You just felt your phone buzz, so you take it out of your pocket to see who texted you. If you’re one of the 6.64 billion people who have a smartphone, you don’t even have to open the message to see it – it’s in your notification bar. That means you read most of the message without even unlocking your phone. That’s the power of SMS marketing.
No other form of communication has the ease of access that SMS messaging offers to a business’s marketing. Not only is a text message near impossible to avoid reading, but it’s also so natural, easy, and smooth, that it doesn’t anger people like other forms of marketing do.
People complain up and down about how many spam emails they get and that they don’t check their email as much as they should. The number of times people will let a call go to voicemail, or cancel the call because they assume it’s a robocall is unreal.
But text messaging doesn’t do that. Why would it garner such agitation when someone can whip out their phone, look at the notification, and put their phone back in their pocket in a matter of seconds. It makes things easier for both the marketer and the consumer, so much so that businesses can’t afford to not consider SMS marketing.
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS is the name for the technology that runs text messages. It stands for Short Message Service, and SMS marketing is when text marketing messages are sent through SMS.
You do this by accessing a text messaging service and then scheduling out campaigns with deals, promotions, and coupons that will go straight to people’s phones in the form of a text.
What Are the Benefits of Text Message Marketing?
Marketing through text messages means getting the benefits of text messaging. Email for non-marketing messages has low open rates. In fact, 89% of Americans check their email at least once a day. That sounds good, but consider that they’re only checking their email at least once. That means, in all likelihood, the majority of people are not seeing an email for hours. If they’re sending marketing promotions or a deal, that email is not likely to be read while they can make a purchase.
Text messages, on the other hand, have a 98% open rate, and 90% of people read and respond in under 90 seconds. That means that most people are opening your text marketing messages and reading them immediately. So, when you send out a promotion for lunch, you can send out a text at lunchtime and expect people to come.
How is it Different From Email Marketing?
SMS marketing isn’t a replacement for email marketing. It gets to the consumer differently and has different rules to keep people from abusing the system. Because of this, there are some key differences to consider.
- Less risk, bigger reward: Text messages are not expensive compared to email marketing. While text messages can sometimes cost a few more cents to send when sent to certain carriers, they cost far less to design. An email needs graphics, layouts, and detailed content. A text message should be short, sweet, and doesn’t need any graphics, though they are welcome.
- More precise: Text messages are not long or as in-depth as emails by design. They’re short and to the point, so they can tell the consumer everything they need to know at a glance.
- More enforcement of the rules: You cannot send marketing messages to people who have not strictly opted in to your marketing groups. To send a message to someone who did not give you their number is illegal and punishable with a fine. Email marketing has similar rules but does not have the same punishments nor the same level of enforcement.
- Opt-ins: Text messages are not supposed to go out to the same wide audience that emails are supposed to. They work best and get results when sent to previous customers, locals, and/or people who have given you their information. That’s why you want to only message people who opt-in.
Not understanding the differences between SMS marketing and email marketing can lead to you using one or both incorrectly, wasting precious advertising dollars. SMS marketing is strong, but poor marketing strategies and lacking data usage can squander its potential.
ENX2 Does SMS Marketing for You
SMS marketing is a powerful tool that can be easily misused. If this new and growing marketing avenue isn’t something you want to test yourself, ENX2 Marketing can help you. Currently, we have our own SMS marketing platform from which we can send text marketing messages to our clients. We’ll write them, schedule them, and send them out like we would blog posts or social media posts.
Soon, for the clients who want to connect directly to their customers themselves, we’ll have a login available for them to use. To learn more, and partner with a marketing agency that can do it all, contact ENX2 Marketing for support.