6 SMS Campaign Strategies Every Marketing Company Should Know

Did you know that 7.10 billion people in the world use mobile phones? That’s almost 90% of the global population! With this large of a number, there’s no question why many businesses are turning to SMS marketing to promote their brands.

Short message service (SMS), more commonly known as texting, is a way of sending messages comprising up to 160 characters across devices. While it is the oldest text messaging technology, it’s the most widely and frequently used. Plus, unlike the latest messaging apps, SMS is supported by all devices and mobile networks. Outsourcing in business can unlock valuable expertise for crafting high-impact SMS campaign strategies.

SMS marketing can help you reach and engage with your target audience. Moreover, by sending offers and other types of branded content to your prospective customers, you can use SMS campaigns to generate revenue.

SMS campaigns are a marketing goldmine when paired with data mining. Analyzing customer behavior, preferences, and demographics through data allows marketing companies to craft highly targeted SMS messages. This strategy enhances engagement, conversion rates, and overall campaign effectiveness, making data mining an invaluable tool in the marketer’s arsenal.

Below, we’ll discuss various SMS campaigns you can add to your marketing efforts, but let’s first tackle how exactly they work.

SMS: An Effective Marketing Channel

SMS marketing entails distributing marketing messages through texting. It is a type of opt-in marketing that requires contacts to subscribe. This distinguishes it from social media marketing, which involves uploading text or audio-visual content for anyone to see or engage with.

Common examples of SMS campaigns include customized promotions, offers, discounts, and surveys. SMS is a great channel to distribute these campaigns because prospects are more likely to read them. In fact, the open rate of SMS is 98%, which is considerably higher than email’s 20%. Craft SMS campaign strategies that promote eco-friendly practices and align with your sustainable business plan. Its click-through rate is also much better than email or Facebook.

Best SMS Campaigns to Use

1. Greeting Message

Businesses can attract people to sign up for text messages by promising great deals. They then send a welcome message to let them know they’ll be receiving texts regularly from the brand. It’s important to not skip this part to set the tone and help customers feel valued and be more perceptive. It’s also thoughtful to give advance notice before bombarding them with campaigns, so your texts won’t seem spammy.

Ideally, you should keep your welcome message brief, concise, and straightforward. Mention what type of content the recipients should expect, the frequency with which messages will be sent, and instructions for unsubscribing.

2. Membership Offers

SMS can be used to market membership or VIP programs. Remember that customers want to be noticed and feel special. A text encouraging them to join your private VIP club can make them feel cherished and stay loyal to the brand.

Because of the cost per message, it’s a smart practice to keep every sentence succinct. Make sure they are worth the time of your customers. Use urgent words and emphasize why they should join by highlighting membership benefits. Lastly, do not forget to include a clear and strong call to action.

3. Seasonal Campaigns

Use seasonal holidays to offer exclusive deals to your SMS contacts. It’s one of the easiest, most effective ways to get people to make a purchase, as long as you don’t overdo it.

Promote products on sale and mention the reduced prices. The promise of getting items at a discount can urge customers to shop, even if they weren’t planning to in the first place.

4. Time-sensitive Campaigns

Aside from seasonal campaigns, another effective tactic is to offer enticing time-sensitive deals. SMS is a suitable channel for sending out these messages since 95% of texts are opened and replied to within 3 minutes of reaching inboxes.

Mobile text messaging uses push notifications, which is the default setting for most devices. Hence, users are likely to read them almost instantly. Furthermore, setting time limits will make the offers sound urgent, encouraging customers to act fast.

5. Product Launching Campaigns

Engaging your customers by surprising them with special promotional offers is a terrific way to keep them interested and stay subscribed. As such, you can use SMS to build a sense of urgency for a large product launch.

To entice people to act swiftly, use attention-grabbing language. Offering early access to new or even unreleased products and limiting this to a small number of customers can help you establish loyalty and measure your contacts’ response to the items up for launch.

6. Coupons

Coupons are effective at driving sales. Many consumers love getting coupons, and over 50% prefer to receive them on their mobile phones.

The customer can be prompted to visit the store and show a coupon code to the cashier to get a discount or freebie. Consequently, when they go to the store, the chances of completing more sales are higher since other products may catch their eye after redeeming their coupons.

For those who only sell items online, a link to the store can be included in the text message, along with the discount or QR code. Again, this helps ensure that the customer would visit the online store, making it likely they’ll buy more products.

How to Start an SMS Campaign

1. Be Goal-Directed

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s astonishing how many business owners overlook this! As with any venture, working towards a goal is impossible if you don’t know what it is. Ask yourself why you’re doing each campaign and what you want to gain from it.

