SMS Marketing Strategy
In the world of business, you hear the term "strategy" frequently. By definition, an SMS marketing strategy is a plan of action that your organization will implement when it comes to sending text marketing messages to prospects or clients.
Putting together an SMS marketing strategy will help keep your team members and resources dedicated to achieving a particular goal, whether that be business growth, improved customer service, or successful product launches.
SMS Marketing vs MMS Marketing
As you begin to put together your text message marketing strategy, you’ll probably see two common acronyms: SMS marketing vs MMS marketing. What is the difference?
SMS marketing, derived from short message service, refers to the typical text message that individuals associate with brief smartphone communication. SMS texts are limited to 160 characters and contain only text, making them excellent channels for communicating brief, important messages to your target audience as part of a marketing strategy for bulk SMS.
MMS marketing, on the other hand, stands for multimedia messaging service and refers to text messages that have additional media content such as short audio or video files or animated gifs. MMS messages increase the text character limit to 1,000. As technology becomes more sophisticated, more businesses may transition from an SMS marketing strategy to MMS marketing campaigns in the future.
Currently, the best SMS marketing strategies are the short text messages that offer exclusive deals, provide important reminders, or encourage customer loyalty.
SMS for Business Growth
Since recent statistics show that 98% of all text messages are opened with 95% viewed within the first three minutes, it’s clear that SMS for business growth is a viable marketing strategy for bulk SMS.
Organizations can successfully find ways to not only engage new prospects through text marketing strategies but also nurture long-term relationships with existing customers that will result in business growth.
Businesses can use other marketing campaigns such as posters, online advertisements, and email blasts, to encourage prospects or existing customers to opt-in to receiving text messages, which can be one of your mobile SMS marketing strategies.
SMS for Incentives and Promotions
Since the majority of people now own a smartphone and check it frequently throughout the day, it’s understandable why consumers are more accepting of SMS for incentives and promotions. In fact 75% of consumers say they wouldn’t mind receiving sales promotions from a business after opting in.
Research also shows that text-based coupons are 10 times more likely to be redeemed than other forms of similar incentives. That means using SMS for such promotions is an excellent part of a successful SMS business marketing strategy.
Although general discounts and coupons may perform well as part of an SMS mobile marketing strategy, companies that can find ways to offer personalized coupons based on previous buying behavior may find even greater success.
SMS for Customer Service
Stellar customer service is a hallmark of a successful business. Those businesses who use SMS for customer service will find that connecting personally with customers can be done more quickly and easily using text marketing strategies. After all, a text message provides a direct, two-way connection to individual customers.
Text messages can be sent to confirm purchases, remind customers of expiring specials, or solicit feedback. Some companies may offer texting as a way to ask a question, make a complaint, or share a positive comment as part of their SMS marketing strategy. This can be one of the best SMS marketing strategies as long as your organization has the structure and resources to be responsive to these text inquiries.
SMS for Transactions
Using SMS for transactions may seem daunting at first, this can be an excellent SMS marketing strategy, especially for repeat customers. Although completing necessary fields for first-time customers may be better handled on a computer or in person, integrating this information into your SMS system for future orders can help streamline the business relationship.
For example, many customers may order the same personal care products, groceries or meals time and time again. Using SMS as part of a marketing strategy can allow customers to reorder with a quick text message.
SMS for Product Launches
If your company releases new products or services on a regular basis, you may find it beneficial to use SMS for product launches. This can be an especially powerful component of your SMS business marketing strategy if your new products and services would be particularly appealing to current customers and prospects due to the high open-rate of text messages.
This is one of those mobile SMS marketing strategies that can be further enhanced if your company has accurate and specific customer information. It’s much easier to offer a new product to a target audience that you expect may be interested due to past shopping behavior.
SMS for Brand Marketing
When text messages are used to enhance a particular brand, your company will keep itself top-of-mind for its audience. Using SMS for brand marketing can be an excellent bulk SMS marketing strategy as it allows your business to send short, helpful messages on a regular basis.
Be sure you have a good reason to text your customers by providing useful information, reminders or exclusive deals; no one likes spam-like text messages, which have no place in a text message marketing strategy.
SMS for Abandoned Cart Follow Ups
The Baymard Institute, a research firm, looked at more than 40 different studies on electronic commerce shopping cart abandonment rates. The firm discovered that nearly 70 percent of shopping carts are abandoned, which means that SMS for abandoned cart follow ups have the potential to generate a significant amount of revenue.
Using text messages to remind customers to complete their orders can be an excellent SMS business marketing strategy as individuals are generally more responsive to text messages than email reminders.
By considering SMS as part of a marketing strategy, you’ll be taking advantage of one of the most effective, inexpensive marketing tools available today. DialMyCalls offers free accounts and a no-fee trial that will allow you to implement an SMS mobile marketing strategy quickly and affordably.