People are constantly bombarded with social alerts from friends, family, coworkers, and brands.
Due to these constant interruptions, many people have turned off email and other social network notification services. Texting is the way to go if you need to get your message out immediately.
But to be successful, an SMS campaign needs to be well-planned, within the law, and produce high-quality leads.
Below, we will discuss some tips for creating a profitable SMS marketing campaign.
What Is Text Message Marketing?
The term “text message marketing” refers to the ongoing practice of sending out SMS (short message service) text messages to your clientele to update them on any company-related news, sales, promotions, or other relevant information. However, customers must “opt-in” to your messaging service before you can start texting them.
It’s a form of online advertising that aims to get people talking about a brand on a personal level.
Sending personalized messages in bulk is a great way to improve customer service and make the overall experience feel more unique to each individual. Bypassing traditional advertising channels like social media and email allows you to speak directly to consumers via their mobile devices.
How Does Text Message Marketing Work?
It is essential to maintain a database with your customers’ names, cell phone numbers, and other information to monitor the efficacy of your text message marketing campaigns, just as you would for any other type of advertising.
As a marketer, it is crucial to remember that you should integrate mobile marketing into a larger marketing strategy. Businesses should first formulate a plan to incorporate SMS into their overall marketing strategy before they jump into SMS advertising.
Your company’s mobile marketing strategy will be strengthened when its various components, such as SMS, social media, email, and others, work together to maximum effect.
How Do I Initiate Text Message Marketing?
If done correctly, text message marketing is a unique and effective way to keep in touch with your existing clientele. You can’t violate the rules of the Federal Communications Commission and send texts to your customers until you get the legal right to do so.
Once you have your customers’ consent, you need to send them text messages that are on-brand and useful to them rather than annoying and intrusive. By adhering to these guidelines, you can ensure that your SMS campaign increases customer confidence in your brand and keeps your products and services in their minds.
SMS text messaging providers often collaborate with businesses to manage database collection, legal issues, and actual text message transmissions. They can tailor the pricing for bulk text campaigns and SMS marketing to your target audience.
The SMS marketing software offered by businesses like OtterText provides more than just the collection and transmission of data. You can monitor the results of a marketing campaign with the help of such automation software.
Tips for Successful Text Message Advertising
Get your text message marketing campaign rolling! For optimal results, consider the following recommendations.
1. Always Get Permission
The marketing strategy of sending text messages has developed over time. Although sending unsolicited text messages to customers was widely condemned in the industry’s formative years, some businesses persisted.
The Federal Communications Commission has made it illegal to do so without permission. The practice of buying an extensive list of numbers to text all at once has died out. On the contrary, doing so may violate FCC rules and carry a hefty fine and other penalties.
Marketing via text message requires the same kind of opt-in from consumers as email marketing does. You won’t annoy anyone who doesn’t want to hear your marketing pitches because you’ll be sending them to people who have specifically asked for them.
If you want to grow your opt-in list and make sure users want to hear from you, here are 5 strategies you can employ.
2. Always Be Concise and Clear in Your Texting
Your texts to contacts should be concise and clear. Repeatedly sending long messages will cause users to ignore them and eventually unsubscribe.
And since SMS messages can only be 160 characters long, you’ll need to find a way to get their attention, deliver your marketing message, and wrap things up with a call to action—all in that short amount of space.
Suppose you’re informing customers about mobile coupons, for instance. In that case, you should grab their attention with an exciting greeting or opener, then provide information about the coupons and how to access them without any unnecessary filler.
If you’re a restaurant owner, here are 5 free text message templates you can use to promote your happy hour!
3. Don’t Flood Your Users With Texts
It can be tempting to use SMS marketing for every bit of company news or promotion but refrain from doing so.
Unlike billboards or social media ads, consumers are less likely to ignore text messages. Customers will stop wanting to hear from you if you flood their inboxes with constant marketing communications.
Instead, when planning your text message marketing campaign, send messages to customers only when necessary and restrict the total number of messages sent to an appropriate number.
4. Add Value to Your Texts
Above all else, ensure the information you send via marketing texts is helpful to the recipient and relevant to their interaction with your brand.
The combination of promotional offers with helpful information will pique your audience’s interest and make them look forward to your following message.
Marketers should approach text message marketing the same way they do social media marketing on platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. To compete with the information customers can get from their friends, you need to figure out how to add value without being intrusive.
5. Time Your Text Messages Correctly
Avoid making your customers feel like they’re being inundated with messages or obligated to keep using your service. Carefully consider the timing of your messages (e.g., during the day versus late at night).
Sending texts at odd hours could be intrusive or unprofessional to your customers.
By timing your text messages, no one will resent your SMS marketing, and fewer people will respond with “STOP.”
6. Offer an Unsubscribe Option
Ensure that consumers can easily unsubscribe from your texts, even though you don’t want them to.
It’s essential to make it simple for users to stop participating at any time. Provide an unsubscribe link in your messages or allow recipients to respond with “STOP” if they no longer wish to receive your messages.
Kickstart Your Successful Text Messaging Campaigns With OtterText
Creating compelling text message campaigns can be challenging if you don’t know where to begin. OtterText was designed to facilitate the smooth operation of SMS campaigns for businesses.
Our text marketing platform is the easiest to use in the industry, and we’re happy to brag about it. In addition, we value the human beings who make up our staff and couldn’t be happier with them.
Unlike other software companies that would rather avoid you (and usually have you call an outsourced customer service line), our team is full of helpful individuals eager to respond to your questions and provide tailor-made solutions to your company’s problems.
We’ve put together these groups because we value individualized service. Ready to get started? Try OtterText for free!
