Your Ultimate Guide To Creating SMS Marketing Campaigns

Published on: 08 December 2022 Last Updated on: 12 September 2024

Every marketer would tell you that there are reasons why text marketing continues to become a mainstay in marketing agencies.

In fact, both conventional and modern companies highly rely on their efficacy when it comes to reaching out to their target audience. Because when you think about it, every person checks their text message inbox every time they receive a ping.

Leveraging communication strategies like an effective SMS marketing campaign allows you to grow your brand more, target more audiences, and even build closer relationships with prospects.

There are a lot of things that SMS marketing can help you with in terms of achieving business goals. But before you partake in this marketing tactic, it’s important to understand the concept behind this marketing practice. Use this guide to make successful SMS marketing campaigns.

What Is SMS Marketing?

It’s crucial to understand first the concept behind this old but gold marketing strategy. SMS marketing refers to a short message service you send to your customers to build relationships with them. It’s important for text marketers to communicate with their target audiences in a respectful and compliant manner.

No matter what your business goals are, SMS marketing puts you one step ahead of achieving them. For instance, you can drive more leads, introduce new products, lead them to check your website, and so on. The ideas that you can do with this marketing method are limitless.

Compared to email or push notification marketing, SMS marketing has several advantages. For instance, every person who receives an incoming message in their phone inbox will surely take the time to check and read them one by one.

While some people might check their emails at least once a day regarding text message inboxes, people often check them as soon as they receive a message.

Your message can be concise and clear with SMS marketing. There’s no need for lengthy advertising messages. With brief sentences that can take up less than 160 characters of the SMS limit, you can already deliver what you want to say to your prospects.

Choosing The Right SMS Marketing Tool

Now, it’s time to understand the tool to use for this marketing strategy. With the advent of technology, there is now text marketing software at your disposal. For one, you can take advantage of Drop Cowboy Ringless Voicemail service and some other brands that offer reliable text messaging as marketing services.

Text message delivery depends on the tools and services you choose. Such software comes with pricing plans that fit your marketing budget and goals. Unlike any other conventional marketing promotions like print ads, TV ads, and billboards, this marketing campaign is priced reasonably better. Also, consider partnering with the best SMS marketing service provider to automate your text messages to your target recipients.

How To Maximize On SMS Marketing Campaigns

As mentioned, a high percentage of people open text messages every time they receive one. By sending promotional messages via SMS, you ensure your customers will read them because they will arrive directly in their inboxes.

Check out these ideas in which you can maximize your SMS marketing campaigns.

1. Limited-Time Promotions

You can use an SMS marketing strategy to encourage your customers to avail of coupons and discounts or even redeem incentives or gifts. Offering these incentives for a limited time makes them even more effective.

Announcing that the campaign only runs on a promo period is an effective call-to-action strategy so your customers won’t miss out on such opportunities. It’s one effective strategy to get your business to high ranks.

Considering SMS marketing’s high open rate, it’s the most effective way to communicate time-sensitive offers with customers. As a result, you ensure your customers don’t pass up a good deal. This yield win-win situations for both the customers and your brand. They get discounted rates, and you could convert your sales funnel more effectively.

2. Reminding Customers

One good purpose for SMS marketing is when you could send notifications regarding the recent actions of your customers.

For instance, whether they checked your website, changed passwords, or linked different payment modes, an SMS notification will be sent to inform them that the activity is successful. Sending notification messages is essential for many businesses, and they’ve realized how effective it is in retaining customers.

By relaying notifications about their recent purchase or online activities, the customers will grow their trust in your brand. It could lead to continuous patronage. Also, they will feel at ease by getting reminders of how your brand is already dealing with their orders or purchases. Receiving reminders is valuable, especially for customers who are always busy with other things and obligations.

Make sure your brand is always at the top of your customer’s minds. It’s a job that SMS is best suited for. With SMS marketing, you can remind your customers about everything from their most recently liked products to the purchased ones that are going to arrive soon.

3. Order Updates And Confirmation

An SMS is also useful for customers to receive updates regarding their orders. Once they make a purchase, a message will be sent regarding the successful transaction. It ensures peace of mind for the customer.

