Is SMS Marketing a Reliable Way to Promote Your Brand?

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August 8, 2021 Marketing

If you have ever dared to take a sneak peek at your spam emails, you will have probably come across a wealth of questionable offers, advertisements, and impersonal emails from companies claiming you are their most loyal customer.

When done badly, this is exactly how email marketing can come across, that is to say, annoyingly.

If it is done properly, however, the results can be impressive. So, if you were thinking of trying out a new way to contact your customers on a more personal level, keep track of their spending habits and interests, or convince them to return to their abandoned shopping cart, then now might be the time to turn towards SMS marketing.

Thanks to IMessage, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, and many others, SMS might seem like a somewhat old-fashioned way to contact someone, let alone market a product, idea, or message to them.

However, this is not the case as the number of SMS messages exchanged in the United States in 2019 alone exceeded 2 trillion.

To help you tap into the true potential of this audience and promote your brand to the best of your ability, here are a few important points to consider regarding SMS marketing.

Taking a More Personal Approach to Direct Marketing

There are many pitfalls to avoid in follow-up marketing, one of which includes bombarding your customer, or even worse, your would-be customer with impersonalized messages that say nothing to them of any value.

Finding the right balance is important, and it is perhaps made easy by the medium in which you choose to contact them.

For example, an SMS is sent directly to their phone number, a highly personal access point that often requires them to actively acknowledge the message instead of an email that may disappear into the spam folder, never to see the light of day.

Not only is the channel more personal, but if the content is personalized for them alone, you can deliver what purports to be a more sincere message. This human element is missing in many marketing campaigns and follow-up email strategies, so if you needed to return that element to your own efforts, SMS marketing could be the way forward.

An Easy Alternative to Calling

Not everyone likes speaking on the phone, especially those you need to persuade to buy your products or engage with your brand. Plus, many people find texting so much easier and prefer the medium as their main method of communication!

The SMS message is possibly the ideal alternative to the call, as you may be able to contact your target audience on a platform that they are most comfortable using, therefore painting your brand in a positive and approachable light.

For example, you may want to check out a political texting service for some insight into how the channel can be used to deliver an important and effective message to those who need to be reached.

Specificity for Success

To make the most out of SMS marketing, your message should not overstep its boundaries, as this can bring up difficult questions about privacy between you and your customer.

To avoid this, keeping your messages specific can be an effective way to fully utilize the medium. For example, if you were trying to promote an offer that applied to the individual target.

Overdoing it is a very real possibility. Email overload is already annoying enough, without constant SMS reminders pinging the phone every day.

SMS marketing often works because it feels direct and customized, so spoiling this by inundating the customer with mundane messages might result in a wasted opportunity.

There are also other reasons for keeping your messages specific and concise, one of which being that not everyone’s phone has the same hardware capabilities, so thinking about how your text will physically appear on the screen is a must.

There are 4.88 billion cell phone users in the world, and not all of them are smartphones, so this might mean that sticking to a basic and engaging text is the best way to make yourself accessible to a wider audience.

Higher Access Rates

The more people that access your message, the greater the opportunity they will be able to actively engage your brand.

SMS open rates are incredibly high across the board, so it may be a better option for those of you who need to ensure that your message is seen in the first place.

It is worth bearing in mind, however, taking a multichannel approach to promote your brand can be a great option for making sure that your campaign is as inclusive and wide-reaching as it possibly can be.

Choosing to use SMS marketing in conjunction with other channels can allow your campaign to work in a neatly optimized and effective manner across a wealth of platforms. For example, if you needed to direct your customer’s attention to an email offer you were promoting, the high open rates of SMS marketing could be a great way to ensure you can better direct your customers to your content.

How to Get Hold of Your Customers

Obtaining your customer’s phone numbers can be done in many different ways, but it is certainly worth remembering that respecting people’s privacy is a must, so they need to willingly opt-in if you wish for your business practices to remain above board and transparent at all times.

You might want to consider implementing a space on a product or service feedback form for customers to share their numbers with you. You could also think about creating memorable, fun, and simple keywords for your customers to text to you in return for a discount code, as making it as easy as possible for the customer to contact you is a good way to not miss out on any opportunities. Advertising this keyword as part of your marketing campaign can be another reliable way to promote your brand while supplying the customer with a platform to engage with.

Some other useful ways to get hold of customer numbers include a membership form or a VIP club on your website. People like to feel special, so why not oblige?