Text message marketing is the most effective way to connect with large groups of consumers simultaneously. It takes advantage of the intimacy and immediacy of SMS messaging to get your business´s mobile marketing campaigns heard above the noise of other direct marketing channels.

In additional to using people´s preferred method of communication to get your message heard, text message marketing has a broader reach than all other marketing channels. More people will read your promotion on their mobile devices than see an ad on a billboard, on TV, or in a magazine.

Furthermore, because text message marketing is a permission-based activity, and people have to opt into your text messaging service to receive your marketing messages, consumers who join your marketing database want to hear what your business has to say.

How to Get Consumers to Join Your Marketing Database

It is likely you will have seen or heard an advertisement inviting you to text a keyword to a short code number in order to take advantage of a promotion - for example “text `DISCOUNT` to 313131 to receive 10% off your next order”. When consumers text the keyword to the short code number, they are invited to join your marketing database to receive details of future promotions by SMS.

Other ways of getting consumers to join your marketing database include “click-to-join” widgets. These can be placed on your website or distributed via social media, offering consumers the opportunity to be the first to know about future deals and special offers. When they click on the widget, they are invited to join your marketing database and, provided they agree, are opted into your text messaging service.

A third way to get consumers to join your marketing database is through the use of polls and surveys. People love to share marketing content they find appealing, so quite often polls and surveys sent as part of a mobile marketing campaign can be an indirect way to build your business´s marketing database quickly. All it takes is a little creativity!

How to Send Text Marketing Messages

When you register for an account with a bulk text messaging company, you are provided with login credentials for the company´s bulk text messaging platform. This is where you will find your database of opted in customers. In order to send a text marketing message, you simply log into the platform, upload the group(s) of customers you want to send your message to, write the message, and click “send”.

Within minutes your selected group(s) of customers will be receiving and reading your message wherever they are, whatever they are doing. You can observe delivery rates via the bulk text messaging platform and also spikes in engagement. These analytics can help to fine-tune future mobile marketing campaigns to improve their effectiveness.

The bulk text messaging portal is a management portal for your text message marketing activities. All replies to your text marketing messages and the results of polls and surveys are received by the platform and can be forwarded onto you automatically by email or SMS. You can also sort your marketing database into groups according to their interests, marketing sources or geographical location, so you only send marketing messages to customers who will find them relevant - saving your marketing costs.

Further Features to Enhance Your Text Marketing Service

Bulk text messaging platforms are typically packed full of features to enhance your text marketing service, reduce the time you spend text message marketing and improve the ROI of your mobile marketing campaigns. Some features may vary according to the level of service provided by the company whose bulk text messaging platform you use, but typically they include:

• The option to personalize each text marketing message with recipients´ names.
• The option to save sent messages as templates to save time composing new messages.
• The option to schedule messages to be sent when they will attract the most attention.
• The option to send messages in plain text, Unicode text or multimedia format.
• The option to integrate tiny URLs into your text marketing messages.
• The option to attach coupons or QR codes to messages.

Coupons and QR codes can be particularly effective for driving sales. Research has shown off-premises “on-demand” coupons attached to text marketing messages have a redemption rate of 30% - 50%. If you advertise a second offer in-store for when your customers visit to take advantage of the initial offer, on-premises “on-demand” coupons have a redemption rate of 70% - 80%.

Text Message Marketing from Club Texting

If you are looking for a simple way to attract customers and drive sales to your business, you should try text message marketing from Club Texting. We have been providing text message marketing services for businesses of all sizes for many years and, due to our acquired knowledge of the industry, have developed a bulk text messaging platform that is both feature-rich and easy to use.

To find out more about how your business can improve the effectiveness of its mobile marketing campaigns, do not hesitate to get in touch. Our team of Client Success Managers will be happy to answer any questions you may have about text message marketing and will invite you to sign up for a free account with a demo keyword included in the package so you can start developing your marketing database today.