Now that you have a clear idea where your audience is and have outlined your goals for your mobile campaign, it's time to decide on your level of investment.

SMS

If you are leaning towards SMS, the first thing to do is to choose a provider. You should expect to pay around $2500 for setup plus an additional $500 per month (as a baseline for a list of 5K or fewer). These costs can go much higher, especially if you are successful as many of these providers cost per message. 

Here is a quick run down of a few providers. 

TextMarks.com

TextMarks allows you to take it for a testdrive for free. You can set up easily online right on their site.

Twillio

Both TextMark and Twillio allow you to go the DIY route. Each provide an API for developers to create communication tools.

Mobile Commons

Mobile Commons is moderately priced and gives you access to online data and analysis. Several Fission clients have worked with Mobile Commons, including Reform Immigration For America -- and we've been very happy with their customer service.

Mobile Cause

Mobile Cause is another option that is moderately priced. You'll find that their platform is donation focused.

Revolution Messaging

Revolution Messaging offers not only a platform, but consulting. They can set up custom short codes and offer a wide range of mobile servies.

Mobile web

You can make simple changes to your website now to make it more mobile friendly. These changes will run a minimum of about $2000 -- and could go into the hundreds of thousands, if you have extensive content, complex functionality, rich media, etc that all needs to be made mobile-friendly. If you find that mobile is a big portion of your traffic, or a key to your campaign strategy, you should consider developing a mobile-specific site. This can be accomplished by your in house developer or an outside developer such as Fission Strategy.

Apps

There are several low-cost plug-and-play web services to get you started in developing an app. Mostly these can convert your RSS feed, video and images into an app. This simple app will run approximately $400 startup plus $30 a month. If you're looking for something more along the lines of an Angry Brids type app, expect to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and just like websites there is a whole range of cost and services in between. 

Concider hirering an app developer such as Fission Strategy to create the app or use your in house developer. You can also consult this informal-but-handy list that outlines the various tools available to developers and web savvy folks to help get you started creating your app. 

Get the Word out

Once you have your mobile campaign up and running, don't forget to tell people about it. Just like any campaign, you want to get the most exposure to help you succeed to accomplishing your goals. 

For SMS, concider using radio, television (e.g. PSA), point-of-service flyers and web ads to help spread your campaign. SMS campaigns can also be spread through passalongs, where you ask your list to forward an action onto their contact list. 

For your mobile friendly website, you want to continue to market it along with your website, but make sure to point out that your site is now viewable on the mobile web. 

For applications, spread the word using your website, web ads, your email list and even the app store itself. 

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By defining your mobile outreach around your audience, goals and budget you can create a great campaign and set yourself up for success. If you'd like some help putting together a mobile strategy for your organization, drop us a line.

Read the series from the begining: Part 1, Part 2