What is SMS marketing?

SMS Marketing is sending promotional campaigns or transactional messages for marketing purposes using text messages (SMS). These messages are mostly meant to communicate time-sensitive offers, updates, and alerts to people who have consented to receive these messages from your business.

If this sms marketing definition sounds too complicated – don’t worry. This article covers all of the terms above that to give you a better idea of how SMS marketing can enhance your digital marketing strategy.

It’s no mystery that developing relationships with customers takes work. If you want to reach your customers, you can’t wait for them to come to you. You have to be proactive and go where they are.

Now, I don’t expect (or advise) you to go knocking on all your customers’ and prospects’ doors – that would be madness. But, you could do the next best thing.

Text them.

As people become more attached to their phones, text messages become the most direct line of contact. This has made text message marketing, or SMS marketing, one of the most effective forms of communicating with customers when done correctly.

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What are the rules and best practices for SMS marketing?

Make sure your contacts have opted in to SMS

Text messaging is a very effective and direct line of communication to the customer. But, there are many rules that you should consider when planning your SMS marketing strategy. The first, and most important of these is receiving permission from your contacts to send them SMS messages.

SMS has an extremely high open rate, but this won’t help you if you’re sending messages to people who don’t want them. Not to mention opt-in is required in most countries.

Be mindful of the timing of your messages.

Unlike email, which is only checked a few times daily (at most), people open text messages almost immediately. This is great for urgent messages, but you don’t want to abuse this power by disturbing contacts at odd hours in the day.

Would you want to run out and use a coupon that just woke you up at 2 AM on a Wednesday night? Didn’t think so.

Some countries even have laws about when you can send marketing text messages (e.g. France does not allow SMS marketing on Sundays, holidays, or anytime after 10 PM).

Include your company’s name in your messages.

When sending bulk SMS messages, most providers send them through a shortcode, which means your contacts won’t know it is coming from you. That is why you have to let your contacts know who is sending the message in the first place.

You don’t want to send a promotional coupon to customers and not have them know where to go, right?

Use SMS to complement the rest of your digital marketing strategy

The beauty of digital marketing is that there are so many channels that you can use to interact with your customers. All of these channels tie together to create a marketing communication system that enables businesses to build relationships with customers and leads at great scale.

SMS and email marketing are two channels that are very complementary. You can create campaigns through both channels, using email for including more detailed information and SMS to communicate more time-sensitive or urgent information.

Why is SMS marketing effective?

SMS is one of the most useful marketing channels at your disposal for several reasons:

• Ubiquity of Smartphones: With 81% of adults in the US owning a smartphone in 2019, SMS is an excellent way to these reach customers directly. By including a link in this text, you can drive engagement with your business online.
• Closes the Email Marketing Loop: Although email and SMS marketing have many similarities in their strategy implementation, they work best in tandem. As mentioned earlier, you can use SMS to send instant notifications, while email contains more long-form content.
• High Engagement Rates: SMS engagement rates are astronomical compared to email, with 90% of SMS messages read within 3 minutes of receiving them. This makes SMS very helpful in delivering critical information with a high success rate.
• Great for Emerging Markets:  If your business is trying to operate in countries where data is expensive and wi-fi is less common, SMS is a much better channel to communicate information.

How does SMS marketing work?

SMS marketing messages are sent from “short codes,” as opposed to full telephone numbers. These short codes are typically 5-6 digits, and can be associated with one sender, or shared across multiple senders.

Many countries (including the US) do not allow sender information to be altered. This means your message will appear as a text message from whatever short code your provider used (not from your business). That is why it’s important to include your company’s name in the message.

There are two message types you can send with SMS marketing:

1. Campaigns: Campaign messages are the classic “one-to-many” bulk text messages. They are typically used to communicate promotions (coupons, sales, etc.), or general information (event details, updates, weather alerts, etc.).
2. Transactional: Transactional messages are “one-to-one” messages that are triggered by a certain event or behavior. An example of this would be an order confirmation or shipping notification for an e-commerce purchase. These messages communicate relevant and timely information to an individual.

What is SMS marketing used for?

SMS can be used in a number of different ways. I will share with you some of the most common use cases to give you a better idea of what you can do with SMS and how it might help your business.

