The choices for marketers in the digital age are numerable. But how many are actually effective and deliver a ROI?
Digital marketing may give small businesses the potential to grow, but unless you can reach your customers and influence their purchasing decisions, the time, money and effort spent on your marketing strategy is all in vein.
SMS marketing has a way of cutting through the noise.
Positive open rates
Multiple surveys report the open rates of SMS marketing messages boast the highest open rates of any marketing strategy. Results range from 90-98% the bulk of which are read within the first 3-seconds of receipt.
Not only does SMS have the highest open rates, the conversion rates are impressive too. Statistics compiled by Adobe show 32% of recipients respond to offers sent by SMS and mobile coupons sent by text are redeemed 10 times more than traditional coupons.
Personal touch
Brand marketing is evolving, and as relationships between brands and consumers become more distrusting, facilitating a two-way conversation becomes increasingly important. SMS does not have to be used for sending ads, but can also be utilised to encourage conversational responses.
In order to foster long-term loyalty, brands have to find solutions that enable you to effectively nurture customers and provide a service that makes your customers feel like a person rather than a statistic. SMS is highly versatile and one of the best marketing tools that deliver personalisation in a meaningful way.
Consumers are open to text messaging
One of the biggest research project on mobile messaging, performed by Twilio, surveyed more than 6000 mobile owners across Europe, Asia and North America. The results revealed that 9 out of 10 consumers prefer to use SMS to communicate with the brands.
Whilst customers are open to receiving text messengers, marketers should be respectful towards your audience. When somebody has been kind enough to provide you with their personal contact details, it is not polite, nor a good marketing strategy to send too many offers or messages that are not irrelevant.
Easy to install and use
Technology is served to us with the promise it will make our lives easier and increase productivity, profits and a merry-go-round of other potential benefits. This is true, although many of these technologies require time and patience to learn how to use them effectively.
SMS platforms integrate into your existing CMS system where you can use tools you are already familiar with. The user-interface is minimal and intuitive so it is easy to create and send messages, then monitor and measure performance both in real-time and over scheduled periods.
Supports overall marketing strategy
Digital marketing promises huge potential for enterprises, but for small businesses on a small budget, online visibility can take a while to achieve. SMS marketing is more direct and provides you with a platform that enables you to reach your audience every time.
As mentioned above, SMS messaging should be relevant and does not always have to include an ad or offer. Modern consumers want information and because you can insert links, videos and images, you can drive traffic and create a unique user-experience.
If you haven’t tried SMS marketing yet, you could be missing out on opportunities to communicate with your audience and build a loyal customer base. Whilst your rivals are distracted with digital marketing strategies that take time to nurture, why not get ahead of the game and go mobile.