5 Things You Need To Know About SMS Marketing

SMS marketing refers to the use of text messages to advertise products or services to customers. Out of all the features available on mobile phones, the SMS app is the most used due to its immediate functionality and quick response rate. With its powerful functionality, SMS marketing is becoming an extremely popular digital advertising strategy. It’s a feature that many smartphone owners use on a day-to-day basis. SMS marketing is attractive to marketers because it places advertising messages right in front of their customers. It’s a mobile phone service that reaches clients exactly where they spend most of their time. Originally used by cellular service providers, SMS marketing has become a choice for numerous businesses—from small enterprises to very large companies.

This phenomenon has led to an influx in the number of text marketing platform services across the globe. However, this does not necessarily mean that every SMS marketing campaign becomes successful. So, how can you make your SMS marketing campaign a success? Below are five important things you need to know before you launch your next campaign:

SMS Marketing Messages Have Two Components

The purpose of creating an SMS marketing campaign is to alert customers of offers that they can take advantage of. There are two main components you need to familiarize yourself with to develop the best marketing campaign. Customers love deals that give them a chance to save money. As such, a successful SMS marketing campaign should have two key components: a short code and a keyword. The keyword serves as the invitation to accept the offer you’re making, while the short code shows them how to access the offer.

Often, the keyword is placed within the text message body, while the short code appears in a recipient’s box. An example of an SMS marketing campaign message is, “Text ‘YES’ to ‘12121’ to receive special offers each week.”

The word ‘YES’ in this message is the keyword, and ‘12121’ is the short code. Recipients who act on the SMS message are considered to have opted-in to the marketing campaign. Depending on how a marketing campaign is structured, businesses can choose to add recipients to an SMS list. This is where they receive texts on a regular basis or send out one automated message.

SMS Marketing Is Not Invasive

Unlike other forms of advertising, SMS marketing does not feel invasive. It runs under a standard known as permission-based marketing. This works because subscribers have to give their consent to the company that’s running an SMS marketing campaign before that business can add such contacts to their list. It’s not advisable to add phone numbers to an SMS database randomly—that could put you in business legal issues.

Customers who learn about an SMS marketing campaign must give their consent to receive SMSs in one of two ways. They may either send their number to the company that’s running the campaign through a digital form, or send the keyword to the short code provided. If a customer does none of these, they haven’t given consent to receive anything from the company.

SMS Marketing Campaigns Must Comply With The Law

Besides getting customer consent, companies that run SMS marketing campaigns should ensure that their campaigns comply with the set laws. Therefore, operating these campaigns are an excellent idea to help grow your business. Regulatory entities vary from one country to another. In the US, for example, there are three top entities governing the mobile industry: the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Cellular Telecommunications and Internet Association (CTIA), and the Mobile Marketing Association.

This means that each of these entities has a set of guidelines that companies have to adhere to when undertaking SMS marketing campaigns. Companies should also check for changes in the legal requirements, and comply with them during their campaigns. For instance, some laws take consent a step further. They require companies to state clearly that consenting to the terms of an SMS campaign does not constitute a condition for making a purchase.

SMS Marketing Campaigns Should Be Timed Well

Every company that runs an SMS marketing campaign worries that recipients of SMS messages might consider them spam. This concern is valid because, if this happens, they could lose a large number of subscribers, which would hurt their brand. To keep this from happening, marketers need to time their messages well.

Being a permission-based marketing strategy, customers send opt-in forms, which simply means they’re ready to hear from a particular business. It’s important for a company to not misuse their permission by sending out numerous texts in a day—this will put the customer off. Instead, it’s best to test the campaigns and identify the frequency that yields the best results. This enables most companies to know which days work well with customers and the time they’re most receptive to the campaigns.

SMS Marketing Requires Consistency

To get positive results, companies that run SMS marketing campaigns must send texts to their audience regularly. While it’s important to send texts that provide value to recipients, not sending messages out for several weeks will most likely lose subscribers. To keep an audience hooked, a text message sent out at least once every week should be successful.

An SMS only carries 160 characters. However, when used by marketers, it becomes a powerful marketing tool that places advertising messages right in front of customers. Though SMS marketing campaigns are relatively easy to implement, knowing the five things discussed above increases your chances of getting the results you want through such campaigns.