SMS Marketing: How It Works And Why You Should Be Using It

SMS marketing is a brilliant way to keep in touch with your customers and help you advertise your latest products, services and special offers. It keeps customers in the loop and lets them know what you’re doing and when you’re doing it. 

Nowadays, everybody is always on their phone—so make the most of it and dive into the world of SMS marketing.

If you’re looking to connect better with customers and reach a wider audience, read on to find out exactly what SMS marketing is and how you can implement it into your company and reap the benefits.

What Is SMS Marketing?

SMS marketing is a form of mobile marketing that helps your business appeal to mobile users. You can send out your news, offers and discounts to customers.

How it works is very simple. 

Your customers opt-in to your marketing campaign by providing their phone number and you send them updates on specials and important need-to-know information. This marketing technique works as the customer has already shown interest in your company by handing over their contact details. 

Does SMS Marketing Work?

Yes. People actually read text messages. 

Unlike emails, text messages appear almost fully readable on your phone without even having to click into them. 

With emails, customers usually decide whether or not they want to delete the message or read it based on the subject line - when it comes to SMS, this isn’t the case. 

Consumers like the fast pace of SMS. 

It’s a quick, small message that can be used for appointment reminders, special offers or time-sensitive deals. And, it’s usually easy to read and doesn’t take up too much of their time. 

SMS marketing is great for businesses as they can take advantage of the affordability, the speed and the simplicity of SMS marketing. It gives you a fast, efficient and cost-effective way to reach out to their target audience and persuade them to buy things from their store or invest in a service they offer. 

What Are The Best Practices For SMS Marketing?

Nobody likes being overwhelmed with texts, so before you go sending out a mass-marketing text, take a moment to think about what your customers will feel when they receive your messages. You’ll want to make sure you’re being compliant and only reach out to people who have asked for it.

Flooding people with sales messages comes across spammy and annoying and no matter how loyal a customer is. 

If you annoy them long enough, eventually they’ll high tail it out of there. 

To avoid pushing away customers, you need to figure out when the best time to send a message is, how to send it effectively ,and who you’re actually sending it to. 

Every customer is different just like every business is different. 

What you specialize in and what your audience is looking for will influence your SMS marketing plan.  

When Is The Best Time To Send SMS Marketing Messages?

Some companies will send a message once a week, some will send a couple each day, and others will only send messages around certain special events like the holidays.

To figure out when the best time for you to send your texts are, you might have to do some trial and error test runs to see which times give you the best response. For example, a late night bar sending text messages midweek, early in the morning might not have the same effect as sending a message late on a Friday afternoon - it’s all about knowing your audience! 

Generally speaking, sending a message too early or too late in the day could cause people to forget the content of the text as they go about their day/evening plans. 

What Should Your SMS Marketing Messages Include?

Here’s a list of tips to keep in mind when writing your SMS message content:

• Always let your customers know who sent the message. They may have signed up for the marketing campaign, but the chances are they don’t remember who you are. Make sure your name comes up when they receive your text. 
• Include a call to action in all of your texts to get the most out of them. There is no point in sending a perfectly crafted message when you don’t give your customers an incentive to do something at the end of it. A call to action can be something like ‘book in today’, ‘check out details on our website’ or ‘reply for more details’. 
• Your content needs to have value, it needs to address something your customer wants - so try to include meaningful discounts, offers, news or promotions in your messages. 
• Use your texts to send photos of new products or services that will be out soon to get your audience excited for what’s to come. 
• You can also use SMS marketing to survey your customers and get their feedback on your business - these campaigns don’t tend to have great response rates, but they can help you collect honest feedback. 
  

We hope this blog has helped you feel more in-the-loop on the subject of SMS marketing. If you’d like to find out more, book a Free 30-Minute Consult to review your current marketing setup and uncover what text marketing automation could do for your business.