At the moment, technology is advancing like a 100m sprinter. Businesses have to get on board or risk falling behind. New opportunities and challenges present themselves almost every day. The moment a new product is advertised, someone else is preparing to market something similar. Items can corner the market one day, and the shops become saturated the next.

One way for businesses to survive and grow in such a climate is to use every available means of marketing. Two avenues that have been shown to be highly successful are email and text marketing. They can also be a cheap option. Let’s go through this right now and learn how to make them work effectively.

Offer It!

Many business websites have a ‘subscribe’ button. They frequently offer incentives to ‘bribe’ the people. In exchange for a person providing their email address, they may receive a freebie. There may be something to download, a free e-book, or a discount coupon. In return, the company can add the email address to their mailing list. It can then be used for future email marketing campaigns.

These days websites are increasingly offering the option for people to receive SMS (text) communications. A surprisingly high number of people say yes. It may be partly because it’s more convenient to receive a text than to have to go into one’s emails. It’s been observed by specialists that certain industries stand to benefit from SMS marketing, including restaurants, real estate, non-profit organizations, and medical practices. Insurance companies, beauty salons, and the automotive industries could gain too. In fact, the list goes on.

Any business hearing that texts have a 98% open rate and a 209% higher response rate would be crazy to ignore it as a viable option. Using ClickSend can even make it extremely easy and straightforward to manage text marketing campaigns. Why not create a text database in the same way you have one for email addresses?

Choose Formats Customers Want

96% of people in the western world own a phone. Many experience sensations akin to panic if they leave them at home by mistake! People may not check their Facebook posts every time they access their phone, but they will almost always read their texts in entirety.

If people want to be advised by text each time an order has been placed or something has been dispatched, do it. It will only take a moment of the person’s time to read the message, and they will feel they are doing business with a competent company.

Research has shown that email marketing is highly popular too. Things can be taken up a gear when video content is included. The key here is to mention the word ‘video’ in the heading. This is a great way to achieve a higher engagement rate.

Do Bulk Marketing

Over 80% of successful businesses conduct regular email marketing campaigns. Software exists that can automate both email and text marketing campaigns. This saves companies time and frees up employees to work on other things. Some software has been designed to help personalize emails according to people’s individual preferences. This beautifully combines automation with the personal touch that people appreciate.

Use It to Redirect Traffic

Regularly incorporate web links within the texts or emails, to redirect people to the company website. This equally applies to social media posts on Twitter or Facebook. If messages are about an online catalog, include a link. If a new product is being promoted, display the URL for it. Company websites are frequently the hub of sales activities, so it is sensible to motivate people to go there.

Provide Helpful Information

If there are temporary discounts on a product or service, communicate this. If a new product has been launched, get the word out there. If an event is coming up soon, why not issue an invitation or reminder? If an appointment or booking is fast approaching, notify the customer. It may be the person who has forgotten or is no longer free on that day. This could save wasted time with a ‘no show’ appointment. A new date can also be agreed upon.   

Don’t Overdo It

Businesses need to produce quality, engaging content, whether it is on social media or otherwise. If text or emails come from a company on a weekly basis, it can build trust in the business and potentially create sales. If the communications are more frequent than that, people may block the caller or unsubscribe from the emails.

Conclusion

Businesses should have a full armory of marketing channels at their fingertips. Text and email communications should certainly feature here. It may be that over time, SMS marketing will become so widespread that its popularity will dwindle. That is certainly not the case at the moment, so the door of opportunity is wide open.

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