Promotional Products Plus Mobile Marketing Equal Loyalty And Repeat Business

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Promotional Products Plus Mobile Marketing Equal Loyalty And Repeat Business
By: Joseph G. Scott, MAS
Issue: January/Expo 2010

“There’s no loyalty in the business any more. Distributors will go with another supplier to save a couple of pennies.”
—Anonymous supplier

“There’s no loyalty in the business any more. End Buyers will go with another Distributor to save a couple of pennies.”
—Anonymous distributor

Is there a way to engender more loyalty and repeat business in the promotional products industry? Mobile Marketing may be an answer.

Mobile marketing is dispersing promotional text or video messages to a mobile phone on behalf of a business or organization.

How It Works
A subscriber (or mobile phone user) opts-in to a group by texting a keyword (such as PIZZA) to a short code (such as 91011). For example: “Text PIZZA to 91011 to receive our weekly specials.” Next, the subscriber will receive a text message such as, “Thank you for subscribing to our Pizza Specials service! You will receive no more than one message per week. Txt STOP to Quit, Txt HELP for Info.”

Note: Texting the word STOP automatically and immediately removes a subscriber’s mobile phone number from a specific group—in this case the PIZZA group.

The Keyword (PIZZA) organizes the mobile phone numbers into groups and the short code (91011) is the phone number used to receive and send text messages. It is similar to a friend sending a text message, “Meet at Tony’s 6:00P” to my mobile phone number and I reply, “OK.”

Creating Loyalty
So how do promotional products and mobile marketing equate to loyalty and repeat business? Best Practices guidelines contain the answer. The Mobile Marketing Association’s Best Practices require mobile marketers to protect the subscriber’s privacy. This is usually interpreted to mean subscribers’ mobile phone numbers are not released to anyone for any reason. This practice originated from the reduced effectiveness and reputation of direct mail, e-mail marketing and telemarketing due to shared lists.

Promotional products are, in my opinion, the single most effective way to repeatedly promote a client’s message. Imprint a Text-To message on a promotional product and you have a promotional powerhouse.

The most common users of mobile marketing are business-to-consumer (B2C) entities such as retailers, bars and restaurants, although there are applications that fit the needs of just about any business or organization.

A retailer collects customers’ mobile phone numbers simply by asking if they would like to “Text SHOP to 91011 for a 2-for-1 offer the next time they come in.” A bar might print a note on table tents or other promotional products, “Text WINGS to 91011 for six free wings the next time you come in.” A restaurant could do something similar, “Text PIE to 91011 for a free piece of pie the next time you dine with us.”

The beauty of this combination is two-fold:
• Your client’s logo and Text-To message will yield multiple exposures/opt-ins.
• Your client’s subscriber’s mobile phone numbers will reside in a private database, thus creating loyalty between you and your client: They cannot take the list and go elsewhere.

When working with end buyers, it is important to explain to your prospective customer that mobile marketing works best when:
• A client’s offers are generous, i.e., 2-for-1 or better, otherwise people won’t opt-in or will opt-out if they don’t see any value in the offers.
• A client purchases two to four times more text messages as promotional products. This is because those opting-in already know and trust your client’s brand and want to receive promotional messages.
Usually, text messages are purchased in advance along with a promotional product. A text message is used each time a subscriber opts-in and when a text message is sent to a subscriber.

Integrated Media
Mobile Marketing integrates well with other media and clients should be encouraged to include the Text-To message in all of their advertising. This will increase their chances of success and cause them to purchase more promotional products and text messages from you. Even though your clients may not immediately re-order the product they will re-order text messages. With an average opt-in rate of 25 percent and weekly offers, an initial purchase of text messages will only last between two to four months.

Mobile marketing can also be used to test the response of other mediums in a client’s marketing mix. A unique keyword can be displayed in each ad with the same offer. The number of opt-ins by medium can be tracked easily and decisions can be quickly made based upon the number of opt-ins by medium.

There are several PPAI member suppliers who offer mobile marketing along with their products. With a bit of research you can find who they are.

Joseph G. Scott, MAS, vice president of Scott & Associates, Inc. a Chanhassen, Minnesota-based distributor firm, is a PPAI board member and president of UMAPP. You can text questions to him at 612-839-3800.