Silvio Kutic, CEO at Infobip, explains in five steps how to get the most out of your SMS campaigns
SMS has been used to support B2C marketing for decades. The high success rate and strong ROI make SMS an obvious choice for ensuring the right people are targeted with a brand’s message at the right time. However, many don’t realise those very benefits that make SMS marketing so appealing for a B2C audience can work wonders for a B2B campaign too.
By its very design SMS offers high read rates, a greater click through percentage compared to email and familiarity for the end user. These traits are important for both B2B and B2C, making SMS a medium that should not be overlooked when considering your overall marketing strategy.
The use of SMS for marketing and advertising has grown across both the B2B and B2C sectors, the demand for this robust and cost-effective channel is driven largely by its popularity with mobile users. SMS has been used as a communications channel where the user has no way to engage with the brand or business that sends them a message. Growing need for a low-cost and interactive marketing channel, therefore, has pushed SMS to the forefront of user communications.
SMS takes marketing campaigns one step further by giving brands the tools they need to better engage their target audience by creating an interactive conversation. This new approach to SMS marketing encourages interaction by giving brands the tools they need to start a dialogue with their customers, creating previously unseen levels of engagement from a mobile marketing campaign.
As a new take on SMS marketing businesses looking to deploy text messaging often have many questions, so here are the top five considerations to take into account:
1. Stick to your strengths
Your marketing team do not need to become IT experts. SMS can be easily introduced using a dedicated web application, which takes away any complexities around implementation and leaves marketers free to focus on the more important aspects, like content. By adopting this approach, all activity can be managed through a user-friendly web interface that’s similar to those already used for traditional SMS marketing.
Alternatively, a simple API can be used. SMS as a platform is very light on system resources, making its implementation very straightforward. There’s no need for substantial investment in bespoke equipment or network upgrades.
2. If it’s worth doing, do it right
Don’t be seduced by a low price when choosing your service provider. For a SMS campaign, it’s important to choose a partner that will deliver the best results and deliver your messages without fail, in the way you want them to. Ask the tough questions up front; if you need to send a large quantity of SMS messages, can your provider’s system cope? Can they support a global campaign? Can their platform support special characters, or does it meet the various SMS regulations implemented by different countries around the world?
The answers to these questions can only be guaranteed if your chosen provider has solid direct connections to mobile operators, backed by the right security processes and support teams to make sure the operation runs smoothly. Do your homework before choosing a company and make sure they can cater for your needs.
3. Ask, don’t assume
B2B is significantly different to B2C marketing, but when it comes to SMS many of the same principles apply. Top of the list is requesting an ‘opt in’ from the recipient, acknowledging they wish to receive an SMS message from you.
It doesn’t matter if you’re providing a customer service helpline, CRM integration, notification and alerts or a sweepstake, giving users the option to both opt-in and opt-out are absolutely necessary. Not only are regulators cracking down on unsolicited messages, sending unwanted texts will also have a detrimental effect on your brand image.
4. Be dynamic
Ready-made cloud solutions are great. But each marketer, campaign, client and region can be drastically different. To get the most out of your marketing efforts you must be prepared to adapt, and as your business grows make sure to mould your campaigns to reflect this.
SMS is not a one-size-fits-all approach to mobile marketing. It’s important to change your methods to reflect your business challenges and avoid becoming outdated. Again, it’s important to thoroughly research your chosen provider to make sure they will let you make changes on the fly. It may even be worth paying a small premium for buying into a flexible system that will prevent your business being left behind as your marketing needs change over time.
5. Keep it simple
From scheduling campaigns and setting start and expiry dates, to enabling easy inbound message aggregation and download, all of these seemingly small features contribute to an efficient and successful SMS campaign.
SMS can generate a wealth of valuable data to support a number of business functions. Make sure the platform you choose will work for you.
