Overhaul Your SMS Marketing With These 4 Genius Tips
Text campaigns can pay huge dividends in the new decade.
January 23, 2020 6 min read
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
This year marks the start of a fresh decade, meaning it's a blank slate, so why not jazz up your marketing mix? What you’ve been doing is getting results, sure, but don’t you want to go farther?
Let’s forget about social media likes and blog impressions. It’s time to get serious about engagement, because that’s what’s going to grow your business. Not all digital strategies, like paid ads or email, are made equally. In fact, one of the most effective digital-marketing strategies going forward is SMS marketing.
Why SMS?
It’s true: SMS marketing earns four times more revenue than email, and it costs much less. Plus, texts have a 98 percent open rate and get three-to-six times more engagement than other marketing campaigns. Still not convinced? Here are the three most important reasons your business needs to use SMS marketing starting now.
1. You'll stand out.
Instead of competing with other advertisers on Google or Facebook, SMS marketing allows you start a conversation directly with your customer in a distraction-free environment. To be clear, other marketing initiatives, like paid ads or email, aren’t wrong. They have a place in your strategy. The problem is that everyone else has the same idea as you, and businesses bombard customer inboxes multiple times a day. Translation: Performance drops a lot when you’re competing for space in customers’s clogged inboxes.
SMS marketing isn’t as saturated. You don’t have to compete for a customer’s attention. Only interested customers are going to opt-in to your SMS list anyway. They’re giving you a direct line to communicate with them in an exclusive environment that few brands can penetrate.
SMS also makes it easier to sign customers up for your list. Mobile-only popups on your website can auto-populate a customer's phone number, which means they tap to subscribe, visit their inbox immediately to double opt-in and they’re on your list. It removes a lot of the friction that decimates email-marketing ROI.
Related: Here's Why SMS Marketing Is the Best Idea Ever
2. You can match customer expectations.
Entrepreneurs often think they’ll bug their customers if they do SMS marketing, but as long as you follow a double opt-in approach (which is the law), you ensure that only interested customers are on your list. And since SMS marketing is consent-based, you’re reaching customers in the most convenient way possible. If they subscribed to get your updates, it means they want to communicate with you this way. Texting isn’t spammier than email. If anything, it gives customers an improved experience that encourages engagement.
3. It’s affordable.
Unless you’re buying a list, email marketing is pretty affordable. Because of that, many entrepreneurs shy away from SMS marketing because they think it’s expensive. But unlike email marketing, which can often have low ROI, text-message marketing trends positive. I have a friend who sees a $25 return for every $1 he spends on SMS.
SMS marketing costs depend on how many texts you want to send. You usually purchase credits to send SMS messages through a platform. That means you can spend as much or as little as you’re comfortable with.
Four Tips for Better SMS Marketing
We know that SMS marketing is worthwhile for brands, but that doesn’t mean you should dive in without a plan. You have to know how to wield it to get the best results for your business. So as promised, follow these for tips to max out your results.
1. Have decent site traffic.
SMS marketing works best when you have established web traffic. That’s because SMS messaging happens at the bottom of the funnel; it’s meant to pull users through to conversion with enticing offers or valuable content. You still need to bring in enough web users to bulk up your list if you want to see positive ROI.
Shoot to have at least 20,000 visitors a month on your site. This is what’s going to build your list quickly and move the needle for your business.
2. Minimize friction.
Once you have a healthy amount of traffic on your site, make it simple for these visitors to subscribe to your SMS list. At this point, you want to minimize friction at every turn. Don’t force customers to go through a four-step process just to subscribe; they don’t have the time or patience for that. Follow this frictionless process to gain more SMS subscribers from your website:
This process eliminates fake numbers from your list and makes the double opt-in process as painless and fast as possible, meaning more people will happily join your text list.
3. Content matters.
Content is still king, even for text messages. Remember that your content can’t be spammy. Instead of pushing customers to buy, buy, buy, you should deliver value. The goal is to start a conversation, not pressure your customers. Share interesting, helpful content like news, fun conversation-starters or information on freebies or discounts.
