QR Codes are great way to engage customer with your product and services. Get response from your mobile marketing campaign and print advertisements.

QR codes are mostly used to redirect to web/mobile site link, although you can also preformat a Text message or an Email message, send Geo information and much more.

For example, if you’re using a Text-2-Join or any other text messaging campaign using keyword, you could create a QR Code that preformats a text message with the short code or a 10 digit number and your keyword. Try these QR codes, if you don't have QR code scanner, To download QR code scanner, Text GETSCAN to 27126. *Msg&data rates may apply.

 TXTImpact clients can generate variety of QR Codes for free. Simply logon to your account, click on Generate QRcode and choose what sort of QR code you want to generate, enter the details and download the code, all free of charge. 

Receive Email notification whenever someone text your business

You need to setup a keyword on a short code receive text message as email.

1. Anyone text a predefined keyword such as your business name "KevinLaw" to 27126 e.g "KevinLaw we're looking for an lawyer to represent us in court for DWI violation"

2. The message will be forwared to company defined email address "info@kevinlaw.com"

3. Optionally, you can have that message sent to your mobile phone as well.

Also, you can reply back to that email, the reply will be forwarded to mobile phone as Text message.

This feature allows you to extend Text messaging to your desktop. By using your email client to receive and send Text messages you can easily communicate with one person or groups of people while using a familiar interface.

As this is a 2way platform, responses to the SMS will be sent to the email account of your choice. When you respond to these reply emails they will automatically be converted back to an SMS and sent to the responder's phone.

How campaigns can reach supporters through one of the fastest growing forms of communication.

Ambitious political candidates are now using text messaging to communicate with their supporters in the hope of replicating President Obama's 2008 social media strategy. But these imitators may not enjoy the same success, in part, because they’re not developing a mobile marketing strategy around their text messaging effort.

Text marketing needs to be part of an overall communications strategy that includes print, online, radio and TV advertising. Moreover, campaigns need to have a strategy in place for collecting supporters’ mobile phone numbers and using those numbers to push for action.

The Obama campaign, for instance, built its enormous mobile phone database by promising to break the news of his vice presidential pick via text message. Obama’s campaign messaged more than 1 million mobile phones with the announcement that then-Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) had been chosen.

Obama’s strategy also included running a Super Bowl ad in February 2008, asking supporters to text “HOPE" to 62262 (or O-B-A-M-A) on their mobile phones. The campaign collected the mobile numbers and used them to inform supporters—particularly elusive young voters—about speeches, local volunteering opportunities and, eventually, get out the vote (GOTV) efforts.

Making text messaging interactive and requiring supporters to engage is the real key to success when it comes to utilizing this communication channel.

Take Wisconsin’s Russ Feingold (D), whose 2010 text effort showcased one example of how to successfully capture cell numbers. On opening day for the Milwaukee Brewers that April, his Senate campaign asked people to text them predictions of who would win the infamous mascot sausage race—Bratwurst, Polish, Italian, Hot Dog or Chorizo. The Polish sausage won, by the way, and while Feingold didn’t it was undoubtedly a clever and successful text marketing technique.

By some estimates, there are 4.3 billion text messages sent every day to the some 330 million mobile devices in the United States. Here are a few ways for campaigns to harness this fast growing medium:

Develop a database of supporters’ mobile phone numbers. It is essential that these lists are formed of supporters who have specifically opted in to receive text information from the campaign. Use meetings, monthly publications, newsletters and other events to gather this data. Don’t wait: start developing this list today, even if you don’t plan on investing in a text strategy until next year. This is crucial to the success or failure of your text campaign. 

Choose the right partner. This is extremely important. Sending large volumes of texts requires specialized messaging infrastructure and an experienced messaging provider to ensure successful delivery. If delivery cannot be guaranteed, campaigns have no way of knowing their messages were received and voters don’t know if campaigns received their response. Your service provider should be able to deliver real-time confirmation.

Decide how often to send messages to supporters. Text is a timely channel, but in some cases constant and repetitive messages do more harm than good. Some frequent messages turn into spam and annoy people. Text is still considered a spam-free channel. 

Once the data is collected and the text strategy is in place, campaigns can do everything from conduct surveys, inform supporters about voter registration and absentee ballot deadlines, promote down-ballot candidates or make a GOTV push.

It’s a powerful tool to send supporters a text message to remind them to “VOTE TODAY” or “BRING A FRIEND WITH YOU TO VOTE.”  In 2012, elections will be won by the candidates who get it.

Source:Campaign Insider 

by TXTImpact

Build Text Alert Opt-in List using Text to Join campaign

#1 Setup a Text to Join campaign

Prospects and customer can send a mobile keyword and join your text alerts list.

#2 Optionally you can add a signup to your website or facebook page using our web widget tool.

Create customize web signup widget, which you can add on your blogs, website, or facebook to allow people join your Text Alert List

#3 Promote your Mobile Keyword

Add to print material, restaurant Menus, Yard Signs, Print Ads, Online, Shopping cart, at POS, Sales receipts, etc.

#4 Now time to enjoy fruit of all hard work, you have gathered opt-in mobile numbers, time to send a promotion, invite for private event, reminder, fund raising call, etc.

Be careful, send very specific message, actionable, to the point, should able to provide or point to the details. Alway include "Reply STOP to cancel. Msg&Data rates may apply."

One of the new terms you’ll hear more and more whenever you'll talk a mobile marketing professional about sms marketing or mobile marketing for your business. A mobile keyword is a unique word that can contain letters or numbers and is selected by a business.

But why do you need a unique single word? SMS marketing is conducted using a short code (5-6 digit mobile number), short code is a 5-6 digit mobile number which is used to send and receive sms text messages from a software application. A company can either lease their own dedicated short code (bit expensive) or they can use a shared short code provided by SMS Marketing companies. Regardless of dedicated or shared short code, the mobile keyword is required for each campaign company like to execute. For example you own a restaurant and you like to run two types of mobile campaigns; one is your mobile VIP club in which you want customers to opt-in and receive promotions on weekly basis. Second campaign you like run is a mobile feedback, so customer can submit their feedback about quality of food, or customer service.

In order to keep these campaigns unique and run independently, you need to pick a word (mobile keyword), so customer can text "VIP" to short code (27126) to opt-in to your list and for survey you have choose "Feedback", so customers will text 'feedback" to 27126 and they'll be asked series of questions.

Mobile marketing is a new marketing tool that can work extremely well for a lot of businesses. Since text messages get read 95% of the time, a well designed keyword marketing plan can typically result in a 25% response by the consumers. This kind of response is much higher than that of other traditional marketing methods like direct mail or email.