In the era of technology and innovative thinking, your best bet is taking the road less traveled to promote your business and attract new clients. Just because it’s the lesser-known path doesn’t necessarily mean it’s too costly an option or too complicated to consider.
Once you’re familiar with the basic steps you will quickly see success and appreciation from your clients and competitors alike.
The Power of SMS Marketing
SMS marketing is a dynamic process that, when done correctly, can not only boost your business but also foster strong relationships with your clients and outshine your competitors. To harness the full potential of SMS marketing, it’s crucial to adhere to best practices that align with Google’s E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness) guidelines.
Obtaining Consent: The Foundation of SMS Marketing
The very first and most critical step in implementing a successful SMS marketing strategy is to obtain consent from your potential customers. This consent includes their agreement to receive your messages and an understanding of what to expect. Additionally, you may need consent for various aspects, such as:
- Data rates that may apply
- Frequency of sending SMS
- Messaging times
- Type of content contained in the message
- Option to opt out of receiving messages
Compliance with these consent rules is non-negotiable. Failing to do so not only risks irritating your customers but could also lead to their loss.
Adding Value to Your SMS Campaigns
To incentivize customers to accept your text messages, consider offering value in return. Discounts, coupons, exclusive offers, or other enticing incentives can be the hook that attracts new customers and encourages referrals. These added benefits make your SMS marketing more attractive and customer-friendly.
Precision Targeting for Maximum Impact
Effective SMS marketing is all about targeting the right customers with the right messages. Understanding the preferences of your audience, whether it’s coupons and discounts or company updates, allows you to categorize your subscribers effectively. Tailor your messages to meet their specific interests, ensuring relevance and engagement.
Crafting Compelling and Concise Messages
In the world of SMS marketing, brevity is key. Keep your messages short and to the point. The ideal message length ranges from 140 to 150 characters. While being concise, it’s essential to maintain clarity and professionalism.
Avoid excessive use of abbreviations, which can detract from your marketing strategy. If you have more to convey than can fit in a single text message, consider creating a landing page. This provides ample space to tell your story, include app downloads, offer coupons, and capture leads effectively.
Mobile Optimization for Landing Pages
In today’s mobile-centric world, it’s imperative that your landing pages are mobile-compatible. Failing to ensure compatibility with various mobile phone operating systems can result in potential customers being unable to access your content. Thus, optimizing your landing pages for mobile devices is paramount for the success of your SMS marketing campaigns.
Timing Is Everything
Strategic timing plays a pivotal role in SMS marketing. Avoid bombarding your subscribers with untimely messages. Instead, schedule your messages at regular intervals and identify the best times to reach your audience. Over-sending messages can be annoying and counterproductive. Timing, therefore, is a crucial factor in the effectiveness of SMS marketing.
Measuring Success with SMART Goals
To gauge the success of your SMS marketing efforts, establish SMART goals—goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Tangible. These goals provide a clear benchmark for your campaign’s performance, enabling you to track progress and make informed adjustments.
Providing Value and Building Success
In conclusion, SMS marketing is a cost-effective and potent tool that, when employed following best practices and Google’s E-A-T guidelines, can propel your business to new heights of success.
By obtaining consent, adding value, targeting effectively, crafting concise messages, optimizing for mobile, timing strategically, and setting SMART goals, you’re well on your way to achieving business excellence through SMS marketing.
SMS Marketing strategy is a process that doesn’t drain your bank account but can be extremely successful with the right strategy and execution.
- The first and most important step when implementing an SMS marketing strategy is receiving consent from your potential customers. This includes an agreement to receive your messages. You may also need consent for one or more of the following:
- Data rates that may apply
- Frequency of sending SMS
- Messaging times
- Type of content contained in the message
- Option to opt out of receiving messages
Consent from your potential customers and existing customers is a rule that is best followed, or you risk the chance of irritating your customers and even losing them altogether.
- Adding value in return for accepting the terms of text messaging is a great incentive. Giving discounts, coupons, or other interesting offers is a great way to attract new customers and referrals alike.
- It’s important to make sure you’re targeting the right customers. Once you understand the types of messages your customers like to receive; whether it be coupons and discounts, or company news and updates, you can categorize them accordingly.
- Keep your messages short and to the point. This gives your customers all the important information. Besides, no one has the time to read long messages anyway! 140 to 150 characters is a great target message length. Although you’re keeping it short, it’s important to be smart about your messaging. Avoid using too many abbreviations in your messages; they can affect your marketing strategy. On the same token, be cautious about sending long messages as well. If you can’t fit everything you’re trying to say in one text message, it’s better to create a landing page. This gives you more space to tell your story, as well as include app downloads, coupons, and lead forms.
- When creating landing pages It’s essential to make them mobile-compatible. If your landing page isn’t compatible with your customer’s mobile phone operating system, you may lose customers who have trouble viewing the page. Optimizing your landing pages for mobile is also important.
- Be strategic With the time in which you send the messages. Avoid sending untimely messages. It’s best to schedule your messages at regular intervals. Figure out the best time to reach your customer. Avoid irritating people with too many frequent messages. Timing is a very important factor in SMS marketing.
- Set S.M.A.R.T. goals to measure success. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Tangible goals.
- Offer valuable insight into your products and services to pique the interest of your customers in reading your content.
Follow these simple steps, and you’re on your way to achieving business success!
Author Bio:
Freddy is a Director of Marketing and Social Media for Skipio, the best SMS marketing & bulk SMS messaging company. His specialties include brand strategies, content marketing, and social media optimization. He loves creative writing and exploring new places around the world. I help gym owners earn more using personal cell phone automation in one-to-one coaching relationships with the masses.