SMS marketing is a powerful tool if used correctly, but it's not just for big companies.
Think of this: Most mobile users rarely leave their homes without their device, leading to near-perfect open rates for text messages. If utilized properly, small business can achieve a high return on investment through text message marketing, no matter how tight a marketing budget they might have.
Here are some ways to properly implement an SMS marketing campaign for small businesses.
Targeting
It is critical that businesses text the right people to ensure its target audience is notified of its offers. This helps increase and maintain high engagement through the campaign.
Once your audience is identified, take note of things like language, style, interests, age and environments into consideration when developing the text message. This helps make the messages more relevant and resonates with your client base.
Interactivity
Encourage responses by including a call to action and making sure its obvious to users how they can respond to increase engagement. Also, with smartphone penetration nearing 80 percent, including links back to your website is another tool to utilize.
Timing
Knowing when and how often to send messages is one of the most important aspects of text message marketing. Proactively create a calendar for the entirety of a given campaign so that you can schedule deployment for maximum impact. Also, if the customer knows when you typically send out a message, it helps build anticipation for them to arrive.
Avoid over-sending messages or sending them out at the wrong times. All this does is waste your money and increase drop-outs.
Opt in, opt out
You first need to get your audience to opt-in, so its important to offer value, such as exclusive sales. This increases the likelihood of a response and allows you to target customers who you know are interested in your business. If a customer opts out, stay away, unless they opt back in at a later date.
Creating a strong foundation for your SMS marketing strategy will boost brand reputation and encourage consumer engagement, furthering the impact of your text messaging efforts while utilizing the most cost-effective channel with minimal management needs for your company.
