How SMS Marketing Can Help You Kick-Start Your Business

Most of the marketing content an average person encounters are pop-up ads, TV commercials, and street billboards. Behind all that grand and in your face presentation, smaller and subtler ways of marketing are often overlooked. SMS marketing is one of the underrated methods. But it doesn’t mean that it can’t be used just as effectively to promote your products or services. 

SMS marketing can have an immense impact on your company. And, in some cases, even become a major part of your marketing strategy. It’s relatively straightforward and cheap. All you have to do is understand how to use it correctly. Once you get the hang of it, the effects might surprise you. So, how do you actually use this type of marketing efficiently? 

Quick Access

While most people nowadays are more used to spending their free time on the internet and are more familiar with online ads - reaching out to them through a phone is a totally viable strategy. While SMS texting is not as frequently used as online chatting apps, people do carry their phones with them at all times. Hence, you are more likely to reach them with your message. 

It doesn’t really matter if they are at home or at work; if they are on vacation or constantly busy - the chances are they’ll see your promotion nearly instantly. Moreover, the nature of messaging over the phone is way more personal. Design your messages accordingly, and you can take advantage of this. But there is a downside that you have to keep in mind. 

As the phone space is perceived as a more private territory, people tend to be more protective of it. Pushing it too hard with your promotions can have a completely opposite effect to what you might expect. So respect your clients’ personal boundaries. Getting it right might take multiple attempts and a lot of time and effort.

Interactive System

The near-constant and near-instantaneous connection with your clients makes SMS marketing the perfect interactive platform. Provided you can get people to answer your messages, of course. This makes SMS marketing the perfect medium to gather feedback from your demographics quickly and more or less efficiently. 

It can be used to ask people to participate in polls, remind them of certain events or sales, or even offer them to opt-in a certain promotional offer. Anything that would require a quick response fits well into the SMS format. As long as you can get around the character count limitation - you’re golden. 

Things to Watch Out For

Despite all the advantages SMS marketing provides, there are still a couple of things you have to keep in mind when you are choosing a marketing strategy. These depend entirely on your audience and the field your company is dealing with. 

• Smaller message size;
• Privacy invasion;
• Hesitant audience response.

These are the main concerns when it comes to SMS marketing. Small message size being the most obvious one. Phone messages tend to have a strict character count limit. Most of the time, you’re stuck with 160 characters, which is not a lot. While it doesn’t pose a problem to creative marketers, it does present a certain challenge you’ll have to overcome. 

Next is the invasion of privacy. That’s a rather strong choice of words; you’re not snooping around your clients’ personal info or anything. But most people are used to their phones being this sort of private territory, reserved for communicating with their friends and family. Receiving promotional texts constantly can provoke a strong negative reaction. 

Lastly, if you’re looking to use SMS tactics to ask your clients for some sort of feedback or information, you need to keep in mind that most people are rather hesitant to respond to messages from unknown parties. Fear of fraud will make it rather hard for you to get a consistent response. 

Besides, there are certain identification requirements that you have to follow if you’re sending out messages of commercial nature. So you may want to take a look at your local laws.

Final Words

SMS marketing is definitely not the most common approach. But it does have its merits. It’s easy, straightforward and relatively cheap. And if you can overcome the drawbacks it entails - it may work wonders for your project, whatever it may be. Respect your audience’s personal space, and it is very likely to work out for you. 

Misty Blais is a passionate traveler and blog writer. She finished Wesleyan University with a degree in Humanities and Social Studies in 2015. After graduation, Misty spent a few years traveling across Europe and now works for the EssayPro, helping students improve their performance.