How to Make the Most of Christmas with SMS Marketing
As the most important holiday in the UK calendar, Christmas is a key time for businesses of every shape and size to get their message out. Whether you are selling a product or service or simply out to increase brand recognition, this is the one time of year that it matters more than ever that your brand is seen to be joining in the spirit of things – and SMS Marketing is the obvious solution. So how can businesses and brands use SMS Marketing to increase profits and build their profiles this Christmas? Here are some ideas you can try.
1. Christmas Competitions
Let’s admit it, everyone likes to be in with a chance to win – especially at Christmas. SMS Marketing lends itself perfectly to text competitions, often known as ‘text to win’. The basic concept is that your audience participates in a contest or sweepstake to win a prize by sending an SMS message from their phone to an SMS shortcode – ideal for combining your SMS and print marketing campaigns. With fast entry and instant confirmation, it is one of the easiest possible ways for customers to enter a competition and has proven incredibly popular – especially at a time of year when it is natural to offer gifts.
A text to win campaign is a great way to increase engagement with your brand and ultimately drive traffic to your business, be it physical, online or both. They are great for high profile publicity campaigns and can generate a great deal of hype if well thought out.
2. Join the club
Another great way of fostering continued customer loyalty is to invite them to join a special VIP club by signing up to your SMS Marketing database this Christmas. It really is as simple as it sounds, but it is a well-known fact that customers who feel they are part of a special ‘VIP’ group are highly responsive to offers and incentives and likely to become repeat customers. Studies also indicate that the cost of retaining customers is considerably lower than that of acquiring new customers – and with SMS Marketing the overheads of maintaining a loyal customer base couldn’t be lower.
Retail stores, in particular, have an outstanding opportunity to build a text club database from their festive foot traffic and find out more about the individual consumers who walk into their store and what they think about their products and services.
3. Updates and alerts
Text message alerts (also known as SMS alerts) are a great way to engage with customers with relevant information which keeps your brand top of their minds and makes sure that you do not vanish into the crowd as brands compete to capture the Christmas market. Text messages work for a variety of purposes – from telling customers about your Christmas product or seasonal sales, bursts of news or simply keeping customers informed about an area of interest. SMS alerts can be used on their own or as part of a larger Mobile Club program – see point 2 above.
The key is to encourage as many customers as possible to register their mobile details with you at the earliest possible stage of their relationship – and the checkout is a great place to do this. If you have the budget available for the staff, why not even get somebody on the shop floor to capture sign-ups. Just be sure to comply with the PECR rules concerning SMS Marketing.
4. Customer surveys
Let’s face it, in the modern world everyone has an opinion and people love to share them. So rather than see it as a threat, why not cash in on it in your SMS Marketing strategy? SMS powered customer surveys are a great way to engage consumers in the retail environment, as well as giving you valuable feedback on products or even the customer experience. With retail environments becoming more interactive than ever, mobile marketing is totally natural for developing complete consumer interaction.
Consumers carry their phones with them practically 24/7 and check them almost constantly, so interacting with them in the retail environment is as easy as tapping into their mobile device. A customer survey can be a great opener to invite them to join your SMS marketing list. To incentivise participation, consider offering a reward scheme such as a prize draw. It really is a win-win scenario.
5. Season’s Greetings
SMS Marketing doesn’t just have to be about the hard sell. As we mentioned at the beginning, it is a hugely versatile tool for increasing brand exposure and market penetration at this busy time of year. An incredibly simple way to use SMS Marketing is to simply send a message of Season’s Greetings to your customers. By simply appearing in their SMS inbox, you will keep your brand at the forefront, and may well remind customers to check out your products or services simply because they have been reminded of you.
There’s still plenty of time to get your Christmas SMS Marketing campaign underway – give our award-winning team of experts a call now on 0800 954 5305 and you’ll be ready to send in no time with the UK’s leading provider of low-cost business bulk SMS Marketing bundles.
Related Articles
Proof SMS Messaging Gets Results: Giveaways and Contests
Companies use contests and giveaways all the time. It turns out that doing them over SMS messaging works really well, and offers some advantages over other channels. Read our blog to see the types of results various companies achieved when using SMS giveaways.
6 Top Tips for Successful SMS Marketing
SMS marketing has come a long way since its introduction to mainstream marketing back in the early 2000’s. As well as dramatic changes in technology, there have also been sweeping changes to the laws governing this powerful and popular form of marketing. With its low cost, high ROI and tremendous versatility, it can now benefit almost every sector. But all this aside, the fundamental rules for successful campaigns remain largely unchanged. So just what are the big do’s and dont’s of SMS marketing? Read this article for six top tips from our team that will help you unlock the key to SMS success
5 SMS Marketing Ideas for Easter [Infographic]
Why SMS Marketing is Superior to Email for Entrepreneurs
As an entrepreneur, it is notoriously difficult to get your message out there. It's even harder to get seen and heard in a meaningful way that doesn't offend people. Email marketing has been the darling of entrepreneurs for years, but it's time for something new. Something that supersedes the email and circumvents the spam folder.
The Never-Ending Conflict of Email vs. SMS Marketing
Many marketers think they need to choose between email and SMS marketing. And depending on what you read, you’ll find one is “better” than the other. But that isn’t necessarily true. Learn how a united effort using both can increase your profits with only a little bit of effort.
5 Things To Consider Before Launching Your First Text Marketing Campaign
SMS is well established as a successful marketing channel - however that doesn't mean you should just dive in head first. Here's five things you should consider before launching your first SMS marketing campaign.
Double Conversion Rates with SMS Marketing
According to Internet Retailer, data conversion rates for text messages are double that of email when the link goes to a mobile responsive landing page. Even with a small list, this can result in a huge increase in sales, signups, lead generation, contest entries or whatever the goal of your campaign is.
Is Your SMS Marketing Keeping Customers Loyal by Being Fun?
When you think about your SMS marketing campaigns would you label them as fun? Is there any aspect of your SMS marketing or loyalty program that you think customers would call fun? If so, you're going to love what you read in this blog. If not, then you need to read this blog. It turns out that a little bit of fun and games can keep your customers more engaged – and more loyal.
What are the Worst SMS Marketing Messages You’ve Received?
Just for fun, I asked people in a marketing focused Facebook group to share the worst SMS marketing messages they’ve ever received. I was expecting a deluge of responses, but actually only a few trickled in. But those horrible SMS marketing messages are out there…the comments on my post proved it even if no one wanted to share (I guess they’re all shy).
