Understanding SMS Keywords

What is an effective way to market your business to an audience? An SMS keyword campaign can be very effective in reaching your intended audience. If you have not used SMS keywords before, choosing the best keywords probably feels pretty daunting. Choosing the right keywords for your campaign is essential. The right SMS keyword gives your audience an easy and quick way to interact with your business or brand. In this article, we will look at what an SMS keyword is, how they are used in marketing campaigns, and how to choose a good SMS keyword.

What is an SMS keyword?

SMS keywords have become a normal part of business operations. An SMS keyword is a word or phrase that consumers text to a phone number to sign up to receive text messages from that business. Keywords can also be a combination of letters and numbers. It might take some effort to set up on the business end of things, but then for the customers, it is as easy as hitting a few numbers and sending a short message to a dedicated phone number. 

For example, if an art museum asks you to text ART to 1-800-ART to enter into a free member pass giveaway, the SMS keyword is ART.

SMS keywords are used in campaigns as a marketing tool. Keywords are usually short and easy to remember. As a result, businesses can advertise their SMS keywords on many different channels without confusing their audience. They can advertise their SMS keyword campaign online, on billboards, through social media, television commercials, and on the radio. 

There is more than one way to have a consumer subscribe to your SMS marketing list. One option is by using their mobile phone number to send text messages, the next is on a website, and the last is an in-store option. 

How are keywords used in SMS marketing?

As mentioned above, SMS keywords are used by businesses to interact with their consumers through their mobile devices, in a text message-based form. Using this form of marketing can be referred to as an SMS keyword campaign. SMS keyword campaigns use single words or multiple words in a phrase that can contain letters and/or numbers. These words or phrases are chosen by a business to be sent to a short phone number known as a short code.

SMS keyword campaigns are often more successful than other marketing strategies. This could be because most consumers wake up and check their phones first thing in the morning, and a text message is right on the screen. Text messages have a higher response rate than emails, traditional mail, and even phone calls. All of these things play into the effectiveness of these campaigns. 

How to select SMS keywords?

An SMS keyword can be a combination of letters and numbers with some keywords being more successful than others. When an SMS marketing campaign is effective, a business can gain a substantial amount of subscribers. For a campaign to be successful, it is important to be thoughtful about what keywords are selected. SMS keywords should be simple, short, and easy to remember. 

It is important to think about the usage of a keyword, and what the campaign will promote. Keyword campaigns can promote special offers, inform consumers about events, and share coupons. Different purposes can warrant different keywords. 

Keeping keywords simple is key with SMS marketing campaigns. You need to be careful when wanting to use a unique phrase to "stand out". A unique SMS keyword is not always the best option. If your SMS keyword is misheard or difficult to remember, you might lose potential subscribers. To avoid a difficult keyword, use a word that is related to your business or even a common keyword. Common keyword examples include "JOIN" or "DISCOUNT". 

You can have a unique keyword, but it needs to be easy to spell and remember. Doing this means that you should not use made-up words or a creative spelling of a word. If your business's name has a unique spelling, you might want to consider another relevant word to use as your keyword. If you use a unique keyword or spelling, you could lose out on a subscriber due to a misspelled keyword. Using a unique keyword can be easy to tailor to your brand. SMS keyword examples can include simple words such as "BIKE" or "CYCLE" to subscribe to your SMS marketing list if your business sells bicycles. 

Keywords can also be more than one word but should not be too long. One to two word phrases are most common and help keep things simple and easy to remember. It might be a good idea to create multiple keywords to have more options during an SMS keyword campaign. 

Another thing you want to avoid when selecting a keyword is including special characters. You do not want to use special characters in your word choice. If you use a special character it can make it more difficult for a person to understand or remember. 

How to use an SMS keyword 

There are a variety of ways to use keywords in SMS marketing campaigns. Some different options in text message marketing campaigns include gaining a new customer through an SMS welcome series, sending a special promotion to customers subscribed to the SMS marketing list, and building an upsell campaign for customers who came from social media. 

Custom keywords are flexible and can give you different options to grow your SMS marketing list and personalize the customer's experience. First, think about how you plan to use your SMS keyword campaigns. Some campaign goals are different from others. 

Think about how you plan to promote your SMS keyword campaign. A business can share SMS keywords through email newsletters, digital ads, physical posters, or podcast ads. 

SMS keyword campaign best practices

A successful SMS marketing campaign is more than just choosing the best keyword. Along with choosing the best keyword for your campaign, you also need to think about how your customers will find your keywords. You might want to jump into choosing the best word to use, but before you even start brainstorming words, you need to have a clear idea of how you are going to use your text message program and marketing campaign. 

The keyword you choose needs to be directly tied to your campaign. Customers should be able to logically relate your keyword to the service they’re subscribing to. You need to avoid using jargon or buzzwords. Only use buzzwords when you want to appeal to a market in your specific industry or niche. 

You need to think about adding an SMS keyword and short code to your SMS marketing program, along with a short explanation as to why a person should sign up. Your SMS marketing campaigns can be promoted in several ways, including social media platforms, receipts, flyers, store banners, and email signatures. 

Another thing to consider in your SMS marketing campaign is adding a secondary SMS keyword. By adding an extra keyword, you can easily segment your SMS list, and you can target your specific audience with offers that best match up with their interests. This can result in a higher retention of your subscriber list. 

For example, if you own a local bookstore, you could use “BOOKS” to add people to your general list. If you want to promote upcoming events, like author signings, new releases, or writing workshops, you could use a secondary keyword, like “EVENT,” to send your customers specific updates. 

When you start running your SMS keyword campaign, you can use A/B testing to determine how well your keywords perform. When you test your keywords, you first divide your keywords into two lists. From the two lists, you can compare which ones perform better. 

Implementing this marketing campaign strategy 

You can use keywords to grow and market your business. Having customers opt-in via text message by using a simple word can help grow your business more than you may have imagined. A specific keyword can help you grow your contact list, gain new customers, send mobile coupons, and so much more. You want to choose keywords that are simple, easy to remember, and relate to your brand. Salesmsg’s Keyword feature makes this easy to do. Running a business can be difficult, but using this strategy makes it just a little easier.