SMS marketing is simply marketing through SMS. It is the use of SMS by businesses to reach their customers with new updates, promotions, campaigns, and other news. For example, you would have received a text/SMS from KONGA informing you of free delivery on all orders you make in the next 24 hours.
Why is SMS marketing important?
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Prospective clients and potential customers can be reached through SMS marketing. New targets can also be tested and understood through this too.
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Through SMS marketing, you can assess your business-customer relations and also assess your customer engagements.
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SMS marketing can be used as part of a customer retention strategy and also improve customer experience through personalized messaging.
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Being a form of marketing in itself, SMS marketing is useful in boosting customer awareness most especially for new businesses.
RELATED: The Role of SMS Marketing in Business Growth
Register with us now to start using SMS Marketing in your business!
What other online marketing tools are available?
Asides from SMS marketing, there are primarily 3 other online marketing tools which are:
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Email Marketing: Here the business uses emails to reach their customers and prospective clients to inform them about promotions and campaigns. The business would employ landing pages to request the customers’ emails and then proceed to secure them through weekly newsletters. In another article, we have discussed how to create and use these newsletters.
RELATED: How to Create Quality Newsletters for Sales and Marketing
RELATED: Using Newsletters for Marketing
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Affiliate Marketing: This is the use of a third party to promote your business products and services in return for a commission. For instance, you can engage an online influencer to showcase your products and services in their circles, and in turn, you pay them a commission for each sale they make.
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Social Media Marketing: As stated by the name, this refers to the use of the social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn to promote your business. In another article, we have compared each of these platforms and how suitable they are for different types of businesses.
RELATED: Instagram Vs. Facebook Vs. Twitter Vs. LinkedIn
How does SMS marketing compare with the other forms of online marketing?
This section of this article compares and contrasts SMS marketing with the other forms of online marketing, including their areas of similarities and areas of differences.
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SMS Marketing reaches its audience through their phone numbers, by sending them text messages. Email Marketing reaches its audience through emails obtained from the business landing pages and websites. Affiliate marketing reaches its audience through a third party, while social media marketing uses social media platforms.
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All the forms of marketing seek to grow the business sales and ultimately boost the business brand awareness. They are all personalized to the taste of the individual audiences and can be employed as part of a customer retention strategy.
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SMS Marketing may be done with or without an online platform (for example, SmartSMSSolutions). The other forms of marketing can only be done through online platforms. Affiliate marketing, to some extent, can be done offline.
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SMS Marketing can reach audiences that do not have access to the internet and other online platforms. However, the other forms of marketing can only reach audiences that are connected to the internet.
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SMS Marketing is less prone to technical difficulties, unlike the other forms of marketing. SMS Marketing would be ineffective only where recipient phone numbers have been barred or disconnected from their network providers. Other forms of online marketing can be restricted by internet traffic and platforms which have been shut down for a while.
In actual business practice, it is recommended to employ at least 2 of these forms of online marketing.
For example, you could combine SMS Marketing with Social Media Marketing such that audiences that you cannot reach through SMS can be reached through any of the popular social media platforms.
Conclusion
SMS marketing and all other forms of online marketing can all prove effective in reaching your target audience. However, a good strategy to apply is to combine those forms so that their loopholes complement each other.
SmartSMSSolutions presents a platform for you to kickstart SMS marketing for your business. We offer a Bulk SMS messaging service that enables you to reach out to a wide range of customers directly on their mobile phones. Register with us now so that you don’t miss out on this feature.
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