SMS Marketing 101: Why your Business Should be Using It

How do I go about a Text Messaging program for my Business

The reach, power, prevalence and immediacy of mobile smartphones cannot be ignored.  Just look around you and you'll see someone with their phone in their hands at this very moment.  They bring together:  Work Lives, Social Lives, Entertainment and to some degree even our Getting Errands Accomplished.

In a few years 5 Billion (with a "B") people will be using smartphones.  Smartphones that will continue to get 'smarter', more powerful and more useful.

These trends create quite the opportunity for marketing to the consumer.  Any marketing effort that neglects the smartphone, is neglecting a vast amount of potential customers.  This is even more true for the younger generations -- that have grown up with a phone on their person at all times.  But how do you use smartphone marketing effectively?  Social Media and Location based Beacons are definitely tools in the arsenal of the marketer.  But the SMS Text Message remains to be the most effective mobile marketing tool that there is.  Any good SMS Marketing Company will help your business create a digital marketing plan that uses effective SMS Marketing.  Here are some reasons why...

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SMS Messages are READ!
Half the battle of any marketing campaign is to get the consumer's attention to the message that you are putting out.  This is something that SMS Messages do and do very well!  SMS Messages have an Open Rate of 98% within 2 minutes of the message being received.  Compare this to Television ads being "skipped" and Email Open rates of 20% - 30% and you'll see that a good SMS Company can help your business get your message into the minds of your consumers, new and returning.

SMS Messages get Response
It is estimated that SMS Messages have a "click-thru" somewhere between 35% - 40%.  That is at least 3 times the Open Rate of email messages.  Or you can look at it as being more then ten-fold better the response from Direct Mail Marketing.  Businesses can even use sms marketing software as appointment reminder software or to deliver general announcements.

SMS Marketing is Affordable
Most SMS services provide message delivery for just a few pennies each.  Far cheaper than any TV, Radio, or Direct Mail campaigns can hope to budget.  Hundreds, even thousands of SMS Messages can be sent in the blink of an eye.  This means that you can schedule SMS campaigns in concert with other planned events that your company may have going on.  Schedule messages with special offers to increase foot traffic on your typical "slow days".  Or even respond to an immediacy with timely, up-to-date information about your business.

SMS Marketing has a number of Uses
You can alert customers of a new product or service, while providing a "special offer" to your SMS "Club" customers only.  You can encourage feedback and interest in your business with tools like surveys.  SMS platforms can also maintain customer mobile loyalty programs and deliver SMS only coupons to your customers via a mobile wallet.

Tracking and ROI
SMS marketing campaigns deliver a cornucopia of customer data that can be analyzed.  SMS Message tracking provides compelling reasons to increase or even establish SMS Marketing Budgets for any business.  And for local businesses getting return on your ​small business marketing dollars is paramount!