Semalt SMS Marketing Strategies To Use This Year


Table of Contents

  1. Introduction
  2. What is SMS Marketing?
  3. How Can SMS Be Used In Marketing?
  4. Is SMS Marketing Effective?
  5. 10 SMS Marketing Strategies To Use This Year 
  6. Some Mistakes To Avoid
  7. Conclusion

Introduction



Do you know how many hours people spend on their phones? About a gazillion hours. In the world today, the majority of the population has at least one mobile device used to interact with others. Some have even capitalized on the electronic device in ways that it is how they make money and survive. Businesses that operate online also use their mobile phones to manage, monitor and operate their business activities. 

Therefore, we can say that mobile phones are a big part of today's generation. That's why it is no surprise that SMS Marketing has found its way into the world of digital marketing and brand advertising. SMS is easier to access and read than emails which was an earlier form of digital marketing strategy (e-mail marketing). 

But if you don't know about SMS Marketing, nor how to use it to increase your business's sales and engagement, you are in luck. This guide will provide all about SMS Marketing, and some strategies that you can use this year. 

What is SMS Marketing?

SMS (Short Message Service) Marketing is also known as text message marketing. And it is a marketing technique used by businesses and brands to connect (and interact) with their customers for various reasons. These messages are short (maximum of 160 characters), instantly delivered (within minutes), and are directly targeted at the customer. They can be sent through a short number / letter (or mixed) code, the number of the business, or a shared number. The main purpose of SMS Marketing (as with any other marketing technique) is to boost customer engagement, increase brand awareness and of course, generate more sales. 

The text messages can be sent to many customers at once, and the is called bulk SMS Marketing. This is especially effective when a piece of general information needs to be passed across. These pieces of information include a discount alert, time-sensitive offers, a giveaway, an update in business operation, a notification of site maintenance, and so on. With the bulk SMS marketing option, the messages would be sent to as many numbers as possible at a small fee.

But how can this marketing technique be used to generate sales and improve brand awareness?

How Can SMS Be Used In Marketing?

It has been established that SMS is timely, fast and is meant to do three things: increase brand awareness, sales, and customer engagement. But how can it do these things? Do businesses just send messages to customers at any time? What do they talk about in those texts? How can SMS be incorporated into the digital marketing world? Here are five (5) ways that businesses can take advantage of SMS to market their brands, engage customers, and increase sales. 

Alerting Customers on Special Time-sensitive Offers

Promotions, Discounts, and other closely related offers cannot last forever. And sometimes, customers might not be aware of the promotion or might have forgotten about the expiry date. Businesses can take advantage of SMS to alert and urge their customers to participate in the ongoing offers with a link to their website or a special code. 

Welcoming New Customers and Visitors. 

Most people don't expect a message saying 'welcome' after signing up on a website. A mail is expected - yes, but not a text message. Businesses can now incorporate this technique to connect and engage more with customers. And if there is any reward for signing up, that's a good platform to let them know too. 

Access to Product Tracking and Delivery Information

Businesses that deal with delivering products to customers can also use this medium. Through SMS, updates (and links) on customers' orders, shipping progress, and product arrival can be sent. This makes it easier for customers to access information about their goods. And the more satisfied customers are, the more of their friends that would patronize.


Remind Customers of Abandoned Carts

Again for businesses that deal with the selling of products, abandoned carts are not a new concept. Many customers abandon their shopping carts for various reasons. And though an email seems to work, a text message would work faster. With a well-constructed SMS that can be done by an expert in content writing, customers can be alerted of their abandoned carts with links to return to their shopping. And this can generate more sales.

Birthday Gifts and Rewards

Celebrating birthdays is a good way for a business to create a connection with its customers. In some cases, brands offer celebrants some form of reward or gifts that last for a few days or hours. The fastest way to inform them is to send them text messages. The text could be a birthday message, a link to their gifts, or a teaser to check their emails for more information. Either way, the connection is stronger. 

But how effective are these methods? Do they even work? What are the proofs of its efficiency? 

Is SMS Marketing Effective?

Many kinds of research are ongoing about the effectiveness of SMS as a marketing technique. And the results have been coming in with facts to back them up. 

First, it is set in the record that people currently touch their phones more than 2000 times per day and this makes them more likely to see a text message faster. Also, text messages have a higher response rate than emails (45% over 8% from emails). In addition to this, businesses can use SMS to reach other marketing channels like the Brand's official website, email, or online stores. 

Now, one could ask; 'Can't emails be viewed from mobile phones too?' Aside from the fact that people open text faster than emails, a report from Ericsson Mobility reported that more than 3 billion mobile devices used in the world are not smartphones. Therefore, a text is the best way to reach this number of people. 

And to prove its effectiveness, many big companies have adopted the use of SMS marketing such as major E-commerce stores, Financial Enterprises, and other well-known businesses. Small businesses and medium-scale businesses can also join in the fun. 

So what are the latest SMS strategies that can be used this year? 


10 SMS Marketing Strategies To Use This Year 

Below are ten (10) strategies that every business can incorporate into their SMS marketing program this year:
  1. Employ Call-To-Action Links: Make sure that every text message is has a shortcode or link that can lead them into something. And while doing this ensure that it is very clearly stated and not hidden amid other things in the text.
  2. Create a Sense of Urgency: People would interact more with a text message that has an expiry date than one with none. 
  3. Add Incentives: Some sort of reward, deals, or coupons mentioned in a text is generally attractive to people and this increases the opening rates of SMS messages.
  4. Ask Questions or Surveys: When customers see a question as a text, they are unconsciously inclined to know about it. Therefore businesses can take advantage of this to increase customer engagement.
  5. Keep Messages Short and Simple: Long messages can become boring to read. Ambiguous texts are worse. Businesses can employ content writers to help construct messages so that they are easy to read by customers.
  6. Use text to link social media pages: Since SMS are so effective, connect them to all active social media pages by providing their links during texts. However, make sure that this is done with a purpose and delivers some sort of value to customers.
  7. Add MMS: MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) is another segment of text messages that displays videos instead of texts. If MMS seems too much, links to video channels can be added.
  8. Add Names and make it feel exclusive: Customers tend to feel special when messages are directly targeted at them with the inclusion of their names. This is a great way to build connections with them.
  9. Target Younger Audiences: Using analytics tools, target younger customers because they have more knowledge about how to operate mobile devices. This age group is between 18 and 49 years. 
  10. Target Active but Free times: Sending texts after 9:00 pm or before 9:00 am is not strategic. It is best to target when customers are awake but not too busy to check their phones when it chimes.

Some Mistakes To Avoid

Though SMS marketing is taking the lead now in digital marketing, it can be done wrongly. Here are a few things to avoid doing:

Conclusion

A business cannot do without marketing its person, product, or services. And marketing has gone beyond mere brand advertisement and awareness, it also involves interacting with customers - creating a bond with them. This is because a brand that is trusted would build a network of loyal customers who would bring in more customers, hence increasing sales and reputation. Therefore, a lot of thought has to be put into the construction of text messages for SMS marketing.

Many professionals offer these services to businesses and once it is right from the beginning, it continues that way for a long time.