Short-term promotions for retail or e-commerce businesses

Coupons and promotions are an excellent way to drive more people to your store or website. If you are conducting a limited-time sale or promotion, you obviously want as many people to hear about it as possible.

SMS is a great channel to communicate these offers, especially if you want to let customers know while they are on the move. That way you can be sure that they don’t miss out because they didn’t get the message in time.

Urgent updates about events or customer orders

There are a lot of moving parts that go into planning and executing an event. The more people you have attending the event, the more challenging it becomes to communicate the necessary information to everyone.

With SMS, you can easily communicate any changes, cancellations, general information, or updates with better real-time engagement than email or other channels.

Appointment reminders

If your business runs on scheduled appointment times, then you know the frustration of having clients forget appointment times and showing up late. Even more frustrating, is when clients fail to show up at all.

Not only does this throw off your schedule, it wastes your time. It means that you may have turned down other appointments because that appointment slot was taken. Sending reminder text messages is a fantastic way of making sure that people don’t forget their appointments and show up at the right time.

Internal alerts

If you have a large number of employees, it can be hard to communicate urgent messages (office closures, emergency updates, etc.) to everyone all at once. You can send them an email, but they may not see it (I know I don’t check my work email too often outside of work). SMS is a great way to guarantee that everyone receives your message on time.

Who can benefit from using SMS marketing services?

Text messages can be a great addition to your digital marketing efforts regardless of what business type you have. They serve the unique function of communicating very urgent information in a highly reliable way.

But, there are certain businesses that cannot live without SMS in their marketing strategy:

• E-commerce stores : Whether you’re sending a promotional campaigns, or order/shipping confirmations, SMS is a great tool for e-commerce stores.
• Travel companies : SMS is essential to travel companies because customers need real-time information. This includes flight time updates, gate changes, cancellations, weather alerts, and many more. With SMS you are able to tell customers exactly what they need to know, without having to worry about if they will see it in time.
• Service businesses that require appointments : Make sure that your clients never miss another appointment by sending them SMS reminders. This will save you tons of time and money wasted on no-shows and late appointments.
• Large organizations with 100+ employees : Internal communication is important, but it’s hard to communicate with every employee in a large company. For urgent information, email is too slow. Using SMS for your internal communication is the best way to ensure that every employee gets the information you want to send them at the right time.

Can SMS marketing work for your business?

Only one to find out – test it on it your audience! If you’re already using email marketing (or considering it), try including SMS in your strategy.

Now you should have a better idea of what SMS marketing is, and why it is great. Here’s a quick recap of some of the pros:

• Reliable delivery
• Direct line to the customer
• High engagement
• Compliments your email marketing strategy

If you sign up for Sendinblue, you can send promotional and transactional SMS messages from the same platform as your email marketing campaigns.

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You can also track engagement with SMS and email campaigns side-by-side in your Sendinblue dashboard. This lets you see exactly how you’re performing across all channels.

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Happy sending!

The post SMS Marketing: Definition, Benefits, and Best Practices for Top Results appeared first on Sendinblue.

There are now more mobile devices in the world than people. 7.2 Billion mobile devices to be exact. It’s no surprise that mobile users now account for more internet usage than desktop users. According to StatCounter, mobile users are now responsible for 50.87% of worldwide internet usage while desktop only has 44.78% stake.

Needless to say, mobile traffic can have a big impact on your business if you can manage to optimize for mobile conversions. If you’re still not taking full advantage of your mobile visitors, it’s time to take action.

In this post, we’ll show you what kind of mistakes could cause your mobile visitors to abandon your website and how you can fix it to generate more leads.

1. Forms Too Small For Mobile Screens

Forgetting about the screen resolution of mobile devices is one of the most common and the biggest mistakes businesses make when it comes to optimizing email opt-in forms for mobile visitors.

Imagine how frustrated your visitors will feel when the buttons on your email opt-in form are too small that you have tap dozens of times just to submit the form.

You have to remember that people use their thumb to navigate websites on mobile devices. Sometimes, those buttons on your forms may be too small to press with a thumb. Obviously, it can be frustrating when a form doesn’t work the way it should.

Make sure that your mobile email opt-in forms and pop-up messages have responsive designs so that they appear in proper sizes across different device screen sizes and resolutions.

