As more people are hooked to their cellphones, this has put marketers in a position where they’d want to reach out and connect with their customers personally. This is how SMS marketing came into being.
Many business owners are interested in using text messaging as a way to advertise their businesses. Although many people out there will view it as spam, it’s still a highly cost-effective way of spreading your message.
The key to making the most out of your advertising is to find ways on how to take full advantage of the medium and make it something that’ll generate a consistent flow of sales. Text messaging is a perfect way to connect with your customers on a personal level. However, you’ve got to ensure you’ve met all the right elements of what’s considered a good SMS marketing strategy. These are:
- A Real Value Of Why You’re Going for SMS Marketing
You don’t just start with SMS marketing at random. When you decided to use this type of marketing for your business, this is because you have a purpose and a real value of why you’re going for SMS marketing.
SMS marketing is a remote marketing strategy that you can be very useful. As you create your plan, always center these on the core purpose of your campaigns. Then, go deeper by examining the value that your SMS marketing campaigns have on your target market. Ask yourself, “Does this text create any value for my subscribers?” If your answer is no, then you’re not sending out the right campaigns.
Remember that it’s straightforward to fall into the danger of sending out spammy messages to your subscribers. You wouldn’t want to fall into this pit of failure. Otherwise, you can be sure that your subscribers won’t even bother opening and reading your text.
- A Profound Understanding of Your Target Audience
Your target market may also be your subscribers. Hence, your business needs to have that profound understanding of who your target audience is and what kind of product or service they’re looking for. This can be done by looking at the country’s demographics or the region you’re operating in or asking people how they feel about the product you provided.
When you have this kind of information, you’re increasing the likelihood of coming up with effective campaigns. When you’re sure that you’re advertising to the right target market, you know that you’re reaching those who are most likely to be interested in what you’re promoting.
- Functional Text Messaging Platform
When you’re sending out a large volume of messages to many subscribers, it’ll be challenging for you to manage these all on your own. The success of a good SMS marketing strategy doesn’t just stop with the sending of the messages per se. Instead, this also has a lot to do with your follow-ups.
For example, how you respond to queries that are coming from your text messaging campaigns. Then, there’s also the follow-through messages. You also have to consistently record data about what percentage of your text messages resulted in positive responses and what didn’t.
One way of achieving this is by having a functional text messaging platform, such as Tatango, that integrates with your CRM system. This is very important for the following reasons:
- Enables your team to easily manage output.
- Measures the performance of your campaign.
- Sends scheduled, automated messages.
- A Profound Study of The Competition
It’s also a good idea to look at who’s in your competition regarding SMS advertising. While SMS advertising is beneficial, many send out messages to the same group of target market. There’s a chance that some of your messages will be unopened and neglected. You don’t want to have a cellphone inbox full of spam, and neither do your subscribers. Hence, the need to study your competition.
Analyze how they’re sending their messages and the content of their SMS marketing campaigns. That way, you can also send out ones that are more effective and competitive. Your message’s goal is to be opened by your subscribers and not that of the competition.
While there are many people out there with a vast and established client base, you can take advantage of their client base by advertising your own products and services directly through their network.
Here’s what you can gain from having a profound study of your competition:
- You can determine which potential clients are likely to be interested in your product.
- Get to know the SMS marketing strategies applied by your competitors.
- A Leading Offer
One of the challenges you’ll face with SMS marketing is the fact that you must learn how to send brief and concise texts. No one wants to read a chapter-long monologue on their cellphone, and no one has the time for that. You only have a few sentences to make that impact on your subscribers, so you’ve got to ensure you make these few sentences count, which is why you need to have a leading offer.
Here’s a quick guide for you to follow:
- Prioritize the most critical point of what you want to say.
- Go straight to the point.
- Cut off extra fluff since customers are more inclined to respond to brief but direct messages.
- An Active Database
No SMS marketing campaign will ever be effective without a steady list of followers or contacts. Therefore, another essential element is an active database of references for you to regularly message.
With this active database, you’ll never run out of possible contacts for you to message whenever the need for SMS updates arises.
Conclusion
While text messaging is still quite a relatively new form of marketing, one can’t also discount its effectiveness. It’s a perfect way for you to market your products and services, mainly because you’re connecting on a personal basis with your customers. Right away, you’re able to grab the attention of your target market.
The only key is to ensure that you’re doing your SMS campaigns the right way by meeting all the elements above.
Rich Thomas