Although bulk SMS marketing is quite new, the marketing principles are valid for it. There is no magic in it. If you do the right things you will be successful, if you do the wrong things you won’t see the results you want. It’s that easy. Do you want to see a significant ROI on your bulk SMS marketing? Design a plan that puts these critical principles into practice…
1. Get phone numbers
It’s common sense, isn’t it? First, you need people’s phone numbers to market to. The best way to get phone numbers is to allow people to give them to you with their permission. You can achieve this through signup forms on your website where you give away something valuable for free. You can buy or rent other people’s phone list, but be careful who you buy from.
As a business or marketer, capturing the phone numbers (and even the names) of your leads and customers should be one of your priorities; in fact, your number one priority. Listen, if you don’t have a phone list, you shouldn’t be talking about mass SMS marketing.
2. Segment your phone list
Make no mistake about it, everyone on your phone list doesn’t have the same needs, they don’t respond the same way. Therefore, communicating and marketing to them in the same way is a pure waste of resources.
You should divide your phone list into segments in different categories. Sometimes the list will be segmented by their behaviors. Sometimes you will need to poll them through surveys. Another very powerful way is to offer highly specialized and targeted free information and see who responds and who doesn’t.
3. Ensure deliverability
If your bulk SMS is not going to be delivered, there is no point in sending it in the first place. To ensure that your SMS is delivered, test the bulk SMS service provider you want to use if it is delivered. Second, know the words that, if included in your SMS, will cause non-delivery and avoid them. Some bulk SMS services ban certain words in messages in an attempt to block scammers using their service for their malicious activities.
Again, you want to make sure that your phone numbers are entered in the format stipulated by your bulk SMS service provider. And basically make sure the phone numbers you’re collecting exist in the first place.
4. Get involved for maximum impact
The more you interact with your subscribers, the more they will know and like you. And the more they like you, the more they respond to you and ultimately patronize you. You can engage your list by asking them questions and requesting their response. You can send them to your social media pages and ask them to contribute to things that directly affect them. Tell them to ask you questions that bother them.
5. Hint, Hint, Hint
Understand that no marketing is successful or lasts without a tracking mechanism. Tracking your bulk SMS marketing lets you know whether or not your efforts are paying off, and by how much.
You can track your bulk SMS marketing by the number of responses you receive. You can track how many people clicked on the link you sent in your message using a URL shortening and tracking service like bitly. And when they’re on your site, you can use Google Analytics to learn how customers are responding to your bulk SMS campaigns compared to insights from other traffic sources.
6. Testing, testing, testing
The great philosophers have said that all life is experiment and nowhere is that more true than in marketing. To find out what works, you need to combine tracking with testing. Test your opening sentences and words, test your call to action, test sending your SMS on different days, test responding at different times of the day, test your offers, test anything that is significant to your overall success.
7. Be frequent
People don’t start to notice until you reply to them at least seven times. Getting your message in front of your prospects often helps you stay on top of their mind. And if you constantly provide quality content, they will be eager to receive your SMS. When that happens, you become a welcome guest instead of an annoying pest.
Don’t worry if they don’t respond right away, the goal is to get you to stay on their minds so that when they need your services, your name is the first on their minds.
There are the seven pillars of SMS marketing success. If you want to see your Bulk SMS ROI increase, put these principles into practice and I’ll see you at the bank!