2. Using The Same Desktop Opt-In Forms On Mobile

Desktop email opt-in forms and pop-up messages come in larger sizes and sometimes even full-screen welcome messages. This gives you the opportunity to format them with images and use extensive copy to attract the user attention.

Although, this doesn’t work nearly as well for mobile devices. The smaller screen sizes of mobile devices force you to use fewer words and images, making mobile conversion optimization a whole different challenge. It also makes things difficult for you to turn more visitors into subscribers while using a minimalist email opt-in form design.

Clever bloggers and businesses are now using a brilliant way to fight this by using 2-step email opt-in forms. Instead of immediately asking people to subscribe to an email list, this method lets you integrate opt-in forms with links and images so that the form only appears when a user taps on the link.

This strategy is not only more user-friendly but it’s also more effective as well.

3. Asking For Too Much Information

The more information you collect the easier it is to target specific audiences through your email list. This is why businesses use email opt-in forms with multiple fields to collect information for list segmentation and create more effective email campaigns.

However, having to type the email address with symbols and numbers using the tiny mobile keyboard is hard enough that users shouldn’t have to enter their home city, age, and job titles as well.

Try to limit the fields in your mobile opt-in forms to let users easily subscribe to your email lists without any frustrations. Asking for the first name and the email address should be more than enough.

You can use special landing pages, giveaway contests, and other special lead magnets to gather more information from the visitors at a later time.

4. Forgetting About Video

More than half of all video content on the web is viewed on mobile devices. And 51% of marketers also admits video to be the content type with the best ROI. Why aren’t you using video in your email opt-in forms?

Embedding a video onto your email opt-in forms can be more effective than using text and image-based forms. With video, you can pack more information into your pop-up messages and explain more about the benefits of subscribing to your email list in a more entertaining way without taking up too much space.

You can use an explainer style video to showcase what your subscribers can expect from becoming a member of your email list or even show off the features of your product while offering a discount.

5. Interrupting The User Experience

Pop-up messages are an effective strategy you can use to convert website visitors into leads. Although, it’s not as effective for mobile conversion optimization. Showing a large pop-up message while a user is browsing your website can actually interfere with the user experience and the user might even end up leaving the website out of frustration.

Instead of pop-ups, you can switch to more friendly options like embedding opt-in forms between the paragraphs of your blog posts or even using a sticky notification bar on the website.

It’s not only an effective strategy you can use to target mobile visitors, but you can also use it to target desktop visitors as well.

6. Not Using Inactivity Sensors

You can still use pop-up messages to target mobile visitors if you can utilize them in a non-intrusive way. For example, instead of showing your pop-up message while the user is reading a blog post, you can show the message when the user is inactive or when they are about to leave.

Choose an opt-in plugin that lets you create opt-in forms and pop-up messages using technologies such as exit-intent and inactivity sensor technologies. This will allow you to convert abandoning visitors into leads more effectively.

Summary

With the right tool, you can avoid making all these mistakes and get more mobile visitors to subscribe to your email list.

Just remember not to install too many plugins to add different features. It’s better to get a single all-in-one plugin than installing a dozen free plugins that slow down your website.

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The post 6 Reasons Your Visitors Aren’t Converting on Mobile (And How to Fix it) appeared first on Sendinblue.

That’s a huge number on its own, but it’s an even more monumental figure when compared to the 7.4 billion people who existed on this planet in 2016 (Source: World Bank). It seems safe to say that smartphones have taken over the world.

Smartphones have made a profound impact, and their influence only continues to intensify.  So, what does the age of mobile phones mean for you and your business?

It means that the time for you to create a mobile PPC strategy has arrived.

That’s right – you can now use a PPC management agency services geared specifically to mobile phones.  Not only is Google AdWords aware of this business trend, and it is taking steps to respond and adjust accordingly.  Thanks to Google AdWords, more and more small businesses can now use mobile PPC as an advertising tool, enabling mobile PPC for all!

A mobile PPC campaign may seem intimidating, but it doesn’t have to be.  Like so many other digital marketing techniques and trends you’ve already encountered, it’ll be a piece of [delicious virtual] cake in no time.  That’s pretty sugary sweet news when you consider the fact that, in a world where smartphones are taking over, any presence your business can have in the mobile-sphere is significant.

Breathe easy – below are 5 key ways for laying out the groundwork for a successful mobile PPC campaign.

