Before starting, try out Clickatell’s SMS Gateway so that you understand how easy the systems are to use. Sign up for a Clickatell Communicator 2 account and you will be sending and receiving bulk SMS in no time. We offer ten free credits in your account to test the system. Alternatively, if you need to SMS-enable your website, applications or programmes to set up scheduled or triggered SMS message sending,  register for a free trial of one of our developer-friendly API’s.

Choosing the right service provider is crucial to the success of your mobile marketing campaign. Clickatell, the world’s leading mobile messaging provider, can reach more people in more countries on more devices than any other company in the world!

All that you need in order to start a mobile messaging campaign is the desire to increase the value you offer clients. The SMS applications will appeal to all budgets and Clickatell provides all the technical support you could ask for.

Whether you are wanting to raise awareness around your brand, generate new customers or are looking for a vehicle for delivering ring tones and logo’s, Clickatell provides the perfect mobile messaging solution. We are guessing that…

You want more customers?

Acquisition and promotional campaigns are extremely popular and with mobile messaging, it is very easy to gauge the effectiveness of your campaign. Below are some successful campaign ideas that have worked across a multitude of industries.

• Promotions: ask customers in-store or online to sign up to receive promotional texts re specials and sales. Start a mobile VIP club offering exclusive news re your products.
• Competitions: run ‘text-to-win’ competitions where customers reply to a SMS question. Use this mechanism to gather information for customer profiling.
• Forward to a friend: by including this message with an incentive in SMS texts to your regular customers, increase your mobile database.
• Multi-media: use print and radio mediums to run competitions asking consumers to text their details to you for inclusion in a prize draw or to support a particular campaign or lobby.
• Internet: make sure that your website has a mobile sign-up box as well as an email one. 
• Orders: allow customers to place orders with you by SMS as well as phone or email.
• Advertise: use as many avenues as possible from your packaging, till receipts to posters and billboards to let your customers know about your SMS programme.
• By choosing to run a premium SMS campaign, you can even recoup some of the marketing costs or generate additional revenue for your company or organisation.  

You want to add value to your existing customers?

Retention campaigns are very simple to set up and truly add value to your customers. Below are just some of the ways that will ensure your customers see you as a valuable ally.

• Notification alerts: these include booking confirmations, mobile tickets, banking transaction alerts, appointment reminders, news and weather updates.
• Interaction invitations: encourage customers to engage with your products by asking them to take part in a poll or vote on their favourite product.
• Reactivate: encourage lapsed customers to re-use your services or products by offering them a special incentive.
• Cross-sell: offer existing customers the opportunity to try other products in your company with the lure of a discount.
• Add value: send information that would add value to the customers' life or might assist them in some way.
• Research: simple surveys through SMS can help you to understand your customers' needs and therefore service them better.
• Relationship building: sending birthday and festive greetings can only impact positively on your relationships with customers.
• Up-sell: Encourage customers to buy more than one item through incentive schemes such as the collection of redeemable vouchers.

You will need different Clickatell products depending on the type of campaign that you want to run. The Clickatell Communicator 2 is perfect for you if you want to run a mobile marketing campaign from any computer with an Internet connection. You need no previous mobile messaging experience to start a sales promotion campaign, a mobile survey, run a 'text-to-win' context or offer mobile coupons or vouchers. The Communicator 2 is also perfect for viral mobile marketing campaigns. Click here for a trial run of our Communicator 2.

If you need something a bit more sophisticated that can handle automated or triggered sending such as personalised birthday greetings or the sending of passwords, then have a look at our developer-friendly SMS Gateway API products. Try them out, there is no obligation or hidden fees.

For some of Clickatell’s Top Tips for successful mobile marketing campaigns, click here.