When it comes to marketing today, text messaging is where it’s at. With so many people glued to their smart phones or following an endless parade of people on Twitter, it’s the best way to get your business’ message out there where it’s guaranteed to find a reception.

All you need now are some ideas on how to make those 140 characters (yes, it’s 160 but those first 20 are reserved for the sender’s name) work for you. Well, look no further. Here are some ways that you can create a local presence simply by using text message marketing.

Get Involved In A Local Happening

An especially effective tactic when the weather is conducive to holding outdoor events, there’s nothing like participating in a local event such as a street fair, or family fun day, or some kind of showcase. It’s a great way to enhance your text message marketing efforts. For instance if you own a beer store, then getting involved with the local craft brew fest is absolutely necessity.

Involvement here covers everything from being a sponsor (with all of your info prominently shown), to actually having a booth or table at the event. It’s amazing how often people end up overlooking a local business despite the fact that they’ve been living in that part of town for years. Call this idea a “meet and greet”, only with a text message marketing angle.

Text messaging is the way to reach people in today’s mobile world

Create Your Own Event

Why wait until some other organization or civic group sets up an event? Set up your own! Using that beer store as an example again, you could hold a tasting of featured beers at your place. Naturally, you would need to send out text messages advertising it, as well as have the means for people who don’t subscribe yet to sign up on the spot. Voila! Local presence and more names on your marketing distribution lists!

A big advantage of creating your own event is that there are no restrictions placed on you in terms of marketing. Your sandbox, your rules.

Have A Special Sale

Put aside some time to hold a customer loyalty (and in this case, loyalty is defined as “signed up for our text messages”!) appreciation sale. Maybe it’s a BOGO sale, or maybe it’s simply discounts on selected goods and services. And naturally, you can include perks for any loyal customers who bring along a friend who’s not signed up yet.

Fliers

Finally, let’s go old-school and use some paper. Perhaps one of the simplest, most direct ways of getting a local presence established is by having a leaflet campaign, whether it means leaving stacks of them at various other local businesses, or having some workers or volunteers distributing them to the folks on the street.

Sure, it’s low-tech and not everyone will take one, but it’s a good way to get your business’ name out there, and if the leaflet is well-designed, that will increase the chances of people actually reading it. If nothing else, it at least drives home the point in a subliminal way that your business is local.

Learn More About Text Message Marketing

If you want to know more about text marketing, check out “How SMS Can Help Your Social Media Marketing.” There are plenty of ideas out there. Try a few and see what works best for you.

Now that you’re done being enlightened here, check out “How Local Retailers Can Use Text Message Marketing to Reach Customers Nearby” for more insights.