PlusOne – Marketing Musings » Care needed in the use of SMS

I was interested to read this post about supposed plans by the Australian Defence Force to use SMS as part of their recruitment drive ‘Army needs u’: ADF mulls SMS recruitment.

Sure, lists of youth are accessible from list brokers – heck we get enquiry for them all the time – but as I say to people making enquiry, “is this the BEST way to reach them?”

This is quickly followed by an explaination of the need to make SMS marketing different. To make it work it needs to deliver entertainment and/or value.

The entertainment could be something simple like initiating an interaction by asking a question or sewries of questions. Of course there has to be something in it for the person participating. Maybe finding out the results, or an entry in some form of giveaway.

Or the message needs to offer value. “This message is worth 50% off…” sort of stuff.

All to often, and I even get this from agencies, is a desire to use the medium as a branding exercise. Sorry guys – it just won’t work. Worst still, it is likely to backfire into your face.

Why? Because while sending an unsolicited email is like having an uninvited guest come to your front door, an uninvited SMS advertising message, especially if it offers nothing for the recepient, is like someone walking into your lounge room uninvited. Guess their reaction…not good.

So while it seems to be a bit if misinformation about the ADF (free gun perhaps ) it does raise the issue of the use of SMS in marketing. SMS is HUGELY underused. Maybe if the ADF example is the way some thinging is going, then maybe that is a good thing.