Coming up with a marketing strategy is one of the most difficult things a business owner has to do. There are so many possible channels and so many different advantages and disadvantages to think about. Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve no doubt heard about the importance of mobile marketing.

Each year a greater percentage of businesses are participating in some form of mobile marketing. Some business owners are still hesitant about jumping on the bandwagon however. Understandably, many are worried about the cost. Whenever considering a marketing campaign it’s crucial to weigh benefits and costs.

Here’s a look at how SMS measures up against more traditional marketing channels.

Monetary Cost of SMS Marketing

When compared with other marketing channels, text message marketing is actually the most cost effective channel. That’s because it doesn’t rely on the “spray and pray” method like other channels do. When you pay for a television, radio, or print ad, you’re casting a pretty wide net. You might limit your audience by geographical location but you’re still paying for a message that is unlikely to impact the majority of your audience.

Consider a television ad. What percentage of those who view it are actually going to act on it? While these traditional forms of advertising are effective at reaching a larger audience, the success of these efforts is typically lower.

Text message marketing, on the other hand, targets a much more focused audience. In an SMS campaign, you can only text those who give their consent first. And that’s a good thing. When you send a text, every person receiving that text specifically asked to receive it. With other channels, a great percentage of your audience is likely to be annoyed by your advertisement. With SMS, chances are your audience will be waiting for it. Best of all, the SMS channel is very immediate and personal. Most people tend to see a text within minutes of receiving it.

You’re probably assuming at this point that because of SMS’s tremendous open rate and response time, it must be a more expensive form of advertising. You’d be wrong. You can send out a message to your loyal customers for just pennies per text.

Time cost of SMS Marketing

Of course money isn’t the only type of cost when it comes to running an ad campaign. A successful marketing campaign requires time as well. Again, SMS has an advantage over most other channels. Successful television, radio, and print ads will typically require the help of some third party professional. The average business owner doesn’t have the know-how to put together those kinds of ads. SMS, on the other hand only requires a well-crafted message. Depending on how often you want to text your customers, you can run a successful SMS campaign while only investing an hour or less each week.

For more information on visit our pricing page for the cost of SMS marketing on Equiitext.