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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, but not limited to:
Appointment Reminders
Service-based companies and medical professionals can send appointment reminders to help decrease no-shows.
Discounts & Promotions
Businesses can share coupons and alert their subscribers to in-store sales, limited-time promotions, or new products. It is 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 Communication
Membership-based businesses can use texting to easily provide two-way communication to their members. Remind them to pay their dues or share information about member-only events
Text Message Marketing Basics
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:
Reach
Engagement
Simplicity
Cost
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 Direct, to make it simple and quick for you to launch your campaigns. After you sign up for your free account, you can determine what type of messages make the most sense for your business and get started quickly!
Text Direct’s user-friendly dashboard will make it simple for you to track the performance of your campaigns. You will be able to see any replies that you have received, how many messages were sent, the number of people that opt out of your list, and more!
We also provide support and guidance to help make sure you get the most out of your campaigns. You can chat directly with our Client Success Managers while you are 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 is inexpensive to use and boosts customer retention.
Here are a few ways you use the power of text messages to generate revenue.
The Full Run Down
SMS, at first glance, might sound limiting. After all, it cannot offer the kind of visually attractive media an email can. The word limit is restricted to 160 characters too.
SMS can still pack a punch though. From competitions to feedback polls, there is a lot that marketers can do to grab their customer’s attention. Polling is especially useful in helping create a strong relationship between the customer and the marketer.
It provides valuable feedback and can steer marketers toward the kind of change customers want to see.
Learn about the powerful features of our SMS marketing platform
What do you need to know before running an SMS campaign?
SMS messaging is by far the simplest and quickest way available to reach customers.
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.
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 has been here a while and it works.
Now that you understand the fundamentals of Text Message Marketing, it is time to start thinking about your first campaigns. It is 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.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is spin text?
The functionality within our platform allows you to vary the verbiage within your SMS message. This alleviates the work of having to create multiple messages for the same campaign.
What is a DID?
DID stands for Direct Inward Dialing. DIDs are virtual numbers that allow you to route calls to your existing telephone lines. DIDs were developed to be able to assign certain employees a direct number, without requiring multiple physical phone lines.
What is Long Code?
A Long Code number is a standard phone number used to send and receive voice calls and SMS messages. Phone numbers are typically called “long codes” (10-digit numbers in many countries) when comparing them with SMS short codes (5-6-digit numbers).
Long Code numbers can send 1 message per second.
What is a Toll Free Number?
A Toll-Free number is a telephone number with a distinct three-digit code that can be dialed from landlines with no charge to the person placing the call. Toll Free numbers can send 3 messages per second.
What is Keyword Responder Campaign/Double Opt-In?
The double opt-in process is a way of confirming someone’s wish to join a text messaging or email list. It gives businesses complete confidence in a subscriber’s consent and helps protect against spam complaints. A keyword is a word that allows people to subscribe to receive text messages from you. All your subscribers need to do is text the word to your DID, triggering a response.
What does “compliance” mean?
Compliance basically means staying on the right side of the laws, rules, and regulations that were set forth for texting by the cell phone carriers and various government agencies. For most businesses that send texts, the most important rule to is getting express written consent from your subscribers. The rest of the rules and laws mostly cover what you can text about and how you communicate with your subscribers.
How do I add subscribers?
You need a way for your audience to subscribe to receive your messages. The most common methods are keywords and web sign-up forms. You probably already have a form on your site to collect emails so you can just add an optional phone number field to it to start collecting numbers. Just be sure to add a checkbox people can use to provide express written consent! You are also able to import subscribers that have already subscribed to your texts.
Can I split my subscribers up into different lists?
You can absolutely split and segment your subscribers by any criteria that you choose. These segmented subscriber lists will help you personalize your texts and make sure you’re only sending messages your audience wants to receive.
Sending a Text Message Campaign
Once you’ve got a list of subscribers, it’s time to write and send your first SMS. We can always help you with this!
How long can a text message be?
That depends on the type of message you want to send. If you are sending an SMS, you are limited to 160 characters. You are able to send more than 160 characters, but you will be charged accordingly. Basically every 160 characters is a “segment” so if you have 161 characters you would be charged double as it would be two segments versus one. MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) lets you use 1,600 characters and allows you to include multimedia content.
How do custom fields work?
We call them “tokens” and we have standard tokens such as name, email, city, state and more! It is a feature that allows you to personalize your messages with ease.
How do I send a mass text?
To create a mass text, just write up a message as usual, choose the subscriber list that you want to send it to, and decide whether to send it immediately or schedule it for later! Mass texts are an effective way to reach lots of your subscribers at once.
How do I set up autoresponders (keywords?)
Autoresponders, we call them keywords, will reply automatically to texts from your subscribers or send out automated messages over time, whichever you choose. These are easy to set up and manage from your Text Direct account. As always, we can help!
Can I attach files to my messages?
You are able to do this with MMS messages! MMS gives you more characters to work with than SMS and allows you to send GIFs, videos, photos, audio, and even PDFs in your messages.
Can I add texting to the web applications I already use?
Yes! Web applications that have API functionality, like Mailchimp, Zapier, and Salesforce, can be integrated with online SMS providers like Text Direct so you have easily simplified your workflow.
Can I look at how my messages are performing?
Yes, we have several reports and features to let you know the important details of how your messages are performing!
How can I track clicks on my links?
When you set up “click routers” we will help you track the click-through rate on those links! You can also create a specific segment of subscribers based on who clicked on your link!
How May We Help You!
Welcome to Text Direct! We’re here to help you with all of your text messaging needs. Whether you’re looking for a simple way to send a quick message or you need a more advanced solution for managing your text messaging campaigns, we have the tools and expertise to help.