Many businesses are constantly seeking ways to interact with and attract new customers. Their joint objective is to reach a wider audience. To do so, communication is key.  

There are many ways for businesses to communicate with their audience, either by email, social media, or adverts, but the most beneficial marketing method, that is often overlooked, is SMS (text messages). Currently, SMS is typically utilized for personal communication, but it has proved to be an important marketing method that helps boost businesses in today’s mobile-centered society.  

In 2021, up to 3.8 billion people own smartphones and 60% of them read their text messages within 1-5 minutes of receiving them. These statistics confirm the higher chances of your business reaching recipients quicker than other methods. 

Let us introduce to you the 6 advantages of utilizing SMS as a marketing tool. 

 

But first, what is SMS Marketing? 

SMS stands for Short Message Service and SMS marketing, sometimes known as text message marketing, is when you send text messages for marketing purposes, such as promotional campaigns or new updates and offers from your business. Utilizing this type of marketing tool helps you reach your targeted audience efficiently unlike emails and social media. 

Statistics reveal that SMS marketing campaigns have a 98% open rate compared to email with only 20%. This is due to text messages being a more direct route to customers making it more likely for the messages to be seen, unlike emails on the other hand which have an average of 90 minutes till being opened. Moreover, SMS marketing can be used to engage with existing customers in addition to reaching out to new ones.  

 

6 Advantages of SMS Marketing: 

– Fast and effective: SMS marketing helps you communicate with a large number of people at once. There is little to no prepping, all you need is to write something short and sweet to capture the reader’s attention. 62% of businesses agree that this is one of the major advantages of SMS marketing, and with texts being opened far more quickly than emails, you can be certain your customers will see your message as soon as they receive them.  

 

– Cost–effective: Bulk SMS marketing is inexpensive, especially when compared to other marketing tools, it’s considered much more affordable. It is a great option for small businesses that are looking for a way to start advertising without making a dent financially.  

 

– Increase in customer engagement: Communication is essential to maintain any customer-business relationship. When it comes to strengthening these bonds with your customers, SMS marketing can be truly beneficial. Sending updates and offers via text message is more personal than email. 45% of people revealed they would be more encouraged to associate with a brand after receiving an SMS and 80% would prefer to receive offers via text message, but unfortunately, 7 in 10 consumers don’t receive promotional text messages despite their desire to. This is why communicating with your audience is important to understand their needs and preferences.    

 

– Its ability to integrate with other marketing tools: An additional benefit to SMS marketing, is the ability to integrate it with marketing emails or social media. For example, you can send out a text as a reminder for your recipient to check out the latest update on the business’s social media account or to hurry and sign up for the newsletter sent to their email. This can benefit both small and large businesses. 

 

– Customers can easily Opt-in and Opt-out:  Everyone agrees on the annoyance of spam messages. So, it is always the better choice to provide the option of opting-out to your customers. Also, when sending the updates and promotions on SMS, it’s best to give the option if they want to opt-in. That way you’re creating a better relationship with your customer instead of being a nuisance. In 2020, 48.7 million customers chose to opt-in to receive marketing texts from businesses, and this feature could help you understand your customers better and improve your future marketing moves.  

 

– Helps build a loyal customer base: Through text messages, you have the option to engage with your recipient and make them feel prioritized by sending them offers and the latest updates which help in starting a loyal and trusted relationship. A useful tip is to create a list of customers who highly engage with your brand and inform them that they are one of your valuable clients who will be the first to receive updates and offers. Eventually, you will gain a loyal base of customers who might go on and recommend you to others.  

 

Conclusion: 

To be successful and have a large audience base that interacts with your business, you have to cater to their needs and to do so, communication is key.  There are many ways to communicate with your audience, but SMS marketing has proved to be the most beneficial method to use. A messaging gateway is the best way to seamlessly operate all communication methods and we at cerebra offer you LinQ2 to enhance your business’s platform.   

 

Advance in the way you Communicate!