Marketing Texts Explained: How SMS Messaging Can Benefit Your Business

With text messages boasting a 98% open rate, SMS marketing is arguably one of the best ways to advertise your business. While a near-perfect open rate is great, businesses want more than just a once-over followed by a forgotten message.

Fortunately, for small and large businesses alike, Salesmsg has you covered. SMS marketing software from Salesmsg can boost customer engagement and greatly benefit your company. In this article, we'll discuss what makes a successful marketing campaign and go over tips that will help ensure your customers don't leave you on "read."

SMS Marketing Statistics

Business owners everywhere should consider text message marketing as the future of advertising. To further drive home this point, take a look below at some additional statistics that prove smartphones and text messaging aren't going away anytime soon.

Recent CTIA research shows 315 million Americans have 5G-enabled smart devices-- that's a 513% increase in just one year! Additionally, Americans exchanged over 2 trillion text messages in 2021.

Research from CNBC shows that in just a few short years, three-quarters of the world will access the internet solely from their smartphones.

A recent consumer report shows that 66% of customers value text messages over any other form of marketing communication.

If numbers don't lie, (and we promise, we checked our sources,) it's clear that text message marketing is more relevant than ever before. If you're ready to start your SMS marketing journey today, read on!

What is Text Message Marketing?

Let's start with the basics. SMS marketing is when a company sends mass texts to customers' direct lines to promote their business. Text marketing can be used in virtually any industry and for a variety of purposes. Marketing messages include texts such as promotions, sales, surveys, updates, and more. This short message service form of communication is an easy way to reach your desired audience on a device you know they check multiple times a day. Text message marketing is a simple, cost-effective, and quick way to promote your business.

Who does Text Marketing Benefit?

No matter your specialty, there's a place for SMS marketing in your business model. A few of the big-name enterprise companies that benefit from SMS marketing include Bloomingdales, Delta Airlines, Starbucks, IKEA, and everyone's favorite pizza joint, Dominos. For a more generalized idea of industries that benefit from messaging customers directly, take a look at the below list:

• Retail
• Events
• Restaurants and hospitality
• Travel and tourism
• Real Estate
• Healthcare
• Recruiting
• Non-profit
• Financial services
• Beauty
• Pet care
• Gaming

What can Text Marketing be Used for?

Text message marketing is perfect for small businesses and large corporations alike. Whether you are announcing marked-down flights to Cabo or informing your customers of a change to your retail return policy, text messages are the way to go in order to get information across quickly and concisely.

Types of Marketing Messages

• Promotional sales and discounts
• SMS coupons
• Transactional messages
• Appointment reminders
• Business changes and updated policies
• Text-to-win contests
• Loyalty programs
• Alerts and notifications
• Surveys, customer feedback, and more

Benefits of Marketing Text Messages

There are many ways your business will benefit when you sign up for SMS marketing services through a provider like Salesmsg. Here are seven reasons we know you'll love Salesmsg marketing software.

Direct

A direct form of communication from the producer to the consumer means you cut out the middle-man and chat with exactly who you need to. With the Salesmsg app, you can start conversations with customers and in-house employees, all from the same place.

Instant

A quick way to reach all your customers at once is through mass texting. Salesmsg offers businesses plenty of phone numbers to choose from. From toll-free to shortcode to 10DLC, we can help you decide what option is best for your business. With high throughput rates, your message will be received right when you want them to be. Sending isn't the only process that is fast. Automated texts make the creation process go even faster.

Affordable

Texting is affordable and accessible. SMS text messaging functionality is included in most standard mobile phone plans, giving your business a large customer pool to pull from.

Popular

The stats at the beginning of this article proved this point pretty well already, so it goes without saying that people love their phones. In fact, research shows the connection between phone and owner is so strong that Americans check their phone roughly 96 times a day!

Reliable

More reliable and with better results, text messages boast a higher open-rate than email. Businesses that choose to market themselves through text messaging ensure their messages get read. Conversely, 55% of people delete emails without a second (or even a first) glance.

Simple

Even young children know how to text these days! But when you're managing multiple accounts and sending tens of thousands of texts monthly, well, that's a different ball game. The Salesmsg app makes it easy to create, send, track, and manage all your business texts and calls in one place.

Interactive

What's more attention-grabbing than a text notification? A text message with a full-color image of the on-sale gold earring cuffs you've had your eye on for the past month. According to an SMS Marketing Consumer Report, a staggering 51% of consumers say they are more likely to make a purchase if they receive a text with relevant images and content. Salesmsg's multimedia messaging services make it easy to add all the gifs, emojis, and videos you need to engage your customers. Subscriber interactivity can also be achieved by including SMS surveys and experience feedback.

How does Text Message Marketing Work?

As mentioned above, the great thing about SMS marketing is that advertising and promotional messages are sent directly to customers’ pockets. But what exactly goes into successful marketing efforts? Text marketing campaigns are made up of two steps: customer opt-in and the marketing message itself. (We'll go into more detail on both of these aspects later on in this article.)

Salesmsg makes it easy to set up SMS marketing for your business. Tools that will boost your marketing campaign include:

• Text to join keywords
• Short URLs
• Dynamic segmentation
• Video SMS
• PDF Attachments
• Contact notes
• User permissions
• Group SMS
• Website chat widgets
• And more

SMS Marketing Best Practices

So, what makes SMS campaigns successful? The first thing you need to know about creating successful SMS marketing campaigns is SMS marketing best practices. Below are a few tips to ensure successful text message marketing.

