SMS Marketing: Planning for Success

SMS marketing remains an underutilized marketing tool. This even though text-message marketing boasts some seriously impressive statistics. Reaching customers through mail, email, or social media gets more difficult every day; but SMS marketing is a field that is still largely untapped. As with any marketing strategy, text message marketing requires extensive planning to work out; but the payoff is worth the effort.

The Benefits of SMS Marketing

When it comes to reaching your audience, SMS messages might be the best method for your business. According to a recent study by the Pew Research Center, modern consumers are always connected through their phones. In fact, 31% of adults never turn off their phone (and that number jumps to 76% when you include those who only rarely turn off their phone).

What’s more, the lack of competition is likely to set you apart from your competition. While they are scrapping and fighting over an ever-decreasing share of the email game, you’re getting right in front of customers with a custom SMS marketing campaign.

Marketing Needs a Plan

As with all marketing, you need a solid plan in place before you launch an SMS marketing campaign. Blindly throwing text messages at your customers is like purchasing PPC ads without a clear plan – you’ll end up spending a lot of money with very little to show for it.

Instead, spend the time to create a detailed plan. This will ensure that you are getting the most out of your investment by winning customers, keeping in legal compliance, and making a lasting impression. Creating an SMS marketing plan can be a difficult task because the world of text message marketing is uncharted ground (even among professional marketers). But at its core, SMS marketing is not much different than any other form of marketing and we have created a winning strategy to get the most out of text messaging for your business.

The Text Marketing Plan

When building an SMS marketing plan, there are three aspects that provide unique challenges: timing, frequency, and content. Of course, there are other elements to your marketing plan (target audience, voice, etc.) but they are largely the same as the rest of your marketing efforts.

• Timing: Even if 31% of adults never turn off their phone, you shouldn’t send text messages in at any old time. Middle-of-the-night text messages should be reserved for emergencies, not marketing. So, spend some time considering the best time to send your message. The answers will depend on your niche, but the question remains the same: when can I get the most engagement from my target audience? Weekdays or weekends? Business hours or evenings? Mornings or lunchtime?
• Frequency: The frequency rules for text messages are totally different from emails. Consumers are already getting dozens (or even hundreds) of emails every day. A few more marketing emails aren’t going to push them over the edge. But if you’re sending four or five marketing text messages a week, you’re going to drive people crazy. A good number to shoot for is 2-4 per month. This means that you must get more bang out of each message – so keep the content good.
• Content: Writing marketing text messages is hard. The limited medium means you can’t use many of the traditional marketing and advertising tricks. So, what should your text messages do? The most common (and most successful) content is discounts and offers. Consider offering a free gift, a percentage off, a dollar amount off, or a buy-one-get-one offer. Further, it is a great way to create a sense of urgency or exclusivity to your marketing efforts.

SMS Marketing Experts

Text message marketing is still wide open, and there’s never been a better time to get your business started. The key is to find a marketing firm that is equipped to get you through the complexities of setting up and launching a successful campaign. At Fusion Group USA, we’re experts at SMS marketing. We can get you set up, ensure total compliance, and help you set up a plan for success.

SMS marketing is a growing tool – and ignoring it puts you at risk of getting left behind. Contact us today to see how we can implement text message marketing as a part of your strategy.