Also, the confirmation messages sent via SMS will allow them to use them as proof or evidence regarding their purchase. If products don’t arrive as planned, they can refer to the SMS notification.

4. New Product Release And Launches

SMS advertising is also useful for announcing new product releases. It’s the most cost-effective way for marketers to advertise new product launching. Without paying for the expensive talents of celebrities to promote new products, a large number of users will discover your new product offering through the message they can read in their SMS inbox.

Using this method will generate buzz and interest, and you could even entice old customers to come back and check out what’s new. You can also use SMS campaigns to drive traffic to your website or storefront. Thus, you can simply include a link they can visit to check your new product or any offers.

5. Send Welcome Messages

Send your customer a welcome message once they subscribe to your SMS marketing campaign. Companies must start building relationships with their customers. As a result, you will be able to communicate with them right away, as they will know they have been subscribed.

It also alerts them to expect a few messages from your end every now and then. There’s no need for lengthy or complex welcome messages. Sometimes short but sweet thank you message about their subscription are already enough for your customers to remember your business.

6. Customer Service Tool

SMS is not limited to being a marketing tool; it’s also a customer support tool. In this era where customer service should be at the forefront of any business, SMS strategy can be used to ensure customer satisfaction.

It’s imperative that your work processes are as transparent as possible, and you can achieve this by constantly sending them SMS in case necessary. After all, a text message is the easiest way to communicate with pre-sale customers and post-sale tech support.

7. Collect Customer Feedback

It’s essential for businesses to receive customer feedback to determine what they are doing well and what they need to improve. And it’s something that’s being offered with SMS marketing. You can send out surveys through SMS, and customers can answer them timely and convenient.

There are many ways to create survey forms for them to easily fill out. The key is to attach the link to your SMS. Another option is to ask customers to rate you using a ranking system that’s easy for them to use.

8. Announce VIP Programs

By offering a VIP program, you can encourage loyalty among your subscribers and customers. If you want to make your VIP customers feel special, offer them VIP-only discounts. This sense of exclusivity allows your customers to treat your brand with more respect and value.

Also, use this program for customers to gain early access to sales and other promotions. One way for them to qualify for your VIP list is to encourage them to fill out a signup link. However, since it’s VIP, make it seems more challenging for them to enter this list. The harder it feels to qualify, the more special and valued they would feel.

Tips To Apply Effective SMS Marketing Strategies

Applying SMS marketing strategies require effective implementations. When done right, they can produce the best outcomes for your business. Here are some tips to apply effective SMS marketing strategies for your brand:

1. Ensure That Your Customers Opted In

Your customers probably already provide you with their phone numbers. However, one common courtesy is to get their approval to start receiving SMS from your brand. Mass texting them without their consent is ethically wrong and will only lead to adverse effects on the customer. Ensure to get your customer’s clear opt-in before starting to send out text message campaigns.

Your website or other online channels can allow customers to opt-in to receive text messages. However, you should get a text confirmation before you send them anything. There are ways to get their opt-in consent. One is to make them reply Yes or No to your single SMS regarding SMS subscription. Another way is through your website.

They can press a CTA button regarding their receiving SMS messages from your brand. When the user clicks the link in the offer, they can fill out the subscription form and enter their number so they can start receiving your SMS campaigns.

2. Take Time To Introduce Yourself

A good practice is to take the time to introduce your brand in any of your SMS campaigns. Chances are your customers don’t know where the messages are coming from. Failing to include your company name or brand name on the message will only forfeit its purpose. Hence, it’s important to include your company or brand name in that short message that you’re sending.

3. Make Messages Fun And Short

It’s common for people to use SMS messages to communicate with friends and family informally. Texting should remain fun in your SMS campaign in the same way as a fun communication tool between people. Be friendly and personal with customers to build trust.

Use local trending words that are popular with your target audience for the time being. It ensures to catch their interest and make them read your text message completely. The maximum number of characters in an SMS message is 160. With an opt-out option and the need to identify yourself, that’s not much to work with. Don’t waste any characters, and go straight to the point of what you want to say.

