Drawbacks

Now that you're convinced text-message marketing is the greatest thing since sliced cheese, let me address what I perceive to be the drawbacks of the plan. Having a balanced view of this, or any form of marketing can help you make informed decisions. Since everyone on Twitter and Facebook is promoting only the positive aspects of their programs, it gives a skewed paradigm, if you know what I mean.

Let's look at the negatives for a moment: First of all, text messaging only allows a certain number of characters (ala Twitter), so, you must be brief (creative?) in your marketing. Having said that, using links to take the prospect to other pages or videos can somewhat circumvent this restriction. The maximum allowed characters for most text services is 160, but don't quote me on that. Each marketing service may be different. It's a small amount of characters, especially if you're doing something like weekly specials, menus, etc.

Which segues into drawback number two: Just as in email marketing, the FTC (and now FCC) require you to give the customer a way to "opt-out." Perhaps they didn't realize what they were getting into when they opted in, or maybe they just changed their mind. It is their right; they are, after all, the customer. The methods of opting out are different, however. Whereas most email services (your Constant Contacts of the world) have an opt-out link ("click here if you no longer wish to receive emails from us," or something to that effect), text message services generally use the following "text STOP to stop receiving messages from us." The word stop is a universally recognized word to opt-out. Perhaps you have seen or done the same (when donating to charitable organizations from your phone, for example). I am not an FCC attorney, so I honestly can't tell you if the requirement is true for every single text message, but it must be done on a regular basis.

The above drawback gives a distinction between text marketing and, let's say radio: with radio, TV, and even print ads, the customer simply has to look away, turn the channel, turn off the device, etc. But because our messages are being delivered directly to the individual's device (their cell phones, in our case) we must give them a way out. Plain and simple, that's the law.

The third, and possibly most dangerous disadvantage involves frequency. Unless you're a restaurant catering to hard-core customers, who are in your place every single day, chances are you only want to text people once, possibly twice a week. Anything more, and you've become a nuisance, which will lead to the aforementioned opt-out. None of us want that. I must say that it also depends upon the type of business; I believe customers will tolerate messages from restaurants offering daily specials and coupons, than they would for, say, a dentist or a landscaping business.

Whether or not you validate text and mobile marketing as a viable method, it is coming. In a big way. Be prepared.


More soon,

Steve




































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