Marketing has changed a lot in the past few decades. The entire industry has gained several new dimensions that have been recognized as highly effective.
Online marketing is massive these days, forcing many experts to look for new ways of exploiting this changing environment.
That being said, most marketing experts are forgetting that older marketing methods still work. Not only that, but some are proving to be extremely efficient.
SMS marketing is one such method and today tells you everything you need to know about creating SMS marketing campaigns.
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The Basics of SMS Marketing – How Does it Work?
SMS marketing is one of the most efficient means of reaching your target audience in this day and age. An SMS marketing campaign works by sending custom-tailored SMS messages to a collection of phone numbers with the intent of creating a funnel.
In other words, the idea behind using SMS marketing campaigns isn’t to create a conversion, but rather to funnel your target audience to another medium such as your website or a dedicated landing page.
Why SMS Marketing?
Despite running on what is essentially decades-old technology, SMS marketing is incredibly effective. The reason why is simple — everyone has a smartphone on them these days.
Back when SMS was a novelty, only a small share of the population had access to cell phones.
The fact that everyone has a phone is an important factor, but not the crucial one. Where SMS marketing overtakes any other form of direct marketing such as email campaigns and similar, is reach.
When you send out mass emails, you’re working against all kinds of spam filters, fighting for a chance to reach your intended audience. Once that happens, you’re relying on them checking their inbox and seeing your email.
Not only that, but they need to be compelled to open it, which requires a custom-tailored title.
Immediate Reach
How does SMS marketing compare? Ask yourself, what do you do when you receive a text? You open it right away.
In fact, over 95% of text messages are opened immediately upon being received. Marketing pros over at https://messente.com/ argue that SMS marketing offers the kind of efficiency that you simply can’t find elsewhere.
Reaching your target audience and knowing that the vast majority of them read your message simplifies your job as a marketing expert.
High Engagement and Response Rates
The fact that your message is reaching your audience without having to jump through any hurdles means that your engagement is going to be higher than average almost by default. As it turns out, people react favorably to short messages that cut straight to the point.
That alone can be a serious tool in your marketing toolbox.
Setting up an SMS Marketing Campaign – Where to Start?
Setting up an SMS marketing campaign requires some preparation. For starters, you’ll need to create a database of phone numbers. There are many ways to do this depending on your industry and your specific business.
In all cases, you’ll need to offer some kind of value to your target audience. For example, online retail businesses often offer a discount on future purchases if the customer shares their phone number at checkout.
Alternatively, you can run a dedicated ad campaign to lay the groundwork for your SMS campaign. There are ways of doing this in a creative, organic way.
Converting the Engagement
Now that you’ve built a decent phone number database, you can start working on your message. There are several types of content that are often used to fuel an SMS marketing campaign:
- Discounts
- Coupons
- Unique content
Each of these is a good way of converting your engagement into something tangible. It all depends on what kind of business you’re running.
Offer Discounts
Conversion happens when you offer value in return for time and attention. By sending a message that contains a discount code, or a coupon, you’re offering your potential customers tangible value from their end. This is arguably one of the best ways to get potential customers to remain engaged with your brand.
Coupons
Just like discounts, offering various coupons is a great way of funneling traffic to a landing page or your main website. Be creative with your coupons and make sure that you know who your target demographics are.
Unique Content
Value comes in many shapes and forms. Sometimes offering niche knowledge is much more valuable than giving your target audience discounts.
Once you successfully niche down, you will find that sending specialized tips and suggestions tends to help build your brand’s reputation as well as authority.
This is one of the better methods of growing your list and boosting trust among your user base. Find out what your users crave and give it to them in bite-sized chunks.
Basic Rules of SMS Marketing
Running a smooth SMS marketing campaign requires you to follow several key rules. We’ve already covered one — offering value. Here are a few more.
Create a Strong Message
There are only so many words you can fit into an SMS message. That being said, the 160 or so characters you have at your disposal is more than enough to convey a strong message.
You need to be short and sweet. Any detailed conversation needs to happen at the other end of the funnel. Trying to convey a large amount of information in a text is neither efficient nor feasible.
Don’t Overdo It
SMS marketing campaigns offer good engagement, but that doesn’t mean you can spam your audience with messages every day. In fact, being spammy is the best way to lose numbers on your list.
Remember, no matter which SMS service you choose, it will have an easy unsubscribe option that your audiences won’t be afraid to use.
Running a successful SMS marketing campaign should be about playing the long game. Short term sales are good, but long term engagement is much better.
A good SMS marketing campaign can boost your ROI and create a whole new group of happy customers who will remain loyal to your brand.