Marketing is important for every business, but for small businesses it’s almost everything! If you don’t reel in enough revenue during your opening months, your business could be in danger of failing. With all the modern emphasis on social media and SEO, you might not consider a lot of other marketing strategies. SMS marketing is a highly effective technique you could be tapping into. Here’s how to use it!

Image: Flickr

One popular strategy is encouraging customers to interact with your business. Think about the internet going portable and the speed of modern communications. The average customer expects businesses to be fairly engaged with them. If you received a simple “buy now” message from a company, I’m sure you wouldn’t be won over very easily. A lot of consumers even end up resenting brands for this kind of outreach. You need to make your customers feel valued and rewarded with your SMS campaigns. Try sending out a promotional code or a password to enter into a competition. You don’t even need to offer a solid incentive, just make sure you’re encouraging interaction!

Image: Pexels

If your business has a few physical outlets, then you might want to try localising your SMS campaigns. This is another way of making your customer base feel special and valued. Plan out a few in-store promotions or competitions, and then limit your SMS campaign to subscribers who are linked to one local outlet. You could use localised SMS marketing to encourage further interaction as well. For example, if you’re selling car accessories, you could set up a dedicated number to help your customers find ones which will fit with their car. Display the number in-store, and ask your customers to text in their model name. Then, have a program which replies with a list of different parts which would fit their car. When you throw in these fun little gimmicks, your customers will be much more receptive to bulk SMS campaigns.

My final tip is to link your SMS marketing with other marketing channels. The world of marketing has come a long way since billboards and newspaper ads. All campaigns are now rooted in the digital arena. You need to fit in with this to make sure you’re not falling behind your competitors. While everyone with a phone can receive SMS messages, not everyone is that involved with social media. Try sending your customer base mentions of exciting social media promotions over time. You’ll find that lot of them become even more invested in your business. Almost everyone can exit their messaging app, and get straight onto Twitter or Facebook with a couple of taps. You need to keep the state of modern technology in mind, and make sure you’re not skipping out any channels. Of course, this is not reserved only for businesses, you could also use it as a mass texting service for nonprofits.

These tips don’t cover everything you need to know about SMS, but they’re certainly the most helpful I can give. I’ll leave it with one little warning: always get permission. Nothing will stir up resentment for your brand faster than a stream of unwanted texts!