Watch the Number of Texts you Send and When you Send them

Consistency is key when it comes to text marketing. It's important to maintain a consistent schedule without being overbearing. Too many messages border on spam, while too few might cause subscribers to forget about your brand altogether. Once your team determines how many texts you'd like to send each month, you'll be able to find which Salesmsg plan is right for you. From 500 SMS messages monthly to 10,000+, we've got you covered.

Consider Offering Exclusive Content

Customers who sign up to receive text messages should be rewarded for their loyalty. Consider offering exclusive discounts, sales, and pre-orders to all of the contacts on your SMS lists. If you give the same incentives to SMS subscribers as you do email, where is the motivation to sign up? Show you value their willingness to be part of their contact list by rewarding subscribers appropriately.

Be Ready to Text Back

In a world where we're used to instant results, customers won't take kindly to feeling ghosted by retailers. It's a business's responsibility to respond to inquiries in a timely manner. You may be thinking, it's just not practical to have someone watching the message board 24/7. With Salesmsg's automated responses with attached business hours, you can fill in any gaps of time where you might not have someone manning the chat.

Personalize your Messages

There are two ways to personalize SMS campaigns. Firstly, show your customers you know who they are by including a first name in your message and any other relevant personal information whenever possible. A second way to boost personalization is to create a memorable keyword specific to your brand. Customers are more likely to remember who you are and what you do if you choose an eye-catching phrase or code. 

Obtain Customer Consent

According to the Federal Communications Commission, it is illegal for businesses to send text messages without obtaining consent first. In order to stay on the right side of the law, you need to make sure your customers know they are agreeing to text marketing sent to their personal devices. So how do you obtain customer consent? This can be done with physical paperwork at an appointment or come from an online prompt on your business site. Consent can also be obtained via online purchases and email newsletters. Another avenue is for customers to be prompted to send a keyword back to your automated message. This keyword response signals permission to receive future messages.

Provide a Clear Opt-Out Option

Consent can be withdrawn at any time, so it's important to provide a clear opt-out option to subscribers. An easy way to do this is to include opt-out instructions in your message. An example of this is "Text STOP to unsubscribe" or include an unsubscribe link. Once the customer has opted out of future texts, it's a good idea to send one last message confirming the subscription was canceled.

Send Texts at the Right Time

Timing is everything. With potential customers all around the globe, a one-size-fits-all time zone attitude might not be the best approach. With Salesmsg scheduled messages you can easily time when you want your messages to go out so you never catch your subscribers in the middle of a REM cycle.

Watch your Language

In the context of text message marketing, we're referencing choosing the correct voice for your brand. While it might be tempting to shorten your message with text slang (u kno what we tlkn abt lol), choosing professional language and staying true to your brand will make all the difference. By now you know text messaging through Salesmsg is limited to 160 characters. While a few lines might seem like a tight fit, we have faith in you. The more concise your message, the better!

Follow Regulations and Stay Compliant

If reading through all the CTIA guidelines makes your head spin, take heart in knowing that Salesmsg marketing services are safe, secure, and fully compliant. We offer data security, TCPA-compliant texting, caller ID branding, A2P 1oDLC registration, and STIR/SHAKEN compliance.

What Makes a Good Text Marketing Strategy?

Let's discuss marketing strategy. The goal is to hook your customer, and the key to gaining and keeping business is to keep it simple and clear. A successful SMS marketing strategy includes four parts. When creating text campaigns, businesses should ask themselves the following questions before pushing send.

Who is the Message From?

Nobody is going to respond to a text from someone they don't know. Make sure to include your company name and any relevant branding. Never miss an opportunity to market your brand. This point can also be enhanced by choosing local area code numbers to help your customers view you as a friendly neighbor.

Who am I Contacting?

There's not a customer out there who wants to feel like one of the masses. Personalizing your message with relevant customer information can help your audience feel valued and recognized.

What would I like my Customer to Do?

First and foremost, you need to define the goal of the text campaign. Are you inviting your customers to participate in a flash sale? Including a specific call to action makes the purpose of your message clear from the very beginning.

Is my Message Clear?

160-character limit aside, your message will be more effective the more concise and to the point it is. Not sure where to start? Salesmsg offers templates that can help you get that text message conversation started. Simple messages can have a great impact.

What is my Timeline?

Setting a specific cut-off or expiration date for your weekend special will help give customers a nudge toward that product they've been dying to get their hands on.

Once you've identified your brand, know who the message is going to, double-checked your call to action, created a clear and concise message, and set a cut-off date for any promotions or special circumstances, you can feel confident your text has every chance of doing its job.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Is there something we missed? Take a look at some of our frequently asked questions or reach out to a Salesmsg rep by texting (888) 409-2298 with any additional inquiries.

How Much does Salesmsg Multimedia Messaging Service Cost?

Salesmsg offers plans for as little as $25 a month! It all depends on how many texts you'd like to send each month. Not sure into which category your business falls? Don't worry-- Salesmsg plans are built to scale. If you end up needing more credits, we can easily upgrade you to another plan. For more details on pricing, click here.

Can I Try Out Salesmsg Marketing Software Before I Buy?

Yes! Check out the Salesmsg site for demos and to start your 14-day free trial. Not a risk taker? Neither are we. We offer every customer a stress-free subscription with our 30-day money-back guarantee.

Key Take-Aways About Text Message Marketing

SMS marketing is a powerful way for businesses to promote their brand and reach their customer base. Text message marketing can be promotional, transactional, simple updates, appointment reminders, and anything else for which you'd like to keep your subscribers up to date. Best practices to ensure successful text message marketing include gaining customer consent, staying regulation compliant, creating a concise message with a clear call to action, knowing when and how often to message your target audience, and providing a clear opt-out option. Salesmsg offers all of this and more, and is a simple and secure way to market your business through SMS messages. So, who's ready to start texting?