Don’t neglect visual content, either. SMS is a fun medium through which you can send videos, GIFs and custom images to your subscribers. Jazz up your copy with visuals that get people’s attention. Consider using tech like RCS to create an engaging experience for your customers within their native SMS application.
4. Nurture your relationships.
The final piece of the puzzle is to send SMS messages regularly to your subscribers. You won’t get results if you’re communicating with your list once a month; one or two times a week is best to get more engagement. In fact, this will actually minimize unsubscribes. If you text customers once in a blue moon, they’ll forget they subscribed and feel caught off-guard from your message. Regular communication is best for customer relationships.
But you don’t have to remember to send new messages every week. Any decent SMS marketing platform will let you set up automated SMS flows. For example, you can send a welcome sequence when someone joins your list. Or maybe you send over a how-to automation for a product someone just bought.
Related: 5 SMS Marketing Tips for Small Businesses
While other strategies should still have a place in your business, SMS marketing is the dark horse of digital marketing, allowing you to engage with customers and finally see a return on your budget dollars. The future is now, so get ready to hit “send.”
How To Appeal To Clients Without Really Marketing Your Services: 11 Expert Tips
Marketing is all about being fresh and having a bold new angle on things. Unorthodox marketing tactics have a way of drawing in a crowd and being very successful. However, figuring out what sort of unrelated marketing strategy works and what doesn't can be complicated.
Balancing how the company appeals to its clients while utilizing the new angle to its best exposure takes a certain level of skill. To help businesses that may be considering marketing from different angles, 11 experts from Forbes Communications Council share their successes in using unrelated marketing to engage clients. The details of how they implemented these campaigns may surprise and inspire you.
Members explain how to attract clients without a "hard sell."
Photos courtesy of the individual members
1. Take A Stance On A Social Issue
Oftentimes, a brand taking a stance on a social issue and being bold has nothing to do with the company's product or offering. But when a brand takes a stance on an issue that matters, they tie into the emotion of the buyer and customer and create a following. We did this with a campaign in the CX space. People rarely get recognized for work -- we created a contest that showed them off. - James Gilbert, CloudCherry
2. Do Good Things To Help People
It may sound simple, but doing good things makes employees feel good about the company they work for and their values, and will often create a value-based connection to current and potential customers. Teams I've been part of have volunteered at food banks almost every Christmas, sponsored children for Make-a-Wish foundation and even partnered with customers to sponsor families at Christmas. - Tony Holbrook, tonyholbrook.Ca
3. Use Relatable Visuals
Especially for startups with low brand awareness, marketing context is key. For example, I work with a fintech startup that digitizes and eliminates paper checks from a common real estate transaction. To convey the value proposition, our team used the visual of walking up a staircase with roller skates on. You can do it -- just like you can use paper checks -- but why when there's an easier way? - Melissa Kandel, little word studio
4. Don't Be Afraid To Be Funny
While it depends on your industry and brand image, humor can be a great way to engage with customers in a very personal and unique way. At a past company we created videos for our account reps that used some of their unique personality traits and turned the dial up to 11 to make them funny. Customers loved them because they were personal and showed we didn't take ourselves too seriously. - Tom Wozniak, OPTIZMO Technologies, LLC
5. Use A Metaphor To Make A Point
One way to market to clients from a different angle is to use something that is metaphorical to make a point -- something from a different industry that will resonate with everyone. For example, we passed out branded cassette tapes at an event once to make the point that you can’t keep leveraging old technology in a digital world. It got people’s attention! - Jennifer Kyriakakis, MATRIXX Software
6. Share Real-Life Stories
Share real-life stories and ask for a response -- it’s a great way to increase engagement. Personal stories can make your company more relatable. As an example, we had a connection to a NASA space mission (unrelated to our business) and would post messages about project milestones. Our clients would often engage and respond. Inspiring stories are great motivators to create conversation! - Leela Gill, Intelligence Node
