Text messaging is hardly a new thing. It rapidly became the preferred form of communication among millennials and is gaining in popularity across demographics. My grandmother, who is 83, sends me texts with more emojis than a teenage Instagrammer. Everybody uses text messaging – except for a surprising number of marketers.

SMS marketing is a powerful and broadly untapped channel for your business – but don’t just take my word for it, let’s look at the five most important advantages of text message marketing.

Sky-High Open Rates

All the marketing effort in the world isn’t worth a thing if people aren’t reading your message, and SMS messaging has sky-high open rates. Email marketing is a popular option, but its open rates hover around the 20% line. And here the thing: that’s not bad. The click-through-rate is much lower, but getting your message in front of 1/5^th of recipients is worth the effort.

But compare that to SMS marketing and the results are shocking. Text messages have an open rate of 98%. Ninety-eight percent. Let that sink in.

There will come a day when open rates drop, but SMS marketing is such an untapped channel that you can get your message in front of virtually every recipient. Don’t wait till people start blocking SMS messages – the time to capitalize on this channel is right now!

No Filter Obstacles

Email is getting harder to reach every day. Spam filters were making things difficult five years ago, now the advent of Gmail’s tabs and Outlook’s Focused Inbox have made reaching customers even more difficult. When you go the SMS route, there are no filters. Every message goes right to your customers’ phones; unfiltered and direct.

You can spend valuable time and resources scheming ways to get around people’s spam filters, or you can skip that fight altogether with a simple SMS marketing campaign. The answer should be obvious.

To the Point

As marketers, we spend a lot of time writing and talking. And because of that, we tend to get long-winded. But here’s the truth: people don’t want to read a thousand words on why you’re the best. They want 15 words. SMS marketing forces us to be focused with our copy.

Being focused lets you focus on the most important part of your message and it gets customers to actually read it. I am continually amazed at how cutting out the fat results in a better message – don’t underestimate the power of a concise message.

Easy Opt-In

No one likes spam – that’s the truth no matter how much we don’t want it to be. Every day, your email marketing is getting marked as spam and hurting your sender score. But text messaging makes opting in and out extremely easy. Your customers will appreciate it and it ensures that your message is only going to those that want it.

There’s no reason to waste time on people that have no desire to use your business. It is a waste of time, resources, and turns people off – avoid that whole discussion with easy opt-in SMS messaging.

Unique

Here’s the final advantage of text message marketing: it is unique. Name a business that isn’t social media or email marketing. Now name a business that is using SMS marketing. The difference is obvious – one if flooded with the same message over and over, while the other is a wide-open space with very little competing noise.

Many people are genuinely surprised to see SMS marketing messages – and that is something you probably haven’t seen in years. Text messages are a unique way to get your messages to consumers – so get on it today!

SMS Experts

I’ve been thinking about why more people aren’t using SMS marketing – and I think I know the answer: the barrier to entry is high. Everyone knows how to send an email or post to Facebook, but setting up and running an SMS campaign requires specialized knowledge. This is especially true when you start looking at the legal issues that are involved with text message marketing.

Fusion Group USA can help you navigate the world of SMS marketing so that you’re getting your message to the right people at the right time. Get in touch with us today if you want to capitalize on the uncluttered space of SMS marketing!