There are a lot of great numbers out their touting the strengths of SMS in comparison to email. Those stats tell a compelling story of user preferences, open rates, and response times. However, it would be shortsighted for businesses to simply replace any marketing tool with SMS. SMS works best as part of a strategic marketing approach, as a complementary piece along with other customer-friendly channels.
Successful SMS marketers use text messages as a Swiss Army knife, capable of reaching out to individuals as well as large groups of people. It is used to generate buzz, share codes, promote events, and answer questions. Understanding the flexibility of the tool is key to harnessing its power, and having it fit well within your marketing program.
SMS as a Promotional Tool
Sales, events, and contests are just three ways businesses use SMS to generate business. Messages may contain discount codes, announce special offers for subsets of customers, or remind consumers that a sale is going on now.
In these instances, where timing is critical, savvy marketers can take advantage of SMS response times, as more than 90 % are read in under 3 minutes. If they want to promote a short promotional offer, SMS is the ideal channel for getting that message in front of customers.
SMS for Gathering Data
Today’s mobile consumers are much more comfortable texting than filling out forms. As a result, many marketers are using conversational chatbots to capture email addresses, contact information, and other data, all of which can be used to power other elements of your marketing program.
SMS for Lead Gen
We’ve recently started seeing B2B brands creating lead-gen campaigns that rely on SMS. These campaigns use marketing automation tools to text leads, sharing mobile-optimized landing pages, videos, and blog content.
The data generated from these campaigns are fed into the CRM system, which is used to move customers through the marketing funnel and qualify leads for the sales pipeline.
SMS as a Team Player
As a marketer, you have a number of different tools at your disposal. SEO and PPC bring customers to your website through search and internet navigation. Social media enables you to disseminate content to your followers, demonstrating the value you offer. Other tools enable you to reach leads, dissect data, and understand your position in the market.
SMS works as an engagement tool, meeting customers and leads on their phone, and offering an additional touchpoint that can be utilized anywhere, by anyone, at any time.
To find out how you can integrate SMS into your marketing program, talk to one of our messaging experts. They’ll show you everything you need to know about SMS tools.