1.      Determine who your target audience is and get to know them

Like starting any other marketing initiative, one of your first orders of business when launching a mobile PPC campaign should be to identify the audience you plan to target and learn about them.  Know who your target audience is and study their relevant tendencies as customers.

• Who is your audience?
• What is your audience trying to do?
• When are they online?
• When are they conducting online searches?
• What do they like?  What do they dislike?
• What do they want?
• What do they need?
• Where are they physically searching from?
• Where do they live in the physical world?
• Where can you find them spending their time online?
• Why are they searching?
• Why should they consider using your business?
• Why are you their best option?
• Which devices are they searching from?
• Which smartphones do they have?

These are the kinds of questions you need to answer if you want to have a complete understanding of your target audience.

Avoid a futile attempt at a mobile PPC campaign by answering these questions right off the bat.

2.   Set SMART goals for your mobile PPC campaign

The only real way to determine whether your mobile PPC attempts are effective is through analyzing their successes and failures – but you can’t know what your results really mean if you didn’t set your goals before launching your mobile PPC campaign.

That is why it’s so crucial that you set SMART goals:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Achievable
• Realistic
• Timely

Know where you want to focus and what you would like to gain from your mobile PPC campaign and then set your goals accordingly.  As they say, the key to success is to work SMARTer, not harder.

3.      Select keywords for your Google AdWords mobile PPC campaign

The keywords you choose to use for any PPC are vital to your success.  Keywords are how Google AdWords (and other PPC advertising platforms) learns how to show your PPC ad.  The keywords you select will determine which consumer-conducted mobile searches your mobile PPC advertisement(s) will appear on.

Smartphone users who search for products or services on their mobile phones generally plan to make their purchase(s) within the same hour.  As a result, it’s now more crucial than ever before to stand out from your competitors during consumer’s’ mobile searches. Use keywords such that users encounter your mobile PPC advertisement before they’ve even so much as seen your rivals’ names.

How do you do this?  Select unique but effective keywords that will bring users to your mobile PPC advertisement(s) first during relevant searches.  Choose wisely!

4.      Utilize responsive design for your website

A website with responsive design is critical for any mobile PPC campaign.  In fact, a website with responsive design is essential whether you’re using a mobile PPC campaign or not – under the smartphone’s reign, websites that are not mobile-friendly will only damage your company’s relationship with your smartphone-wielding customers, and most people these days are smartphone-wielders.

When the entire point of a smartphone is to have the world at your fingertips, no one wants to deal with having to zoom in excessively to read and click around a website formatted only for a computer screen.  Any UX that is anything short of smooth, simple, and satisfying usually chases away consumers to the point of no return.

Responsive design is essential, especially if you’re launching a mobile PPC campaign.  Don’t target mobile-users with a non-responsive website.

5.      Incentivize consumers

Use incentives — such as promotional offers or calls-to-action — to your advantage.  Furthermore, when inserting incentives into your mobile PPC campaign, it only makes sense to make them mobile-specific.

Make mobile users feel special and like they just stumbled upon something splendid that they would never have encountered on an actual computer.  More importantly, make them want to make your website the final destination of their search endeavor.

According to WordStream.com, 61% of smartphone users conduct searches from their mobile phones every single day.  Aim for your mobile PPC to be the first thing they see when they hit “search”.

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The post 5 Keys to a Successful Mobile PPC Strategy appeared first on Sendinblue.

SMS marketing has become a widely used method for reaching customers for marketing purposes.

Pew Internet says that nearly 95% of adults in the US have cell phones, with over 77% of those being smartphones, more than double the portion of smartphones from 2011.

Because most people keep their phones with them constantly, it’s easy to make instant contact. This is a massive benefit for companies looking for an effective means of communication with customers.

But, with all these benefits come several pitfalls that can keep you from SMS marketing success. To ensure that you are using this marketing channel, here is a list of the 7 biggest SMS marketing mistakes, and tips on how to avoid them.

1. Lacking a clear call to action

With an SMS, you only have 160 characters — use them wisely.

Every message should end with a clear, concise call to action (CTA) that is easy to complete. Here are a few examples:

• Visit a store location
• Use a discount coupon
• Click a link to a landing page

No matter what it is you want, make sure that it’s something simple or the recipient may fail to convert. You want to create as little friction as possible between your contact and the CTA as possible.