4. Don’t Forget To Use Target Keywords

To encourage users to connect with you, you should select contextually relevant keywords alongside simple messages and shortcodes. Using such keywords will allow them to easily remember anything about your brand or company. If they want to research you online, they can use the same keywords found on your SMS.

5. Give An Option For Customers To Opt Out

All marketing communications should follow these standards and rules. Much like getting their buy-in, you should also give them the option to opt out and unsubscribe from your SMS campaigns. You are more likely to lose customers if you constantly text them when they do not want to hear from you.

Your messages should come with the unsubscribe option, so your customers can freely opt out anytime they want. There are some viable reasons for them to do this. But it doesn’t entirely mean that they won’t be good prospects for you in the future. It’s just that not everyone prefers to get this kind of information via text.

SMS open rates tend to be much higher than those for email, so you should also expect a higher unsubscribe rate. After a message is sent, unsubscribes may spike and treat it as a normal occurrence.

6. Be More Informative Than Promotional

You should be extremely considerate of your buyers’ inboxes since promotional SMS messages can easily be turned off. Therefore, staying informative and interactive is best, and not focusing too much on sounding sales or promotional.

A good rule of thumb is to focus most of your communication on order, whether a status update or a request for feedback. Schedule your promotional messages and send them at least only twice a week at a minimum. No one wants to keep receiving promotional messages that are obvious that they want to make money from you.

Conclusion

You can increase engagement with your target audience by using SMS marketing. Keeping your customers’ attention is easier if you market to them where they are most active.

Therefore, if your target audience is always in their phone’s SMS inbox, it’s worth considering SMS marketing as part of your marketing mix. Use this guide and wait for results to reflect your bottom line soon.

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Arnab

Arnab is a professional blogger, having an enormous interest in writing blogs and other jones of calligraphies. In terms of his professional commitments, He carries out sharing sentient blogs.

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3 Easy Ways to Grow Your Email List

