You are a savvy marketer, and have realized that adopting SMS marketing into your marketing strategy is a solid decision. You have had success using SMS for alerts and appointment confirmations. Customers love the new service and are responding with enthusiasm. However, if that is where you stopped, it is time to stretch your SMS interaction further. Your peers in business are using SMS marketing to build relationships, foster loyalty, boost conversion rates and turn new customers into long-term business opportunities. Let's look at how you can turn this opportunity into reality.

1. Cover Your Bases with SMS

Cell phones can receive text messages even if they are not smartphones. If you need to reach across a broad demographic, you can summarize your key offer in 160 characters and broadcast it out via SMS for a cost-effective method of reaching the broadest cross-section of customers. The opening rate for text messages is higher than email spreading awareness to a wider audience.

2. Engage with SMS

Text messaging is immediate and personal. To see who is listening, text an offer that will be hard to refuse such as, "Get 50% off your next Happy Hour meal when you show this message!" You will know pretty quickly who is out there engaging with your texts.

3. Send Offers with SMS

Retailers and wholesale stores can use SMS effectively for sending out offers. Timely offers can achieve high response rates. One example is that of Carl's Jr. which uses SMS messaging for its loyalty program rewarding points toward free meals. Texts are sent out right before commuters travel home from work and the response rate is terrific!

[Tweet "Texts are sent out right before commuters travel home from work and the response rate is terrific!"]

4. Integrate SMS with Email Campaigns

Using SMS alone works very well. Using it in conjunction with email campaigns works even better. If you add a URL to your SMS message, you will encourage subscriptions to your email list and sales conversions. You can track these customers through your entire communication pathway all the way back to the SMS.

5. Incorporate SMS with Direct Mail

Direct mail conversion rates average about 4.4%, but you can increase them dramatically by sending your customers an SMS 24 hours after they receive the mail delivery. Add an extra incentive to the Direct Mail offer in your text and your opens will increase.

6. Survey Customers with SMS

Long surveys are not very inviting, however sending a survey in short messages over SMS is much more palatable. You will get more feedback because it is easier to answer a concise question with a few multiple choice answers than sitting down and filling out a questionnaire.

7. Discover Your Influencers with SMS

Customers are not all created equal. You can discover your influencers and focus more resources on them through SMS. Ask your customers how they would rate you on a scale from 1 to 10. Their texted answer will be delivered to your database. The top 20% who will recommend you to others are your influencers. They can help you with valuable feedback and you can offer them rewards and incentives to give their advice.

8. Use SMS to Interact with Individuals

After analyzing your responses to #7, you can segment your audience into groups who are fully engaged, gaining interest, aggressors and advocates. Then you can use the collected data to have a discussion with each individual across all of your media channels.

Using a best-of-breed platform provider will help create the message and send it as if each customer was your only customer. The personalized touch will thrill your customers and give them a relevant message.

[Tweet "Using a best-of-breed platform provider will help create the message and send it as if each customer was your only customer. #SMSMarketing"]

9. Customize SMS for Maximum Contact

Customers have preferences as to when they are available to interact with your company. With SMS, generally read within minutes of receipt, you can learn when your customer is the most receptive to your contact, not just for their demographic group, but also for them as an individual.

10. Blend Every Campaign with SMS

SMS is popular because it is a two-way interaction; customers can talk back to you. Put a Short Code on your Direct Mail buckslip inviting feedback. Encourage customers to converse with you, even when you are cold calling. You can also add a form-to-SMS to your website allowing customers to opt-in their phone numbers. Every usage of SMS helps build your relationship with your customer.

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