Bulk SMS advertisement is by far one of the most effective marketing strategies. Pinging mass SMS messages to a contact list that can reach thousands is incredibly efficient. Marketing text messages are a breeze to create—short, snappy, and personable. And with bulk SMS advertising, you can instantly target a large group of people.
Everyone is familiar with that knee-jerk reaction of getting a text, and you’ll recreate that on a massive scale. And doing it in bulk keeps you from wasting time on individual messages?
You are on the right track if you want to understand bulk SMS marketing more. Once you’ve read this guide, you’ll be well on your way to SMS marketing success. Of course, you’ll need to know about things like building an SMS subscriber list and the best software to use. And most importantly, you’ll need to understand the laws of consent around SMS marketing.
However, once you get to grips with all this, it is a hugely rewarding marketing venture. SMS marketing has one of the highest engagement rates. So jot down this essential info and start your SMS journey.
What Is Bulk SMS Advertisement?
First of all, what on Earth is bulk SMS advertisement? Well, you can best define it as a business sending text messages to many people at once. SMS advertising is where you send marketing text messages directly to people’s mobile phones.
For small businesses, text message marketing is a wonderful way to quickly and casually connect with customer bases. And because of people’s conditioning - jumping and opening their phone at notification sounds—it has excellent engagement rates.
There’s an essential caveat to bulk SMS advertising, though, which is consent. While things vary country by country (even state by state), recipients typically consent to be on your contact list. So you must collect phone numbers transparently, ethically, and with consent.
A common way that businesses collect phone numbers is through consent boxes after online purchases. We’ve all seen the little ‘consent to email contact and SMS marketing’ boxes.
However, you can also collect phone numbers by running captive portal WiFi. Captive portal WiFi has an automatic barricade that users can only move through after inputting details. You could stipulate that customers must enter their number and consent to SMS advertisements to access WiFi. And since you can get free captive WiFi software easily, this is a low-cost way of collecting numbers.
The rest is like clockwork once businesses have this collection of consented target audiences. You simply design text messages and send them out in bulk. There are mixed reviews on the optimal frequency of sending SMS marketing texts.
However, 4-5 a month seems the maximum businesses can send without a drop in subscribers. You also need to balance out a mix of the following SMS types:
- Opt-in requests
- Promotional messages
- Feedback requests
- Contests
- Transactional messages
- Loyalty programs
5 Top Advantages of Bulk SMS Advertising
There are so many advantages to bulk SMS advertisement, which is why it’s so popular. Once you build a solid SMS subscriber list and get your texts sent, you’ll quickly notice these five top advantages.
1. Bulk SMS Advertisement Is Quick To Send
Bulk SMS marketing is super quick. It’s easy to write—with just 160 characters—faster than other marketing strategies like lengthy email newsletters. It is also quick to send, with recipients getting the messages almost instantly.
This is miles more effective than posting leaflets if you value quick marketing turnarounds. And similarly, it is quick for recipients to read. It requires minimal investment and you can easily read between their responsibilities and demanding schedules.
2. Bulk SMS Advertisement Is Cheap and Minimal Risk
Bulk SMS marketing is also cheap. Therefore, it is a minimal risk and an addition to your marketing strategies. Business owners can do it themselves because writing short marketing copy is not time-consuming.
Or even hire ad hoc copywriters and marketers to create a load in bulk. Either way, SMS advertisements won’t break the bank. And if you don’t want to continue at any point, you can just stop.
3. Bulk SMS Advertisement Has Great Engagement Rates
Because bulk SMS advertisement is so easy to open and quick to send, it has fantastic engagement rates. In fact, the average open rate hovers at around 98% - which is just unbelievably good. With 98% opening your marketing messages, you can convert engagement to sales and other favorable actions.
So it is no surprise that the high engagement rate correlates with a sky-high conversion rate. If you want to maximize your engagement as much as possible, SMS marketing is the best.
4. Bulk SMS Advertisement Builds Loyal Customers
Loyalty is vital when running a business. The more loyal your customer base is, the more repeat sales you’ll get. And the more repeat sales, the more reliable your profit and income.
SMS advertising is the best way to increase customer loyalty. Texting builds a sense of rapport and you can easily incorporate it into a loyalty program. Restaurant loyalty programs are an excellent example of this strategy.
5. Bulk SMS Advertisement Has Easy Opt-In and Opt-Out Choices
Bulk SMS advertisement is super easy to opt in and out of - perfect for consensual marketing. With the choice to easily control the marketing, recipients are more likely to engage positively with your messages. They can just text STOP if they wish to opt out which keeps you out of the spam folder.