The email marketing industry is expanding and there is growing competition between brands: they all want to get people’s attention. Sometimes, acquiring more subscribers seems hard. If you are looking to grow your email list, we have three easy ways maybe you never thought of. Whether you offer a service, product or content is the product, use these tips to add more subscribers to your database and become more successful at email marketing. Why you should grow your email list There are good reasons to build your email database. It can be an instantaneous way to reach the people who want to hear from you. Also, it’s cheaper than advertising or mass mailings. Every marketer wants a large email list which is understandable. In general, the more people you reach, the better results and this has never been more true than with emails. The typical ROI for email is $42 for every $1 spent. However, before you try any email list growth strategy, remember it’s not always about the numbers. You want true engagement and a long-term relationship with your audience. To build that, focus on adding real subscribers to your list – people who genuinely want to connect with your brand. How do you do that? Let’s get into three ways to grow your email list without much effort. Is it easy for someone to sign up? Many organizations and freelancers have only one sign-up form and you’d be surprised how much you have to search the website to find that form. So, the first tip: make your email sign-up visible and easy to find. For instance, you could place it at the top of your website and not buried down by the copyright notice. Also, avoid making the text so small that someone can’t read it. Instead, let your signup form be the first thing people see when they land on your platform. Are you promoting your email list on your social media channels? Maybe you’ve been working hard to gain followers on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. There’s certainly inherent value in this, but a lot of marketers make the mistake of not cross-promoting channels. Who’s to say that someone can’t follow you on Facebook and be a subscriber to your email list? Just remember that people will frequently leave social media channels for one reason or another. You don’t want them forgetting about your brand and what you offer, so do your best to get them on your list. Post periodically on social media and invite people to subscribe to your emails. Your newsletters’ content should have real value and be unique from your website or social media content. This is a great incentive to gain an email audience. Plus, you can think outside the box to gain new followers. Maybe you can run a contest or offer a freebie, such as an e-book to anyone who signs up – whatever you think would entice your audience. Do you include an email subscribe button in every email you send? Word of mouth is the best marketing. If someone on your list really likes your email and forwards it on to a friend, they need an easy way to subscribe. A “subscribe” button makes it simple by saving them the trouble of looking you up, going to your website, and finding your form. So, at the end of every email you send, include a call-to-action. It could be as simple as: “Did you get this email from a friend? Get yours” + “Subscribe” button. The more convenient you make it for people to subscribe, the faster your email list will grow! Also, it doesn’t hurt to encourage your subscribers to forward your email. Some of them will do that and that’s a great way to grow your audience. It’s not all about numbers Now that we’ve gone over a few easy ways to grow your email list, it’s important to keep in mind that it’s not all about numbers. There is another aspect to growing your campaign: email list quality. Gathering lots of subscribers is great for email marketing, but you have to make sure those subscribers are real. You may be asking, “Well, why wouldn’t they be?” In the world of email marketing, there are quite a few types of emails that degrade your sender reputation. A sender reputation is a score that every email sender has. It’s the rating Internet Service Providers use to determine your behavior as an email sender. Some of the factors that influence your sender score are: your bounce rate your overall engagement: open and click-through rates are vital metrics the number of spam complaints and unsubscribes you get Bad email addresses you could have in your list All these factors are in direct connection with the quality of your email list. Unfortunately, every organization or marketer will acquire some bad email addresses over time. Some of the most damaging yet prevalent ones include: Fake email addresses: for a number of reasons, people sometimes provide fake email addresses. Sometimes they just want to take advantage of a freebie and have no intention of being a subscriber. Abuse emails: some people are malicious and others just careless. Abuse email owners have a habit of marking emails as spam, even those they signed up for. You don’t want these people on your list because they will hurt your sender reputation. Temporary email addresses: would you believe there are websites that exist for the sole purpose of generating temporary emails? These email addresses are sometimes called disposable because the person uses them for a day or two and never again. Then, they only cause your bounce rate to go up. On top of these, we can’t forget there’s always natural decay of the list. People simply change email addresses. Some people use their school or work email and they graduate or quit. You must get those email addresses off of your list. Use an email verifier to keep your database clean Thankfully, there is a healthy way to grow and maintain your list. The first thing is to never buy or trade email addresses to add to your list. First of all, it’s illegal to email people without their consent. Furthermore, a purchased list isn’t likely to result in anything positive and most likely the people you add will mark you as spam. The simplest way to keep your list healthy is to: The first clean it in bulk using an email verifier then, install an email verification API on your sign-up forms. Clean your list in bulk If you already have a substantial number of contacts in your list, but are not sure about their validity, run your list through a bulk email verifier. The process is simple and doesn’t take much time: you upload your list into the system and get it back clean within hours or even minutes. Install an email verification API This simple piece of software checks every new email address in real-time. It grants permission to good emailers and keeps out any of the problematic accounts mentioned above. Once your list is clean, consider adding the API to all your sign-up forms to ensure it stays in good shape. The sky’s the limit You would be surprised what a difference email marketing makes. It’s the most personal way to reach people and is an incredible tool to communicate the story of your brand and service. Using careful planning, creativity and email verification tools you are on the right path to growing your email list and getting good results. Read Also: How to Integrate Email Marketing With SEO Why Email Marketing is the BEST Digital Marketing Outreach in Singapore

