SMS marketing is one of the most direct and effective ways to reach your customers. But maximising results requires a well thought-out strategy to ensure your messages are relevant, targeted and effective. Here's a guide on how to create a sharp SMS marketing strategy that delivers results.
A sharp strategy creates better results, so if you're among those who don't want to waste your marketing budget on trial and error, you should prioritise developing a thorough strategy and thinking about what your marketing plan should look like before you start sending out SMS campaigns.
Define goals and KPIs for your SMS strategy
To know if your SMS marketing is creating value, you need clear goals and key performance indicators (KPIs). These measurable benchmarks help you and your team evaluate your efforts and adjust course along the way.
Examples of KPIs:
- Conversion rate: How many recipients perform a desired action, such as a purchase?
- Click-through rate (CTR): How often do recipients click on links in your messages?
- Subscription rate: How fast is your list of SMS subscribers growing?
- Unsubscribe rate: How many people choose to unsubscribe and what can this tell you about the relevance of your communication?
Make sure your KPIs are realistic and adjust them as you gain more insight into your target audience's behaviour.
Segment your target audience
SMS marketing is most effective when you communicate personalised and relevant. That's why segmentation is crucial. For example, segment your recipients based on data such as geographical location, purchase history or interactions with your business.
Examples of segments:
- First-time buyers: Build a strong relationship from the start with welcome messages.
- Inactive customers: Win them back with targeted offers.
- VIP customers: Reward loyalty with exclusive promotions.
- Bargain hunters: Share highly relevant promotions and sales.
The more specific your segmentation, the easier it is to deliver messages that hit the mark.
Plan your SMS campaigns and automations
A well-prepared SMS strategy balances between campaigns and automations. While campaigns are time-bound and focus on current events, automations can create value over longer periods of time by responding to customer actions. So think about what you need in your customer journey.
Examples of SMS automation:
- Welcome messages for new subscribers.
- Reminders for forgotten items in the shopping basket.
- Birthday greetings with special discounts.
When planning campaigns, you need to consider:
- Messages: What do you want to communicate and why? Make sure your messages are relevant and add value.
- Timing: Find the time when your customers are most receptive. Test and adjust to find the optimal times.
- Frequency: Avoid overloading recipients with too many messages, but keep them engaged with regular communication.
SMS campaigns
SMS campaigns are typically one-off broadcasts that are planned as part of your annual cycle or content plan alongside content on your other channels.
The messages in your SMS campaigns are created to fit in with the seasons and company events throughout the year.
SMS campaigns are directly related to your marketing goals (your SMS KPIs).
An SMS campaign is manually scheduled to be sent once.
SMS automations (flows)
The messages in an SMS automation are evergreens - that is, the messages' message is timeless and thus not dependent on certain seasons or events.
They are typically triggered by a specific trigger or when a selected action takes place.
Automations helps the target audience through the customer journey by communicating the selected messages at just the right time. The broadcast is thus based on the individual customer's personal timeline/customer journey.
Use a content plan as a roadmap
To ensure a continuous and structured effort, you should integrate SMS marketing into your overall content plan. This plan helps you keep track of when and how to send your messages.
A good content plan includes:
- Campaign content: Define clear headlines and core objectives.
- Timeline: Record all important events, such as holidays and sales.
- Segments: Mark who the campaign is aimed at.
- Channels: Specify whether the campaign should run on SMS, email, social media or other platforms.
Remember to keep the plan flexible to allow for spontaneous campaigns and creative ideas. This is one of the strengths of using SMS messaging. They're quick to set up and easy to dispatch if the need arises.
Make your messages valuable to the recipient
In SMS marketing, relevance is the key to success. Recipients need to feel that your messages are valuable, otherwise you risk unsubscribes. Therefore, make sure that your SMS messages:
- Includes clear call-to-actions.
- Highlight unique benefits of your offers.
- Are customised to the segment they are sent to.
A sharp SMS marketing strategy is all about knowing your goals, knowing your audience and delivering valuable content at the right time. By focusing on segmentation, KPIs and solid planning, you can utilise SMS as an effective and direct channel to grow your business.
Want to dive deeper into shaping SMS marketing strategy? Then read our article on audiences for SMS marketing.
