SMS Marketing is a marketing strategy that has been with us since 1922. Many different brands embrace the value of this marketing strategy because it earns higher click-throughs, engagement and open rates.
However, you must understand that this is not the first time brands are highly utilizing the strategy. Text messaging technology has been in existence for the longest time now. In the 2000s, a lot of companies found tremendous success through the strategy.
Since it is something that was highly regarded in the past years, a lot of people and brands tend to think of it as an old form of communication, but the fact is this marketing strategy is back with us and raring to go, especially in the B2B space.
Some recent studies indicate that there has been a 197% increase in usage of text messaging strategy between 2015 and 2017 alone. This was mostly attributed to the fact that people find it relatively easier and faster to schedule or make appointments via text messaging.
What is bolstering the growth of Text message Marketing?
One of the prime reasons why marketing via SMS is constantly growing is because is a very viable direct marketing strategy that B2C and B2B brands can use. This is fundamentally attributed to evolving technology, especially with mobile devices, making them more personal.
Text messaging marketing does not bring a personal feel to it but it also instantaneous too. That is what makes the strategy more enticing for different brands who are looking to forge new customer relationships and ensure customer satisfaction too.
Here are some reasons why the marketing strategy performs better comparatively:
- It gets more engagement: Cracking the customer engagement puzzle is tough currently. When used correctly, text messages easily capture the attention of customers while cutting through the noise in ways the conventional marketing strategies couldn’t. SMS has 98% open rates while emails have a significantly lower value of 20%. Naturally, people are more inclined to receiving promotional messages via SMS than other platforms.
- It is widely used: The messaging platform is the widely used feature among smartphone users. This is why the platform is such an invaluable marketing strategy.
- Easily promotes immediate communication: It is one of the quickest ways for communication, especially in back-and-forth conversations. SMSs tend to get higher response rates than other strategies like emails. It also takes a shorter time to respond to texts than emails.
- Efficient result tracking: If you have the right platform, it is relatively easy to measure how your SMS campaigns are performing. This helps in improving your results. Most of the text messaging marketing solutions come with a feature that supports analytics reporting to allow marketers to track open rates, redemption, and CTRs.
Tips and Strategies
Although it is only clear that this marketing strategy is very effective, there are some few best practices to help marketers make the most out of it.
1. Respect consumer privacy
It is very important to respect the privacy of consumers. The lack of it can easily damage the reputation of your brand. Ensure that your messages serve a specific purpose and with substance. When you send blanket messages and they get frowned upon, it beats the efficiency of the strategy.
2. Getting permission is important
A lot of people never realize or remember when they opt-in to marketing lists. Ensure that you have a record for all the opt-in agreements for purposes of seeking permission. At the same time, text marketers should also include an opt-out option. The lack of it is a violation of privacy and consumer data laws.
3. Avoid spamming consumers
Always make sure that you don’t send tons of messages to the same clients because of the directness of the strategy. Therefore, strive to limit the messages you send out to customers to about 2-6 a month. Flooding a customer with text messages can easily trigger them to opt-out.
4. Focus on lead generation
It is a more ideal method of collecting leads, which you can effectively move to other channels. Use it to hope to sell but majorly on driving traffic and lead generation. Furthermore, use the strategy to build new relationships while encouraging them to move the conversations to different platforms.
5. Instill a sense of urgency
People often open their text messages immediately. Therefore, if you have time-sensitive offers, the best platform to use is SMS. This also applies to offers that may be expiring soon. These messages will get to customers immediately with the urgency they deserve.
6. Use branded links
Text messages that come with branded links often look trustworthy and cleaner as compared to generic messages. This goes a long way in promoting credibility and trust. Incorporating URLs in SMSs encourages click-throughs and that is why you should always use them.
Conclusion
It is clear that there is a lot of value that marketers can derive from SMS marketing, especially in terms of click-throughs and engagement. It can easily outperform other conventional marketing channels in terms of open rates, response rates, and click-through.
