The future is mobile. With
billions of smartphone users worldwide, and over half of the internet browsing
being conducted over mobile, it’s hard to ignore this incredible marketing
opportunity.

Implementing an SMS marketing strategy
can be an effective way to reach one’s customers. However, businesses will have
to be careful to do it right for their efforts to be rewarded.

Here are six tips for implementing
an SMS marketing strategy.

Invest in a Two-Way Messaging Platform

The foundation of a successful
text marketing strategy is the tools you use to make it possible. You can use Textback to improve
your text marketing, through the
implementation of 2 way SMS messages with an AI responder, scheduling
capabilities, and analytics to understand the success of a campaign.

Using the right tools will make
your mass text marketing campaigns as streamlined as possible and provide
valuable insights for data-driven decision making.

Understand the Legalities

To ensure that your SMS marketing campaign helps rather than hinders, you must understand the regulations surrounding SMS. When working through the nuances of SMS lead generation, you need to encourage customers to opt-in and make the opt-out process painless.

When engaging in text marketing,
there are also certain terms and phrases you must include. For example, the
words “msg & data rates apply” is a regulation put in place by
the Cellular
Telecommunications Industry Association (CITA) when using automated SMS or an AI responder.

Plan Timing and Frequency

One of the most important SMS
marketing tips to keep in mind when crafting a strategy is to avoid spamming
your customers. Timing and frequency are of the utmost importance when engaging
your audience.

Don’t reach out to your
customers unless you have something of value to offer. Use time-sensitivity to
your advantage by notifying customers of a sale within a few hours of it
starting or ending. Practice basic communication etiquette by ensuring that
your automated SMS campaign is scheduled to send within waking hours.

Clarify Your Content and CTA

While timing and frequency are
critical, the components of the message matter even more. The biggest challenge
with SMS marketing is the limited real estate for content. You generally have
fewer than 200 characters to get your point across, including the regulated
messaging that you must include.

Your message should be
impactful, and your CTA should be clear. Use terms like “click here”
or “reply with X” to inform your customers what their next step
should be.

Over time, it also makes sense
to analyze which messages have the greatest unsubscribe rates versus those that
have high click-through rates. These analytics will help you adjust your
messaging for better results. Don’t hesitate to try some A/B testing to
determine which message style is more effective before sending out a mass text
marketing campaign.

Segment Your Customers

The most effective email
marketing campaigns are those that are focused on targeted audiences via
segmentation. The same theory applies to AI SMS marketing.

Segment your lists based on
customer behaviors and responses. Use demographics to craft targeted messages
that improve conversion rates.

For segmentation and analytics
to be accurate, you must keep your overall list clean. Run processes to do a do
not call list check and a landline scrub. This protocol is especially important
when engaging in SMS lead generation.

Use an Engaging Tone

SMS messages have always been
intended for informal communication. As such, conversational SMS tones are the
most effective when talking to customers. Ensure that your words are casual and
engaging. The recipient should feel as though they’re chatting with a friend
rather than partaking in marketing.

It can be difficult to find a
balance between a tone that’s on brand and the limited character count in SMS
messages. Give it time and stay on top of the analytics provided by your SMS
marketing platform.

It often seems as though
everyone is on their phones constantly. Marketers should use this opportunity
to get directly in front of their customers to reach their sales goals.