SMS Benefits – Part 1: The SMS Card to an Effective Marketing Strategy

Making your brand noticeable and keeping your customer engaged can be quite daunting. In this day and age when consumers are bombarded with the sheer amount of marketing noise, capturing consumers attention can become increasingly difficult. While social media campaigns, websites, billboards, and newsletters are all fairly efficient means of building customer engagement, they are unlikely to have the desired effects unless your brand can find a way to stand out from the marketing campaigns of your competitors. All it takes is an effective marketing strategy.

Finding the right channel to market your brand is as crucial as the quality of the product or service you plan to offer your consumers. Despite the advancement in technology, when it comes to building customer engagement, SMS marketing still is one of the most efficient and underutilized medium used.

As a business, you are often looking for the most efficient and cost-effective means of marketing your product. Another factor that should be taken into consideration is the audience perspective. When devising an effective marketing strategy, one element that cannot be ignored is the fact that there is a steady growth in the number of people who use cell phones. Whether its the most basic handset or a smartphone with every imaginable feature, the common thread that connects all cell phone users is the ability to receive and send an SMS. So, if you’re looking to broaden your reach, look no further.

Let’s go over why SMS should be part of your marketing campaign.

While emails are free, they only have a 27% open rate. Text messages, on the other hand, have a 98% open rate. Using SMS marketing is more efficient primarily because of the high open rates. Add that to the 45% response rate compared to 6% response rate for emails and you do the math.

Since almost every cell phone user has their handset near them almost all of the time, getting across your message is extremely easy. Moreover, the fact that text messages are delivered instantly, makes it even better. They are excellent for sending out information that is time sensitive and since you don’t necessarily need a smartphone to get a text, you can be sure that it reaches your entire customer base.

Unlike other marketing media, text messages are not obtrusive. Customers are required to sign up to receive the service which in turn means you are reaching out to an audience that is genuinely interested. Furthermore, your customer is less likely to be annoyed by an SMS than they would a phone call.

Another factor about SMS marketing that often goes unnoticed is that it is a standalone marketing medium, which means that it could seamlessly and effortlessly be integrated into other marketing strategies that you may already have.

Here are a few ways where you can use text messages to build customer engagement:

Sending out updates: This is a great way to grow your customer base. An integral part of every marketing strategy is educating potential customers. In addition to being informative, SMSes with updates build customer engagement and can help set your brand apart from the rest of the competition.
Discount codes and coupons: One of the best ways of increasing traffic to your website or store is giving your customers access to a good bargain. Sending out discount codes and notifications about flash sales that have not been announced through other media are a good way to keep your customers coming back for more.
Text-to-win contests: This particular strategy helps increase genuine engagement between your brand and your customers. In the recent past, text-to-win contests have become increasingly popular. This strategy can also help increase your customer base. Sending out a simple keyword to a short code is simple and increases participation because of its simplicity.
Notifications on order and delivery statuses: Keeping customers informed of their order and delivery status builds credibility to your brand. Customers would like to be able to track their orders and SMSes are a great way to relay this kind of information.
Tips for creating a successful SMS marketing campaign:

• Identifying your audience
• Keeping the content short and simple
• Personalizing the text message
• Adding a call to action
• Creating a sense of urgency

Running a successful SMS marketing campaign is not as challenging as it might seem. With the right kind of content and a little bit of creativity, customer engagement will be just one click away.