4 smart tips for successful Valentines Day SMS Marketing

This post follows on from “How to put the love into your Valentine’s Day Email Marketing.” To kick start your SMS marketing for Valentine’s Day your first job is to create personalised SMS templates in Salon Studio CRM and most importantly, start sending your Valentine’s Day promotions this week. If you leave it any later you will miss out on this window of opportunity.

Tip # 1 – If you are going to succeed, send more than one SMS

SMS marketing works really well for Valentine’s Day, however, some Salons make a huge mistake with their marketing, they only send out one SMS and that’s it. If customers don’t reply to the first SMS they don’t send another one. With Valentine’s Day, you can get away with sending more than one campaign to the same customers as long as the messages are relevant, timely and valuable. The idea behind a planned sequence of SMS’s is to get your customers to think about your Salon as the solution to buying gifts and services for their loved ones, the ones they’re hot for, and even get them thinking about their Moms.

Tip # 2 – Create a simple SMS Marketing Calendar 

Get a piece of paper and create a simple plan of action. For example

1. Send your first SMS campaign on Wednesday the 1^st of February. Let your customers know Valentine’s Day is coming up fast. Drive them to your Facebook Page to find Cupid approved gift ideas.

2. Send the second campaign on Saturday the 4^th of February. Use this SMS to send out a Special Offer that is suited to each of your particular target markets, i.e. couples massage to married customers, a makeover to the single ladies etc…Saturday is a shopping day so encourage them to come in to the salon for more info, gift vouchers etc…

3. Send the 3^rd Campaign on Tuesday the 7^th of February. Only one week left – have you found the perfect gift yet? Don’t buy the same old boring stuff like chocolates and flowers etc…

4. Send the final campaign on the 11^th of February. Let your customer know there are only 3 days to go.

Tip # 3 – How to write great SMS’s

Here is the formula for creating SMS’s that get a response. Firstly start the SMS with the customer’s name. Make it personal, whatever you do, don’t start the SMS with the name of your Salon, that’s a big mistake! Secondly, present the customer with your value added offer. Introduce some scarcity, limit the amount of packages or spaces available. This creates a sense of urgency.  Lastly, include a strong call to action that asks people to reply via SMS, to phone for more info or to go to your Facebook site for all the juicy details. Below is an example of an SMS that we created for one of our clients that resulted in a high response rate for their business. Take note of how it includes the above elements.

<First Name>  Facial + Eyebrow Shape & tint + Mani or Pedi worth RXYZ for only <R> First 9 clients to respond get a free gift worth <R> Phone <Salon> <number>

Note: You only have 160 characters to use in your SMS, so make sure that you get straight to the point. Create your personalised SMS inside Salon Studio CRM’s template page. Use the personalised fields to make the SMS relevant and intimate while keeping your eye on the character counter. For detailed information on how to create SMS’s that really sell, click here to read about the 7 rules of SMS Marketing.

Some ideas you can immediately use…

When you create your Valentine’s Day SMS templates, remember to create different templates for different types of customers. Create one template for the ladies and anther for the men. Create one for married couples and another for singles. Money Making Tip: Don’t forget the singles this year! Be different, get creative. Don’t do the same thing that every Salon out there is doing. Try something new like targeting the singles on your Salon Studio CRM database with an “Anti-Valentine’s Day” special. These SMS’s will focus on the single person and give them every reason to come in and splurge on themselves. For some great “Anti-Valentine’s Day” ideas, just Google “Anti-Valentine’s Day Promotions.” You can even use attention grabbers like;

• Love sucks
• Cupid is dead
• Get revenge on your ex, book in now and look gorgeous…
• For the non-lover in you…

Some more great ideas…

Moving on, create one SMS campaign for teenagers and another for those in their twenties and thirties etc. Remember that different types of customers have different needs and different motivations for buying Valentine’s Day gifts. Use your Group Functionality to press your customers “hot buttons.” For example, married men are lazy and usually forget Valentine’s Day until the last moment. Solve this problem for them and remind them that Valentine’s Day is coming up and you have the perfect gift idea that will make them look like a hero! What I am saying is, “Send the right type of Valentine’s Day offer to the right type of customer.” Don’t be lazy and send out one blanket SMS message to all of your clients! Here’s another practical idea – use your Anniversary SMS feature to check who is having an anniversary in February. You want to pay special attention to these couples.

Put a romantic or a sexy spin on your products and services. Use attention grabbers, like “Heat things up…” or “Nothing says true love like a ….” Here are a few more lines you can incorporate into SMS templates.

• Out of ideas for Valentine’s Day…
• Get lucky on Valentine’s Day…
• Cupid shops at…
• Share a hug…
• Your wife wants to look gorgeous this Valentine’s Day,
• Be her Hero and book a romantic couples massage …
• Hairy legs on Valentine’s Day?
• Give, save love…

Tip # 4 – Increase your response rate:

Remember that SMS marketing is about getting a response so don’t forget to include a strong call to action in every SMS. This call to action can be “call 011-555-5555 now to book your space.” Or it could be “SMS the word LOVE and we will contact you.” The goal of your Valentine’s Day marketing is to move your target audience to buy services and treatments from your Salon. Make sure you tell the customer how to get their hands on what you are offering. If you want to increase your response rate even more, make sure that you use SMS and email together. While SMS is great in that it is quick, easy and gets read immediately, the downside is that you have limited space to communicate your message. If you have emailed your clients or placed more info on Facebook, use your SMS’s to create curiosity and drive people to their inbox or your Facebook page.

So what are you waiting for? START TODAY! If you ever needed a great reason to get your SMS marketing campaign up and going in 2012 this is it.