You’ve opened a Textify account. Now what? Build that audience!

Beyonce would never perform to anything less than a sold-out crowd, so why should your SMS campaign not reach as many people as possible?

Remember, as you build a quality list you need a strong WIFM (What's In it For Me) factor to appeal to potential subscribers.

Here are a few ideas for building your list:

1. Offers and Promotions - People love to receive discounts, offers or special invitations etc. via text
2. Confirmations and Reminders - These are helpful for the recipient and have the added benefit of reducing missed appointments
3. Alerts and Information – The immediacy of texting makes it perfect to update people on need to know now announcements
4. Text to Vote - Run an easy to use text to vote system to gather information and opinions
5. Text to Win Contests - Ask people to text your short code for a chance to win a prize

Other List Building Tips:

Positioning

Thinking about how, when, where and why to communicate with your target audience is very important. One of the most effective tactics is to offer some sort of incentive for subscribing, such as a coupon or a discount on a product or service. Another method is to position your SMS program as an exclusive VIP program that gives people access to information or services they could not receive otherwise.

Phrasing

Language and vernacular are equally important when conveying a clear and concise message to a large list of people. Your call-to-action must be simple, yet compelling. Remember that all someone needs to do to sign up for your list on Textify is to text “join [yourkeyword]” to 34444.

Integration

It’s critical to incorporate your SMS marketing promotion into all of your marketing campaigns. Include your text messaging call-to-actions on all your marketing collateral, from your website to your organization’s newsletter, so your target audience gets used to seeing and responding to them.

Building a quality SMS contact list takes time, but with patience and hard work, you'll be texting more people than a 12-year-old who just found out she won backstage passes to meet One Direction.