When you want to boost the visibility of your business through marketing, there are plenty of different avenues for doing that. Among them, SMS marketing campaigns are an excellent option. However, just like with any different marketing channel; utilizing text message marketing to its fullest potential requires some knowledge.
You need to have a firm grasp of the fundamentals of SMS marketing. With that in mind, we’ll provide a short guide on the best practices you should follow while promoting your moving business via text messages!
SMS Marketing Campaigns 101
If you want your SMS marketing campaigns to be effective, what you need first is a firm foundation. And before we start describing this field in more depth, we’ll explain the components that you need in order to work on even a rudimentary campaign.
You will need:
- A clear plan
- Quantifiable objectives
- A subscriber base
- Keywords
- Long or shortcode
- A phone provider
All of these things have their crucial roles in the success of your subsequent SMS marketing campaigns. For instance, you need a network provider that can give you all of the features required to run a campaign. And this includes message analytics, sending and receiving messages, and audience segmentation.
While there are plenty of differences in online vs. offline marketing, there’s one fact where they converge; your best bet is to go with a reputable service provider. In the context of SMS marketing campaigns, this ensures that there are no issues with message sending, data privacy, or spam.
After picking a provider, you need to decide if you want to have a code. Then, pick a long code or a shortcode. You will also need to decide whether to opt for a shared code or a unique one. Generally, short ones have five numbers. Those who want to subscribe to your text message chain text a keyword to that number.
Bear in mind that, while a unique code is better in terms of branding, it can be quite costly. That’s why plenty of businesses opt for shared code. As for the difference between long and shortcodes – the long ones are basically regular phone numbers. They might seem less professional, but they give your SMS marketing campaign a more personal flair.
Rules of Text Message Marketing
As you already know, there are many different ways to advertise a business. While approaching SMS marketing campaigns, many people make the mistake of thinking that they can apply email marketing tactics in a different format. In reality, SMS marketing has different regulations and guidelines that you need to respect.
Among these rules, there is one cardinal rule that you can’t break; you need explicit permission to send any text to your target audience. Unlike email marketing campaigns that can be sent to cold leads, text message marketing requires you to keep detailed records of everyone who has opted in and out of your campaign.
There are a couple of different methods for obtaining this permission. You can use online forms, written forms, or the abovementioned keyword opt-ins.
Once you’ve obtained permission from members of a target audience, you should send them a follow-up SMS to confirm it. Also, it’s not a bad idea to clearly show them what kind of texts they should expect, and at what frequency.
Should you make any alterations to your SMS marketing campaigns, like increasing their frequency; you should inform all subscribers and allows them to opt-out if they don’t agree.
Best Practices For SMS Marketing
We’ve already gone over the fact that you need permission in order to perform a legitimate and legal SMS marketing campaign. Apart from that, we at Movers Development will share some other practices that we consider to be crucial for a successful text marketing effort.
First of all, you should consider timing. Send text messages at the best time of day, depending on your target audience; you don’t want people to just glance over your text. Then, think about the frequency. The texts should be regular, but not sent often enough to appear spammy.
Also, they need to be useful to your subscribers. In other words, the texts should contain information that they can’t find anywhere else. And speaking of the subscribers – try to include as much personalization as possible. If you’ve got any marketing automation software, use it to add the names of subscribers from a list.
Your SMS marketing campaign must also be a logical part of an overall marketing strategy for your brand; an isolated effort will be pretty much useless. And, of course, text messages need to convey information in a clear and concise way.
At the end of the day, if you want to make text message marketing work; providing value to subscribers is your first and foremost goal. The message (all pun intended) that you emanate to your SMS subscribers needs to be exclusive and unique for that given medium. After all, there are plenty of other ways people ingest information these days. If you don’t make text messages worth their while, you’ll find your subscriber rates dropping pretty quickly.
Conclusion
While text message marketing may seem archaic to some people; it’s as vibrant and useful as it has always been. You just have to respect the different rules that govern SMS marketing campaigns compared to other mediums and strive to come up with a message that will stand out from the fold. If you manage all of that – satisfactory results are sure to follow!
