Improving Internet speed and availability offers a wide variety of options for businesses to connect with prospects. From email, SEO, and social media to paid ads and websites, business owners have a multitude of options. However, have you thought about reaching your customers through one of the most used tools? Consider using cell phone texting as the majority of the population owns a cell phone. SMS text marketing is one of the many marketing strategies you can use to increase sales and grow your business.
WHAT IS SMS MARKETING?
As the name suggests, SMS or short message service marketing involves sending promotional and transactional text messages to past and potential customers. There are now several SMS marketing platforms that you can use. Messages can contain various time-related offers, offers, or product updates. Businesses of all sizes can benefit greatly from SMS marketing as it provides business owners with a direct way to reach their customers. However, make sure that you only send messages to people who have agreed to receive them. Spam texts damage your corporate brand and reputation.
With this marketing strategy, companies can reach their customers around the clock and build and maintain strong relationships. Before sending any text messages to customers, make sure you have an effective SMS marketing strategy in place to capture your business needs. Also, don’t limit your texts to just business content. Send your customers a congratulatory or birthday message and simple greetings at random every year.
IS SMS MARKETING EFFECTIVE?
As with any other marketing strategy, you should evaluate the effectiveness of SMS marketing before using it. The effectiveness of SMS marketing becomes apparent when your customers get the message and take action. However, almost everyone currently owns a phone. Around 4.78 billion people worldwide use mobile phones and 3.5 billion smartphones. This makes it easier than ever to reach customers through texts.
Unlike email marketing, where messages may be routed to spam folders, texts are moved straight to your customer’s inbox. The texts are also short and easy to read. Other reasons SMS marketing is effective are:
• You can reach many people easily, especially if you use an SMS service provider.
• Coupons sent via mobile phone have a higher redemption rate than coupons sent via other means.
• SMS marketing has a higher ROI due to high open rates.
• You can reach customers in areas with poor internet connections.
• Fast and reaches the intended customer directly.
With the estimate that 3.8 billion people will have smartphones by the end of 2021, SMS marketing and SMS marketing platforms should be a consideration for your business.
SMS Marketing Best Practices
SMS MARKETING BEST PRACTICES
SMS marketing and email marketing share several elements. For example, you should get your customers’ contact information, create a contact list database, integrate SMS marketing service providers, create marketing content and send it to contacts and subgroups. However, phone providers can block your marketing efforts if you market incorrectly. Keep the following marketing tips in mind to avoid this.
Make sure your customers and target customers choose SMS marketing. Otherwise, they can report your messages to carriers, which leads to carrier filters. This means that you cannot send messages to anyone using that carrier.
Use shortcodes – most SMS marketing tools send messages with a 10-digit number. However, such numbers can often be blocked by carrier filters unless your customers have signed up and your sender ID is on the whitelist. However, consider using apps that use shortcodes, usually between 5 and 6 numbers that have been pre-approved by carriers.
Don’t just send offers – you should market your products and build a community with your customers. Offer valuable content such as special discounts, offers and educational content.
Keep your messages short – they should be easy to read and straightforward.
Run a campaign
SMS marketing remains one of the underutilized marketing strategies. Work with premium SMS marketing service providers to reach large audiences. Such providers maximize the delivery of messages while reducing the delay time. This is critical for businesses that need to keep their customers updated on ongoing promotions in real time like flash sales.
Mike Gingerich is President of Digital Hill Multimedia (www.DigitalHill.com), a Goshen web design, web software, and social media marketing company. He is also a technology, marketing, and growth business blogger. Further information can be found at www.MikeGingerich.com/blog/.
Mike Gingerich is President of Digital Hill Multimedia (www.DigitalHill.com), a web design and marketing agency. He is also the co-founder of TabSite.com, a leading provider of Facebook page apps for businesses. Listen to his social media and web podcast, Halftime Mike, available on iTunes.