2. Poor timing and frequency

Timing and frequency are a very important aspect of the very time-sensitive and instant channel of SMS marketing.

If your SMS messages are coming at a time when some people are asleep, chances are good that they’ll not be happy to see your message. Nobody wants to be woken up by a marketing message in the middle of the night.

If you are sending too often, you risk annoying recipients. This can also cause them to unsubscribe from or complain about your marketing messages.  That’s why it’s important to schedule messages for times and frequencies that fit your business’s purchase cycle and target audience preferences.

However, sending too few messages is just as bad as sending too many. Sending a one-off message campaign will likely get very few responses. Similarly, sending only occasional messages can result in low engagement or customers forgetting about your business.

There is no one sweet spot for every business, so it’s important to really know your customers and purchase cycle to figure out the optimal frequency.

3. Failing to personalize messages

When I say personalization, I’m not just talking about throwing your prospect’s name in the salutation — I’m talking about segmenting your list so that people get the offers that are most relevant to them.

Using the data from your customer database, you can create lists that are divided according to several factors including:

• Demographics
• Buying patterns
• Stated preferences

Using these dimensions to segment your contacts will greatly increase the likelihood of conversion.

4. Sending dull, run of the mill messages

Do you send the same specials every single week?

If so, your contacts are likely going to get bored quickly.

You have to use some creativity in your marketing messages and test new ideas:

• Change up the text or offers to generate test what resonates most with your audience.
• Send at different times of the day.
• Offer occasional giveaways and prizes.

Keeping your texts interesting by always testing new ideas will keep more people engaged and prevent your marketing from going stale.

5. Failing to get permission

Never text a customer who has not given you permission to do so.

First of all, this is illegal. The FTC prosecutes those who send unsolicited commercial messages. The fines and bad publicity are likely to cost you more than any profits you may gain.

Also, depending on their phone contract, they could wind up paying extra for receiving those SMS messages.

Beyond the legal and cost burden considerations, unsolicited messages are also just intrusive and annoying. They are not likely to lead to a conversion.

While you may feel desperate to grow your list, unsolicited messages are not the way to do it. Focus on other methods instead, including prominent signs with QR codes to sign up, or including an SMS opt-in in your email signature or on your website.

6. Failing to offer an opt-out option

Like failing to get permission in the first place, failing to allow people to opt out can put you in violation of the law.

Aside from that, there is no incentive to keep contacts who don’t want your messages, as these people will be very unlikely to do business with your brand.

Continuing to send unwanted marketing messages may even cause someone who previously had a favorable opinion of your business to change their mind. That’s why you always need to include an opt-out option so that you can be sure that only the right people are receiving your messages.

7. Sending messages that are too long

When you send a message that is longer than 160 characters, it will break into two or more messages on the recipient’s end. This results in a sequence of alerts and ultimately, a message that is unwieldy and difficult to read.

It’s understandable to send a message that breaks into two once every once in awhile when absolutely necessary, but it should always be a last resort. Whenever possible, your messages should fit neatly into that 160 character limit to avoid confusing or upsetting the recipient.

Summing Up

SMS marketing gives you more direct access to prospects than ever before. However, this technology has to be used carefully in order to be effective.

By respecting your prospects’ time and showing them messages that are likely to pique their interest, you can keep your business at the top of their minds and build a strong, profitable relationship.

The post How to Avoid the 7 Biggest SMS Marketing Mistakes appeared first on Sendinblue.

But, this couldn’t be further from the truth.

SMS marketing is very powerful when used in the right context. Essentially, SMS messages are effective for time-sensitive, or urgent information — an area that email just doesn’t quite get the job done.

Of course, SMS doesn’t make email obsolete — they’re more like a sidekick and superhero. Email is the hero that can afford to be a little flashy, whereas SMS is the reliable sidekick that always comes through in a pinch.

As the saying goes, “every hero needs a sidekick,” and email is no different. But, there are some businesses in particular that stand to benefit the most from using text message marketing.

Here are the 5 types of businesses that should start using SMS marketing ASAP:

1. Ecommerce Websites

Pretty much any ecommerce store can benefit from the use of text messages to communicate with customers.