Your main objective, whether it is to improve conversions or drive sales, will define your campaign from the start. Moreover, be sure to set a list of KPIs, such as open rate and engagement, so you can evaluate the performance and effectiveness of each campaign you run.

2. Choose Your SMS Marketing Platform

Your campaign will almost definitely require some form of SMS marketing software. Today’s platforms often include a portal through which you can maintain and segment your contact lists, craft messages for your audience, and collect data from your customers.

However, not all SMS platforms are created equal; they will provide you with different sets of features at varying price points. Do your homework on each and select what best fits your requirements and budget.

3. Be Cautious with Legality

There are key regulatory considerations for organizations that engage with customers via SMS. These differ depending on the country in which you operate, so knowing the local legislation is critical to avoid getting into trouble.

For instance, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPR) in the U.S. requires companies to acquire specific written agreements before adding people to a marketing list. Subscribers must also be given the option to opt-out of messages at any time. Read up and educate yourself on this matter to avoid any legal issues.

4. Create a List of Contacts

You must first have a solid contact list before you can send texts. Accordingly, you can ask your prospects to opt-in and receive SMS messages the same way you do with email, which typically includes texting a keyword to your 5- or 6-digit shortcode.

Over time, you can expand your list of contacts by promoting your SMS subscription in other channels, such as your website or social media pages. Offering freebies is a smart method of increasing your opt-in rates.

5. Know Your Audience

Understanding the behaviors of people you are connecting with is essential for any marketing effort, but it’s extremely critical for SMS. Customers must opt-in to comply with regulations, so you should know what they need and want to make them interested.

Although email marketing requires comparable consent, receiving direct messages to your phone is much more personal than receiving bulk emails from a newsletter. As a result, people will be more selective about which brands they interact with via SMS. This is not a bad thing, as it can help ensure that your list only consists of people who are actively engaged with your business.

SMS will allow you to accumulate historical data linked with the mobile numbers on your list over time. You will be able to determine what content your recipients respond to positively, which things they buy from you, how frequently, and for how much. Based on these, you can segment your audience in microscopic detail and send hyper-relevant messages to those who are receptive.

Best SMS Marketing Tips You Can Follow

Since you already know how to jumpstart your SMS marketing campaigns, here are some key tips to help you stay on track.

1. Continually Interact with Your Customers

People respond best when they are directly engaged. When you include more personal messages rather than those that appear to be spam, your response rate will skyrocket. Furthermore, you need to be consistent with distributing messages. Schedule your SMS campaigns strategically and don’t just send texts sporadically. Random promotions that hard-sell products are not likely to elicit a favorable response.

2. Allow your Customers to Respond

Many businesses send text messages accompanied by phrases like ‘’Do Not Respond.” If you do this, you will miss plenty of opportunities. Most customers who receive marketing messages actually love to respond. Perhaps they want to ask for clarifications, inquire about promos, or give feedback about your products and services. Plus, people like to be heard, so it’s best to allow replies.

Consider reaching younger demographics

It’s a common misconception that only the older generation enjoys texting, when in fact, the majority of consumers below 44 years old actually like contacting businesses via SMS. Texting is faster and easier than calling or sending emails, so they can continue with their day while talking to you simultaneously. Also, even though SMS has been around for decades, the channel is often updated, as well, so the young and old alike highly welcome this mode of communication. Learn 6 SMS campaign strategies to revolutionize your marketing game according to entrepreneursprofit.com.

4. Use other Types of Marketing Strategies

The ideal marketing plan combines several forms of media. As stated earlier, you can promote your SMS subscription on social media networks to expand your reach. However, you can also do this the other way around, by including links in your texts that direct your audience to videos or articles you’ve published.

Just make sure that your content is engaging to increase the chances of your customer wanting to be redirected again next time. Look up content marketing tips to improve the quality of your web copies.

Furthermore, while marketing via mobile communications is promising, it’s crucial to maintain a diverse range of channels in your marketing strategy mix. Consider implementing a retail marketing strategy alongside your SMS campaigns.

5. Timing is Essential

Everything hinges around timing. Response rates for text messages, like email, might vary depending on the time of day they are sent. The ideal timing is determined by your audience’s behavior. Nonetheless, you want to deliver your messages when your recipients can receive and reply to them.

Before and after work hours, as well as at lunch, are convenient times. You may need to test the market multiple times to see when the optimum time is. However, as a general guideline, do not bother your audience members after 9 pm.

The Bottom Line

SMS marketing is an advantageous and worthwhile strategy. It’s also a cost-effective way to improve customer relations and boost sales. Still, no matter how good a channel is, all campaigns require careful planning to be successful. Therefore take some time to research your target market, so you can provide them with timely, relevant, and valuable content.