SMS marketing is one of the quickest ways to reach your customers and boost response rates. After all, who has time to read lengthy messages? With its abbreviated text, pictures and hyperlinks, you can craft a concise message in just a few characters. On top of that, several mobile messaging apps allow businesses to target their SMS campaigns with pinpoint accuracy. If you’re new to the world of SMS marketing or curious about how it can help your business, this article covers everything you should know about this digital marketing channel. Keep reading for an in-depth explanation of what it is, why you should consider using it and top strategies for implementing it in your company.
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS stands for “short message service,” but it gets the job done in a whole lot less time than an SMS conversation. A text message is just a few strings of letters and numbers, making them easier to read and understand than an email message, which is often a lengthy paragraph of text. The biggest advantage of SMS is that it’s super-fast.
When you’re in a rush and want to communicate with someone quickly, SMS is your go-to method. SMS is also useful for discretely targeting certain types of people. When you include a short code in your message, it directs recipients to a landing page where you can collect their email address for future communications. With the right tools, you can even track how many people click on your links and fill out contact forms from a text message.
Who Can Use SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing is a great choice for B2B companies, as it allows you to reach existing customers with a touch of a button. With a large number of small businesses, you can also select which customers you send an SMS campaign to. If you’re targeting prospects who live in countries such as the Philippines, India and Nigeria, you have the opportunity to reach millions with a single text message.
How Does SMS Marketing Work?
With SMS, you transfer text messages to your customers’ mobile phones. This means there’s no need to worry about integrating with third-party services to send and receive messages. Your customers can receive your messages regardless of whether they have a text-enabled phone.
Most providers offer a free SMS service that lets you send short messages (up to 160 characters) and send them to individual numbers or bulk addresses. You can customize these messages based on customer information you collect from your website, CRM system or call center.
Best Practices for Using SMS Marketing
Choose an appropriate SMS marketing strategy– If you don’t know where to start, choose a strategy that’s aligned with your business goals. Be sure to research what your competitors are doing to learn how to differentiate yourself from them.
Measure your results – Once you’ve chosen a strategy, you need to measure its effectiveness. There are many ways to do this, but one of the most reliable is to track click-through rates (CTR).
Split test your copy – Most SMS marketing campaigns make basic errors such as using the same copy for all messages. You’ll improve your results if you split test your copy to see which versions generate the best response rates.
Use your website as a funnel – Many companies use their website as a way for customers to sign up for new content or product updates. They use shortcodes or links to direct customers to a landing page where they can sign up for newsletters or purchase a product.
Consider using a third-party SMS marketing platform – The best way to improve your SMS marketing strategy is to use a software platform that allows you to track and analyze the performance of your campaign. – Don’t neglect email – While SMS marketing is one of the most effective channels, you shouldn’t ignore email altogether. Use email to send periodic emails with links to content that leads to longer articles or videos on your website.
Conclusion
SMS marketing is a low-risk, low-cost method for getting your brand in front of potential customers. It’s also a great way to target a specific audience, including inactive subscribers or those from specific countries. Despite the benefits, only 26 percent of businesses used SMS marketing in 2017. If you want to reach prospective customers, it’s critical to choose a channel that will drive a high response rate. SMS marketing is a great choice as long as you follow best practices to get the most out of it.
