Is text message marketing the wave of the future, or is it just a passing fad?

How Text Message Marketing Can Help You Grow Your Business

Well, since SMS marketing has been with us for years, I think we can safely say that it isn’t a fad. And with younger people eschewing telephone calls altogether, mobile marketing platforms let you connect with customers using the medium they most prefer.

And yes, text message marketing can definitely help you grow your business. Marketing text messages have an astoundingly high open rate of as much as 98 percent because customers trust these messages.

They even want to receive text messages from their favorite brands, which is something you can’t say for marketing emails or telephone calls. As long as you follow federal regulations governing the use of text messages as a marketing tool, you can use a mobile marketing program to send out exclusive offers and promotions, build rapport with existing customers, and encourage new customers to become old customers.

Obey the Law

Before you start sending marketing text messages to all the customers in your contacts file, familiarize yourself with the requirements of the two main pieces of legislation governing the use of telephone services to market to consumers: the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Control the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing (CAN-SPAM) Act.

Your primary obligation under these laws is to get permission from your customers before you start sending them marketing text messages. They need to opt into your messaging program, and your messages need to include clear opt-out instructions, too.

These guidelines protect consumers from unscrupulous marketers, and they create an environment in which consumers are willing to engage with SMS marketing texts immediately, so they’re worth any hassle involved in getting permission, texting only during normal business hours, and limiting your marketing text communications.

Send Exclusive Offers

Exclusive offers are usually the whole reason customers sign up for text message loyalty programs. Most consumers know that opting into text messages can get them access to coupons, promotions, and events that aren’t available to the general public, and who doesn’t want to get a good deal?

Text messaging is immediate — just about everyone these days has a phone on them at all times, and people usually see their text messages right away. Lots of people have smartwatches that notify them of incoming text messages, or cars that interrupt the music to announce an incoming text message and offer to read it aloud.

Most people are going to open your marketing texts within about three minutes, so using a mobile marketing platform is perfect for reaching customers in real-time, wherever they are. That’s perfect when you’re having a spur-of-the-moment flash sale and want to draw people in, for example, or when you really need more people to choose the daily lunch special at your restaurant.

Promote New Products and Services

Customers who have bothered to sign up for SMS messages from your business definitely want to know about new products and services you’re offering and events you’re hosting, and SMS provides the perfect medium to announce that news.

Text messaging feels personal, even when it’s a marketing text because text messaging has become one of the most personal ways to engage with someone. Customers communicate with their friends and family members all day every day by text, sending a whopping 6 billion texts a day worldwide. When you engage them via text, they’ll start to count your business as a friend, too.

Get Feedback

Text message marketing isn’t just for pushing advertisements out to your most loyal customers. It also provides a medium for communication and engagement that many phone call-phobic Millennial and Zoomer customers will appreciate.

You can collect customer feedback and engage with them via feedback (a simple “Thanks for your feedback” is more than enough to foster loyalty), collect customer data via surveys, and even allow the option to schedule or cancel appointments and reservations via text, or communicate with staff about customer service concerns.

Are you connecting with your customers via text? If not, you’re missing a big opportunity to boost engagement, brand loyalty, and sales. Give customers what they want — the ease of contacting your staff via text, access to exclusive offers, announcements, and more, delivered straight to their phones.

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