What is SMS Marketing: Understanding Essentials

Nowadays over 5 billion people have mobile phones and communicate with SMS messages at least 2 hours per day. SMS stands for short message service which allows you to share information via brief texts on mobile devices. SMS marketing is one of the most popular tools that allows you to send promotional messages to people from whom you have approval.

To accept SMS messages about new products, promotions or any notification, clients generally need to be subscribed to receive texts from each company. The main target for SMS marketing is creating a database and increasing the number of loyal customers.

Statistics show that over 60% of customers prefer receiving SMS messages to promotions with e-mail or other services. More than 80% think text messaging makes it easier for organizations to communicate with customers. Around 75% of customers respond to SMS messages faster than emails. 70% think that a text message is a better way for companies to catch their attention.

SMS Marketing Benefits

SMS marketing is a mass communication tool, and before using it, make sure that the list of contacts you have created has been done so by receiving confirmation from your clients—otherwise, it will be illegal.

Timing is the second important point. Make correct use of timing and schedule your messages to ensure that your SMS messages find their receivers while they are at home or having lunch.

The more interesting your content is, the more people will read it. You can create attractive content by following the suggestions below:

• Mention customer’s name

Your potential clients today come in contact with too many advertisements during the day and being the one that they will remember is hard, yet incredibly important. Personalize your messages by including customers’ names to make an impact.

• Contain your program information

Everyone will be thankful to you if you send them a text with all the valuable, relevant elements.

• Always have an opt-out button

Never bother your clients, keep an "unsubscribe" button at the end of each message.

Keep your content short, no longer than 160 characters. Write your offer directly and let your clients know exactly what you want them to pay attention to.

SMS marketing campaigns boast an impressive 98% open rate (over 80% of the messages are read within 3 minutes) as opposed to 20% open rate from an email. SMS marketing is the best way to catch your audience’s attention.

Which Industries use SMS Marketing

In general, SMS marketing can be used by almost any business. The following is a list of industries which benefit from SMS marketing and gain more profit through it.

• Hospitality - Hospitality is one of the most popular industries in the modern world. SMS communication makes it easy for restaurants and hotels to send information or verification about reservations their customers made. This increases customer service quality and develops customer loyalty.

• Health - SMS allows doctors to send their patients reminders to help avoid delays in their schedules.

• Retail companies - Retail shops use SMS marketing to share special offers, time-sensitive promotions and information about the latest products to their customers. Also, you can use the SMS portal for customer service.

• Education - SMS marketing assists school personnel in connecting with students, teachers, parents and other staff. You can inform them about schedule changes, parental assembly and so on.

• Event organization - If you are an event organizer, SMS marketing will help you raise awareness regarding an upcoming event to the appropriate audience without driving up budget costs.

• Communication - Text messaging is one of the ways of communicating within your company. You can inform your staff about upcoming team events and staff meetings with the help of SMS messages.

Using SMS marketing has many advantages which are more preferable than any other type of advertising or communication with clients. SMS marketing is a user-friendly type of advertising. You can easily register with an SMS marketing platform, provide your contact list and your content, and send those text messages to everyone in the world without any problem.

Usually, you can find SMS templates in SMS portals which will make your work much easier. By sending a text message, you will increase your sales rate and create a connection with your customers, by building a customer feedback loop. Besides, SMS is the most suitable way for clients to share information with their friends and family.

People always have their phones on them, and sending or receiving an SMS message has become part of our daily life. It is a quick, easy and perfect way to communicate with not only our friends but is also the preferred way to connect with customers too.

Azat is a digital marketer and mobile marketing enthusiast. With over 5 years’ experience in content marketing and Seo, Azat beliefs that valuable and informative content is the key.