Tips You Need to Know When Using SMS Messaging For Your Marketing
There are many ways that you can market your business. You can use traditional broadcast methods like television or radio. You can have banners on websites, or use social media advertising. You can even advertise on flyers and with door hangers. Having a good search engine optimization (SEO) strategy is a must nowadays, in fact. The fact is, even with all of these options, your competition is no doubt using most, if not all, of them. You need to do something that will help you stand out and that isn’t widely used. That’s where SMS messaging comes in.
SMS is a method that fewer than 70% of businesses are using to contact their customers and prospects. That means that the environment is right for you to get a leg up on everything else. SMS messaging provides a wealth of benefits. For one, you can be certain that your targets are getting your messages. The average American looks at every text they get within 30 seconds, and they open 98% of them. That is a massive open rate that no other marketing method can match. Not only that, but if you provide the option, it is easy for them to respond or click on a link to content or sales copy.
Even with all of these benefits, running an SMS campaign isn’t necessarily easy. You can’t just start texting people and assume that you will succeed. There are certain steps you can take, and certain tips to keep in mind, that will help you be as successful as possible. Here’s what you need to know.
Get to the Point
When you send messages to friends and family, you can take the time to type out long blocks of texts to talk about last night’s game or what is happening at work. With customers, however, you can’t meander. You need to get right down to the point. In fact, most SMS services allow you 160 characters, so you need to eliminate any filler. Start with a catchy phrase to draw them in, then use a few words to describe the link or content that you are connected to. You can also provide the pertinent information immediately. If you send big blocks of text, your recipients are less likely to read them, and they will possibly opt-out of getting them at all.
Ask For Permission
Never start messaging people out of the blue. You wouldn’t like it if it happened to you, so make sure that it doesn’t happen to your clients. To build your SMS messaging contact list, make sure there are SMS opt-ins available throughout any other communications you have with them. You can have it on social media pages and your purchasing page, for example. Do not under any circumstances send a message to someone who has not agreed to receive it. Not only will they not convert, but they will be annoyed by getting the message. Plus, in the end it’s just a waste of your time as well.
Be Strategic About When You Send Messages
Because text messages are so quickly read and opened at a high rate, you might find yourself wanting to send a text for every announcement, sale, promotion, or special event that you might have. However, if you overload your audience with messages they may start to tune them out. Think of driving along a highway through a city. There are hundreds of billboards along the side of the road, and there’s no way for you to read them all. They may start to seem like background noise after a while. The same goes for text messages. If you send too many, your recipients will get in the habit of deleting them before they read them. The less you send, the more powerful the ones you do send will be.
Give An Option to Respond
Nowadays it seems like it’s impossible to ever get someone on the phone. You can wait for hours in a queue to get help with simple things. Your text messaging campaign can be very effective if you give your audience the chance to respond. They can ask questions or voice concerns, and they will feel like they are communicating with a human being.
While you can certainly have someone answering messages, it might be more cost effective to use an AI chat box service to automatically respond to texts based on the words a customer entered in their response. Providing a chance to respond to text messages will make your customers feel valued and even a part of your team. It will build trust and build loyal customers.
Use SMS For Reminders and Confirmations
You know that SMS messages are not going to go to junk mail, or get lost in a sea of subscribed emails. It’s what makes them so effective. They are perfect for sending reminders and confirmations of meetings, deliveries, or any other interactions with customers that you need to plan out in advance. You can have your customers respond to confirm, or rest comfortable knowing that there’s a 90% chance they got the message. Confirming appointments with customers will present the let down when someone doesn’t show and you have a pitch to give.
Be Conversational
Everyone is trying to find more human interaction in their lives. Also, text messaging is an activity normally done between friends, family and co-workers. If your messages are too stiff, robotic, or filled with sales content, your audience will tune you out. Craft your messages as if you are trying to talk to a friend. Your audience will connect more with your messages and you can build trust with them.
There are many reasons why text messaging could be the future of marketing. However, you have a chance to get in on the ground floor and leave your competition in the dust. Use these tips to create a winning SMS messaging marketing strategy.
