The One Growth Strategy You Can’t Overlook

– I get the same question all the time, “If I had to pick one marketing strategy to invest in, what would you pick, Neil?” And while I can’t say for sure that there’s just one strategy I put over everything else just because they all serve different purposes, I can say there is one low-cost, conversion-friendly, high-ROI strategy that you simply can’t afford not to have in your marketing arsenal.

Can you guess what it is? Leave a comment below, letting me know what you think it is. Here’s a hint, it has a 98% open rate and the best engagement rate out of any other marketing medium. It’s SMS marketing.

I hear people dismiss SMS, which is just short for messaging, you know, those text messages you get on your phone? I hear them dismissing all the time, but those marketing texts you get from an automated number, you’ve seen them, the ones that you think everyone ignores, the reality is people don’t ignore them.

They convert at a crazy rate, precisely because so many of them get opened, which is more than you can say about almost any other form of marketing communication, such as email marketing or even push notifications.

If you’ve heard of it once, you’ve heard of it a thousand times. People are glued to their phones these days. The average person checks their phones 344 times a day. Research from Statista shows that in 2021, SMSs experiences 75% year-over-year increase in popularity among customers.

71% of people say that they check their phones within 10 minutes of getting out of bed. Heck, I check mine within 10 seconds of getting out of bed. The average Americans spends 2 hours and 54 minutes each day on their phone, which comes out to almost 44 days a year.

From group texts to social media to every app under the sun, there are million reasons to be absorbed by your phone these days. So if your audience is already checking it, why not meet them where their attention already is directed? There are a ton of SMS marketing strategies that you can try now.

So let’s dive in. Strategy 1, offer exclusive deals. Already have a substantial subscriber list and want to capitalize on it? Create a uniquely generated coupon code so that you can send it to your subscribers and they can take advantage of it.

And you can also give each user a unique code so that way they can’t just take that code from their friend. They got to actually subscribe to your list. The cool thing about SMS marketing is you can also tie it into your payment system so that way people can quickly buy from their phone as well and redeem within a few clicks.

And think of it from the subscriber’s standpoint. If they’re already subscribed, the next time you want to promote a specific product with some coupon code or discount or limited time deal, they can engage and quickly get that offer through SMS.

It’s much better than having to check your email. Strategy number 2, use a drip campaign. Don’t you just love it when you have that golden opportunity to automate a part of your marketing strategy? I do.

That’s a beauty of a drip campaign. There are automated messages sent out based on specific factors like how long have they been a customer for, and that can allow you to adapt your SMSs to specific people.

And you can do triggers, tailored responses based on how long someone’s been with you and how much they’ve bought from you, whether that’s a service or a product, so then that way you can end up getting more sales.

So let’s stick with the coupon example from, let’s say, strategy number 1. You could offer 5% coupon right after someone signs up to your SMS list, a 10% off coupon after three weeks, and a 20% coupon after two months, assuming they haven’t redeemed any of the other coupons, or if you have high margins, you can just run your sequence that way.

And because you can schedule them automatically, you can map out the entire sequence beforehand such as if someone does one or redeems one, you don’t have to send them another. You can send them the upsell.

Or if they don’t redeem the coupon, you can send them a bigger coupon in hopes to entice them. Strategy 3, collect information. I’ve talked about this in the past and just how essential it is to create buyer personas for your brand.

Simply put, if you want to market to your audience, it’s absolutely essential that you understand them. You can pull your customers about different options that you’re offering, or you can even send out surveys to ask them about their experience.

You can then use that to create better targeting and figure out how you should tweak your campaigns to drive more leads and sales. Strategy 4, run a contest. Who doesn’t love winning something for free? According to EZ Texting, half of consumers respond to a text within three minutes.

So if you’re offering up something for a contest, you can pretty much count on a number of participants to opt in right away. Have your customers sign up before the contest by texting on a specific keyword and then choose a winner from the pool that’s opted in.

You can even collaborate with the partner brand to grow your audience and have even more subscribers opt in. Strategy 5, transactional messaging. Trust me, don’t skip this one. Even if it doesn’t seem like an obvious one, it’s an immediate way to grow your brand.

Customers love transparent communication, and a great way to do this is when someone makes a purchase, let them know they made a purchase. Let them know about other things that they can also get. You can also let them know when things are getting shipped out.

There are two types of text messages that customers really love to receive: shipping updates, 75% love that according to G2, and 65% love confirmation messages. Think about it, what’s more exciting knowing that your package is on the way or you’re getting specific results, or that service that you’re just purchased is already in action and it’s working.

Strategy 6, build exclusivity. People want exclusive offers. If someone’s on your SMS list, give them some love. Show them something else that no one else in your audience is going to see. It’s a great way to get more people to opt in because they know they’re going to get special treatment.

Now, if you need help with your SMS marketing, check out my ad agency, NP Digital, where we help companies with their digital marketing communication. And if you just have any questions, leave a comment below.

We’re here to help you out. And if you enjoy the video, subscribe, like the channel, share the video. I appreciate your time.