Ten reasons to use SMS in your marketing

10 reasons you can’t afford to ignore SMS marketing.

As marketers, we’re constantly thinking up creative ways to get our message out to existing and potential customers; whilst also ensuring we get good results from our efforts. One of the basic practical rules in marketing is to think like your audience, to keep up-to-date with their buying habits and where they are looking.

Whatever your product or service is, it’s important to ensure its visible wherever your customers go, with a ratio now of four mobile devices to every computer, it’s clear where our customers are. Mobile marketing is no longer something you can afford to put on the to-do-list for the future; you need to make sure you’re on a mobile device, now.

With smartphone users increasing daily, forward-thinking businesses are looking for ways to make their business mobile-friendly. SMS is a tried, tested and has been around for over 20 years – using it to communicate with customers will ensure your business keeps up with market trends whilst using a reliable method.

For those of you who haven’t considered the benefits of using SMS marketing yet, I’ve put together 10 reasons you why it could be part of your communications mix:

Ten benefits of SMS marketing

• 1. Immediate

There’s no long waiting time for designs to be mocked up or campaigns to be printed, just decide what your message is, sending a bulk SMS to your customers takes no longer than sending a text on your own phone. So, not only will you free up some precious time, but with over 90% of messages read within 3 minutes of being received you could see results immediately.

• 2. Mobile-friendly

Making your business mobile-friendly is no longer something to consider ‘later’. Mobile is here and it’s not going anywhere. SMS is compatible with pretty much every mobile phone so you won’t need to worry about alienating some users, or getting your customers on board with brand new technologies.

• 3. Customers love it

SMS is a really simple and accessible way of engaging with each other and with an open rate of 98%, it is heads and shoulders above any other communication method in terms of read rate. Most people send and receive text messages on a daily basis so we know your customers will like, have access to and know how to use SMS. 

• 4. Eco-friendly

In comparison to email, direct mail and face to face meetings; a text message has the lowest impact on our carbon footprint. In fact it’s almost a carbon free way of communicating, so if you’re looking for ways to make your business greener, SMS marketing is a big step in the right direction.

• 5. Direct

Most of us don’t leave the house without our mobile phone, in fact it’s probably within arms-reach 24/7. Besides meeting face-to-face or calling each customer, I can’t think of a more direct way to communicate your message whilst ensuring the message is delivered straight into the right hands, at the right time.

• 6. Simple

As we try and juggle our busy lives, it can sometimes feel like we have too much information to take in. Emails go unread, adverts ignored and leaflets discarded. SMS is small and simple and gets the message across instantly without any messing around. How many text messages do you receive that you don’t read?

• 7. Trackable  

Most service providers will offer simple delivery reporting to check your messages have successfully been sent. If you’re looking for more intelligent tracking, the top players in SMS marketing will not only tell you when your messages have been sent successfully, but will also provide you with details on who, what and when links have been clicked ensuring you get the most from your campaigns.

• 8. Generate leads

Keywords are easy to set-up on an SMS shortcode and can be anything from your brand name to a memorable word. Advertise your keyword on your website, printed media or in your store, allowing customers to opt-in to your mailing list. E.g. Text SMS to 82228 for exciting news and special offers!

Not only does this provide you with lots of new contacts to communicate with but it also generates an instant lead with little effort required from you or your customer.

• 9. Personal

Most peoples email and direct mailboxes are swamped with junk mail and spam. Customers will only opt-in to SMS updates from companies they want to interact with, so you know you’re delivering the message to the right person without it getting lost or ignored. If you want to make your customers feel really special, it’s easy to personalise each message and won’t take any extra time.

• 10. Cost-effective

Not only is an SMS campaign affordable for budgets of all shapes and sizes, but you’ll also see a healthy return on investment from SMS marketing. At just a few pence per messages, you can be really targeted with your campaigns without it breaking the bank.

If boosting sales and improving communication with customers are on your list of resolutions this year, but you don’t have a hefty budget and hours of spare time; SMS is a small, yet powerful, marketing tool not to be overlooked.

Thanks to Holly Barber for sharing her thoughts and opinions in this blog post. Holly Barber is Marketing Manager and SMS expert at FireText, a UK communications company specialising in mobile marketing and SMS. She gained a number of years’ experience in both print and digital advertising and marketing before focussing on the mobile sector. You can connect via Twitter at @firetext_uk or LinkedIn.