7. Appeal To Emotions Of Masses
Associate your brand with a greater cause that strikes the emotions of masses. Think of this as your secret weapon to get into the hearts and minds of your audience without marketing your brand. Disney sending a copy of a "Star Wars" movie before the release date as a gesture to fulfill the last wish of a terminally ill man is a great example of this. - Haseeb Tariq, Fox.Com
8. Practice Guerrilla Marketing
Guerrilla marketing -- showing up in an unexpected way -- is a great tactic for appealing in a new way. Last year, our Italian marketing team sponsored a rental bike stand in the Piazza Di Duomo in Milan, which engaged our employees and drove significant traffic to our careers site, while also getting our name and logo in front of clients and prospects. That’s a win-win-win! - Niamh Whelan-Reiter, Avanade
9. Drill Down To The Core
Instead of focusing on product/service benefits, take it deeper. Keep asking "why is that important?" until you hit the true core. Putting out "core" messages can engage people on a new level. At my company, we pivoted from the importance of memorable phone numbers to drive inbound leads to focus on the power of voice/human connection in a digital world. It's opened up a lot more PR opportunities. - Ellen Sluder, RingBoost
10. Do Giveaways Unrelated To Your Business
When working for a finance company, we started Twitter poll giveaways based on everyday questions (e.G. "Who's going to win the World Series?"). Although it had nothing to do with the services we provided, our loyal customers appreciated the gesture as we demonstrated we cared about their opinions as humans, not merely being a number on our balance sheet. Treat people as human -- it's that simple. - Patrick Ward, Rootstrap
11. Know What's Trending
One way to stand out is to utilize what is currently trending. For example, sustainability and going green is trendy; therefore, showcase how much you care about the community by creating sustainable materials, like reusable bags with your logo on it, which promote your brand as charitable and altruistic. Add a tagline or phrase that explains and connects your brand to the campaign for better ROI. - Maura Kennedy, Pond Lehocky, LLP
Three Digital Marketing Trends You Can’t Miss In 2020
The internet has transformed the way we view and experience the world. Nowadays, we use it for virtually everything, from making a phone call to paying off our credit card bill. Smartphones have revolutionized how we shop and do business. With them, we can interact and socialize with people from around the world using Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, and so on.
From personal experience, I can tell you that I would have never guessed that my smartphone would become a priority for me. I remember thinking that Blackberry pin-to-pin messaging was a disease. Now, I can spend hours upon hours browsing idly through my Instagram feed. Well, the joke’s on me, right?
The same goes for businesses. Most were limited to operating from a storefront or office, and they could only rely on printed or TV ads, and local networking to get customers. Today, however, the world is any business’ oyster. And digital marketing is the magic wand that makes it possible. But that doesn’t mean that it’s easy.
Digital marketers are facing new challenges every year. The interaction between businesses and prospects or customers is evolving as new devices, apps, and social media platforms become available.
The end of the decade brought the time, to sum up, what this ever-changing industry has in store for 2020.
Here are three marketing trends to keep an eye on this year.
1. Paid voice search
Voice search advertising has been on most marketers’ radars for a while now. However, the use of smart speakers and voice assistants has gained momentum in the last couple of years.
So, adopting digital marketing strategies to increase your businesses’ presence in voice searches will soon become a necessity:
And don’t forget about the benefits of paid voice search for local businesses and ecommerce sites:
Source for the above-mentioned stats: QuoraCreative
But how can your business take advantage of this new advertising niche?
By establishing a solid strategy for voice engine optimization. To get ahead of the game, you need to understand how your audience asks questions. Check out the details below.
Guy Sheetrit, CEO and Co-founder of Over the Top SEO, predicted the increasing importance of voice searches last year.
When asked about SEO trends for the near future in an interview for Brandwatch, he mentioned that,
“The combined growth of voice search and the ability of Google to deliver a specific answer to a search query… is going to have a significant impact on how much exposure your website gets.”
This has been slowly but surely turned into a reality. And the ever-growing popularity of smart speakers will just make it more prevalent as time goes by.
