The business sector is one of the fastest-growing areas recently. It is one of the key contributors to the world’s economy with regard to taxation. Now and then, new ventures are established from every corner, looking forward to meeting the ever-growing demand for products and services. Unfortunately, this trend has resulted in congestion in the market. In return, small and upcoming businesses are finding it hard to grab a share of the already filled market.
Thankfully, the modern marketing trends have made it possible for even the small ventures to grab a pie of the already congested market. SMS marketing, for instance, although many views it as old-school, is a resource that you can still utilize to take your marketing game to the next higher level.
In this article, I will be discussing ways on how you can make use of text message marketing effectively.
Ask your clientele to opt-in to your messages
The first and most crucial step to ensuring effective SMS marketing is asking your client base to opt-in to your text messaging. You should start by creating a contact list of your loyal customers. With the list, it’s much easier to keep tabs with your clients. Texting service for business allows you to keep your clients informed about everything that is taking place in your venture. Say, for instance, if you have offers and discounts, it’s much easier to let your loyal fan base know using text messaging.
So, how do you collect the numbers of your clients? It’s quite simple. All that is needed of you is to come up with a sign-up sheet where your clients leave their contact details. When collecting the contacts, you must understand that not all clients will be willing to opt-in. But, the good thing is that a majority of your clients will be ready to join the bandwagon for the sake of information regarding your operations or new deals in town.
Play smart with the timing
More often than, there is always the question of when is the right time to send messages to your clients. Today, almost every individual owns a smartphone. The fact that smartphones are easily portable means that your clients are more likely to carry it around all the time. It’s hard to survive without a phone in the modern world.
However, this doesn’t mean that you can send messages to your clients all the time. Although several studies state that about 98% of SMS messages are likely to be opened by customers, it will help much if you were cautious about your timing. According to successful entrepreneurs, the idea here isn’t about your text messages being opened. It’s about being read and understood. It’s therefore recommended that you send these messages when your clients are free. Say, for example, you can utilize the lunch breaks period or in the evening when people are out of the office. With such a timeframe, the high chances are that most of your clients are likely to open and read your messages and even reply if possible.
Make your messages short and simple
How long should your text messages be? This is one question that most business proprietors are always asking. Well, there is never the exact number of characters that you should use. The length of your messages is dependent on the message you wish to convey. However, if you are looking for effective results, it’s recommended that you make your texts short and straightforward. You must have in mind that not everyone is willing to go through long and complicated texts. They might sound boring, and most readers are likely to close them before they even understand the message. Therefore, you must ensure that your messages are simple and straight to the point.
Don’t spam your customers
Although most of your clients may be willing to sign up for your SMS messages, not all are willing to wake up daily to your text messages. Filling your client’s inbox with endless messages may sound alarming. According to marketing experts, it’s recommended that you consider sending only messages that make sense to your audience. Say, for instance, you can consider texting only when you have offers or promotions. By doing so, you ensure that your client base is eagerly waiting for your messages, even if it means waiting for a month. Many people may also try to spam you. Make sure you check messages with short codes like 37263 on Short Codes before you reply to them.
Utilize links
In today’s world, websites are the key to succeeding in business. As a result, the use of links remains an essential aspect of the world of SMS messaging. You can hence incorporate links into your SMS messaging for effective results. When it comes to the use of links in texts, it can be challenging because links are commonly long.
As you know, space is crucial in an SMS message. That’s why you ought to consider using a link shortening service like bit.ly or Google’s link shortener. As stated in this simple tutorial, a shortened hyperlink can send vital information and data to the customers without thinking about the SMS length issue. Apart from saving space to write effective ads, shortening your links makes your messages easy to read and understand. Another thing to note is that using link shortening services, it makes it easy to track metrics like click-through since most service providers allow all that. The tracking helps you understand how effective your SMS marketing strategy is working.
More often than not, using SMS messages to market your venture is viewed as old-school. The truth is that it remains an alternative that you can use to take your business to the next higher level. However, to witness the benefits that come with using this service, you have to incorporate the various hacks provided in this article. By reading through the entire piece, you will understand how it’s easy to integrate SMS marketing into your business correctly.
