We all use our smartphones for a wide variety of daily tasks, including making calls, checking social media, browsing and buying on eCommerce sites, and, in particular, texting other people.
If you run a business that needs better marketing strategies to try, you might like to test out SMS solutions. Texting your clientele can earn you some affordable, quick, and easy wins when it comes to engaging with customers and getting more sales. However, unfortunately, many myths keep doing the rounds about this type of marketing, which you should have an idea of.
Myth: It Only Works for a Select Few Business Types
One of the most pervasive misbeliefs about texting campaigns for business is that they only work for a select few types of organizations. However, this isn’t the case. SMS marketing is a versatile strategy that can work for most industries and ventures. It all comes down to the type of messages you send and if you have a targeted audience or not.
A related myth is that text message marketing is only for companies with millennial or younger customers. However, while these generations do tend to favor texts over other types of communications, pretty much everyone spends time sending SMS these days.
Also, ignore the misconception that only big firms should bother with SMS marketing. Success with this strategy relies on decent subscriber sign-ups, and up-and-coming businesses can have just as many, if not sometimes more of, an engaged audience than big brands that have been around for a long time but have become stale.
Myth: It’s Too Hard to Set Up or Use
With any tech-based marketing tactic, there is always going to be a myth surrounding it that it’s too hard to set up or use, and this is the case with SMS marketing, too. While any new tech tool and campaign-style have a learning curve, text messaging programs are typically much simpler, quicker, and easier to set up and use than many other types of marketing.
Take a little time learning the basics and play around with different templates and messages, and you’ll soon see what does and doesn’t work best for your target market. You can then keep testing and measuring to drive results further.
Myth: It’s Too Expensive
There’s a myth that SMS marketing is too expensive to bother with, especially for startups and other smaller businesses. Yet, this channel is one of the most affordable options. When you create these messages, you don’t have to rely on getting a graphic designer to create fancy graphics (though you can add multimedia aspects if you’d like), nor do you have to pay the kind of high advertising costs that come with the use of many other platforms.
Messages are short and sharp, too, so they don’t require the hire of a copywriter unless you feel it is necessary. Texts have a high open rate, so they typically provide businesses with a high return on investment (ROI), too.
Myth: You Won’t Get Results
Email communications drive a lot of marketing talk nowadays, as do social media posts. As such, many people mistakenly believe these avenues are the best ways to reach consumers with messaging. However, emails often don’t get opened because people get bombarded with so many of them, and many social media posts get missed.
On the other hand, SMS marketing is much more likely to be seen, with people generally always having their phones on them now and opening messages as soon as they get them, or at least within a reasonably short timeframe. Texting can thus be your best bet for garnering excellent responses to your marketing campaigns.
Myth: It’s Too Intrusive
Many entrepreneurs and marketers are put off text messaging as an avenue because they think it’s too intrusive and likely to annoy recipients. Business people worry about interrupting customers and losing the relationship, but it’s essential to remember that you’ll only be texting people who permitted you to and decided to allow you to send them messages.
This means they’re okay with hearing from you this way and may, in fact, find it much more palatable to receive your communications via this platform than adding to their overrun email inbox or overwhelming social media feeds. If you follow standard texting etiquette rules, such as not sending too many messages too often or sending anything rude in your texts, your communications should be welcome.
Other myths to take note of include that:
- Text messages aren’t trackable
- They’re too limited
- SMS marketing is a one-way channel only
The number of smartphone users globally only continues to grow, so the sooner your organization tests out and adopts this marketing form, the better. Take the time to set up some campaigns over the coming weeks and see what all the fuss is about.
