SMS Marketing: The Right Way To Approach This Growth Powerhouse

Are you one of those marketers that laugh at the idea of SMS marketing? Then look at these stats:

1. The average person checks their phone 160 times a day
2. Forty-six percent of people check their phones before they get out of bed.
3. Open rates for texts are 98 percent, which vastly surpass the 20 percent open rates for email.

All these stats lead to one thing: SMS no longer sucks. Whether it’s checking social media updates or look up information on Google, the phone always comes in handy. So it becomes are common place for marketers to push their products.

Mobile advertising gets good return on investment but only if it gets to the consumer’s inbox. Plus, you have to make it mobile-optimized. These two things are important to steer clear of the noise.

You might be spending money on mobile-targeting tactics. Why not try SMS marketing that’s waiting for you to capitalize on it? It’s the only way to steer clear of the noise and get a positive return on investment.

Here’s why (and how) you should revisit SMS marketing to generate revenue.

Advantages of SMS Marketing

Texting Has The Best Engagement Rate of Any Marketing Medium

Are you a fan of Instagram’s engagement rates? Then, it would be surprising to you that texting beats Instagram or any other marketing for that matter when it comes to engagement rates.

Phone calls can go unanswered. Users can ignore emails for days (And sometimes, delete it without opening.). But people read text messages almost always immediately after they’re sent.

As I talked about the open rates for email, they don’t compare with SMS. The same goes for PPC ads. I’m leading to the point that SMS marketing doesn’t get the love it deserves.

But there’s a catch. Unsolicited messages are unethical and illegal. A written opt-in is required for them. Fortunately, many text-marketing services allow customers to opt in or out.

It’s Trackable

Want to manage your campaign all from your desktop? Many texting platforms on the internet can help you. Find the one that has detailed analytics. It will allow you to look at different steps in the conversion process.

You Can Leverage Interactive Content

Chipotle uses simple messages that direct subscribers back to their site. It gives users free chips and guac if they play the game.

You can do the same. Have them tap on the ‘reply’ button or a click on your link and send to your site. You can also get creative with these campaigns. Remember, you don’t always have to send them to your site. There are other options as well.

Immediate Delivery

One and done. That’s how fast mobile marketing is. You write a message, press “send,” and it’s sent out instantly. That’s it.

Add a Personal Touch

You get an informal opportunity to personalize the message. Clothing brand, Banana Republic, often sends text messages that include words like “friends” and “your.” These words can create a personal touch and drive engagement.

You can also use these messages to invite people to a local event. You can ask people to download you games and win coupons. See, there are numerous opportunities. You just have to find them.

Now let’s dig into a few strategies you can try.

SMS Marketing Strategies to Try

You’ll find many mobile texting tactics out there. But if you are familiar with running social promotions and contests, you’ll get the gist of this marketing form easily.
For example, games are a great way to engage people and drive traffic.

Here are some of the best potential uses for SMS marketing.

Coupons and Exclusive Deals

There’s always the option of coupons if you are willing to cut the price a little. Do it for subscribers only. Non-subscriber can take advantage of your deal so have uniquely-generated coupons. This will drive more subscribers to you.

Use Drip Campaigns

What are those, really? Simply, they are automated messages sent based on specific factors. For example, the time span of a customer with your company may decide what message they are going to receive.

It’s marketing automation, nothing more than that. You look at each individual’s status, and create responses tailored to them.

Now, let’s look an example in terms of coupons. You can send a 5 percent off coupon right after the subscriber signs up. After 2 weeks, you may send a 10 percent coupon. If you are willing to spend more and create a lucrative offer, there can be a 20 percent off coupon after two months.

You can think of other lucrative offers. But in the end, you have to see your own benefit as well.

The whole idea is to stay with your brand as long as possible. The best part is that you can schedule these to run automatically. So you can focus on more productive things.

Poll Your Customers

Allow customers to participate in a poll. Ask them to text different keywords to cast a vote. Your online dashboard will help you see responses and plot them using a graph.

They can offer you good insights that you can use internally to improve your operations. There’s also an option of using these results in your blog or social media. The people who participated in your poll will be eager to come back to your blog to see the results.

What’s your favorite part about SMS marketing? Let me know in the comments below!