Marketing campaigns should be diverse, allowing you to hit your target market via multiple channels. For instance, you have traditional marketing collateral for your audience segment that prefers receiving brochures and pamphlets or seeing your brand on newspapers or billboards. Meanwhile, your younger and more tech-savvy customers get to know more about your brand via online content, email newsletters, social media, and SMS.
As for the last strategy in that list, you’re probably a little cautious. After all, you might be thinking that fewer people text nowadays or that most correspondences happen via online apps. While that has a kernel of truth to it, the fact of the matter is all cellphone users can still send and receive text messages. And there’s 5 billion of them.
That’s why SMS marketing is a viable addition to your promotional efforts. You have a large and ready audience to tap – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. SMS is a powerful marketing automation tool for several reasons.
Supplements other Marketing Channels
You may distribute pamphlets that feature your products or services. At the bottom, you can include a code your customers can send to a specific number to access exclusive discounts or vouchers. Not only do you get to tap potential customers, but you also get to build a customer database.
Or you can use that same playbook using digital marketing agency. For instance, you may include a QR code on digital content you produce to boost your online presence. The QR code unlocks special deals and adds the smartphone user to your database.
Those examples show how you can maximize SMS marketing not just as a standalone promotional strategy but as something to supplement an existing campaign.
High Engagement Rate
Rest assured that your SMS campaign won’t go unnoticed. Despite how everyone’s suffering from a short attention span these days, your text messages are destined to be opened. That’s because that’s almost an automatic habit for phone users, whether that phone’s the analog or smart version.
Unlike emails, which we have no qualms deleting unread, text messages somehow command our attention. It’s almost like muscle memory. When our phone beeps, we go to our inbox and open the message. SMS open rate is at 98% compared to email’s 20%.
Allows Personalization of Brand Messaging
With your print ad or billboard, you’re limited to sending a broad message that will appeal to as many diverse markets as possible. The same goes for the online content you produce, where you need to consider various algorithms to do the job right.
With SMS marketing, there’s a touch of personalization. After all, your message goes straight to your recipients’ inbox. You can’t get any more personal than that. That’s the same space where messages from a person’s most intimate relations go in. And that’s how it will feel for your target audience too. They’ll feel like you’re a friend trying to check in on them.
Survey-readiness
One way to keep your target market interested in your business is to keep them engaged. And one way to boost engagement is via surveys. There’s no other channel that’s most suited for customer surveys than SMS. For starters, it allows real-time response. Even if your targets’ mobile data is a bit spotty, they have the means to respond to your questions.
You can then use the information you gather to personalize your brand messaging further. The next time you appear in a customer’s inbox, you’ll have something more intimate to share. Your message recipient will appreciate you for trying to get to know them better.
Availability of Analytics Tools
Just like social media platforms, SMS marketing gateways offer tools that allow you to analyze how your messages are doing. You will know how many customers engaged with your sent SMS. If you included QR codes in your message, you’d have the means to track how many of those were opened and claimed in-store or via your online sales platforms.
That means you do not have to guess the ROI of your campaign. You have reliable data to use for future marketing plans.
Growth Potential
More and more marketers realize the power of promoting brands via SMS. It is used for both tapping potential customers and retaining old ones. If you want to hop on this trend, this is the best time to do so while SMS gateways have yet to get too crowded.
Parting Shot
There are different ways to exhaust the power of SMS marketing. You can use it to boost awareness about promotional deals, flash sales, loyalty programs, new products, and text-to-win competitions. You can send promotional coupons via SMS too, which spares you from paper costs. You can even conduct customer service via SMS. That allows your customers to get real-time updates on shipping status, billing information, and so on.
The key is to do it right. For instance, you do not send texts in ungodly hours. Or deliver messages with no clear value proposition or a direct call to action. Your customers are already bombarded with all sorts of digital messages throughout the day. Offer them something of importance, and you’ll get not their ire but their attention. Or, ideally, a positive response.
Author Bio:
Alex built Semaphore’s tech backbone and keeps it running smoothly. In his spare time, he grows hydroponic tomatoes and plays video games.
