download at:
http://www.adma.com.au/asp/index.asp?pgid=20312
The basics of the code and therefore compliance with the act come down to
this: Express of inferred consent. That basically means you cannot send out
messages without there being some level of consent either express (eg a
tick in a “yes I want your newsletter” box on a form) or inferred, someone
drops their business card into a fish bowl at an exhibition.
Another important issue is, if your email address is published on the web or
in a book/directory, anyone can manually obtain the address and add it to a
list, unless you have a warning like “no unsolicited mail” next to the published
email. I would however warn you, if you publish your email on the web, it is
still open to spam originating in other countries.
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References
“Reality TV shows attacked over SMS”, The Mercury, Pg 3, 28/01/2004
IBIS World Reports “Mobile Telecommunications Carriers in Australia”,
13/01/2005
Claudia Sagripanti “"19" numbers cap costs”, B&T Weekly, Pg 8, 25/06/2004
Emma Connors “Ten recruits Legion for SMS voting” Australian Financial
Review 18 March 2005
Brett Winterford “Making money with mobile music” Australian Financial
Review, 8 February 2005
Emma Connors “The smart call is hyperactive about interactive” Australian
Financial Review, 19 November 2004
Rachael Osman-Chin and Emma Connors “Little players behind Big Bungle”
Australian Financial Review, 9 July 2004
Mark Jones “Government too slow on spam, says activist” Australian
Financial Review, 28 June 2005
KIRSTY NEEDHAM “Response to junk email staggering, says accused spam
king” The Age, 27 June 2005
Julian Bajkowski “Alleged spammer faces court over 56 million e-mails”
Computerworld (Aust), 24 June 2005
“Australian eMarketing Code of Practice” ADMA, December 2004
http://www.adma.com.au/asp/index.asp