As a small business, you are always looking for the easiest & best way to market your company.
With so many options available, it can be hard to decide which marketing strategy will work best and give you the most ROI.
Text messaging is becoming one of the most popular forms of marketing and one the best ways to communicate with customers because they are always on their phone & the average American check their smartphone 96 times a day!
Texting is cheap, easy to use, and a text message can be read within seconds.
You have probably received text messages from companies before which means you also know how effective they can be at capturing YOUR attention.
This is making Texting an essential tool for businesses of all shapes and sizes.
In this article we will share with you 7 top reasons why your small business should use a text messaging service in 2021
1. Text messages typically have a much higher open rate than email or social media posts…
Upwards of 92%, which means that text messages have a higher chance of being read and taken action on.
They are also less likely to be deleted without being read, making text message marketing more effective at capturing your audience’s attention and getting them interested in what you offer.
If you have a longer marketing message, texting people to check their email for your longer promo email, works very well.
2. You can create text message campaigns with specific goals in mind and then track your results.
For example, a text message can be sent to increase customer open rate & engagement of a longer email containing a promotion or coupon or new service as we mentioned above…
Do you do any events?
You should also think about using texting for events – this could mean promoting an event in advance so people know when it starts (and don’t forget to send them reminders to attend!).
This is especially important if you do online events.
You’ll want these texts sent out a few days ahead of time because that gives customers enough time to make plans & buy their tickets.
The tracking available in the right Text Messaging Service platform can show you how many people opened the message, clicked on the link in the message, how many tickets, or products were sold or how many people signed up for your new special service…
Smart business owners also use ‘split testing’ which is the act of sending out a different message to a selected group of people and measuring the response.,
The message with the most sales or engagements, or whatever you are testing are then sent to your entire list.
You will see much better campaigns results by split testing.
Then segment the hyper-qualified users into a separate list for follow up messaging or up-selling.
Doing so will cut down on complaints and opt outs from your customer list.
3. Texting offers a level playing field.
Unlike traditional advertising where some customers have access to ‘prime spots’ and others do not, everyone has equal access to text services, but not all text messaging services are equal!
You will want an “automated text service” that can respond to a customer’s question, making it invaluable for customer service – responding quickly when they NEED you most.
You can ‘tag customers’ based on links they click inside your message or asking them to respond with a ‘keyword’.
This can help segment the people VERY interested in your current offer, event, coupon, etc., from those who are not.
There’s no reason to keep sending more messages about the same thing to people who are NOT interested.
That’s what can cause spam complaints or opt outs from your customer texting list and also what causes some business’ to not have good results using text message marketing.
And speaking of traditional advertising, text messaging is also an inexpensive way to reach out as text messages are MANY times cheaper than traditional advertising like radio ads, TV commercials and billboards.
You will spend less money, but get more ‘accurate’ attention!
4. You can reach your customers in a way that is both personal and informative.
– Personal because text messages are a great way to connect directly with your customers and prospects to thank them for their purchase, show appreciation for being a customer, and/or welcome them as a new customer.
– Informative as they can contain text, audio & video links.
This makes texting an excellent option for educational content like product demos or tutorials on how to use products that you sell!
If you’re in retail – texting them when their store credit card balances have reached certain thresholds so they know when shopping time is over (and before they spend money unnecessarily).
You could also send a text reminder for past due invoices if that’s something that happens often.
Texting Message Reminders
5. Texting is a powerful tool for re-engaging customers who may have abandoned their shopping cart or monthly service subscription.
– Abandoned shopping cart.
It is best to choose a text messaging service that can be programmed to start a countdown type timer when a person is on your website and adds a product to their shopping cart, or starts to fill out an appointment form but doesn’t finish…
Give the person say 20 minutes to complete their transaction and then send an automated short reminder text (and/or email for that matter) that might contain a coupon code for the specific product or service that they were trying to purchase.
This incentivizes them to follow through & make the purchase OR finish scheduling the appointment with your company.
– Monthly service subscription.
As with the abandoned shopping cart example above, you should have a text messaging service that can be programmed to send out text reminders for those subscribers who are about to lapse on their monthly subscription payment.
Offer them a month free to remit now or a yearly payment option with 2 or 3 months free.
6. Use texting to send out surveys & polls that let your customers provide internal feedback on products, services, features, etc.
The best texting software platforms have an online form feature that allows you to send people to a short page on your website with a quick survey form with multiple choice questions, or even the option to write-in their answer, asking them their thoughts.
Keep the form simple and easy to respond to.
You can even ask them to text back a quick “word” based on a choice of something and then see what is the favorite.
The results of these surveys & polls can provide your business valuable insight into what your customers need or want from you, which is crucial for any business wanting to grow.
7. Use texting to send out online review requests.
Reviews are powerful as they help people decide whether or not to purchase from a local business.
Over 51% of consumers will NOT purchase from a company that has a lower than 4 star rating on Google. (Or other review sites for that matter.)
We believe that getting good reviews on Google is crucial for 99% of local businesses because when consumers search your exact business name, (and 75% of people will do this before engaging with your business) your Google My Business page rating shows right up in the search results!
if your rating is 3.9 stars or less, you are going to lose well over 1/2 of ALL people checking you out online.
There is a secret way to create a Google review link that when clicked in a text or email by your customers, opens up the review box window right on their phone, or desktop, and let’s them choose a star rating, enter some comments, and then submit it.
The person must have a Gmail and be logged in to do this, as most people are…
Make sure that you ask for a review from ALL of your happy customers!
We have another training on how to get what we call the “Ultimate Google Review” that you can see by clicking here.
Conclusion
Texting is one of the most powerful tools available when it comes to marketing and advertising your Small Business and staying engaged with your customers/clients/patients.
Many small businesses do not know how benefits of using a smart texting strategy, can drastically increase their bottom line.
When you use texting as part of your overall marketing strategy, you are able to create a messaging strategy that has the potential to reach thousands of customers.
The bottom line:
– text message marketing is effective for small business.
– text messaging appeals to people who don’t use email or social media.
– text messages are cost efficient.
Text messaging is a powerful tool that can be used to market your small business and stay engaged with customers.
The Buzz Messaging System offers easy-to-use text messages for marketing, appointment reminders, surveys (with automated responses), customer feedback, Google reviews, SMS chatbots, and more!
You won’t regret trying out the Buzz System as an addition to your marketing strategy!
