When many marketers think about their digital marketing strategy, they think of things like pay per click ads and search engine optimization. However, mobile marketing is becoming more important all the time. Also called bulk SMS or text marketing, mobile marketing has existed for many years, but it is often neglected by businesses and marketers. When used correctly, it can provide a big boost to any business.
The fact is, for your business to survive, you need to use every means at your disposal to make sales and improve your revenue. It seems like everyone is on their phone these days, and everyone using a smart phone is texting. By ignoring mobile marketing, you will lose out on potential customers.
What is Mobile Marketing?
Mobile marketing is a marketing technique that involves sending out text to customers to connect with them. All customers give their permission to receive the texts prior to being put on the contact list, and they can easily unsubscribe at any time if they so choose. You can send out text by using a mass notification mobile app that assigns a code for responses as opposed to an actual phone number. You can message your customers about sales, for example, or special events. You can also use text messages to confirm purchases, send receipts, and even notify a customer when a delivery reaches certain check points. It’s fast and easy communication that is almost guaranteed to be read. Here’s how it can work to improve your business.
Very High Read Rate
One of the challenges of any marketing effort is getting consumers to read, view, or listen to your content. With mobile and SMS marketing software, you can be sure that customers will read your texts at a high rate. This is because most people use texting for social reasons, or for work communication. When they get the notification of a message, it’s second nature to check it. With emails, they can easily swipe away and ignore it without seeing the content other than the subject line that appears in the notification.
If you create engaging text content that encourages users to not only read but to respond to a call to action, you can find great success. Doing this involves understanding the behavior and interests of your typical clients, and creating messages geared towards them.
Real-Time Updating
There are many types of businesses, and some of them rely on appointments and other types of scheduling with customers. If a customer forgets, it can be frustrating, and maybe even cost you money. With mobile marketing, you can have the most valuable contact information for all of your customers, so if you need to provide a last-minute update to an appointment, you can do so. Not only that, but you can give them a reminder of your appointment shortly before it is scheduled to begin. This will help to avoid suddenly empty spaces on your calendar.
Quality Analytics
One of the great things about mobile marketing is that it’s easy to get accurate analytics regarding customer behavior. There are many ways to do this, including measuring response rates and providing special codes for promotions so that you can track what marketing prompted them to buy. You may even be able to get an idea of what their tastes are, and leverage that information to provide better products and communication. Over time, you will be able to give your customers personalized marketing content that will be engaging and relevant to each one you text.
2-Way Communication
2-way communication is incredibly valuable, but very hard to achieve with other marketing efforts. You may be able to with email marketing, or by sending out surveys by mail, but the response rates are minimal. With texting, you can get a higher answer rate, leading to higher engagement. You will be better able to gather data and make strategic decisions about your marketing and about new products and features going forward. It’s a connection between yourself and the customer that will allow you to build better relationships over all with them.
What’s most important to consider is that mobile marketing is reaching the customers where they are. So many people use their phones every day and communicate through texting. You can put your brand front and center on their primary mode of communication.
