Text message marketing is one of the best ways to connect to a large audience. It's effective, affordable and near-perfect open rates ensure that your message gets read.
Unfortunately, misconceptions are making businesses who would otherwise benefit greatly from this service reluctant to begin a campaign of their own. Here are some of these common SMS marketing fallacies, and why they're wrong:
- Only teens and young adults text. Obviously texting is widely popular in that demographic. However, according to Life Data, mobile phone users between 34 and 44 years old sent an average of 830 texts and received an average of 726 a month in 2014. Even baby boomers are utilizing this form of communication, as those between 55 and 64 sent an average of 80 texts a month, and those over 65 got 32 texts on average.
- Users consider text message marketing spam. This not only isn't true, but it's illegal. Government regulations protect users from receiving unwanted text messages. When beginning a campaign, users have to choose to be marketed to by opting into receiving messages. Users also have the option of opting out at any time. Not only does this give power to the recipient, but it ensures the company that their messages are being read by interested parties, which helps increase engagement and drives business.
- Text message marketing is a fad. A huge number of people own cell phones and, according to he Pew Research Center, 64 percent of adults in the U.S. own a smartphone. Text messages also have a higher open and response rate than email. With engagement and market penetration that high, more and more businesses will utilize SMS marketing to reach that broad audience.
For businesses wishing to leverage the best marketing channel available, Swift SMS Gateway offers the tools needed to construct simple yet effective text message marketing campaigns.
