Digital marketing continues to evolve. From its origins in email marketing to today’s explosion in social media, digital marketing reaches more and more people with more and more content every day. SMS marketing is no different – and whether you’re using sms for account collection or just sending some targeted texts, etiquette is key. After all, text messaging is one of the last “personal” forms of communication, and marketers who abuse the privilege of mobile phone access will soon find themselves out of text message recipients. Super low sms rates have also made text marketing easier than ever, but the value of a consumer who regularly reads your marketing messages is worth more than the cost of a text.

Here are a few tips on sms marketing etiquette…

1.       Be trustworthy – Building trust in any marketing campaign is key, but in a personal form of marketing like SMS marketing, trust is everything. Cultivating relationships by providing useful content to your consumers is a great way to do that, as is using sms for schools or another institutionalized way to reaching families. Providing useful information on a regular basis also allows you to send marketing messages later, so invest in trust now to see results.

2.       Keep it brief – One of the biggest parts of text etiquette is to respect people’s time. No one wants to read long messages or strings of messages, so be direct and to the point in every sms communication. Use something like tinyurl or bit.ly if you want to link to additional information.

3.       Drop the text-speak – Regardless of how people text their friends, communication with a company is still expected to be professional. If you want people to take you seriously, use serious language. “Lol” is probably  not something that should be coming from a corporate sms account.