The Power of SMS for Marketing: How to Leverage it
Every marketer craves an engaged audience. They are the ultimate goal when crafting a marketing campaign, as engaged audiences make for better campaign results. Consider how engaged customers generate 51% more revenue and sales than non-engaged ones, according to OnlineDasher.
To engage your customer base is to put your business at a distinct advantage.
But what are the best means of customer engagement on the modern marketing playing field? Many businesses leverage email as a steadfast campaign strategy. However, many modern consumer privacy practices and laws make cold email markstreting difficult (if not risk-prone).
Instead, many marketers are turning to SMS as an effective means of customer engagement. The benefits are plentiful, and smart marketers know a smartly crafted campaign can be worth its weight in gold.
In this article, we will go over some of the best SMS marketing tips when crafting your SMS campaign.
How SMS Marketing Works
SMS for marketing works much the same as any direct marketing campaign solution. Contact details and campaign content are loaded into your marketing platform. Once prepped, the platform sends campaign messages on your behalf and tracks the real time results. This could include:
- Clicks to a provided link
- Unsubscribe requests
- And more.
Considerations for an Effective SMS Campaign
Establish Who You Are
No one likes to be cold called on their mobile phones. And this is just as true for sending text messages for marketing.
Instead of jumping straight into your campaign, first let your audience know who the message is coming from. This will establish trust before you’ve even begun to pitch.
Offer an Opt In/Opt Out
Much like email marketing, SMS for marketing requires a means for your audience members to say “No thanks.” To do so is audience-empathetic. Failure to do so could be illegal, per the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
Many email marketers offer this via a simple prompt. This could be something clear like “Reply YES to continue receiving our messages or STOP to opt out.”
This process is important. It will ensure you are marketing largely to the target audience that is most primed for your message. But more importantly, it also ensures you’re not wasting your budget marketing to audience memebers who are uninterested.
Plan Your Campaign
Like any good marketing campaign, it’s best not to shoot from the hip. Before sending your first SMS advertising, plan out all of your content. This should include the calls to action, milestones, destination links, copy to be sent per message, and more.
More than anything, remember: your message should be 160 characters or fewer.
By undergoing proper planning first, you can ensure your campaign is strategic.
Segment
For even more effective SMS marketing strategies, consider segmentation. Just as it is with other direct marketing, segmentation is a boon for driving results-driven engagements. After all, when audiences feel understood and catered to, they could be more likely to take action.
Empower Your Business with SMS for Marketing
SMS advertising and marketing is truly abundant with opportunity. DirectLync offers an all-in-one digital marketing platform that includes SMS for marketing built in. Leverage SMS for marketing today!
