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Powers Of A Simple Text: SMS Marketing Can Escalate Your Business Reach And ROI At Minimal Cost

2018-06-12by Sujain Thomas

There was a time when the first thing people did after waking up was, brush their teeth or grab a cup of coffee. Now, people hardly open their eyes before they reach for their mobile phones for checking the latest updates. Over 80% of the adults and teenagers in the US check their mobile phones immediately after they wake up. We have become entirely dependent on our phones for our daily bites of news and the latest bit of information. However, that is an excellent opportunity for marketers. That shows that marketers now have the chance to drive their mobile marketing strategy to new heights thanks to human habit. 

You will hear so many brands complain that mobile advertising does not work. Well, that can be the truth for those companies, who do not optimize their ads for mobile phones. The first requirement of a successful mobile marketing campaign is optimization of the advertisement content for mobile viewing. It can also be in the form of a simple SMS, but that will help you navigate around your competition and reach a positive ROI.

Text messages still hold the highest ROI among all modern marketing media

You must be wondering why we are speaking of text messages when the world is busy with Instagram and Facebook. Instagram does have impressive engagement metrics, but you only find that remarkable because you have no idea about the potential reach of text. Till date, text messages have the best engagement rate. Pay per Click (PPC) ads have a measly Click Through Rate (CTR) of about 2%, and emails have a history of becoming history in the recipient inboxes. People have the habit of checking text messages since almost all reminders from government offices, emergency services and even the occasional word from parents come in the form of an SMS.

Budget marketing needs

Several marketing companies offer pocket-easy SMS services for businesses. These services support mass SMS plans at reasonable prices that are much cheaper than the regular individual SMS plan you might be using right now. These business messaging services let you use 10-digit toll-free numbers for sending and receiving company messages. Setting up a texting service for business involves a short procedure that is neither time intensive nor expensive. Business text messaging is possible on an existing 10-digit mobile number, a landline connection, VoIP line or a new toll-free number your business has never used before.

Tracking progress

Many SMS marketing tools enable message tracking for their clients. That means you can check who opens your messages and how many people open your texts per day. Such software applications give you the power to manage your entire campaign from your mobile or desktop. Some of them also offer detailed analytics services that can monitor each step of the user journey, all the way to conversion. Therefore, you can understand precisely at what point the user dropped out of the trip and how you can improve the user experience (UX) as a whole.

Higher engagement

Text messages are more interactive than emails and social media shares. While very few marketers and entrepreneurs think about this, potential customers prefer text since they get to respond with a single tap on the “reply” option. Your SMS has the power to send the user to your website. That, of course, depends upon the content of your short message, but it is useful like none other. There is no harm in trying something new and creative, but always keep the communication clear.

Quick turnaround

Most importantly, this form of mobile marketing offers the bonus of instant delivery. Hence, you can send out one message and generate hundreds of clicks and views in less than a few minutes. In fact, the response to your potential customer can be just as quick if you have the software system in place. It can be something as simple as a request for subscription from your customer or a link to a coupon code on your site. Research shows that the language of an SMS is crucial for determining the fate of a campaign.

  • Using words like "friends," "your," "we" or "I" drive user engagement. Your choice of words can add a personal touch to your campaign, which can skyrocket your SMS CTR within your target group.
  • Another way to drive the engagement among local crowds is by tapping into local attractions. You can send out exclusive invites via SMS or a listing of the latest events in the locality to build strong followership.
  • An essential component of a messaging campaign is the keyword and code combo. For example – you may want to create an "opt-in" marketing campaign for only those, who show interest in a particular product or service. So, you can ask your followers to text "HAPPY HOURS” to a particular toll-free number for receiving the latest offers on food and drinks at your pub.
  • Encourage your customers to sign up for sweepstakes contests. This one is particularly easy, and it elicits critical responses since the customers can participate in such games by texting a particular word only.

It always works in favor of the marketers to send single automated responses to guide their potential customers through the rest of the process. Contrary to popular belief, too many options can baffle the users and turn them away from the user journey you are preparing.

It is time to go deeper

Just like other marketing strategies, you must always keep your contingency plans ready for SMS marketing. Never rely on a single medium for reaching your target Return on Investment (ROI). To run any SMS campaign successfully, you must also integrate Facebook Ads. You can create a new advertisement or add one that has been leading in all aspects for quite some time. Setting up your lead advert will give you access to the contact details of your target audiences, who interact with it. Once you generate the humongous user database, it becomes your responsibility to segment the subscribers according to demographics and interests. To make the process simpler and quicker, you can always opt for automation at this stage. However, your choice of SMS automation can influence the progress of the campaign in more ways than one. You should pick a professional one that offers integration with the latest CRM software, social media platforms, and SMS marketing tools.

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Author

Sujain Thomas

Timothy Ufer works with university graduate programs as a community outreach manager, with a concentration for career development in higher education. In addition to cyber security, Tim's expertise includes business management, engineering leadership and entrepreneurship.

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