When it comes to marketing your business, there are a lot of tools at your disposal. You can send emails, interact with customers via social media, run ads on Google, or even set up a referral program. One method that is often overlooked is SMS marketing. When used correctly, SMS marketing is a powerful tool that allows you to instantly connect with your customers or employees, using a method they prefer. If you haven’t used SMS marketing within your business, here’s what you need to know:

 

What is SMS Marketing?

 

SMS marketing is when you send out text messages to a user’s phone. Sometimes these messages are simple reminders. Sometimes the user can talk to a customer service representative. In others, you can include a link for the user to click. SMS marketing has become a powerful tool for businesses of all types and sizes, due to its reach and affordability.
Why is SMS marketing so powerful? Here are just a few ways it can benefit your business.

 

Direct Access to Customers and Employees

SMS marketing provides direct access to your customers and employees. Practically everyone walks around with their phone on them. In fact, according to SlickText, the average smartphone user checks their phone about 63 times per day. Most other forms of communication – including email, social media, and paper mail – don’t receive nearly this much attention.

With SMS marketing, you’re also reaching your audience at all hours of the day. Constant Contact reports that 80 percent of cellphone users check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up. Besides, 79% of adult cellphone users have their phones with them for 22 hours of the day. Most of us always have our phones with us, and we are constantly checking them, for better or worse. By sending someone an SMS message rather than an email or a letter, you will reach them right away.

 

SMS Marketing Produces Higher Open Rates

 

With SMS marketing, it’s not only easier to get your message to your audience; but it’s also more likely to get opened. One problem that many email marketers have faced over the years is that many people don’t open their emails. You can spend all the time you want crafting the perfect email copy or subject line; but if your audience doesn’t open it, it doesn’t matter.

 According to Rebrandly, SMS messages are opened a whopping 90 percent of the time, which is far higher than the average open rate for emails, that hovers around 21 percent. If you want your message to get to your audience quickly, and actually have it opened, SMS marketing is the way to go.

 

Customers Love It SMS Marketing

 

SMS marketing wouldn’t be effective if people didn’t like it. Luckily, that isn’t the case. For example, a study by One reach found that 85 percent of students preferred contact method is SMS, rather than another form of communication. Another study by Open Market found that for people ages 18 to 34, text is the preferred method to receive communications from businesses.

As demonstrated by these numbers, SMS is the preferred option for young people. As such, it will likely only continue to grow in preference as the years go by. This means that you can not only receive the benefits of SMS marketing now, but you can establish a marketing strategy that will benefit you for years to come.

 

Great for Feedback

Finally, SMS marketing is an excellent tool for receiving feedback from your audience. One of the keys to improving any business is gathering feedback. By learning what your customers like and what they don’t like, you can make more informed decisions about how to move forward.

Of course, gathering this feedback isn’t always easy. Many people in your audience may not want to take the time to fill out a survey or have a conversation with one of your customer service representatives. Therefore, you need to make it as easy as possible for your audience to give feedback.

With SMS tools, you make it so your audience can provide feedback using just their cellphone. Customers are much more likely to respond to a couple of text messages than visit your website and fill out a survey. SMS marketing is an excellent tool because you can send out marketing messages or reminders straight to someone’s cell phone, which they are regularly checking throughout the day. The same principle applies to gather feedback, allowing your business to obtain essential data that you’ll need to improve.

 

How to Get Started with SMS Marketing

You want to start harnessing the power of SMS marketing tools for your online courses. Let Steams Online help you out. Our platform comes with SMS marketing tools so that you can quickly reach your audience.

Here’s an example of how you can use SMS marketing with Steams Online. Let’s say you create a training program for your students. To make things as easy as possible for your students, and to ensure they see the message. Use SMS tools to send out a text to your students; let them know about the new course and how they can sign up.

Once they sign up, you can then use SMS tools to send out a reminder when the course is about to begin. This ensures a higher attendance rate, as people are less likely to forget. Finally, once the class is over, you can use the SMS tools again to gather feedback from your students. You can learn what they liked about the course. What information they wish it had, and adjust based on their feedback.

SMS marketing tools make it easier than ever before to get your messages seen by your audience. If you’d like to make use of this technology for your business, contact Steams Online today. We’d be happy to answer any questions you may have. Also, we love to provide you with more details about how our SMS marketing tools work.