It is important to note that SMS and Email are not the only marketing channels available. It may be time to change your marketing strategy from SMS or Email marketing to SMS and Email marketing.
Imagine them as a marketing campaign for peanut butter and jellies. Individually, they’re great. Together, they can revolutionize the way you reach customers and run campaigns.
Why do they combine so well? How can you use them to the fullest?
Why Email Marketing First?
Email has been an important communication tool for decades. Email has become more popular as technology advances, and smartphones have become a common part of everyday life.
Marketers realized that it could be a valuable tool if used properly.
Email marketing is any email that a business sends out that has nothing to do with a customer’s specific query. This includes newsletters and press releases, as well as subscriber offers, sales promotions, or brand-building.
Email marketing is based on opt-in. The customer must consent to receiving a marketing message. As a reward for their consent, customers can learn about new products or deals.
This is a strategy for direct marketing that allows you to:
- Keep in touch with your audience
- Reach your customers in real-time
- Encourage customer engagement
- Measure consumer data
- Target consumer segments
- Brand awareness
- Get ROI
Second: SMS Marketing – Why?
Text message marketing is a newer marketing tool than Email. It allows you to reach customers in a more targeted way. Text messaging is primarily used to promote a message, event, or sale or keep customers informed about a transaction.
Because SMS is a very popular and engaging method of communication, it has a high open rate.
According to a Harvard Business Review survey, 1
- 99% of text messages are read within 15 minutes.
- 56% of companies say their mobile messaging applications are effective in improving customer engagement.
- 68% of companies believe mobile marketing messages will play a crucial role in online marketing to consumers over the next decade.
- SMS is a powerful tool for 82% of companies. They say it provides better metrics, analytics, and read receipts.
Text message campaigns are more time-sensitive and urgent than email marketing. The messages are short and sweet, with a strong call to action that encourages their audience to take some action.
New tools and services continue to emerge, allowing marketers to create SMS campaigns that are more accessible and effective. Smartphones also let you enhance SMS messages by adding videos, images, or gifs.
Why an integrated digital marketing plan is best
Why not choose both channels instead of just one?
Marketers are aware that multichannel advertising produces better results. Just like how you diversify stocks or how you get your cat many different toys, so too should you cast a wider net to reach more potential customers–particularly since the channel one consumer spends their time on may not be as effective for another.
If you want to optimize your efforts–not simply reaching an audience but also engaging them effectively–employing different SMS messaging techniques and channels is the answer.
A digital marketing plan that integrates both channels of communication will allow you to maximize your efforts. Text messaging can be strategically integrated into your email marketing campaign to enhance it.
Why are they so good together?
They are Built for a Mobile First World
Mobile dominates today’s internet gaming.
More than half of internet searches are conducted via mobile devices. The same is true for purchases.
This number is expected to continue increasing as technology continues to evolve. Google and other search engines are placing an even greater emphasis on mobile devices and responsiveness to mobile when ranking websites.
Email and SMS are both channels that thrive in a world dominated by mobile devices and marketing strategies.
With time, marketers and AI will continue to optimize SMS and email content for mobile screens. Advertisers can push mobile-first strategies by combining the two channels.
Both are permission-based
Due to FTC and FCC rules, email and SMS communications are restricted in some way. SMS compliance is strictly regulated to protect privacy and avoid harassment. To receive text or email messages from an organization, customers must consent voluntarily. Consumers can opt-in in a variety of ways, including:
- Entering their Email or phone number into a web form
- Signing up for the newsletter
- This information can be provided at a physical address
Both of these channels being voluntary, you are able to operate with confidence, knowing that your audience wants to hear the news. This could be about a release, an update, or a sale. These channels also allow you to interact with warm leads.
You can’t go overboard. Customers want to hear what you have to say. This means providing engaging or useful content periodically.
Complementary Insights
Email and SMS are both great tools for actionable information. Forbes says: 3
They are a natural fit for effective performance measurement. Each channel offers many metrics that are similar or common. These can be combined to give a clearer picture of the success of a particular campaign (messages sent, open rates and clicks/engagements on links, unsubscribed, and even spam complaints).
With this data, you can determine the effectiveness of your campaign and get a better understanding of what drives audience engagement. Today, powerful software is able to take these data points to produce actionable insight to help optimize engagement and drive ROI.