A short message service (SMS) is perhaps the most effective way to get your audiences’ attention. For most businesses, SMS should be viewed as a part of an integrated part of a digital marketing strategy, rather than a separate channel. Here are the essential steps of adding SMS strategies to your marketing plan.

Create your contact list

The first thing you will have to do is update your database of contacts. Quite similar to email, you should ask your audience members to opt-in receiving SMS. A good strategy to help you increase your opt-in rate is to offer a gift such as a discount on your product, perhaps. It is advised to ask your audience what hours they prefer to receive text messages so that you schedule SMS campaigns accordingly.

Engage your audience

As many people may have to pay to receive texts, you should make sure to only send messages to those who opt in to receive them. Even when they do opt-in, they are most likely to respond when you engage them personally. That means Your response will considerably increase when you include more personal messages, rather than those that seem like spam. Additionally, people would more likely appreciate receiving promotional codes for discounts or your products than only getting information about a promotion about it.

Write clear messages

When composing an SMS, you have a maximum of 160 characters to express yourself. If possible, do it in less than that and make sure the message is clear, concise, and written in plain English. Also, try not to use open-ended messages. By giving them enough information and incentive, as the date when a sale ends or the expiration date of a coupon, your clients are more likely to respond. In the means of writing style, try your best to avoid abbreviations, emoticons, and all caps.

Get your timing right

When delivering messages to your clients, it is crucial to do it in a quick and timely manner. Around 90% of the messages received are read within 3 minutes of being delivered. To make sending bulk SMS to your clients easier, use the SMS gateway on your computer. When it comes to the perfect timing for sending a promotional SMS, try not to do it too early or too late during the day. Everything between 8 is and 9 pm is acceptable. Also, keep in mind that Clients’ responses to SMS are most effective when they’re last-minute impulses.

Link SMS with other types of advertising

The best advertising strategies integrate many different types and forms of media. Include content in your digital ads and social media sites about opting into SMS to help increase your audience with whom you communicate through text messages. You can also share links in your text messages that take your audience to various content you publish, such as videos and articles. This will help you build credibility and customer loyalty much faster.

Focus on your best clients

Your best clients are the ones loyal to your brand. They give you constructive feedback and even promote your business to their friends and family. An example of a smart marketing strategy is to identifying this circle of customers and spending extra time and resources on them. One of the easiest ways of doing it is sending special and personalized SMS offers, providing extra benefits to the numbers in this circle. Everyone likes feeling special, so you might as well reward those who are special to your brand too.

Send preview to email

Unlike email, which might be checked once or twice a day, text messaging is received almost immediately, as people carry smartphones everywhere they go. The average person checks their phone roughly 47 times each day. Therefore, texting your contacts to give them a heads up about an email you’ve just sent can be viewed as a welcoming message. Especially if your email contains something, your audience would like to get to as soon as possible.

Follow up e-commerce sale

Building customer relationships must go on even after the sale if you want to create loyal customers and generate repeat sales and new revenues from referrals. SMS is proven perfect as a medium to communicate your after-sale message. Here are a couple of ways you can use SMS for sales follow-up. One of the most usual ways to do this is adding an SMS opt-in in your shopping cart at checkout. This lets your customers know that you will send them an alert when you ship out and deliver their package.

There are many ways to engage your target audience and build sales and loyalty using SMS as a fast-growing marketing communication application. Going through some strategies mentioned above will hopefully help you out with adding SMS effectively to your marketing mix.

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