Guaranteed Ways Video Marketing Will Help Your Business Grow

Unless you have been living under a rock or a remote island, you will know that video marketing is an important part of every modern business. So, it shouldn’t be shocking that video marketing has become a rage in the market. You should expect that online users will cross the 2 billion marks in the next few months. Did you know that YouTube hosts 1 billion unique visitors every month. This means the popularity of video marketing is not hidden from anyone in the world. With several social networks having launched the video ads, the responses have compelled other business owners to join the bandwagon. It is expected that more than 75% of internet traffic will be filled with videos in the next year. As a modern business owner, if you haven’t adhered to the idea of relying on video marketing, you’re not modern and certainly not going in the right direction. Here, we will guide you through a few ways video marketing can expand your business audience: 1. Present Your Product Make a concise video to let your audience know about the product or service you have to offer. Just like there is a difference between reading a science chapter and attending it in class, the audience develops a better understanding of the product when they have somebody tell them about it. Make sure to educate them about the benefits of your product or service. If you make a good quality video with information about the audience’s interest, you will quickly witness an increase in the number of visitors. We suggest you use a teleprompter, which will make your video more professional. Furthermore, as they flock to your website, most of them might convert into customers quickly. 2. Offer Instructions In today’s time, customers love to sift through video tutorials because they guide them in detail about using the product. For example, If you debut with “How to use this shampoo” or ‘How to unbox this phone,” customers will quickly get inclined towards viewing it. This way, you will not only win the customer’s trust but will also satisfy them quickly. Not to mention, customer loyalty is a very important factor in today’s world, so you must strive for it. 3. Explain Why You Stand Out Let’s take a simple example to elaborate on this concept. If your company is about to launch a new shampoo, you should know that there are hundreds of shampoo options out there already. To impress the customers, you will have to tell them about how your offering is different from the other. Unless you don’t have something valuable to offer, customers will not trust your brand. Visit Soflostudio.com to get a professionally developed video for your video tutorial. Only a top-notch video shooting firm will sift you through the right way to promote your product. 4. Equipping the Video with Special Content is a Good Idea A modern customer is not only concerned about the core product but also expects the company to value them. So, do you have anything else valuable for the new clients? Adding plenty of informational articles on the main website is not going to have a strong impact as strong impact as a video message will. For instance, if you want the customers to know about what goes on behind the scenes in the manufacturing of your product, you can shoot a 3-minute video and give them short glimpses. 5. Explain Your Story Instead of filling the landing page of your website with an abundance of content, it is best to let the customers know about it through a video message. In fact, most people ignore the “About Us” section because it is too dull. Record a video with the chairman of the company, and don’t forget to include glimpses of the journeys of veteran employees in the company. Explaining the founding story of the company will have a strong impact on the minds of the customers. 6. Explain the Vision and Mission of the Company Every stakeholder of the business is interested in knowing about the short-term and long-term goals of the business. This is because stakeholders must stay in touch with the company for a certain time. Only if they are in coherence with the goals of your firm will they decide to stick to it. This is why explaining the vision and mission of the company through a short video can make a difference to the reputation of your company. 7. Video Marketing is the Need of the Hour In simple words, video marketing is not an option but the need of the hour. As soon as a new product or service is launched in the market, customers flock to YouTube, and the social media pages of the business to find video messages. If you don’t rely on video marketing, your competitors will stand out to the customers. Secondly, you need to realize that video marketing is cheap and can save on the costs of traditional advertising. Starting your Digital Marketing Journey? Why you Should Focus on Digital Marketing Digital marketing is not a fad. It’s the new spine of business success in this era and beyond. If you’re wondering where to begin, here’s your cue. Billions of users are online daily, and you shouldn’t just want to create an online space; you need engagement for your business. Here’s why digital marketing should be your first focus as you launch out. 1. Reach a Wider Audience The internet is global, and so is your audience. Unlike traditional marketing, which often limits you geographically, digital marketing allows you to reach people anywhere in the world. Whether it’s through social media, search engines, or email marketing, the potential for audience growth is massive. Think of your product getting discovered by someone on the other side of the globe; that’s digital marketing. 2. Cost-Effective Advertising Traditional marketing methods like TV commercials or print ads can be expensive, especially for small businesses. Digital marketing, on the other hand, offers a variety of affordable options. With tools like social media advertising and pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns, you can reach thousands of potential customers without spending a fortune. Plus, you can set your budget and adjust it as needed so you don’t overspend. 3. Measurable Results Digital marketing is probably the most measurable form of marketing. We can see, in real-time, what is working and what isn’t, and we can refine our strategies accordingly. How many people are visiting your site? Did you make sales this week? How long do they stay on your site? What were the reasons people returned a product? With online analytics, you can even measure specific goals you want to achieve for your website or blog (i.e., analyze conversions using built-in tools on platforms like Facebook Ad Manager or Google Analytics). In other words, digital marketing will help you understand how your potential buyer base behaves and uses technology to make informed decisions. Final Thoughts The world of digital marketing may seem daunting, but the reality is that digital marketing is an essential component of any successful business in today’s world. You don’t have to do everything at once. Start with a few key tactics and build from there. The most important thing is to begin. Your future customers are already looking for your product or service online. The question is, will they be able to find you? Read Also: Movavi Video Suite Review: A Comprehensive Tool to Create Videos 8 Powerful Reasons You Need To Use Video Marketing Top Ways Video Marketing Will Help Your Business Grow How To Execute An Effective Video Marketing Campaign

