Getting permission to send SMS marketing messages is necessary and this consent must be given before you can send that first message. In other words, you cannot send out a text message asking the receiver for permission to send him a commercial message, it must be obtained in some other way. There are two different ways for consumers to provide consent. One is called express consent and the other type is inferred consent. Both of these are discussed below.

Express and Inferred Consent for SMS Marketing Messages

Express consent is given when the consumer opts to place a check in the checkbox on a web subscribe form giving you permission to contact him. To ensure the person is aware of the fact he is giving his permission to be contacted by your company, he must check the box himself, it cannot already be checked by default.

Using surveys and entry forms for competitions are two more ways you can obtain consent. However, the person filling out these forms must check the box indicating that he gives you permission to contact him. It must also be clear that he fully understands this permission includes using emails and SMS marketing commercial messages. When collecting business cards at any promotional event, the consumer must be aware of the fact that he will be contacted by SMS if he decides to leave a card.

Inferred consent is acquired through an existing business relationship or through conspicuous publication unless, it's stated the person does not want to receive electronic messages at the address provided. It's up to you, the sender, to prove you had consent to send out commercial messages so always keep a record of consent for future references.

How to Build an SMS Marketing Message List

When done correctly, text message marketing can be very beneficial. Plus, it's a fast, easy and efficient way to reach more potential customers and to stay in contact with the ones you already have. Still, it needs to be done correctly and this involves building a mobile marketing list the right way.

To help build up your text message mailing list, create incentives that will make the reader want to join. Some ways to do this is by sending out surveys, offering discounts on future products and create competitions where the person can win a prize. Whatever method you choose, make sure you always provide useful info the consumer can use that is relevant to your business.

Since text messages are more personal than some of the other forms of marketing, the message you send should be more personal. First, identify yourself then include the person's name and explain why the message is being sent to him. Engage your reader by providing him with a way to interact with you by adding a response keyword or URL's where he can find more information.

A successful marketing campaign is targeted towards potential consumers that have a genuine interest in the products or services that you have to offer. But you must always provide a way to "opt-out" of receiving your SMS marketing messages; it's the law.

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When creating an SMS marketing message there are some very basic things in that you need to remember to do. We are constantly surprised at the amount of users that attempt to text message marketing campaigns without these basic things in place. As an SMS is limited in size people try to save characters in a variety of ways and sometimes forget to put in the most basic of information.

You might think that an SMS is just 160 characters and that there isn't much to worry about, but you would be wrong. SMS is a very personal and direct medium, without considering carefully the content, delivery and calls to action in your message you could potentially see a lot of opt-outs from your list. However if you do it well SMS can become a powerful and well regarded part of your marketing strategy.

1. Display your business name.

So many people forget this most basic of information. There are a couple of ways to do this.

a) You can set the caller ID (number sent from) to be a name up to 11 characters (no spaces). The issue here is that it is not a number so recipients cannot reply to it and you still have to have an opt-out method in your message. Your message might look like this.

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From: TOPFASHION

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Members get 50% off all styles

tomorrow only at flagship store.

Open 9am, 100 Chapel Street, Prahran.

Opt-out SMS STOP 123 to 0429705882

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You can use manual methods to opt people out as well, but these are less likely to be used and continual messages to people that can't opt out easily will create a bad brand perception. eg.

For info or opt-out call the store on 03 1234 5678

The benefit of a name in the caller ID is that you get a little extra branding on the incoming message. The drawback is that you need to use more chars to include to the opt-out number.

b) The alternative is to use the opt-out number as the caller ID. You then must remember to put the company name in the message. eg.

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From: +61429705882

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TOP FASHION members get 50% off all styles

tomorrow only at flagship store.

Open 9am, 100 Chapel Street, Prahran

Opt-out reply STOP

-----------------------------------------------------------------

With this method the message is slightly shorter and it is easier for the recipient to opt-out. Over time this will generate less complaints and be more positive for your brand.

2. Qualify the recipient

People NEVER remember why or how they got onto a mailing list, it could be as fleeting or inconspicuous as a competition entry, a survey or making an in store purchase and giving details. Smart companies and marketers are now collecting opted-in numbers from customers at point of interest and point of purchase. What they aren't doing is qualifying the recipient when they send out the messages. This is much easier to do on email as you have as many characters as you need to explain how they came to be on your list. With SMS it is a little more difficult.

Generally by identifying your company that will be a start, then just mention the relationship before the offer. e.g. Members, Customers, April Competition Entrants etc etc. By quickly mentioning how the recipient came to be on the list it will make them feel easier about the communication. This is especially important with your first communication.

3. Add an interactive call to action

You can easily engage a customer by mobile by adding quality calls to action. You can use SMS keywords to have people reply to the message with. This is great for event interest. eg.

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From: +61429705882

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Real Estate Legend Course Graduates. Free

advanced course intro seminar starting in

Sydney in November.

Take your property skills to the next level.

Interested? REPLY YES

Opt-out reply STOP

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With keywords you can also add auto-responders that can send further details and add them to separate lists.

