Bulk SMS marketing is a digital mobile marketing channel that a company or brand uses to send a 160-character message to its database via an SMS Gateway. This allows the brand to reach large volumes of people within a matter of seconds on a device that people are estimated to check up to 80 times per day.
It is this possibility to get a message in-front of an audience so swiftly that makes the SMS a messaging channel that has stood the test of time, despite mobile technology and its capabilities having advanced.
Why Use SMS Marketing?
SMS is incredibly powerful when utilised by itself or as part of a wider marketing strategy, some of the following aspects clearly demonstrate its potential:
- Reach people around the globe: SMS marketing provides the opportunity to cost-effectively reach and engage with your audience around the world.
- Engage in seconds: Your message is delivered in a matter of seconds and read and digested by the users in the same amount of time. Unlike other channels, you are assured that your SMS won’t get lost in an inbox.
- Suitable for businesses of all sizes: It can be used for businesses of all sizes, ranging from banks and travel companies, through to small local businesses sending out service reminders to their database.
- Full Delivery: When sending via other channels your messages may not be delivered, and a bounce recorded. However, even if the phone is out of range the SMS will still be delivered and will be read once the user turns their phone on.
- Best when integrated with other channels: SMS marketing is most powerful when integrated with other channels, especially email marketing. We all know how easy it is for an email to be lost in one’s inbox, with SMS you can send a message to your recipients to inform them that there is an important email waiting for them or simply replicate the message from your email into an SMS.
Remember that when contacting your recipients, you need to ensure that your contacts are fully opted-in to receive communication from you.
Bulk SMS Marketing Tips for Your Campaign
- Get the Most from 160 Characters: As SMS are limited to 160 characters you need to make sure that you get the most value from them by keeping your message concise and to the point.
- Time Sensitive Sending: Make sure that you create fear of missing out and send out time sensitive promotions that compel your audience to act! These give your audience a clear incentive to engage with your brand.
- Segment your Audience: One of the most important actions to conduct when planning your SMS campaigns is to segment your audience based upon defined demographics. This ensures that you are sending messages that are specifically tailored to a person’s location, gender and where they are in your sales funnel.
- Personalisation: Personalisation is big across the marketing world right now, including the world of SMS. Make sure that you fully engage your audience by using their names in the SMS to increase engagement. Rather than using a generic sender for your SMS which will simply display numbers, use a customised sender ID and use your brand name to take audience engagement to the next level!
- Analyse Previous Campaign & Optimise: Spend some time looking over the performance of previous campaigns and determine when the best days and times to send are based upon user interaction and engagement.
What Businesses Can Use Bulk SMS Marketing?
SMS Marketing can be used by a variety of businesses for different purposes, it can also be combined with A2P SMS for those who wish to send out security alerts or service reminders to provide an enhanced level of customer service.
Any business that sends communications to their database can take advantage of the power of SMS for promotional purposes. Below you will find some examples of industries that use SMS marketing as part of their overall marketing strategy.
eCommerce
SMS can be incredibly powerful for eCommerce companies and can be used to amplify the power of other marketing channels and increase sales. It ensures that relevant offers such as Black Friday or Christmas sales are delivered and read by your database within a matter of seconds. You can also include links within the SMS to interactive landing pages for users to browse through relevant products; you can even use HD-quality video landing pages to fully showcase your products and bring them to life.
Physical Stores
As well as increasing online revenue for eCommerce stores, SMS can also be used to drive actual footfall into stores for the redemption of specific targeted offers that have been tailored to that specific segment of the database.
Telecommunications
Make customers aware of specific offers or promotions that they are eligible for and encourage user redemption. It is also ideal for cross-selling your services to your existing customers to generate increased revenue.
Banks
Use SMS for up and cross selling your services and sending relevant offers that you believe that your database would be interested in based upon their history with your institution.
The segmentation of your database based upon age is the perfect way to determine whether they could be interested in specific services at various stages throughout the customer lifecycle, such as mortgages and loans.
The diversity of SMS means that it can be used by any kind of business, make sure that you are making the most of SMS marketing and claim your free trial of the rdcom platform!