The concert is over, and everyone had a great time, but sadly that's no guarantee the concert goers will definitely turn out for your next event, especially if you don't remind them, regularly.

And you're certainly not alone. Being forgotten about is a problem all business owners face. Customers have a lot going on in their lives, and your business is rarely top of their minds. So...

Let's Remind Your Customers That You Exist

Standing room only at your next event!

Depending how much information your concert goers give you when they order their ticket, you have a number of options to follow up on them:

Email, of course.

Downsides of this approach include your message getting lost in a cluttered inbox, or even worse if your message automatically gets sent to the spam folder.

Bulk email can be an inexpensive way to communicate with your customers, but response rates keep on dropping, so it's important not to depend on it.

How about phoning your customers?

Unless your customer base is particularly small, phoning each of your customers one by one isn't an option. And there are ways to scale this process, with either an automated message sent to your customers, or using a call center. But be aware many people really do not appreciate unexpected calls, so unless you proceed with caution this approach may backfire.

Direct mail

Costly, with low response rates, but another option to consider if you have the budget, and want to reach your customers through multiple channels.

Text Message

According to the Conversational Advertising report by Mobile Squared, 90% of SMS messages are read within the first three minutes. That delivery and open rate is streets ahead of both direct mail, and email, so it's vital you make mass text messaging part of your marketing mix.

We're All Talking Less and Texting More

You can use a phone to talk?

As more and more of the population upgrade to smartphones, people are using their phone less to talk. Texting, rather than speaking, has become far more popular these days, and this is particularly true for teens. So sending a text really does almost guarantee to get someone's attention.

So this is one of the most cost effective ways to get a message in front of your customers incredibly quickly. But just because you can get someone's attention, doesn't make every message equal. If the texts you send out are uninteresting, irrelevant, or overbearing, they're very likely to:

• • Be ignored entirely.

• • Be read, but get no response.

• • Annoy your customers, so they either ask to unsubscribe, or choose to never do business with you again.

High Response SMS Marketing (a Very Crash Course)

The following tried and true direct response rules can help to maximize the response you get from your SMS marketing campaigns:

Message to Market Match

Is your message relevant, interesting and beneficial for the receiver? The more relevant to their interests and compelling for them, the better your response will be. If they came to a jazz concert, and you're inviting them back for Lady Gaga, you might not receive the response you're looking for.

"Make me an offer (I can't refuse)"

Everyone loves a special offer, and making it time-sensitive is shown to boost response again and again. Give your customers a very strong reason to buy now. Perhaps a reduced price, a two-for-one offer, special bonuses for the first 100 customers.

The more reasons you give your customer to respond quickly, the more likely they are to do just that.

Do they know who you are?

If it's been a while since you've been in touch, you might need to remind them who you are, your relationship with them, and why they're going to be so happy you got in touch (this loops back to making a special offer).

And even if you don't have an offer you can make your customers right now, keeping in regular touch with them can increase response rates when you do want them to respond positively.

What you're doing effectively is training your customers to get used to hearing from you, and even better if you can train them to respond to your messages, whether that's purchasing from you, or just clicking a link to read your latest newsletter.

Time of day

Since text messages are read so quickly, you ideally want to send messages when they're most likely to be responded too. It does depend on your audience, but a pretty safe assumption is that evenings and weekends are when your customers have the most time to read, and respond to, your message.

So it's vital you make SMS marketing part of your marketing mix, and perhaps your very first marketing choice for any new campaign, since the delivery and read rates are almost unprecedented. A well written and targeted text has been shown to get attention quickly and drive a fast response.

This article was written by Louis Allport, an experienced marketer who enjoys sharing his experience with other businesses. He lives in the UK and has been marketing and publishing online for over 15 years.