SMS Marketing Made Easy: How to Crush Business Text Messaging
The most effective enterprises and businesses use text message marketing to produce highly engaging and deeply personalized digital communications with prospects and customers.
Introduction
When compared to traditional marketing channels including email, social media, and advertising, text messaging ranks as one of the single most effective marketing solutions. And if you don't believe us, we have the data to prove it:
- 83% of consumers open SMS messages within 90 seconds of receipt
- 75% of consumers prefer SMS communications for deliveries, promotions, and surveys
- In-store and on-demand coupons see a redemption rate of 70-80%
- SMS messages produce engagement rates 6 to 8 times higher than email marketing
What is SMS Marketing?
Before setting off on your text message marketing journey, it's helpful to take a closer look at text messaging as a whole. With a greater understanding of business text messaging, enterprises and businesses are well-equipped to craft high-impact marketing and communications transactions.
Short Message Service (SMS) is a text messaging service component supported by most telephone, internet, and mobile-ready devices. SMS allows users to send alphanumeric messages of 160 characters or less. Regulations enforced by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act require businesses to receive subscriber confirmation before deploying text messages. As such, subscribers must "opt-in" to receiving ongoing communications. This is typically done through a keyword and short code or widget.
To streamline and organize the message delivery process, many businesses choose to partner with a text message service provider. The best texting applications are purpose-built to make business text messaging easy to understand and simple to initiate. Most SMS solutions offer robust features and functions including keywords, sign-up forms, drip campaigns, text forwarding, picture messaging, reporting dashboard, and more. These and other platform features allow businesses to quickly grow subscriber lists and deploy targeted, timely, and highly engaging text messages.
Grow Your SMS Marketing Capabilities
Is SMS Marketing Right for You?
Here are a few signs that now is the time to invest in SMS marketing:
- Your marketing programs — email, social media, advertising — are falling flat
- Customers aren't taking advantage of your unique promotions
- You have difficulty deploying essential reminders and notifications
- You have difficulty turning prospects into high paying customers
As with any significant marketing decision, it's important to carefully consider text message marketing before committing fully. Before outset, be sure to get buy-in from key business stakeholders. Rally them behind your text message marketing goals and objectives and provide them with a quick roadmap towards SMS implementation and management success.
How to Make SMS Marketing Easy
1. Outline SMS Marketing Goals and Objectives
The first step to launching an effective mobile marketing strategy is to identify your mobile audience. Create detailed marketing personas that pinpoint your targets' unique behavioral traits. Persona details may include gender, income, location, interests, marital status, employment, and more.
With a more intimate understanding of your user base, you are now well-equipped to build a text message marketing strategy. One of the core elements of success is objective setting. Ask yourself: "What are we trying to accomplish?" Are you interested in acquiring more marketing contacts? Are you trying to drive more revenue through your marketing activities? Here is a list of possible SMS marketing objectives:
- Generate traffic to the website
- Generate leads and convert prospects to customers
- Building a meaningful relationship with existing customers
- Improve browsing or shopping experience online and in store
- Promote marketing promotions, offers, and coupon codes
- Have a multichannel presence
- Link customer data across marketing channels
- Better understand prospects and customers
- Enhance the customer service experience
Define the primary purpose of your texting program and orient yourself around that focus. Try to establish a clear timeline and benchmark your progress around those critical dates.
Moreover, 92% of the U.S. population owns a mobile device capable of sending and receiving SMS notifications. Furthermore, more than 68% of the U.S. population owns a smartphone. Compared to other digital communications channels, text messaging is the most widely used, preferred. and accepted. If reaching your customers is a top priority, business text messaging is an effective approach instituted by the world's most effective businesses, enterprises, and institutions.
2. Promote Your Keyword and Short Code
- Text 'SUBSCRIBE' to short code 818181 to join our online mailing list
- Text 'PIZZA' to short code 818181 to receive (1) free pizza with your next order
- Text 'MORE' to short code 818181 to learn more about the advertised home
- Text 'JOIN' to short code 818181 to join a rewards program
- Make Your Own: __________
There are a few key areas where you can promote your keyword and short code including in-store signage, emails, social media, newsletters, and more. Look for ways to make this promotion a complementary feature of your marketing activities and make it easy for prospects and customers to get engaged.
Don't be afraid to infuse a bit of creativity into your keyword and short code promotion. For example, if you owned a pizza shop, you could advertise the keyword and short code on your pizza boxes!
3. Organize Text Message Marketing Contacts
4. Build and Deploy Powerful Marketing Messages
- Don't miss our upcoming sales special on __________. Be sure to visit us in-store to take advantage of these special one-time-only offers. See you soon!
- Thanks for joining us on __________ for our committee meeting. The next meeting is on __________. We look forward to seeing you!
- Have you taken advantage of our special sales offer on __________? Don't miss this big opportunity to save! The offer is redeemable until __________.
- This is an automated appointment reminder. You are scheduled for an appointment on __________ at __________. If you need to cancel, please call __________.
5. Analyze Text Message Marketing Results and Talk to an Expert
Don't be afraid to talk to a text message marketing expert. In most cases, text message providers offer dedicated teams of customer support representatives. Typically, these experts are more than willing to answer your text message marketing questions and concerns. Talk to an EZ Texting Customer Support Representative and start your SMS marketing journey today!
Learn Four Strategies for Successful Text Marketing
Examples of SMS Marketing
Brian's Place Spanish & Italian Fusion Cuisine created interest in his texting program by branding it as a VIP program. Brian deployed a combination of coupons, a special catch of the week, and events notifications to make these text message recipients feel valued and appreciated.
SL Green Realty Corp.
SL Green Realty Corp. fused text message marketing with a special e-flyer. SL Green Realty Corp. dispersed important information including office location, square footage, and costs to New York City brokers.
Domino's
Ryan Swanson, Area Director for Prairie Pizza, a Domino's franchise in Charlotte, North Carolina. Swanson needed a way to market his private group on Facebook. Additionally, he needed to sell more pizzas. Swanson advertised his text message program at local sporting events and quickly gained traction.
Get Free SMS Marketing Help
EZ Texting is an industry-leading SMS and MMS marketing service provider. Join the thousands of enterprises, business, nonprofits, organizations, startups, and more that have already invested in the power of text message marketing. With access to advanced features and functions, you are well-equipped to deliver powerful messages to prospects and customers. With EZ Texting, you don't have to be a text message marketing expert! Allow our customer support team to guide you through every step!
