It’s important for small business marketers to always be open to new and innovative marketing tactics that may help them reach more potential customers. While not all marketing tactics will work for every business, the tried-and-true approaches such as email marketing, content marketing, and social media still provide respectable results when done correctly. To supplement those efforts, some marketers are looking at text messaging marketing, but should your business try text messaging marketing?

What is text messaging marketing?

text messagingText message marketing is the process of communicating business news and updates, sales, product or service launches, promotions, or other relevant information to your customers via SMS, also known as short message service, to their mobile devices. Before brushing SMS off as a flash in the pan trend, consider this: In 2022,  75% of customers indicated that they want to receive texts from businesses. In fact,  30% of customers will make a purchase in response to text messages. Those are some impressive numbers to at least consider the idea of text messaging marketing.

What are the benefits of SMS marketing for businesses?

benefits of SMS marketingIf done correctly, there are several benefits of SMS marketing, including high open rates, impressive conversion rates, ability to speak to groups or individuals, easy to measure results, and can easily be combined with other marketing tactics. As mentioned above, email remains a solid and effective marketing tactic. When combined with text messaging marketing, the benefits increase significantly! First, since both small business email marketing and SMS marketing are permission-based approaches, your message is going to people who want to hear from you. Combining both helps you reach your target audience on their preferred channel of communication. Some people prefer marketing by text, some by email. Since you, as a small business marketer, have no way to tell which channel they prefer, combining the two approaches increases the odds of reaching your potential customer. Both provide the ability for quick responses but consider this: if you emailed a potential customer who is a hot lead, text messaging as a response increases response time. The average text message is responded to within 90 seconds. So, whatever the offer, when you want instant results, combining email marketing with SMS is more effective than relying on email messages alone.

Text messaging marketing enhances customer experience

SMS for customer experienceMany marketers are so focused on bringing in new clients that they forget to continue marketing to the existing client base. SMS marketing can address this gap by providing an elevated customer experience. Text messages are short by nature and great for urgent information or real-time communications that require customer interaction, like:

  • Flash sales
  • Reminders
  • Security alerts
  • Confirmations
  • Shipping or delivery notifications

SMS marketing ideas by industry

Constant Contact put together an impressive list of ideas for how to use text messaging marketing by industry. Check it out here. While some are fairly specific by industry, there are a few overall ideas that apply to any industry:

  • Quick communication
  • Customer service
  • Following up on website leads
  • Growing your contact list

Next steps if you’re looking to try text messaging marketing 

If you’re considering SMS marketing, here are a few things to keep in mind before you begin:

  • You must have permission from people before sending them text messages
  • Don’t overcommunicate (send too many texts!)
  • Set clear expectations for those who opt-in to your SMS list
  • Provide disclaimers such as “message and data rates may apply”
  • Make it clear how they can opt-out
  • Be brief
  • Provide value

Ready to give text messaging marketing a try? Work with a small business marketing professional to help you get set up and plan your marketing approach.

Patty Hughes
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