The urgency and direct nature of text messages are very valuable for providing shoppers with up-to-date information about purchases at the exact instant they occur. These notifications could be for:

• Order receipts
• Shipping confirmations
• Delivery confirmations

That way your customers don’t have to maniacally refresh their email inbox or a UPS tracking page to see if their head massager has been delivered (just me?).

2. Travel

If you’re operating in the travel industry, then time is ALWAYS of the essence.

Customers make plans months in advance, and they rarely check in to see if anything has changed. So, when the inevitable change does happen, you need to have an effective way to reach your customer in the fastest possible way.

Enter: SMS marketing.

SMS is the best tool to communicate urgent and time-sensitive information to your traveling customers. Some examples of when this might be necessary include:

• Delays or cancellations
• Gate changes
• Reservation upgrade opportunities
• Security alerts

With SMS, customers are much more likely to get the information on time and take the necessary next steps (instead of reading an email after it is too late).

3. Businesses Operating in Developing Countries

There are tons of countries with rapidly developing economies that still have limited access to the internet. This poses a pretty massive problem for any business that wants to market to consumers in these countries using digital channels.

Although internet access is limited in many countries, cell phones have a deeply established presence almost everywhere. SMS is really the only means of direct communication with a large portion of the population in these countries.

This is because SMS is more intuitive and easy to use as an information resource and means of communication for many.

Therefore, if you truly want to reach your customers living in developing countries, SMS should be your prime candidate for your marketing messages.

4. Events Management

This is another industry that requires a TON of planning in advance, and even more scrambling to adjust when those plans go awry — as they often do.

When you are managing large scale events, you need an effective way to reach all of the registered attendees when problems come up, such as:

• Last minute logistical changes
• Security alerts
• Updates about the event (parking, speakers, food, etc.)

It is much easier to read a quick text message about an important update than it is to periodically check email.

5. Service Businesses that Require Appointments

These can range anywhere from barbershops to dentists offices, but they all share the same problem. Customers aren’t perfect, and there are times when they will forget about their appointment and fail to show up.

Automatically sending a text message to your customers reminding them of their appointment is a super easy way to minimize the number of no-shows. Because the message is being sent as an SMS to their phone, they will be much less likely to miss the memo.

This will save you a ton of money in the long run, as you eliminate the wasted time that goes along with these missed appointments.

Plus, your customers will be happier in not having to deal with setting their own reminders or constantly rescheduling appointments.

Time to get started with SMS marketing!

It should be pretty clear that SMS is a powerful tool to communicate time-sensitive messages directly to customers. Also, the ubiquity of cellphones around the world makes SMS marketing one of the most reliable channels available.

If you’re in one of the business categories above and you haven’t been using SMS marketing to communicate with customers, it might be time to reconsider.

The post 5 Businesses that Need to Start Using SMS Marketing appeared first on Sendinblue.

Did you know that 67% of cell phone owners find themselves constantly checking their phone for messages, alerts, or calls — even when they don’t notice their phone ringing or vibrating?

It’s true! And texting isn’t just for teenagers anymore. In fact, most cell phone owners (79% to be more precise) use text messaging.

Now that we’ve established that mobile text messaging (SMS) is an effective way to reach the diverse members of our cell phone dependent culture, let’s talk about why it’s a smart tool to market your business!

Why Use SMS Marketing?

If you’re not already familiar with SMS Marketing, find out everything you need to know in this post out.

Much like email, SMS provides you with a direct channel to your customers. Now, you might be asking, “Why do I need SMS if I already use email?”

Great question! My answer would be — “Use both!” Text messages are a great way to close the communication loop and compliment your email marketing strategy.

Text messages also have several unique qualities that make it a prime candidate for communicating your marketing messages.

What Types of Companies Use SMS Marketing?

Still not convinced that SMS marketing is useful in real life?

It’s actually a lot more common than you might expect. These days, it might be easier to tell you who isn’t using SMS marketing. But, I think it’s more helpful to show you who is instead!

Here are a few clever examples of how real businesses are using SMS marketing.