7 Online Promotion Methods For Your Next Live Performance

If you have a live performance coming up, you probably have tons of tasks on your to-do list. Even if you have managers or vendors lining things up, you need to be there throughout the process. One aspect you should definitely focus on is marketing. That will really help you get as many attendees as you want. While promotion takes place across multiple mediums, the internet is where you’ll really get the results. Online marketing has numerous elements, so you have a lot of opportunities to promote your upcoming performance. However, before you start the promotion process, make sure you have a decent website, a functioning ticketing system, and your social media pages up and running. Then, you can start off with the following online marketing ideas. Create Live Music Posters For Social Media Adding a multimedia element to your online promotion strategy is quite useful. So, you should make a live music poster, with audio, visuals, and text regarding your next performance. You can do this on PosterMyWall by choosing one of the many templates there, and then customizing it accordingly. If you have a musical act, add snippets from it to this poster. In addition, make sure you keep a similar aesthetic and color scheme running throughout your online marketing collateral. When you have this poster, share it on your website, and across all your social media platforms to announce your performance. Share A Schedule & Teasers Periodically release information about your performance on your online platforms. You can start with a teaser announcement, then announce the date/time/venue, and then you can create a schedule and post that. This will help you generate hype in your audience, and pique their interest. However, do share the important details before anything, otherwise, they will get frustrated at the lack of information. Utilize Video Marketing Videos are the top-trending medium for online marketing these days. Short-form video platforms like TikTok have changed the game with video marketing, so you need to get your information across in a short time, and in a visually appealing manner. So, share live rehearsal snippets, behind-the-scenes videos, and communicate face-to-face with your audience with these short clips. Make sure these are filmed and edited well, and then share them on your social media pages, with a special focus on Reels and TikTok. Build Up Hype Across Platforms Often, companies tend to focus on only one or two online platforms. However, you need to make sure you cover all your bases. Whether it is social media, email, blogs, online forums, or your own website, have a cohesive promotion plan for all these online platforms. Customize your posts according to the dimensions and specifications of these platforms, and then you can implement your campaigns. Of course, you’ll put a bit more effort and resources into platforms that have proven to be successful for you, but you should also not ignore all the other online promotion opportunities out there. Work With Businesses For Cross-Promotion If you have a sponsor, then you can ask them to share your online promotion materials on their platforms as well. Usually, they’ll want to be mentioned on your platforms in return, so fulfill your end of the deal with a few special sponsor announcement posts and logo placements as well. You can also contact local businesses near your venue for services like food, transport, and others. Then, offer to promote these services on your platforms for your audiences to use. In return, these businesses can promote your event on their online platforms. You can even work out agreements with promo codes and discounts for patrons of both your performance and the businesses. Utilize Influencer Marketing These days, influencer marketing is a major tool for online promotion. Do your research into popular influencers in the area and contact them for shoutouts for your performance. Send out a few free tickets or comped services to the bigger names, so that they announce that they’ll be attending your performance to their followers. You need to make sure you contact these influencers well in advance and figure out exactly what you want from them, and get it in writing. A proper agreement means that there will be no confusion or misunderstanding later. Make Custom Band Email Newsletters Email marketing is still one of the best online promotion tools you can work on. So, you should send out monthly updates in an email newsletter to your mailing list of fans and potential attendees. Use the band email templates on PosterMyWall to make these emails, and use the platform’s email marketing tool to keep track of everything in one place. This will help you develop an email list for future performances as well. So, make these newsletters to keep people updated, and to hype up your performances. To sum up, there are countless ways to promote your live performance online. Utilize a mixture of mediums and methods to optimize your results and get the audience of your dreams. Read Also: How To Market Your App Successfully Mobile App Marketing Agency Marketing – What’s Right For Your Business?

Your Ultimate Guide To Creating SMS Marketing Campaigns

What Is SMS Marketing?

Choosing The Right SMS Marketing Tool