So, that’s the top five advantages. But what about disadvantages? There are just a few things to consider. And notably, you can avoid most of these disadvantages if you responsibly manage your SMS marketing.
Messages you send via text have to be relatively short. You don’t have essays and essays to get your point across. Be aware that this could limit your marketing capabilities. You’ll need to be brilliant at squeezing persuasive messages into 160 characters.
Consent issues shouldn’t happen if you collect phone numbers ethically. You must ensure that you get consent from every person before adding them to a subscriber contact list. If you don’t, you are more likely to suffer from further engagement issues and even legal troubles.
Text messages are super personal. So understandably, a disadvantage of SMS marketing is that it can be invasive. Spamming recipients with tons of messages can exacerbate this issue.
5 Top Choices for Bulk SMS Marketing Software
Finding bulk SMS marketing software is easy in the sense that you have lots of options. But, of course, this can breed indecision and be overwhelming when choosing. So in this section of our bulk SMS advertisement guide, we’ll shortlist the top five you should consider.
Braze is a brilliant SMS software that allows you to text recipients all over the world - from 200+ different countries. It supports you through templates, subscription statuses, and automation services. And in short, it is a reliable pick for bulk SMS marketing.
Voodoo prides itself on competitively low prices - starting at just 2.2p per message. This UK SMS company is best for those on a budget and offers a financially accessible SMS marketing package. It comes with all the essentials, like templates and analytics.
FireText has worked with the NHS, PrettyLittleThing, and Deliveroo. It comes into its own with its analytical insights and URL tracking. FireText is not only great for shooting off brilliant texts quickly but also for measuring how they’re received.
Text Marketer pitches an effortless SMS marketing software, making the process easy. Prices start at 2.5p per SMS message, with no subscription or set-up fees. Text Marketer isn’t the most popular in the industry, but it is one of the best options.
MailChimp is famous for its email marketing software. But what if you could send your SMS marketing from the exact same software? MailChimp is an absolute beast when it comes to marketing software. And if you want to stick with industry leaders, this is your top choice.
There are plenty of bulk SMS marketing tools that you can use that are different from pure SMS-related software. You can use generators, editing tools, free marketing planners, and more. It is important to utilize as many resources as possible (and necessary) to create the best results. Take this section seriously; we’ll provide an overview of the bulk SMS advertisement tools you need to use.
Grammarly is a self-editing tool and a must for anyone sending SMS messages. Regarding marketing, your grammar must be watertight to protect your reputation. Having excellent grammar makes you appear professional and more trustworthy as a business. If you want to maximize engagement rates with SMS marketing, your texts need to be squeaky clean of grammatical errors.
Grammarly has a free package and edits your work for you, offering prompts and alternatives. It is easily the best in the game.
Monday is a wonderful tool that helps you to schedule your marketing campaigns. Scheduling is essential in marketing, especially as you might do some things biweekly or monthly. It is hard to keep tabs on different strategies and jobs - even within the same campaign.
You can use this for SMS marketing to keep you organized. And the best part is that it’s free.
ProjectManager is best for those who are working in a large team. It helps you delegate tasks more clearly and ensure everyone is up-to-date with marketing. This is especially helpful with SMS marketing, where you create high quantities of texts ahead of time. It also offers a free trial and relatively low monthly subscription rates compared to competitors.
Should You Invest in Bulk SMS Advertisement
Bulk SMS advertisement is a wonderful investment to make for your business. This marketing strategy’s prime benefit is its ridiculously high engagement rate - remember that it averages at a 98% open rate?
However, this benefit results from many qualities, including how quick it is and how personable text messages are. Bulk SMS marketing is incredible. And if you are juggling between a few different marketing strategies, we’d suggest taking the plunge with SMS.
Of course, it helps that when marketing in bulk, you can send thousands of texts at once. It is a case of the world being your oyster at a single click.
Using bulk SMS marketing will help you connect better with a soon-to-be-loyal network of customers. The results do speak for themselves. Expect loyal customers, higher engagement rates, and an increase in profit. What more could you want? When debating investing in new advertising, use bulk SMS marketing.
Do you want some extra help with your bulk SMS advertisement plans? At Beambox, we are always happy to help you market your business. And as experts in SMS marketing and small business improvement, we can boost your progress in your journey to success.
Beambox provides the best all-in-one WiFi marketing platform. We use a multi-avenue approach to connect, attract, and keep customers. Start your Beambox free trial today, and let us help you to maximize your SMS advertising results.
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