You can also add URL's to mobile web pages, google maps, mobile video and even application downloads. There are a multitude of URL shorteners available that are excellent for use with SMS. bit.ly is probably the most popular and it has analytics so you can see how many recipients visited the link. eg.

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From: +61429705882

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Real Estate Legend Course Graduates. Free

advanced course intro seminar starting in

Sydney in November. Take your property skills

to the next level.

Watch intro video on your mobile

lnks.to/relegends

Opt-out reply STOP

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4. Deliver good quality information and offers

I know this may seem a little simple but as mobile is such a personal medium you need to make strong, time sensitive offers to give people a sense of value from your SMS messages. They need to feel that they are getting something that others aren't and that it was a good decision to give up their mobile number.

Good SMS content can come in the form of freebies, discounts, mobile coupons, reminders, links to free applications, competition entries, mobile video, alerts. Just sending out a vague sale alert tends to come across as spammy and will probably result in an opt out. Most importantly make the recipient feel that they were special in receiving the SMS, with good SMS platforms like Burst SMS you can use database variables to insert the persons name and other details into the message. eg.

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From: +61429705882

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Hi [firstname], As a Club Fabulous Subscriber,

show this SMS to jump the queue this Saturday

night 25th July. +50% off cover charge for you

and a friend.

Member: [number]

Full DJ lineup

lnks.to/clubfabulous

Opt-out reply STOP

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5. Don't try to be funky with text language

Shortening words and funky acronyms are used by people with no keyboard, some marketers try to use this language to save characters or 'connect with Gen Y', we find it is much better to speak in simple plain proper language. When marketing you need people to read and understand a short succinct message quickly, they don't need to be deciphering some kind of code.

Also people know you have access to a keyboard and plenty of time to think about what you are writing so you will come across as being a 'try hard' in the eyes of youth anyway. Keep it short simple and to the point.

By following these 5 simple tips you will have the basics down for creating powerful and useful text messages for your marketing campaigns.

The underlying concept is to treat peoples mobile numbers with respect, they aren't like email addresses people only have one. They can't just give you a purposely setup one just for collecting spam. They make a conscious decision to trust you with this data and should you abuse it you will be opted out and never be given the opportunity again.

To deliver quality test messages with free SMS opt-out compliance functionality built in, sign up for an account with Burst SMS. For a limited time we are offering $5.00 free credit on all new accounts. No obligation, no credit card required.

Burst SMS is a bulk sms marketing platform with a highly reliable SMS gateway and cheap sms pricing. Get started for as little as 7.9c per message.

You can now access text messages online. It will most likely involve some software being installed onto the phone, but it can be done. You might also need a smart phone for some of the programs to work as well; it all depends on the method of transport. However, some of the most effective methods involve using the internet connection on the smart phone to actually send recorded messages off the phone into a separate account online. Then it is a simple matter of logging into your online account to view any and all the information that the program collected.

There are tons of different software available online that can give you the tools that you need to access text messages online. It is a really simple matter of being able to get the messages off the phone and into an account that you can access. This is not something that is available through most of the phone carriers. They might give you a print out of the number of messages that were made from that particular number or plan, but they will not usually include the contents of them.

My guess, if you want to access text messages online you probably want to be able to read everything those messages say. What good is a list of numbers that the messages were sent to without knowing what was said in the message? I highly doubt it was the information you were looking for.

I won't pretend to know all of the reasons why something like this would appeal to you. The possibilities really are endless; from cheating to checking up on the kids. Maybe you even run a business that supplies cell phones to your employees. It could be that you have a plan that charges for the messages you send over a certain number. If you have a high bill from one particular number, you might want to check and make sure that the employee is not using the phone for more than business.

One of the most effective ways to access text messages online is with software that uses the internet connection on smart phones. These programs will record all the messages sent and received by the phone. All that information will be sent through the internet connection right into an account. There are other methods available, one type will simply forward the messages from the phone, but if you pay per text this could lead to bigger phone bills. The reason is because you could end up paying for each message twice.

However, you might want to check with the programs you are looking at to access text messages online and see whether they will work with the types of phones and carriers that you have. Not all of them will be able to use with every phone. There is not always a refund policy with all of them either. You will really want to make sure that it will work before you buy it. There is no sense in wasting money on something that ends up being useless for the equipment you have.

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If "I want to look at my husband's text messages without him knowing" is something you would say, then you will be happy to know that there are a couple ways available. There are different programs available on the internet. Most of them you can download, but you will have to install it onto your husband's phone for it to work. You should take the time and check to make sure that whichever program you are looking at will work with that type of cell phone. Also check and make sure that the phone carrier works with the program too. Not all of them are compatible with all phones and you do not want to get something that will not work for you.

