If you’re looking to generate more sales, incorporate SMS marketing into your digital strategy. Text messaging has a number of benefits including wider reach, personalised marketing and building a loyal customer base.
Furthermore, text message marketing is a low-cost method of attracting more customers. In other words, adding SMS to your box of marketing tools puts you in a strong position to raise your game.
Of course, a marketing craftsman has to know how to best utilise their tools in order for them to work effectively. So below, we have listed ten top tips for you to consider as part of your SMS marketing campaign.
Digital marketing technology is best suited for the younger generations. Millennials have grown up with computers and mobile phones. Generation X were among the first to use technology on a day-to-day basis.
Furthermore, the 85% of 16-49 year olds in the US own a mobile phone. In the same age bracket, only 70% own a portable computer and less than 60% own a desktop computer. Do the math!
SMS is a personal means of communication. If consumers have been kind enough to give you access to their personal phone number, they expect offers that give them an incentive to act.
Not only do offers need to be appealing, but redeeming them should be quick and easy too. Include a coupon or QR code recipients can simply swipe in-store or provide a code to make online purchases.
One of the challenges of SMS marketing is that you only get 160 characters to get your message across. This can limit the number of ways in which you can market your products and entice customers to take the next step.
However, mobile technology enables you to take your marketing up a step. Adding a multi-media service to your SMS marketing campaign enables you to embed videos into your SMS marketing messages.
Videos are a powerful marketing tool. Consumers prefer to watch a video on mobile more than any other marketing format. And because videos are accessible on smaller screens, they are the ideal accompaniment to SMS marketing messages.
Consumers want to be made to feel as though a brand cares about them. So make them feel special rather than just another customer you are trying to prize money out of.
You can make customers feel special in various ways, but as a starting point, make them feel part of a special cub. Essentially they are as businesses are only permitted to send text marketing messages to subscribers that have given you permission to contact them via SMS.
Furthermore, show customers respect by only sending offers they are likely to be interested in. Use consumer data to record customers into product categories and pair your latest offers with past purchase histories.
The best form of advertising is by word of mouth. 86% of consumers say they trust recommendations made by friends, family and other genuine customers of a brand.
Peer reviews are less trusted. But social shares have more impact and raise brand awareness to a wider audience. If you offer customers an incentive to share your offer on social media, you will notice a striking increase in traffic and sales.
If you have just launched a new offer, product, newsletter, email or anything else you want people to know about, send them a text message to let them know.
Over 90% of SMS messages are opened and are therefore the fastest and most effective means of telling your customers about anything. Utilize this power and you will notice the difference.
Consumers are open to receiving SMS messages from brands and prefer texts over other forms of communication as there is less pressure. Companies are using SMS increasingly more as a customer service aftercare strategy.
When consumers know they have a limited amount of time to take advantage of an offer, they feel more compelled to make a purchase immediately.
If you are combining SMS marketing with other mobile technologies such as in-store bar codes that provide customers with more information about a product or geo-fencing strategies, creating a sense of urgency will increase sales quickly.
Geo-targeting or geo-fencing is a mobile technology that alerts you when a customer is within a short perimeter of your store. It is a powerful tool for enticing customers in either offering them a discount or inviting them to take a look at your new collection.
Using an SMS messaging service is a crucial tool to make geo-fencing work to the best of its capability. And given geo-targeting is a powerful tool to have in your marketing arsenal, take full measures to use it to your advantage.
SMS messaging services are ideal for building customer relations in various ways, that we have mentioned above. But if you do not use SMS marketing wisely, it is also a way of destroying customer relations.
Modern consumers are bombarded with ads, most of which are not relevant. We talked about the need to send relevant marketing messages above, but you should limit the frequency of texts you send.
If you bombard customers with ads, they will eventually get annoyed and unsubscribe from your text list. Then you lose potential sales. Therefore, generally speaking, limit the number of text messages you send to two or three times a month.
The number of text messages you send depends on your business. For example, if you provide a service people will only use every so often, such as hair-styling, massage, dentistry or accounting etc, leave a reasonable amount of time before getting in touch.
SMS messaging services complement marketing strategies in numerous ways. But whatever reason you use text messaging for, they can help you improve the service you offer together with the results of your marketing strategies.
