I’ve been in marketing for over 15 years and have experience with Google AdWords, Ads on Facebook, social media, EDM (email marketing), search engine optimization, copywriting, and content marketing. However, there is one marketing technique that has consistently given fantastic results regardless of the market targeted and that is That is, online SMS.
The only drawback I can think of is that I couldn’t use it more frequently since people are less tolerant of receiving a lot of SMS messages than they are of receiving a lot of email.
There is, however, a cunning method around this, which I will discuss later in this post.
But let’s get back to why I believe online SMS is the finest marketing tool accessible today.
Exceptionally High Engagement Rates
How much engagement you can get with an email, social media post, online ad, etc. is one of the most significant indicators for marketers.
You will not be able to make a sale if you are unable to capture the attention of your potential consumer.
You can get over 97 percent open rates using online SMS, which no other marketing channel can match, as far as I’m aware.
Consider the following scenario.
You spend a few hours brainstorming, writing, and creating a fantastic promotional email, only to have it have a 20% open rate, or 30% if you’re a master email marketer.
How long does it take to compile a text message and send it out? It’s only a question of inputting your message and hitting send after you’ve completed the whole approach. We’re talking about a few minutes here, and you’ll be able to get virtually everyone to open and read your message.
Click-through rates are high
When paired with 97 percent open rates, SMS has a 10% click-through or tap-through rate, which means a lot of traffic is headed your way.
Increased Conversions
I don’t think there’s anything special about online SMS in terms of getting you a higher conversion rate per se, but the fact that you can get such a large number of people to read your SMS message and tap-through to your offer means you could see anywhere from 2-4x more sales simply because your marketing offer was exposed to more people.
So now that you know why I like online SMS, let me show you how to get even more mileage out of your online SMS advertising.
Obtain leads
“A lot more organisations and marketers are adopting online SMS to engage with their clients, yet most of them are only utilising 50% of SMS’s potential.” – SMSpapa.com.au, Peter M.
When it comes to online SMS, it’s critical that you master the art of producing new leads in order to keep your SMS list growing. Think of your SMS list as a business asset that you can benefit from.
Too frequently, company owners simply shove their existing customer information into their SMS list and call it a day; however, this is not the best approach.
While adding your existing clients to your SMS list is a smart idea, make sure that y You’ve requested that they opt-in and you sort them into categories in order to boost conversions; more on that later.
Once you’ve set up your lead generation campaigns to target certain consumer categories, you’ll have a lead generating tool that works around the clock to produce fresh, highly qualified leads.
How do you go about making these campaigns?
The technical aspects of creating a campaign are less crucial than the offer that drives it, which we’ll discuss next.
1. Use attractive offers to generate a large number of leads.
More leads will be attracted if your offer is excellent.
It’s a straightforward strategy, but it’s difficult to put into action.
What makes an offer irresistible?
An enticing offer is one that puts a lot of internal pressure on your target consumer to make a purchase, read an article or click on a link.
What would be an appealing offer if you had been trudging across a dry, scorching desert all day? Water.
This is an extreme example, but it should get you thinking in the right direction.
Here are three guidelines for coming up with an enticing offer:
Don’t utilise free vacations or freebies, Inexperienced marketers frequently use free giveaways or competitions for things they do not sell, which is a regular strategy I see.
For instance, if you provide cleaning services and are giving away a trip to France, this makes no sense for your company, and w hat you’ll receive is a list of freeloaders who, as soon as they find out the winner of the competition, will unsubscribe from your SMS list since they joined for the free trip and not for cleaning services.
Remember what I said about offering the appropriate product to the right customer at the right time with the water example?
If you give 30% off the first three cleaning sessions, you’ll only get folks who want to hire a new cleaner – which is ideal.
This does not imply you must offer discounts or extra freebies; instead, you may provide a meaningful free piece of information, such as a free report on recent sales in a given region followed by a free price appraisal report if you are a real estate agent.
This further qualifies the lead because you know they’re interested in the market and may be seeking to sell in the future – a terrific method to establish a prospect list.
2. Offers can be used to segment leads.
Another common blunder I find with online SMS marketing is that organisations will have a single list loaded with many consumer kinds – this is a huge mistake.
Customers may seek solutions to quite varied issues, therefore blasting everyone with the same message would alienate the majority of your list, leading to a rise in unsubscriptions.
Instead, consider the many sorts of clients you have and why they are purchasing your goods.
Then, inside your online SMS dashboard, divide these into parts.
When they opt-in, they will be assigned to certain categories. For example, if you own a health supplement business, you may have nine different sorts of customers, these may people who would like to:
- Increase general well-being
- Increase their overall energy levels
- Strengthen their immune system
- Treat stomach problems
- Ease discomfort
- Decrease their cholesterol.
- Decrease their blood pressure
- Treat arthritis
In the example above, if you send out an SMS ad with a discount on arthritis pills, you’ve ignored the other 8 sorts of clients — a wasted opportunity.
Instead, you should develop nine distinct online SMS segment groups and nine attractive offers for each group.