How Can SMS Power Your Multichannel Marketing Strategy?

While the growth in usage of SMS marketing grows among marketers and brands, many yet hesitate to turn to its help. Reasons can be many, from the fear of over messaging to being skeptical, and even sometimes not knowing where to start. Meanwhile, with a 98% open rate and 19.3% click-through rate, SMS is one of the best working tools in digital marketing at the moment.

That’s why we’ve decided to create this short guide on how you can incorporate SMS into your multichannel marketing strategy, and use a mix of channels and mediums to reach your existing and potential customers with your messages. Ready? Let’s dive in!

What is a Multichannel Marketing Strategy?

Before we move to all the ways you can use SMS as part of your multichannel marketing strategy, let’s do a little detour and get a grasp of what multichannel marketing is.

When defined in its simplest form, a multichannel marketing strategy of interacting with the audience through… well, multiple channels (hence the name!) Most digital brands now go with the multichannel strategy, often without realizing it. So, if your brand uses email, social media, and, for example, outdoor ads, you already have a multichannel marketing strategy.

Why is a multichannel strategy so important? Because brands need to go where their customers are. And they are everywhere! Consider this: multichannel customers spend 3-4 times more than single-channel customers. And it’s logical: people rarely purchase something straight away, They need time to think, and if you are reaching them through only one channel, there’s a good chance they’ll forget and move on. But a carefully crafted email here, or an attractive ad there can eventually get their attention and get them back. And with the widespread use of smartphones, with the right strategy, it’s now so much easier to get in touch with them.

3 Ways to Use SMS In Your Multichannel Marketing Strategy

Now that you know what multichannel marketing is and why it is important for brands, let’s take a look at how SMS can be added to that mix. These are proven strategies that you can use to improve the connection between your audience and brand.

Complement Your Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the most widely used and powerful marketing channels, and there is no arguing with that. It has a wide reach and provides a phenomenal return on investment (ROI) of around $46 per spent dollar. SMS, too, is a similarly powerful channel that is simple, accessible, and effective. It is comfortable for the users, who access your messages directly on their smartphones without having to take any extra steps. Utilizing these mediums together multiplies their benefits while minimizing the "limitations" that they can have when utilized alone.

There are many ways you can make these two channels work together for cross-promotion purposes. One way is to identify your most loyal or interested customers through emails and offer them to subscribe to messaging communication. This is an effective strategy that allows you through email, a more popular channel, to bring more engaged users into another, more engaging channel. The result is a greater impact, as people usually bounce back and forth between channels, and need some time to consider before making a purchase.

Improve Your In-App Messaging Strategy

You have an app, and it was downloaded. Awesome! Now you need to think of ways you'll start contacting your user. One powerful way is through in-app messaging. The app provides valuable data and analytics, which you can use to send customized messages to the customers when they engage with your app. But what happens if they become inactive?

This is where SMS can come to the rescue. By encouraging them to sign up for your text messages, you'll have more ways to connect them in case you have urgent information to share when they are not using the app, they become inactive for some time, or even if they uninstall the app.

Use It To Guide Online Buying Experience

Ecommerce brands can benefit from SMS greatly by using it throughout the whole duration of the purchase process. From making product announcements to reminding about abandoned carts and checkouts, to establishing transactional communication during the shipping process, SMS can help amplify the customer experience. It's an instrumental touchpoint if you are looking to reach your customers through a channel with a high engagement rate and want to make sure they receive your messages.

Conclusion

A well thought-out SMS marketing opens up countless possibilities for brands. Being one of the hot trends in digital marketing, it can be an effective addition to your marketing channel mix. The key to success here is to plan out for opportunities and challenges you may face in the process of integration. By putting the right strategies in place, you’re likely to build a much more profitable and effective multichannel marketing strategy.

Want to see how YooTelco can help you achieve all of this with SMS? Reach out to us and we'll be happy to give you a detailed tour of how our top-tier SMS services can help you grow your brand.