• Retail & Online Shops – Coupons, order confirmations, shipping notifications
• Restaurants – Reservation reminders, daily menu specials, delivery deals
• Salons & Spas – Wait-list appointment alerts, confirmations, announce holiday gift ideas
• Schools & Higher Education – Campus schedule alerts, assignment reminders, event sign-ups
• Bars & Nightlife – Live entertainment announcements, drink specials, VIP deals
• Real Estate – Property entry alerts, confirm showing schedules, new list announcements
• Doctors, Dentists, and Lawyers – Appointment confirmations and reminders

Don’t see your industry listed? Don’t worry! Leave us a comment or Tweet us @Sendinblue and we’ll give you some killer ideas for your business!

The post 6 Reasons Why SMS Marketing Works appeared first on Sendinblue.

It should come as no surprise that email is still one of the best communication and marketing tools at your disposal.

Over the past few years, email marketing has become more refined with best practices and known pitfalls.

If you’re already running email campaigns, you’ll find that SMS has many similarities so it’s easy to add it as a valuable part of your marketing strategy. If you haven’t started email marketing yet, feel free check out our guide on how to send an email campaign.

Even if you’re totally new to email marketing, this guide to SMS marketing will help you start off right by learning how to integrate SMS into your strategy. We’re here to help you understand the similarities, differences, and how to incorporate both into a plan that will engage your customers!

What is SMS, and why is it relevant for marketers?

SMS or text message marketing allows you to enhance your online presence and achieve greater engagement on your marketing campaigns. Integrating your mobile customer journey is absolutely essential nowadays, and SMS can help.

Using text messages in your marketing strategy is effective because the majority of people have smartphones. In fact, a Nielsen study reveals that 71% of Americans (and 85% of millennials aged 18-24) own smartphones. And, that number continues to rise every year.

Not only does a large segment of the population own smartphones, but they seem to rely on them for absolutely everything!

People use their cell phones to wake up, check the weather, read informational articles, provide entertainment, shop, get directions, share with the world, get information about local surroundings, stay in touch with friends/family — I think you get the idea.

But, perhaps more importantly, is the fact that people use phones everywhere. I don’t know about you, but I feel completely naked without mine (too much information?).

Simply put, SMS allows you to reach all types of people no matter where they are or what they’re doing.

What are SMS Marketing Best Practices?

Think of email and SMS as brothers. They have some distinct characteristics, which we’ll cover in the next section, but ultimately they share the same DNA. These are some of the biggest similarities that you’ll notice between email and SMS marketing:

Although there are many similarities between the two channels, they also have some distinct features. These differences give them slightly different purposes within your overarching marketing strategy.

Differences Between Email Marketing and SMS Marketing

As mentioned earlier, email and SMS share many similarities, but they also have many distinguishing characteristics that give them their unique personalities.

Email is like the older brother — classic and dependable. He’s already proven himself and is generally well liked and accepted.

SMS is the younger, shorter, brother — hip, trendy, and loves the latest tech fads. He’s quick to action and eager to prove himself, which may turn some people off. But, for the most part, he’s starting to become more accepted and earn his place in the world.

Here are the biggest differences between email and SMS that marketers need to be aware of when trying to execute an text message marketing strategy:

Although both SMS and email are effective for communicating with contacts, they should be used to cover different circumstances for maximum effectiveness. You wouldn’t want to do the chores that your sibling already does better, right?

Using Email & SMS Together

Using email in conjunction with text message marketing will amplify your marketing efforts and allow you to reach different audiences. Here are some fantastic examples of how to use both strategies together effectively:

Sales and Promotional Marketing Campaigns

• Email: Announce an upcoming sale
• SMS: Provide an added discount at the last-minute or remind that the sale is ending soon

Event Management Tools

• Email: Promote an event to generate initial interest and remind people to sign up
• SMS: Send an event reminder the day before, provide parking information the day of the event, and give weather updates during the event

Contest Marketing Tools

• Email: Publicize contest benefits and details
• SMS: Encourage people to enter the contest before the deadline, and announce a winner when the contest ends

Internal Communication Tools

• Email: Send out non-urgent information such as internal newsletters, product updates, and new initiatives.
• SMS: Communicate more urgent notifications like closures, computer system disruptions, etc.

Now that you understand how email marketing best practices can also apply to text message marketing, use your knowledge to start developing your SMS strategy.

Remember, these two channels work well together because they cover different marketing scenarios. It’s important to keep in mind the strengths and weaknesses of each in order to effectively use them together. This makes it much easier to provide comprehensive and relevant communication to your contacts and inspire confidence in your business.

Happy Sending!

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