The world of marketing is dominated by digital content, and that’s perfectly understandable. And while the rise of the internet offers some of the most influential and exciting marketing options in history, the sudden migration towards a model that skews towards online content leaves many promising options undervalued.
SMS text messages are valuable forms of marketing as ever, and they’re unlikely to lose their value anytime soon. Here’s why you should make SMS marketing a critical link in your marketing chain.
It Offers Responsive Outreach
Most customers spend a significant portion of their day staring at a phone screen, and that means that SMS marketing provides you with arguably the most captive audience in the history of marketing. The numbers are pretty incredible here.
Over 97% of customers read text messages within 15 minutes of receiving them. It should come as no surprise then that nearly half of SMS marketing campaigns achieve ROI. That number increases significantly when you start taking into account mixed-media campaigns that combine SMS messages with other communication channels.
The Engagement Options Are Sophisticated
Marketing isn’t just about selling products. It’s about building complex and meaningful relationships with your customers. And when you do, the possibilities are limitless. A good text marketing campaign might include surveys delivered in tandem with delivery receipts, targeted advertising based on user spending habits, and exclusive sales and contests.
Being in direct and immediate communication with your customers helps you make a more persuasive pitch and learn more about your most important demographics in the process.
In terms of engagement, the most exciting option comes in the form of shortcodes. You’ve probably seen shortcodes before. They ask you to send a keyword to a five-digit number. They’re a passive form of marketing that allows the customer to direct engagement with you.
Not only does it make it easier to reach interested customers you might not otherwise be aware of, but a good shortcode campaign can quickly spread like wildfire on social media. Just be sure to find a compelling reason to encourage customers to reach out to you.
It Plays Well With Other Marketing Media
Digital content is a dominant force in today’s marketing circles, but the best marketing campaign is one that’s well-balanced across various formats. This allows you to build an ecosystem where different marketing channels feed into one another, creating better momentum for your campaign and helping drive home the values you want to support your company’s identity. Text messages work exceptionally well in conjunction with other formats.
An automated text message can serve as a gentle reminder for a user to check their email, while a short code has much greater chances of gaining traction if it’s promoted in your newsletter.
In this holistic approach to marketing, where synergy between different formats is key, maintaining a high-quality email list is paramount. Ensuring the accuracy and relevance of your email contacts is where tools like Email Verification come into play.
By employing an Email Verification service, marketers can meticulously refine their email lists, weeding out inactive or invalid addresses. This not only enhances the deliverability of your messages but also preserves the integrity of your brand’s communication efforts.
There Are Plenty of Analytics to Draw From
Marketing is all about convincing customers why your product or service is the perfect fit for them. But it’s also about learning what your customers want so that you can better tailor your products and services to suit them. SMS messages are a robust form of gathering data – and despite the skepticism of some in marketing, the potential for using text marketing as a research tool is very promising. Just be sure that you come to the table prepared.
Text marketing works so effectively simply because there are so many cheap and automated tools to use. Whether you’re looking for a mass messaging client or a scheduler, the text message marketing campaign, your business runs will live and die on the technology employed.