If you haven’t integrated sms text marketing into your strategy yet, it’s unfortunate to know that you’ve been majorly missing out. Out of all the marketing platforms, texting or SMS campaigns have the highest engagement rates, standing at a proud 82% open rate.
In comparison with other channels, customers also prefer this means of communication over the others. However, there’s an art to creating text campaigns, so you need to ensure you carry it out in an effective way. (Go here for a list of the best SMS marketing services). To get the most out of your texting campaign, here are 6 steps you should follow.
First and foremost, it’s important to know the basics of text marketing - especially if you’re just getting started. You’ll need the following 4 factors to carry out text marketing campaigns:
The provider is the one who’ll give you the means of running your campaign. They’ll offer you a list of features to help you out with crafting your campaigns, segmenting your list, and sending and/or receiving messages. It’s important to choose a trustworthy provider who won’t spam your customer list or exploit their information.
The short or long code is the number that your subscribers can use to contact you. It’s also the number they see when they receive your messages, and it’s selected by your provider as well. You can always create your own code, but it’s easier to choose one pre-determined by the provider.
Keywords correspond to certain actions. Depending on your campaign and its objectives, you can set out a few keywords that your subscribers can send to your code to interact with you.
While you can try your text campaigns on potential customers to tempt them into subscribing to your list, you should never send out a promotional campaign or updates to unsuspecting people. Make sure you get their permission first by giving them other options through which they can subscribe, which can be done using social media campaigns and lead generators on websites.
Merely knowing the basics of text marketing doesn’t make for an effective campaign. Just like every step with marketing, you need to act according to a well-devised and strategic plan. In the process of setting up your texting campaign, you’ll start by defining your objectives and targets. You may be targeting increased sales, retaining customers, generating leads, or expanding your customer list to include a new segment. All your goals need to be specific and serve your main vision.
Chances are, your customer segment list will include people with various backgrounds, lifestyles, demographics, and maybe even geographic locations. It doesn’t make sense to communicate with a 40-year old businessman like you’d do a mom driving her kids to the nursery. Even if the message is the same, you’ll need to use different tones and approach both segments in a different manner. That’s why you need to create different lists, each gathering people of shared interests.
Using the right platform is crucial in making the most out of your campaigns. The right platform will provide the features you need to segment the list and test the same message in a variety of ways. It’s also vital to choose a platform that’s easy to use so you don’t waste a lot of time creating your messages. The best platforms offer automaticity that allows you to generate automatic replies, customize messages, schedule campaigns, and give you an unlimited number of recipients.
How would you feel if someone interrupted you when you’re right about to jump into bed? It’s not a very pleasant feeling, especially if it’s a stranger promoting their products. The best time to send your messages is when your recipients are most-willing to open them.
Usually, it’s best to stick to the mid-day working hours, avoiding both early and late messages. Texting campaigns also work best when you create a sense of urgency by sending last-minute messages for a limited offer or an event that’s taking place in a few hours.
Marketing is all about A/B testing, gathering data, measuring performance, and optimizing. Text marketing is no different in this case; to maximize the efficiency of your campaigns, you’ll keep testing different versions of your campaign and exploit the insights you get from the process.
Once you’ve gotten the basics of texting marketing down, there are a few steps you’ll take to ensure the efficiency of your campaigns. Crafting catchy and creative messages comes as a no-brainer, but, to improve your open rates, you need to follow a strategic plan. Meanwhile, be sure to hit your targets by using the right tactics, tools, and platforms.
