There are endless opportunities to get your message in front of your target audience. The power of text message marketing is unrivaled.
Text message marketing has a 98% open rate within the first 5 minutes.
Today’s population is addicted to their smartphones. As a small business, you need to be taking full advantage of presenting your message to them. While marketing emails can easily go ignored, text messages will always be open.
At the very least, it’s a way to alert potential customers about your brand and any new products. It’s a snippet of information you can be using to gauge interest in your brand. It’s essentially the length of a tweet being sent to your phone.
It is predicted that 4.77 billion people will have a mobile phone—more than two-thirds of the world’s population. Our smartphones are on our person almost every waking hour. This doesn’t mean that texts will work automatically for your brand. It comes down to a marketing strategy.
The Buying Cycle & SMS Text Message Marketing
It’s all about the micro-moment. Presenting your message to the right person on the right channel at the right time. You shouldn’t be using SMS marketing as a tool to acquire new customers, rather a tool to keep your customers engaged and alerted to what’s going on with your company.
Do you have a flash sale? Is a report ready for them to view? Do you want feedback from an interaction with a quick survey? Send reminders about an upcoming event or appointment.
Use your SMS and text message marketing to let your clients and customers know that you’re with them. That you’re thinking about them. That you want them to have the best experience. Don’t be pushy. If it’s the right moment, they’ll engage with your brand.
What Should You Focus On?
SMS messages can be used in many different ways throughout the customer journey. Focus primarily on communication that is related to products or services. Think about appointment reminders and confirmations, questionnaires and surveys, and quick messages that encourage dialogue.
What it shouldn’t be is seen as an opportunity to sell. We’re bombarded with advertisements throughout the day, and text message marketing should be seen as an informal and friendly conversation with your clients.
Like any other marketing initiative, send them frequently and keep the messages to normal business hours. You want to avoid any disturbances that could have a negative effect on your relationship with the customer.
Use a Numeric Vanity Number
The short code vanity number with five digits should be the phone number used in your text message marketing campaign. You can create a custom number for your business that is easy for you and your customers to remember.
When customers opt into your SMS marketing campaign, the short code assures it is a remembered number, establishing trust with your audience. Through texts, you can be personal and address each number directly by name, providing relevant information as you learn their preferences.
Create Sense of Urgency
If you have a sale or special promotion that ends on an upcoming day, send a message to your subscribers with a sense of urgency. Including an expiration date for the deal or the service that is ending can encourage your subscribers to act sooner rather than later.
With a sense of urgency, you can achieve better results in your campaign.
Promote Sales & Specials
Along with the sense of urgency, you can be sending your subscribers reminders about an upcoming promotion or showcase a special pricing model.
Texts are the best way to cut through the clutter and deliver your message where your recipient will almost always see it. Even a reminder with a special coupon or notice that you’re providing free quotes, estimates, or audits, it’s an effective way to reach your audience.
When using your text marketing with care and thinking about the impact it has on your customers and prospective customers who opt into your campaign, you’ll see it is more effective than sending out annoying and unwanted messages.
Conclusion
Text message marketing is immediate. It’s a way to drive immediate demand to your business. It can help you reel in some new customers and generate new sales with returning customers. Through text message marketing, you can get ahead of the curve and retain a client over your competition when taking advantage of SMS marketing campaigns.
Send out an email campaign or alert customers who visit your storefront to opt into your text messaging campaign. It’s a recommended form of communication between business and consumer, and can pay dividends when used appropriately without spamming your audience.
The post Text Message Marketing for Beginners appeared first on 1SEO.com Digital Agency | www.1seo.com.