It was a nice balmy evening and time to get off from work. Mohor decided to scroll through his phone and find something interesting to eat. He soon found himself spoilt for choice after flipping through lip-smacking images and irresistible discounts. The hoard of tabs, social media accounts, and food delivery apps did not help either.
Our boy was already giving up when a notification startled him. It was an SMS from a Pizza place 500 meters away from where he lived. The SMS offered an “after-office” discount coupon that he could avail between 5 pm-7 pm. Without further ado, Mohor dashed out of the office and placed an order when his home was 15 minutes away. By the time he got there, a piping hot mushroom cheese-burst was waiting at the doorstep.
What is SMS Marketing?
It feels like Mohor could be any of us. We may get a similar coupon code this evening, tonight or the day after. This is because the codes, promotions, discounts, and offers are elements of an organized strategy called SMS marketing. It ensures that offers arrive at the most appropriate time when we need them.
Mobile SMS marketing is a timely technique that works favourably for brands. The number of mobile subscribers is estimated to reach around 5 billion by 2019 (source: https://goo.gl/nQZT9s). No wonder SMS has open rates as high as 98 per cent compared to other forms of advertising. (Source: https://goo.gl/mRfw3E). A promotional SMS speaks directly to the user and can be read in less than a minute.
Despite the allegation that promotional SMSes spam our inboxes, brands must never shy away from having an SMS marketing strategy. If implemented well, mobile SMS marketing can work wonders.
Let us help you make the most of your SMS marketing campaigns with the following tactics:
Keep a Clock
While hundreds of companies send endless promotional and deals via SMS, the frequency of these messages can ultimately put off the user. A lot of promotional messages reach the user irrespective of time and context. A lunch coupon at 9 in the morning is irrelevant to the customer, whereas the same message would get more attention if it were to reach him an hour before lunch. Remember Mohor’s story.
Don’t Forget the USP
It is wise to be different and think beforehand why the user would be interested in your deal. Is it worth their time? The offer must be exclusive, personalized and relevant to your audience (perhaps it’s time to work on your client-database). Do you think the ‘after-office’ discount would be popular with housewives? Last but not the least, avoid copying other brands as much as possible when it comes to discounts and offers. Be original.
Piggybank on Transactional SMS
Companies that regularly send billing or transaction details to customers can add shorter promotional messages to their transactional SMSes. It is an excellent opportunity to initiate a clear call-to-action with the extra codes. Just make sure that the codes, keywords or offers blend well with the transactional message and do not lose their importance. You may even look up quite a few SMS marketing services that enable this.
Do not Isolate your SMS Marketing Campaign
Remember how Mohor made a point to scroll through food delivery apps and social media accounts before noticing the SMS. That’s true for most of us. Social media trends and updates significantly influence our buying decision and promotional SMSes act like a ‘final push.’ Hence, it is a great idea to integrate WAP links into your SMS that direct people to your site or app. The next time somebody needs service, they will perhaps browse through your website first.
Location
Mentioning your location is extremely important. A lot of brands forget to mention this, resulting in a confused customer who does not know where to redeem the offer. If you have customers worldwide, it is all the more important to have a good track of locations and time zones. International SMS marketing services are an excellent way to figure this out.
In conclusion, having an SMS marketing strategy is effective if you do not consider it in silos. The social media can get overwhelming for a buyer with its unending images and options. Treat it as the sweet spot for SMS marketing. A to-the-point, short, relevant and timely SMS can score where social media lags.