Text marketing services are making their presence known on all levels of the market and retail is no exception. This should come as no surprise considering the fierce competition retail businesses have received from their online counterparts in recent years. Simply put, SMS marketing is a terrific way to give your retail company a virtual edge.

  SMS marketing is the latest and fastest-growing trend in the realm of opt-in marketing. It’s a great way for customers to feel personally connected to a business and give them the thrill of getting special offers before anyone else.   

   Consumers’ time and interest comes at a premium in this day and age. Creating a personal level of communication with a customer will make them more inclined to calculate shopping at your store into their valuable time. Opt-in text message marketing is a perfect way to create that engagement. Any retail expert will tell you that shoppers in a retail store are making judgments about their experience long before they ever speak to a retail employee. Personalized incentives texted directly to customers let you start out influencing those judgments in your favour before they even arrive at your store to shop. They will appreciate having what they see as inside knowledge of your store’s sales, close-outs, special offers, coupons, and the like.

  Take advantage of special events such as grand openings and holiday sales to draw awareness to your store’s SMS marketing program. When customers sign up at such events, make sure that they quickly get a message thanking them for attending, possibly even alerting them to special offers exclusively for mobile club members. If yours is the type of business that engages in product launches or Black Friday promotions, text messages can be used to give subscribers the first crack at newly-released product or early bird deals. Nobody loves to be the first to know about something exciting more than the determined retail shopper. Effective SMS marketing takes advantage of this facet of human psychology to generate return sales. Naturally, word-of-mouth advertising potential is huge too. Much as you would with e-mail marketing, consider including a link customers can forward to their friends allowing them to opt in as well.

  Speaking of opting in, it is important to keep sight of the fact that your customers have done so. Accordingly, you need to make sure that your SMS marketing program is going to provide them exceptional value. It can be tempting to see it as merely an extension of your store’s weekly ad flier, and while there’s nothing wrong with including some of the best promotions from it, make sure your mobile customers are aware they are getting some deals they won’t see anywhere else. They’ve made the tough decision to give you an avenue to reach into their personal lives via their phones. Make it worth their while.

  Retail markets are catching up to their virtual competitors. SMS marketing tools are something that’s going to keep them in the race for a good while to come. Taking advantage of them now could be what puts your store ahead of the pack.