2. Interactive content
We’ve all heard the saying “Content is King”. And yes, informative blog posts, killer copy, or social media posts should continue to be key parts of your content marketing strategy. However, they are slowly being outpaced by interactive content. And it makes sense.
In a world where we are bombarded by information right, left, and center, audiences have become more and more demanding about the type of content they’re willing to consume. They expect content to be engaging, relevant, and accessible via any device they use. And they expect this 100% of the time.
I asked Shreetit about the impact of interactive content to which he said,
“If you’re not optimizing your digital marketing strategy with interactive content, then you’re already losing customers.”
He asserted,
“For any business to succeed in 2020, it needs to keep up with what users are craving. And interactive content is one of the most innovative ways to consume information.”
We’ve been using interactive content for a while. Think about online quizzes, surveys, and social games.
However, as technology advances, so does the way users want to experience the world. Investing time and money on incorporating interactive formats to your digital marketing strategy can have tremendous payoffs. To do so, include some interactive infographics, white papers, case studies, or ebooks.
But why is interactive content a trend for the start of the new decade? Why should you invest in interactive content now?
Not sold on it just yet? Check out these figures:
In the era 2.0, where the average users’ attention span is eight seconds or less, keeping potential customers engaged may seem like a herculean task. Consumers are exposed to so much branded content that it can be nearly impossible to stand out from your competitors.
The good news is that it doesn’t have to be. Planning and implementing an interactive content strategy can help you cross that bridge, effectively closing the gap between traffic to your site and conversions.
3. TikTok advertising
TikTok is not new. However, its increasing popularity is. It was launched into the international market in 2017 and last year it took over musical.Ly. A smart move that eased its way into the American teen and tween market.
But what exactly is this social app about?
The concept is rather simple. Users can create short videos and edit them to add filters, effects, and other features. They can then share them on TikTok’s platform or other social media.
And believe me, this single concept has taken the social-media-sphere by storm:
The outreach potential for this app is enormous. If you want to benefit from what TikTok has to offer, I suggest you consider the following tactics.
Create a brand TikTok account
If you create a brand account, you can take advantage of hashtag challenges. These are hugely popular within the platform and will give you a chance to leverage user-generated content. This type of content has become invaluable in today’s marketing world and it’s a nearly foolproof way to reach your audience. Not to mention TikTok’s format has a huge potential for virality. Another way to increase your brand’s presence is by utilizing branded lenses. They are the equivalent of Snapchat or Instagram’s 3D filters. With TikTok, your brand can also create posts with 2D and Augmented Reality (AR). These filters bring a significant level of user engagement by letting your audience actively interact with your products.
Partner with an influencer – someone who already has an established audience
In this case, you need to make sure their demographic and type of content coincide with your target audience and brand. You also must evaluate their engagement metrics to ensure a successful partnership.
Use its paid advertising features
TikTok introduced its biddable ads feature earlier this year and it currently only has one ad type – the in-feed video ad. The platform allows you to target these ads by age, gender, and geographic location (to state level). And, the developer has stated that more granular segmentation will be available soon. You can also create customized audiences by manually adding a CRM list, and whitelist or blacklist specific audiences as well.“As soon as I realized the potential TikTok had, I knew it was an app that could add enormous value to any marketing strategy” Shared Guy. “I wouldn’t be surprised if TikTok changes the digital marketing world entirely and end ups displacing Snapchat.”He also said it was a sure-shot way to gain some track within the teenager and college-age demographic. If they’re your target audience, this is your shortcut to boost your exposure.
To sum it all up…
Keeping up with the ever-evolving digital marketing industry is no easy feat. Things tend to change at the drop of a hat. However, if you stay up-to-date with trends and follow what the experts are buzzing about, you can stay on top of your business’ digital marketing strategy. Adapting it to the shifting online environment to benefit your brand is key to stay ahead of your competitors.
Pius Boachie is the founder of DigitiMatic, an inbound marketing agency.
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