Are you a business owner or entrepreneur? How old have you been in business now? Few months, a year, a couple of years, or a very long time? Whatever the case, your goal is and should remain the same, which is increasing sales and maximizing profit.
In a bid to win more customers and drive more sales to your business, you cannot overemphasize the importance of marketing. At the moment, there might be one or two marketing strategies you deploy, and they are probably working well for you (or maybe not).
However, do you have SMS Marketing as an integral part of your marketing campaign and strategies? If not, then you should see the 5 powerful ways in which SMS can boost your business sales and revenue. There are a lot of benefits and advantages that SMS affords you as a business owner which makes it a very effective marketing strategy.
Nevertheless, if you want to get the best results out of SMS marketing, there are certain principles and processes you need to apply. Doing this would ensure you are not just wasting money on your SMS marketing campaigns, but doing what works.
Here are some effective tips for you to apply when writing your promotional SMS to ensure it converts and sell:
Tip 1: Identify Yourself
If you are sending SMS to your existing or prospective customer, one very important thing you need to do is let them know who is sending the text message. What that involves is that you cannot just simply pick up your phone and send a message with your phone number, because chances are some might not know it or have it saved on their phones. Therefore, it is good to send the SMS with a name that they readily know and can identify with you, such as your business or company name.
On your promotional SMS, your Sender ID must be the name of your business which makes it unique to you. You would not want it delivered with just a phone number or some general Sender IDs. In such cases, your recipients/customers might neglect the SMS without even opening it, thinking it is a spam message.
Get Started here with getting a customized SMS platform for you where you can send SMS with your unique Sender ID and get it delivered. You can register your business name as Sender ID here for free.
Tip 2: Use Your Customer’s Name
An SMS that begins with “Hello Sam” is 100% more effective than “Hey there”. That is the power of personalization. People generally do not like receiving unsolicited SMS these days and it has reduced the open rate for messages. When people get an SMS from someone they cannot identify immediately, they might either not open it or refuse to take the action the text message directs them to.
However, with personalization, you can speak directly to an individual customer. When you start your message addressing the recipient by name, you are letting them know that you both share a relationship. This will prompt them to not only open the message but be willing to take any prompted action found therein.
Tip 3: Keep The SMS Short
A marketing or promotional SMS should be short. After all, the word SMS on its own stands for Short Messaging Service, so it comes as no surprise. Unfortunately, a number of SMS marketers make the mistake of making their marketing text messages too long, going into 2, 3, 4, 5, or more pages. Note that humans generally have a short attention span, and as such would not spend a lot of time on that message. Also, with the way SMS systems work, you might have an important part of your SMS cut off on certain phones if they are too long. Hence it is important to keep your message straight to the point and within the 1-page limit.
Tip 4: Include a Call-to-Action (CTA)
A call-to-action is that one thing you want the recipient of your marketing SMS to do after reading the message. Is it to make an order on the website, buy a product, do a survey, read a blog article or share a testimonial? Whatever the goal of the SMS is, you need to make it crystal clear in your message. Your customers should not be left confused about what you want them to do with your marketing text message after receiving it. This must be clearly stated in the message, mostly at the end of your SMS. Then you should include a link to the page of your website where they are to carry out that action, if necessary.
Tip 5 : Adopt an Opt-in/Opt-out Provision
The last thing you want to do when sending promotional SMS is to send unsolicited messages. If you do, you might start getting a lot of backlash from the recipients and this can affect your brand reputation. Therefore, if you plan to send regular marketing SMS to your customers, it is good to create an opt-in option whereby they can send you a keyword to indicate they want to keep receiving SMS from you. And also let them know they can equally send you a keyword to opt-out if they feel they do not want to receive your marketing SMS any longer. This would ensure you are not marked as a spammer and you also preserve your brand image.
Tip 6: Make it Professional
When sending SMS, it is very easy to get comfortable and resort to abbreviations and casual words and expressions in your message. While this cannot be totally ruled out, you need to cut down on them. You need to show a good level of professionalism so that existing customers and prospects will take you seriously. Additionally, it won’t be professional to use a lot of exclamations in your message, as it can be irritating and distract the recipient.
Tip 7: Don’t Send SMS Too Often
As effective as SMS Marketing is, it shouldn’t be used as a primary marketing strategy or tool. If anything, this should instead be used to enhance and support your marketing tools. Hence, it is important that you only send relevant SMS and ensure they are spaced out so it doesn’t get spamming and annoying to your customers or prospects.
There you have Seven (7) powerful tips on how to write promotional SMS that sells. The goal to grow your business, get more customers, and make more sales is a very realistic one. You just need the right tools and methods to push this through. SMS marketing will go a very long way in ensuring you get the success you crave.
Don’t have an SMS account yet? Why not register a free one now and get started with using SMS to drive your sales through the roof.
If you need more information about how to deliver SMS to phone numbers on DND, you can contact us on 07034243326 | 08035515868 or send a mail to