Small businesses 30 years ago – maybe even 20 years ago – could rely on newspaper ads to generate business. They might have even been able to put up flyers and obtain respectable results. But that just won't work today. A small business' marketing plan in 2016 must be fine tuned and more direct. It needs to be targeted and incorporate techniques to reach specific audiences in unique ways.
Enter SMS marketing.
"Small businesses should not fear SMS advertising."
Some companies, particularly smaller ones, may be unfamiliar with new mobile marketing techniques. After all, it's still a relatively new form of advertising when we compare it with more veteran practices. Yet, despite its relatively novel entry into marketing, small businesses should not fear SMS advertising.
According to a Responsys survey, more than 70 percent of consumers liked push notifications. These included order-based updates and locally targeted messages such as SMS marketing ads. And, according to FunMobility, user engagement rates are 5 times higher for SMS than they are for email. Responsys supports this claim in their survey when they found that marketers witness significantly higher open and click-through rates than when they use email.
Small companies may feel like they don't always have a lot of resources to put into an SMS marketing campaign. But that's simply not true! In order for campaigns to reach their full potentials, these companies must first create a plan and content schedule.
This plan includes everything from their target market and location to the type of message the company wants to send. The schedule is exactly as it sounds: It's a means to space out messages over time. According to the same Responsy survey, 43 percent of consumers are more likely to click the message and make a purchase if the messages are spaced out over time.
As a small business, it's important that you don't abandon traditional marketing. But you must, absolutely, get on board with mobile text marketing.
