When you’re running a small business, you want to take advantage of every marketing tactic available. Most businesses are using great strategies like email marketing to reach a wide audience. However, there are other ways to reach a wide variety of customers in a similar fashion. One of them is SMS marketing.
As we enter the new year, it’s time to take hold of new marketing techniques and tactics. If your business hasn’t yet, it’s time to work SMS marketing into your plans. Learn everything you need to get started in this article!
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS stands for short message service. While this sounds a bit complicated, it isn’t. You probably know SMS better as text messaging! Most people communicate via texting, after all. SMS marketing is a way to market to your customers via text messages.
For the most part, SMS campaigns work similarly to email marketing. Users sign up to receive text messages from your business. This gives them news and information pertaining to your business directly via text messages.
Building an SMS List
SMS lists are a bit harder to build than your average email list. Most people are pretty protective of their phone number. Just like people hate getting spam calls, or calls from unknown numbers, people tend to hate getting spam text messages as well. This makes building an SMS list a long process. You have to gain the trust of your customers before they’ll sign up for something as intimate as an SMS list.
That being said, it’s important to give yourself some time to build your list. SMS lists can be very effective after they’ve grown to a large enough size. However, it shouldn’t be your only marketing method. Instead, you should be running your SMS campaign alongside an email marketing campaign, as well as other marketing tactics.
The Benefits of SMS Marketing
Even though they take some time to build up, SMS lists are a huge advantage for any business. They bring a large number of benefits to the table for any business. You’ll find those benefits below:
- Text messages have a higher open rate. Once you’ve gotten your list off the ground, you’ll see far more engagement than you would with an email marketing list. People are less likely to ignore text messages than they are emails. The open rates on SMS campaigns average 98% compared to 20% for email campaigns. And the average click-through rate for an SMS message is around 19.3% while the average click-through rate for an email is 4.2%.
- SMS marketing is cheap. Most SMS services or campaigns are lower in cost than traditional ads, making them very cost-effective for your business.
- Everyone has a cell phone. While not everyone owns a smartphone, everyone owns a cell phone that can receive text messages. This means your marketing campaign has better reach and better response times.
- It’s one of the fastest marketing techniques. As soon as a message is set up to be sent, it delivers almost instantly. You can draft a short message and send it out within minutes.
- SMS campaigns work with many other marketing tactics. Because a text message is just a way of delivering information, you can use SMS alongside other campaigns. Offering a new product? Let your SMS list in on it before anyone else.
Strategies to Build Your SMS Marketing List
As you can see, SMS marketing is a tactic that should be used by all eCommerce businesses. Nearly everyone has a cell phone, so it’s a great place to market your business! We’ve mentioned how difficult, and how slow going building a list can be. If this has sparked some concern in you, have no worries. We’re providing strategies to help you get your SMS marketing list off the ground!
Strategy 1: Promote SMS Marketing via Email
Chances are that your business has a pretty successful email marketing list already. People tend to offer up their email to businesses to receive news and discounts pretty frequently. Use this list as your starting place.
When you start an SMS marketing list, use your email marketing list to advertise SMS as the newest way to stay in the loop. This is an excellent way to capture your most dedicated customers, at the very least. Having this core of customers is a great way to get things started.
Strategy 2: Provide an SMS Marketing Opt-in on Your Website
It’s likely that your customers signed up for email marketing by using a link they found on your website. When you have a website, you’ve got a digital billboard, essentially, to be able to advertise whatever you’d like.
When you start an SMS marketing list, you should be advertising it on your website. Allow customers to opt-in by signing up on your website, or provide instructions for them to opt-in via text message themselves. Just make sure it’s in a visible spot on your website. You want them to see it, of course.
Strategy 3: Encourage Signups with Rewards or Special Offers
Plenty of people will do whatever they can to get a discount. This is one of the strongest incentives you can offer people to get people to sign up for your SMS marketing list. If you’ve just started an SMS marketing list, offer a one- time discount or special offer in exchange for signups. This is going to draw people to your SMS marketing campaign initially. You’ll keep them around by offering valuable information via text message.
Strategy 4: Advertise Your SMS List on Everything
This might seem a lot, but it makes a huge difference. When you’re planning an SMS marketing campaign, advertise it on all of your social channels. Also, plan to change your packaging as the campaign starts, and advertise there, as well! This puts it into the hands of your customers.
A New Year is Upon Us: It’s Time to Use SMS Marketing
Every business can benefit from SMS marketing techniques. We’re in an age where everyone has a cell phone. If you can create an effective SMS marketing list, then you can stay connected to your audience and your customers wherever they go. Get started on your SMS marketing list as soon as possible, and make this a great year for your business.
Add SMS Campaigns to Your Marketing Mix
With the Springbot platform, you can easily build and send SMS campaigns in addition to email marketing and advertising campaigns.
If you’d like to try our platform out for free, sign up for a 14-day trial here. Or schedule a walkthrough of the platform with one of our eCommerce experts here.
