Learn the basics of text message marketing quickly!

Text message marketing is quickly becoming an essential part of a well-rounded marketing plan for savvy businesses across a wide variety of industries. Texting is an excellent way for businesses to connect with their customers in a range of industries and for a wide variety of purposes, including:

Appointment Reminders: Service-based companies and medical professionals can send appointment reminders to help decrease no-shows.

Discounts & Promotions: Retail and restaurant businesses can share coupons and alert their subscribers to in-store sales, limited-time promotions, or new products. It's easy to send a text and let consumers know all the details.

Event Notifications: Businesses and even local governments are using texting to share event details with their subscribers. These events include everything from live in-person events to online webinars.

Member Communications: Membership-based businesses can use texting to easily provide two-way communication to their members. Texting can help remind them to pay their dues, share information about member-only events, and much more.

Monetize Leads: Businesses can make even more of a return on their investment of leads by sending additional offers that fit into the same category that the consumer is interested in.

What is Text Message Marketing?

Text Message Marketing (also known as SMS Marketing/Advertising) is a simple way to connect with customers directly on their mobile phones without requiring customers to download any additional software or have advanced technical knowledge.

Why is text message marketing a good strategy?

The strength of text message marketing can be easily explained in four words:

1. Reach: Americans send and receive over 26 billion text messages each day — that's more than 9.4 trillion texts per year.

2. Engagement: 98% of text messages are opened, 90% are read within 3 minutes, and 40% get a response within 15 minutes. The open rate is three times as much as the average email open rate of 27.2%.

3. Simplicity: Texting enables businesses to quickly and easily connect with their members, customers, clients, and patients using technology that they are already familiar and comfortable with.

4. Cost: Short Message Service (SMS) campaigns cost less than a penny per text, per recipient. Also, unlike other forms of mobile marketing, it doesn't rely on an internet connection to work.

Text messaging is included in almost every phone on the market — from old flip phones to the latest smartphones. There are no additional apps to install, no new tech to learn, and no new devices to purchase. Anyone with a basic mobile phone and a phone number can receive SMS. That's 87% of the world's population, according to data from the International Telecommunication Union.

9 out of 10 consumers want a business to communicate with them via text message to send alerts, provide support, send reminders, and other back-and-forth communication.

How do you send a text message to your customers?

You will want to sign up for a text message advertising platform, like Text Calibur, to make it simple and quick for you to launch your campaigns.

After you sign up for your free account, you can quickly fund your account, purchase DID's, create campaigns, import your subscribers, create a message and have a text blast sent out within minutes.

Text Calibur's user-friendly dashboard will make it simple for you to track the performance of your campaigns as well. You will be able to see any replies that you've received, how many messages were sent, and the number of people that opt-out of your list.

We also provide support and guidance to help make sure you get the most of your campaigns. You can chat directly with our Client

Success Managers while you're setting up your account, creating a campaign, crafting your message or anything else that you may need assistance with.

How does texting help me generate revenue or increase customer satisfaction?

Every business is different, but with the right strategy, you can get some amazing results from your texting campaigns.

Texting gives you an opportunity to be heard in an otherwise noisy marketing environment. It's inexpensive to use and boosts customer retention.

Here are a few ways you use the power of text messages to generate revenue.

You can help clients save money with real time notifications concerning promotions, coupons, specials, etc.

You can help decrease missed appointments and wasted time with reminders.

You can increase your return on investment of leads by offering follow up messages to your clients with a corresponding offer that you are paid revenue on.

The full run down

SMS, at first glance, might sound limiting. After all, it can't offer the kind of visually attractive media an email can. Word limit is restricted to 160 characters too.

SMS can still pack a punch though. From competitions to feedback polls, there's a lot that marketers can do to grab their customers attention. Polling is especially useful in helping create a strong relationship between the customer and marketer.

It provides valuable feedback and can steer marketers towards the kind of change customers want to see.

Cost-effective

Compared to the cost of sending an email, SMS is the more expensive option.

In the long run though, when you consider the much higher open rate and read rate that SMS boasts, it offers you more bang for your buck.

What do affiliate marketers need to know before running an SMS campaign?

• Grow your opt-in list. This isn't discretionary, it's a must.
• Give your subscriber list some TLC. Show your subscribers some care, and they will stay on your list.
• Be clear and concise when writing SMS campaigns. Brevity is the sister of talent – and a major strength of SMS.
• Don't overwhelm customers with too many messages. It's a bad idea because there are diminishing returns on excessive volume – even if you don't lose subscribers outright.
• Know your customer base. SMS campaigns should be as unique as your customers.
• Mobile marketing campaigns need constant attention. They're only as good as your ability to adjust.

As more businesses catch on to the idea that Text message communication is the way forward, it should continue to grow at an exponential rate.

SMS messaging is by far the simplest and quickest way available to reach customers.

Unlike a social media post which can get lost in the feed, an SMS is guaranteed to reach its target.

The more businesses realize that SMS is an excellent way to begin communicating with their customers – the more they will be rewarded with loyalty. SMS has the benefit of industry longevity. It's been here a while and it works.

Now that you understand the fundamentals of Text Message Marketing, it's time to start thinking about your first campaigns.

It's time to stop researching and start doing. If you want to know if texting works for you, the easiest and fastest way to find out is to try it.

You are minutes away from launching your own successful text message marketing campaigns.

1. Sign up for a free account
2. Fund your account with at least $50 to start LIVE tests
3. Purchase DIDs (long code or toll free for $.15/DID, per month)
4. Set up your campaign with a name and choose either Long Codes or Toll Frees (whatever you purchased in step three)
5. Upload your list of subscribers for your first campaign
6. Create your message (if you want to use auto responders with your message you would set that up first, before your message)
7. Schedule your message and watch the results!