SMS Marketing and SMS Marketing Software
SMS marketing is one of the most influential tactics that can be used by the marketing team.
Efficiency can contribute to two main factors.
First, SMS messages can be sent to any mobile device via bulk sms sending software, regardless of whether smart technology is activated or not. According to Statista, this is around 4.6 billion potential recipients.
In addition, text messages are almost always opened. Most cell phone owners open whatever text they receive. The frequency of open text messages is a whopping 98 percent, 78 percent higher than email marketing.
Tip: Another great way to reach your audience is through guerrilla marketing campaigns.
This guide is intended to answer an important question: "What is SMS marketing?"
It will also uncover the challenges and problems associated with this unique form of customer involvement, while providing tips on how to improve existing text-based marketing messages and campaigns.
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS means "short message service". In this way, SMS marketing spreads information, creates enthusiasm, and generates brand awareness through the use of text messages.
Three principles of SMS marketing
For a successful SMS marketing campaign, the company needs to follow some guidelines.
1. The recipient must be included in the text message
The FFC Consumer Protection Act of the Consumer Protection Act prohibits sending promotional text messages to people unless they voluntarily provide their sender number and agree to participate in the campaign. In short, you can only target people with SMS marketing who have given you their number and permission.
How do you get people involved?
A very effective way is to attract buyers with exclusive offers. By gathering text campaigns, some companies have received up to 4,000 new registered users.
Another great strategy is to host the competition. People like free things. Just ask RedBox. The company released a text to win a 10-day campaign in which customers win DVD rentals for $ 10 to $ 1.50. The results were astounding: 400,000 customers participated, which corresponded to 400,000 new RedBox customers.
2. Time is important
The time of your SMS attempt is very important. Avoid times when people drive and cannot see their phone. Especially avoid sending messages between 6:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. and 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. Another time you have to be careful are the people who wake people in the middle of the night - the pressure to delete them once and for all.
The conclusion? You don't want to turn on a customer's phone at night or while traveling.
3. Frequency is also important
To avoid hours of the day when your SMS marketing message will interfere, you should also consider how often you send promotions and text offers - once a week or two weeks is a good rule of thumb.
This can quickly become amazing if you constantly bombard customers with new offers and other news.
Example of an SMS marketing campaign
The flexibility of text messaging makes SMS a valuable marketing channel for every type of business.
There are many different ways to use SMS as a vehicle to reach your customers and customers.
1. Send discounts and special offers
SMS marketing can be used most often to send text offers, discounts, and other promotional material. These messages are intended to make customers visit the store and hopefully make a purchase. Because customers immediately open SMS, it's a good idea to make a time-sensitive offer.
The reason is Sensitivity from time to time creates a sense of urgency. Emails are likely to be opened by late customers - if at all. The point is that SMS offers generate more responses than regular e-mail.
2. Emergency update
Think about event updates, special orders, and meeting notifications.
People often check their phones. A Dscout survey found that the average mobile user spends more than two hours a day on their device and has around 76 unique "sessions".
If you need emergency notifications, SMS is the best channel to ensure that information reaches your audience instantly. These messages can be push notifications to inform customers that an event has been canceled or a method to notify users of problems with their orders, accounts or meetings.
3. Schedule a reservation or meeting and reminder
Not all companies depend on selling goods. Service-oriented companies live from the purchase of an appointment or reservation and ensure that the schedule is fully booked. SMS can be an excellent channel for reminding customers of upcoming meetings - and surveys show that they have reduced attendance by more than 23%.
You can also use SMS to win back customers who haven't scheduled a visit for a while.
4. Warning throughout the company
Text messaging is a fast way to spread important messages internally. If you have many employees assigned to different departments or branches, it might be difficult to contact everyone at the same time.
Email sometimes works, but for time-sensitive information, SMS is the best way to contact everyone at the company right away. This is very important when there is an emergency or signal that every employee must know immediately, whether in the office or not.
SMS and SMS marketing software
With SMS marketing software you can manage and automate your SMS campaigns. This is a tool for creating, starting and monitoring SMS campaigns.
There are many different SMS marketing software products on the market and more are added all the time. Therefore it is important to know which options the software offers.
Use text messaging as a standalone marketing tool
In terms of SMS marketing, creating simple and independent SMS messages is a good choice. You can send bulk text to all of your customers at once, or create separate groups to route messages to specific groups in your customer base.
SMS is a powerful marketing tool because you can target messages to any customer position in your sales channel.
SMS and email marketing
Text and email marketing often go hand in hand. Why If potential customers don't respond to emails, you can send short text messages that they will definitely see.
This option is the best communication tool that combines all email, SMS and other campaigns in one platform. This is not only practical, but also useful for tracking customers across channels. This way you can learn more about each individual and learn how you can respond to each other's needs.
Be sure to check out the best email marketing software platform that you can combine with your SMS marketing campaign in 2018.
Mobile application options
You can also integrate SMS marketing into the mobile application. There is a powerful SMS solution that can even recognize keywords in customer text responses and send responses that have been made before. This saves a lot of time and keeps SMS recipients busy, even if you can't reply directly.
Start SMS marketing now
With the many benefits and uses of SMS, any business can implement this strategy and increase other digital marketing efforts. However, it's important to know how to start your first text campaign.
First, find out about other SMS marketing services and find one that suits your needs and budget.
Then ask customers if they want to participate in the SMS campaign. Remember that you need your permission to send text messages.
Once you have a list of participants, your final step is to group this list into smaller logical groups. You can then target each group with a specific message that is tailored to their needs and position in the funnel.
You have knowledge. Now you need to find the right tool to get started. So the final step is to find the best SMS marketing software that suits your needs.
