Most people consider their smart phone the most important thing they own. They carry it everywhere, integrate it into their activities, and check it throughout the day. SMS marketing campaigns tap into this cultural revolution by letting your business provide your customers offers and deals that they can access anytime, anywhere.
However, many businesses under-utilize SMS marketing because they don’t see its potential. They may mistakenly believe that this form of marketing has more negatives than positives. To help you decide whether adopting an SMS strategy is the right choice for your business, consider the following 4 SMS marketing myths:
Myth 1: Your Customers Will Think the Messages are Spam
No business wants to be seen as a nuisance that spams their customers. However, unlike email, SMS content is heavily regulated by the service provider. This means that customers know their phones are protected from unwanted spam advertisements. Additionally, SMS marketing is an opt-in service where the customer first has to give their permission to receive messages. This is a big part of the reason why SMS marketing is so effective: it’s guaranteed to provide your customer with high-demand offers that are specifically approved for their interests.
Myth 2: SMS is Only Popular With Younger People
It’s true that the younger generation has embraced SMS as part of their daily life, but this form of marketing is also gaining popularity across every demographic. The average American checks their phone with startling frequency: some as often as every 5 to 10 minutes. What does this statistic look like in real life? Experienced professionals are discovering how to stay abreast of the competition by integrating SMS connectivity with their work life, and people of retirement age are rapidly adopting this popular form of communication. In fact, they text on average at least once a day.
Myth 3: SMS marketing isn’t worth the expense
Integrating SMS with your business’s overall marketing strategy does in fact incur a small initial startup cost, and maintaining this campaign will need to be reflected in your monthly budget. Nevertheless, these fees are modest when compared to the outstanding results that SMS can offer. These messages have a 3x higher click-through rate than emailed advertisements. In fact nearly every single text message that’s received gets opened. That makes this one of the most cost-effective forms of transmitting time-sensitive offers to your customers.
Additionally, SMS campaigns don’t have the management and overhead expenses of many other forms of marketing. Once you get your service initially set up, it can run nearly automatically and with only cursory supervision.
Myth 4: Only Big Businesses Benefit from SMS
A large business gets a boost in sales from their text marketing campaign because they can offer a seemingly endless number of products and catchy Sales of the Week. They put out a wide array of ads, hoping to connect their products with interested customers. They often succeed due to the sheer volume of products on hand and number of customers on their list.
Small businesses can also pull in big benefits from SMS-based marketing if they have a focused strategy. These companies have grown a loyal customer base with a smaller range of specific products and personalized services. Customers will seek out this business and opt into their SMS campaign because they value what this company specializes in. They will respond well to carefully crafted SMS deals that offer real value.