SMS marketing has become one of the more popular ways to market on mobile due to the fact that virtually every phone has SMS capabilities, even if it’s not a smartphone. SMS is also a great way to reach customers and potential customers in real time, directly to their hands. If you are trying to market your company effectively without breaking the bank, then SMS marketing is the way to go. Not only is it cheap and efficient, but it reaches people in real time, directly to their hands, wherever they are! No other marketing medium allows marketers to do this. Running an SMS marketing campaign is fairly easy, but some companies still make elementary mistakes. To prevent this and further assist you on your own SMS marketing campaign, we have put together a list of 5 SMS marketing tips that you can use for your own SMS marketing strategy.

Offer Value

People opt into your SMS program for a reason; they are expecting to get deals and discounts from you or they want to learn more about your company and what you do. Since text messages are more intrusive than most marketing methods, you need to offer value and a very good reason for people to subscribe to your database. This should include something along the lines of discounts, coupons, special treats for customer feedback, or create interaction with your brand through contests with rewards as prizes.

Integrate With Your Other Marketing Initiatives 

An SMS campaign will be effective unto itself, but can be made even more effective once you tie it into all of your other marketing initiatives. You can link it up to all of your social media like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, etc., or you can mention your website in your texts. Anything that gets people moving through your doors or onto your website. When you tie up multiple marketing initiatives, your effect, influence, and results tend to multiply.

Remind Your Subscribers Who You Are

People have short memories. This is why you want to constantly remind people who you are by mentioning your company’s name, your product names, and even your contact information, phone number, or website. All of this information will not only build your brand and make you more recognizable to your subscribers, but will make it even easier for people to find you and get in touch with you. As a result of this, leads grow, sales grow, and everyone wins.

Include a Call-to-Action in EVERY Text

You want your texts to be personable and informative, but you don’t want to forget to include a call-to-action (CTA) in EVERY single one of your texts. Your subscribers have already indicated that they are interested in you and what you do by opting into your SMS program, so capitalize on this by getting your subscribers to take action and start doing business with you! A CTA can be asking them to simply respond to your text in exchange for a reward or prize, or it can be something along the lines of presenting a text at the store to receive a discount. Always make sure that your CTAs are easy to understand and your subscribers know exactly what to do to take action. CTAs are where you convert your leads (your subscribers) into sales (paying customers).

Be Personal

People have been inundated with commercials and advertising so much that they have become virtually numb to a majority of marketing that is thrown at them. They recognize when they are talking to or texting machines, and they don’t like this. Don’t upset your subscribers with text messages that have obviously been automated. Create your text messages personally so that people feel like you are directly talking to them, not just a wide database of people. Yes, a lot of them are aware that they are one of a number of subscribers, but if you interact with them personally, and make your texts both fun and informative, they’re not going to care. Be creative, get imaginative, and find original ways to present your information and CTAs to your subscribers. If you do this, and do this consistently, you will have a very loyal and happy fanbase.

When you consider the fact that you see people on their phones all the time, what marketer wouldn’t want to market on those very devices? With such a widespread medium available at a much cheaper price than any other form of marketing, what are you waiting for? If you haven’t launched a mobile marketing, or SMS marketing initiative yet, now is as good a time as ever! If you DO have an SMS marketing campaign in place, then hopefully these SMS marketing tips help you run it more efficiently. Either way, SMS marketing and mobile marketing is clearly here to stay, and any company that expects to stay relevant in today’s constantly changing digital landscape will recognize the need for mobile and initiate a mobile marketing campaign as soon as possible. Don’t get left behind, be one of these companies!