The handheld device has taken over everything. A mobile phone is a means of communication. Right from making phone calls to shopping online and transferring money. Every job is perfectly done by mobile.

SMS marketing is one of the mobile marketing tactics. SMS is the “Short Message Service” marketing which conveys your marketing message through a text. This message can be sent either from a mobile or computer. Send bulk SMS by using SMS marketing tools like Textlocal, TextMagic, Zingle etc,

In the era of smartphones and mobile applications. SMS are still the broad way of reaching people. Be it smart or not smart. All mobiles are SMS enabled. Wait, have you ever tried SMS marketing for your business? If no, you must definitely try it.

SMS has vast visibility than an email. Do you know that 90% of SMS are opened within 3min? Isn’t that amazing. Yes, your customer can view your message immediately after sending it. To view an SMS your customer doesn’t need any mobile data or wifi.

Advantages of SMS marketing campaigns

• Builds loyal customer
• Enhances communication
• Increase customer engagement
• The quickest way to reach customer
• Cost-effective
• Integrate with other marketing campaigns
• Increase visitors
• Integrate with other marketing channels

About 350 million SMS are sent across the world and out of this  15 % are marketing messages.

Want to try it?

Here’s how you can run a successful SMS campaign.

1. Define your goals

Set SMART (Smart, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time specific) goals. Setting a goal and desired strategy is required. You need to know what do you want to accomplish through your SMS campaign. Create a root map to execute the campaign easily. Ensure to build a strategy that fulfils your marketing goals. When you’ve set the campaign, measure the attained results with your goals. This shows the extent of goals achieved. With the results achieved make desired changes in your next campaign for even more better results.

Building an SMS strategy is not a one man army game. You will need a team that can manage SMS programmes to bring Lucrative results.  

2. A definite call to action

Want to add people to your text marketing list? Set a clear call to action. It must inspire people to take action in your text. Provide them with the next steps to follow. Create humour or jot down inspiration, in the end, grab customers attention. Offer value and set announcements for relevant customers. Captivate customers interests and send relevant SMS with a clear call to action. Tell them the benefits of clicking on the links provided in the text.  You can incorporate free gifts, discounts and new launches in your CTA. A precise call to action is a game changer. Make sure your CTA’s are clickable.

3. Go BOGO

BOGO is known as Buy one get one. Who doesn’t love lightning deals?, Got you. Most of the products are sold when there is a sale going on. Do you know 66% of the users will react to a text displaying price-based offers? Yes, they not only react but take a specified action if it is a BOGO deal. Users consider it valuable as they can get two products on a single payment. BOGO will allow you to drive the best possible results and generate the highest ROI. Never offer a free product on purchasing something. A user finds you to be spam and it may stop them from taking an action. This might take away the loyalty built between you and your customer. So, just go BOGO.

4. Integrate with your current marketing strategy and Measure

Your SMS marketing campaign must be blended with the traditional advertising strategies and media tactics of your company like tv ads, banners and social media. Call to action must illustrate the effectiveness of your campaigns. Providing your social media in campaigns will give your customers a real-time experience and builds loyalty.

Measure your campaigns with the elevation in the number of subscribers and customer engagement. Include different factors in campaigns in order to meet the customer’s needs.

5. Timing is everything

A well-timed SMS has the potential to reach customer generating leads and boost revenue. Put yourself into the customer’s shoe and think when they are most likely to be on the mobile? and think of their habits.

Never send a text in the early morning or late nights. Never force your services on your customer. Because nobody likes to be harassed. Take a moment and think from the customer point of view. Would you wake up early in the morning or late at night to view a text defining an offer or a coupon? You wouldn’t consider it, right. Same goes with your customer. Choose effective business hours between 10 AM – 8 PM

6. Make it exclusive and Instill a gist of urgency

Implement location-based SMS campaigns. Another way to collect the numbers of customers who arrived at your store. Send promotions to users when they pass by your store. Include Valid till or the offer expires today. This creates an immediacy and can bring customer to your store.

Send exclusive offers that they won’t get from any other company. Reward your customers with the event invites, discounts and giveaways. This will help you build a long lasting relationship with your customer.

7. Use omnichannel strategy

Customers seek for consistent and effective services from a brand. An “omnichannel strategy” will help you build great customer experience. Omnichannel is a cross channel content strategy used to improve user experience. Your SMS campaign must compliment with the emails and social media to strengthen user experience and build a customer relationship.

Conclusion

As the adage old is gold. SMS marketing is one such campaign that still works wonders regardless of other marketing tactics. To go to an extra mile, you need to try every advertising tactic. To build a user experience and cutomer relationship, SMS marketing is worth implementing in your business generating the highest ROI along with the long-lasting audiences.