SMS marketing refers to the marketing strategy used by companies and brands to communicate to potential and existing customers through text messages. However, SMS and other conversational marketing platforms can be quite tricky to master. But, if you know what you are doing, you will see unmatched results.
We have created a curated list of our top 6 tips for marketers considering or building a text-based marketing strategy.
Why SMS Marketing?
SMS has an open rate of 98% (HubSpot). To put that in comparison, the email open rate is 34%.
It’s no wonder so many businesses are moving to SMS marketing to generate more business!
Chatti also offers a 100% SMS Delivery Guarantee! If your text message doesn’t deliver, you don’t pay for it – that’s where we are different.
1. Understand your audience.
It won’t take much time for people to opt-out of receiving your messages – so make sure you are delivering exactly what your audience signed up for! Be aware of the frequency of your messages also.
This will vary between different audiences and content strategies; however, it is guaranteed that you must understand the audience you are messaging to have a successful campaign.
2. Send engaging, relevant content.
If you want to have a successful SMS marketing campaign, your content is most important. Your recipients have trusted you with their contact information – the least you could do is deliver the content they thought they were signing up for.
This goes for how often you message them also – transparency will always win. The more consistent you are with their expectations, the higher level of success your marketing campaign will experience.
3. Less is more.
Do you like getting a million text messages a day? No, and neither do your subscribers. The more you spam people, the more likely they are to ignore it or opt out of your campaign. Streamline your SMS marketing schedule and acquire more conversions.
On average, more than 90% of all SMS messages are read in the first 3 minutes of them being sent – making this marketing strategy an extremely intimate way to connect with customers. Knowing this, it is important to ensure your message is to the point and provides the recipient value.
4. Use Strong Call-to-Actions.
Call-to-actions are essential to your SMS marketing campaign. Using these will encourage your customers to make the impulse decision to engage with your message – generating more conversions.
Here are some winning formulas:
- Buy Now
- Learn More
- Click Here
- Tell Me More
- Show Me
- Text to Win
- Text to Vote
5. Educate First, Sell Second.
When you are trying to establish and build a relationship with customers, it is important to consider content other than sales. This method of slowly building a relationship instead of pushing sales down the throats of consumers is commonly referred to as a ‘Drip Campaign’.
SMS marketing provides a very unique opportunity to connect with the customer, so it is beneficial if you provide the subscribers with value before focusing on selling them.
6. Grow Your SMS Subscriber List.
Promote opt-in options across all alternative platforms. To maximise your return from SMS marketing, it is important to focus on increasing the number of potential customers you have access to. Digital marketing can help with this!
SMS opt-in is very powerful, and the most effective way to build your subscriber list.
Cross-promotion has been around for a long time, so it makes sense that it works. Promoting your SMS subscription across all your existing marketing platforms will give you the ability to move people onto your list.
A few examples of this include:
- Website: Create a popup on your website to capture visitors information and encourage them to subscribe to the SMS list.
- Social Media Content: Promote content surrounding your SMS subscription with social media marketing.
- Blog Posts: Advertise an opt-in option on your blog posts.
- Email List: If you have an existing email list, send out an email and convert these people onto your SMS subscription.
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