1. Integrate Your SMS promotion with Your Other Ads. If your business is already advertising, then integrating your SMS promotion is probably the most logical and powerful thing you can do to attract more customers and boost sales. Although hundreds or even thousands of people already see your ads, they might not take advantage of offers if they aren’t able act right away. By including your keyword and short code in your ads, you are giving them that opportunity—and building a list of potential customers.
2. Offer a Large Incentive to Join.The best way to motivate your customers to become your SMS subscribers is with a powerful incentive, such as an immediate discount, a coupon to redeem at a later date, or a bonus of some sort—like a free drink or appetizer, or a ticket in a drawing. Whatever incentive you choose, make sure it communicates the value to the customer of joining your SMS list. Many businesses fail to build large SMS lists because the incentives are not persuasive enough to convince their customers to subscribe and make themselves available to future marketing.
3. Run a Sweepstakes or Contests. People love contests, and if you offer something like an iPad or tickets to a hometown baseball or football game, you can generate a lot of interest and subscriptions.
4. Display Your SMS Promotion in Your Store Window.Don’t forget to advertise your SMS list on your own window with a large sign or decal. Window ads in shopping malls and on busy streets are great places to grab the attention of passersby. Window advertising is also an effective way to communicate to customers already on your list that you are now offering a promotion.
5. Integrate Your SMS Promotion into Your Web Presence.Communicating on your website and Google Places that you have an SMS list and would like to stay in touch with your customers is a great way to build and maintain direct relationships. On your website, add a large, well-designed graphic or banner. On Google Places, insert a description of the promotion along with your keyword and short-code into the description of your business.

These five simple methods will help you build your list fast. I will expand on these methods in future articles, as well as cover more effective ways to building your list