SERVICE
SMS Marketing
SMS marketing, also known as text marketing or text message marketing, allows businesses and organizations to communicate coupons, promotions and alerts via permission-based, opt in text messages.
- Increase foot traffic
- Increase sales
- Reward loyal customers
- Cultivate stronger customer relationships
- Keep customers informed
- Instantly communicate with qualified subscribers
It's recommended that all text messages are limited to a max of 160 characters.
If done correctly, absolutely not. SMS marketing operates under the permission-based marketing standard.
All subscribers must give their expressed consent before joining your SMS list. Never randomly upload phone numbers. Doing so will result in a heap of legal issues.
That said, there are SMS databases that you can use to get your message across to a large number of users. For instance, Inbound Hype has a database of around 300,000 SMS subscribers who have already given their expressed consent in recieving text messages from third-party businesses.
An SMS marketing keyword, or textword, is a word that's unique to your business or organization. So if users want to join your list, they would text that keyword to a designated shortcode.
For example, to join our SMS subscribers list, you would have to text the keyword INBOUNDHYPE to the shortcode 5555.
It's a 4 or 6 digit number that's designated for commercial use and mass mobile communications. All SMS marketing campaigns must be sent through shortcodes to prevent legal implications to both the service provider and the business sending the text message.
As a small business owner, you don't necessarily need your own shortcode. For a small cost, you can just use the shortcode of your SMS marketing provider.
An auto reply is an automated text message sent back to a subscriber after they've texted your keyword to a particular shortcode.
Auto replies confirm the subscription.
It offers subscribers an incentive for joining your list, lets them know how often they will be recieving messages from you and how to opt out if they choose to do so.
