The most important part of any mobile marketing campaign is having a long standing subscriber list; there is no value in acquiring a random selection of mobile numbers and spamming them intensively. It is thought that on average you must contact someone 7 times before they show any real interest, so you need to be sure your subscribers want to hear from you before sending any messages. Spend time identifying your target audience and their interests.

Before storing any information with the intent to distribute marketing or promotional material you need to tell them what they are agreeing to, making sure the checkbox is not ticked so they have to opt in.

Here are some suggestions to help you gather and collate subscriber information.

HTML subscription forms
Offer a web based subscription form to all site visitors with as little requirements as possible, I would recommend name and mobile number only.

Opt in opportunities
Whether it's purchasing a product, subscribing to news and site updates or contacting support you should include extra fields on your web forms to allow them to store their mobile number and opt in to your subscriber list.

Offer incentives
Potential subscribers will be more inclined to join in exchange for rewards. Determine what your audience will want and display offers clearly throughout your site and email newsletters.

If your business distributes paper based publications or you sell physical products or services you can offer incentives that are attainable if they text a keyword to your short code. If your customer responds to you, you know they are interested. Viral email campaigns can be even more convenient with either a simple text message or a colour WAP voucher.

Referral schemes and rewards
The ideal scenario is using existing subscribers to recruit others in exchange for affordable rewards. How you do this depends largely on the industry you work in, for example a hosting company could offer free web space that may never be used and is increasingly inexpensive.

Have a meaningful website
If your website is appropriate and has helpful content then other people may read what you have and subscribe to your mobile list on the basis that they are genuinely interested in what you have to say.

Optimise your website
Find a way to make your website content more appealing to search engines and descriptive to encourage searchers to click through when they do find you. This is a very specialist subject and we recommend you speak to your web master or consider employing a search engine optimisation expert.

Listen to your existing subscribers
Customer feedback, surveys and support channels are good ways to build a demographic of potential subscribers. Speak to people in relevant groups on networking sites and use forums openly to learn more about your target audience.

Once you have your subscriptions you can begin your mobile marketing campaign. We recommend at this stage you read about the available mobile marketing services for inspiration.

Profiling is a great way to determine genuine customer interest, and it's automated. For example, after 4 interactions, why not ask the customer if they would like to hear about special offers or promotions. If they respond positively you know they are interested.