SMS marketing can be incredibly successful, but it can also become an incredible failure. This is because text messaging has a greater impact on individuals than any other form of contact today. Texts are personal and people only receive them from people and brands that they trust. With over 6 billion texts sent every day and open rates often above 90%, this is a marketing field that cannot be ignored.
Facebook and Twitter have their place in a marketing campaign, but SMS marketing is where direct contact can be made. A positive contact makes for an effective presentation and a good chance for a sale. A negative contact, on the other hand, could cause a lead to abandon your brand forever. That’s why these tips are so important to use.
1. Know Your Audience
If you think you’ve segmented your audience, then you’ve probably got work to do. People sign up to receive text messages because they see value in what is being offered. That value can only come by solving specific problems that your audience faces. Each customer segment is going to face different problems that your goods or services may be able to solve. If you can’t solve a problem for a segment, then the text will be seen as worthless. People want SMS marketing to be useful.
2. Know Your Time
Text messages must be sent at a time when people are going to want to see them. One-third of people might sleep with their smartphone next to them and even wake up in the middle of the night to update their Facebook status, but that doesn’t mean that want a marketing text at that time. Sending texts during regular business hours when people are committed to their professional responsibilities usually shows the best results. Weekend texts, on the other hand, can have terrible results. It all depends on what you have and what problems you can solve, so experiment with your timing to get the best results.
3. Know Your Triggers
A SMS marketing campaign sees a spike of activity with every text. An email marketing campaign, on the other hand, sees a slow build of its open rate over a period of 24 hours. Because the texts provide an immediate response, they can be used as a triggering mechanism to return customers back to the sales funnel. Set up triggers based on customer actions so that marketing efforts are individualized and responsive. Keep in mind that inaction by a customer is still considered an action from a marketing standpoint.
4. Know Your Length
A text message is not intended to be the next great novel. It is a short, precise message that is specifically worded to generate a specific response. Makes sure that you are keeping a text to 130 characters or less for the best response – that’s less than a tweet. If you have multiple pages, you could be causing multiple charges to that person’s mobile bill and that’s a big turnoff. Put additional information into your links that you include in the text. Use the text to be your call to action.
5. Know Your Links
The size of your links that you include in an SMS marketing campaign really do matter. If you have a massively long link, then your text message is going to be filled up with meaningless characters. Use a URL shortening tool to improve the text message. As an added benefit, you can set up different short links to track results from different customer segments to determine which messages in which segments are showing the best results.
6. Know Your Limits
If you are sending out a lot of text messages, then you’re going to be considered a spammer and deleted. Even worse, someone might decide to report your conduct to governing authorities, even if what you are doing is legal. Sending out a text should be considered a privilege instead of a moneymaking opportunity. When a text message provides a deal, like Redbox provides customers 2-3 times per month, then those messages are anticipated and wanted. When a company sends 3 messages per day with nothing new to offer, then you’ll create conditions where leads will ignore messages, delete them, and eventually delete you from their life.
SMS marketing can provide any organization with a number of incredible opportunities. Use these tips to begin a campaign or improve a future one so that the best results possible can be achieved.
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