Getting one of these types of programs is usually much more effective than just trying to snoop. If "I want to look at my husband's text messages without him knowing" describes you; chances are that sooner or later you will get caught if you are just trying to snoop through the phone. The programs available do include ones that will not show up on his phone after they have been installed, and some allow you the convenience of looking up the data online whenever you want because the messages are sent into a separate account online. Then all you have to do is log into the database to see what you wanted. The choice is yours, but many of these programs work very well and usually much faster too.

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Today we're going to go over how you can get someone's text messages without having to actually touch their phone. Many people want to be able to look at texts on somebody's phone, but obviously it's difficult to get a hold of their phone for long enough to do so. However, there's an easy way you can see everything without the phone.

Have you ever heard of cell phone monitoring software? This is a relatively new piece of technology that actually lets you see everything someone is doing on their phone.

And even if they delete their text messages, you can still see any message they have sent or received.

On top of being able to get someone's text messages, you can see all the phone calls that have been made, any web browsing they have done, look at messages sent from applications such as Facebook and even pinpoint where the phone is at anytime using GPS.

This type of software needs to be installed on the phone first, but it's incredible how easy this is. It takes two minutes to install - literally no more than this. You will simply use the phone's web browser, type in a certain web address and the software will automatically install itself on the phone.

And don't worry about the person who owns the phone ever knowing that it's on the phone. This software is completely invisible so they won't be able to detect it and won't know that you're watching.

To read their texts and see all the activity on the phone, you simply have to login to a special website (you'll be given a username and password) and you will then see everything in front of you on your computer.

This type of software makes it easy to get someone's text message and see exactly what they're up to.

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Yes you can read text messages online with the right program. You will need something called smart phone spy software. After you install this onto the phone in question you will be able to read the messages off this phone without every having to touch the phone again. No more snooping through the phone hoping that the messages were not already deleted off of it.

The way this works is through the internet connection on the phone. All of the messages are recorded and sent to a separate account online. You can then log into the account whenever you want, from any computer with internet, and read them at your convenience. You might need a cell phone slang manual to make sense of some of them, but they will be there even if they were already deleted off the phone they will still be online for you to see.

Can you read text messages online? Yes, and with some programs you can also do much more than that. There are some that will allow you to see all the pictures and videos that are taken with the phone. Some programs will even give you a GPS location on the phone. It all depends on what you want, but the prices vary widely for these services. Before you buy any of them, make sure that they will work with the type of phone and carrier you have. You do not want to buy something that won't work with what you already have.

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Spy software for text messages is a program that you have to install right onto the phone you want to monitor. Because of this it is designed to be used with phones that you already own. However, once it is on the phone it runs silently and smoothly without ever showing up unless you purposely punch in a code to bring up the control panel for it. You might never have to do this unless you need to change the settings for something.

As with anything else, there are different versions of the spy software for text messages. Some of them come with all sorts of added features like recording videos and pictures off the phone and a GPS location as well. Others are rather plain and only work for the text message portion of the phone. The prices will also vary depending on company and the version you want, but you should read through everything carefully before deciding.

You will want to make sure that the one you buy runs on its own network and not just forwarding the messages. Forwarding them can lead to rather large bills because you could get charged twice for the same one. Bills are already high enough without adding more to them. Make sure that the program is compatible with the types of phones and carriers you have as well. Not all of them will work with everything, though there are many out there that will work with most of the popular models and carriers.

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Yes, you can spy on text messages online, though you might have to battle your conscience to do it. There are programs available (one of the most popular is a smart phone spy software program) that will allow you to be able to read the text messages off that phone from your computer.

These programs are intended for you to use with phones that you own. They are not intended for you to bug just any phone for the fun of it. Now that we have that straight; you can use this program with a phone and spy on text messages online that go to or come from that phone. Not just a list of who sent the message and who got it along with the time, but actually read the entire message. In fact you can read all the messages so you could essentially read a whole conversation. You might need a handbook on text abbreviations, but it will all be there for you to see.

Now the reason these programs work is because they use the internet connection on the phone to send the information to a separate account online. You can then log into this account and see everything that the program recorded. It will even record the messages that were deleted off the phone so nothing is missing in the information. Yes you can spy on text messages online because the phone user does not need to know that you can read the information. You are the only one to tell them.

You can spy on text messages online, but why would you want to? It just feels wrong. It is wrong; right? Not essentially. There are many concerned parents out there that want to be able to see what their children are doing with the phones they are provided with without having to battle them for information. We all know how kids are, and anything that they think is an invasion of privacy they rebel against. On the other side; knowing what they are doing with the phone could actually protect them if they have someone badgering them through the phone. In this instance, and many others like it, spy all you want so long as the children are safe and allowed to be children.

In other instances, you may want to spy on text messages online if you own the company providing the phone service. Perhaps you have a strict phone carrier that only covers certain things for you to get the rate. You will want to know which employees are following those guidelines and which are not if you plan on making the employees pay for the extra charges on their phones. You may also want them as proof if the phone carriers overcharge you for things that do not coincide with the data you were collecting from the phones.

These are just a couple of reasons, and yours might not be any of the ones listed above. However, that does not mean that you cannot find a way to get the information that you want.

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