Most people, when they think of text messaging, think of a form of communication between friends and family. However, text messaging, or SMS, is also a very powerful marketing tool. More and more businesses are turning to SMS to communicate with customers. One of the advantages to SMS marketing is that almost everyone can send and receive texts. Nearly every US adult as a mobile phone, the vast majority of which send and receive texts. Another major advantage to SMS is that unlike letters and emails which in most cases go straight to the trash or junk folder, texts are usually opened and read within minutes of being sent.

Despite these advantages, some small business owners are still holding out believing the SMS channel to be ineffective. For the few that still aren’t sure about SMS, here’s a look at five reasons you should give SMS a try for your small business.

Its opt-in

Usually when you think of advertising, you think, the wider the audience, the better. With SMS marketing, that isn’t necessarily the case. Unlike with other channels, SMS requires that people sign up to be a part of it. The advantage here is that instead of investing a lot of money to cast a wide net that most people will ignore, you can spend less by targeting those customers who want to receive your ads, the customers most likely to act on them. Of course, as with any opt-in channel, you will need to first spend some time advertising your SMS campaign in order to get those first customers to sign up.

It engages customers

Unlike listening to a radio ad or watching a TV ad, text messaging requires customers to engage. First they have to send a keyword to a short code to sign up. Once a part of the texting list, they are active participants. Businesses can send texts for mobile deals that require the recipient to perform some action to redeem it. Customers can also give feedback by participating in customer satisfaction surveys, or enter into sweepstakes and giveaways.

It’s fast

With text message marketing, less is definitely more. The nice thing about SMS is that it’s fast and easy. The best text messages are just one or two sentences. The shorter message insures that more customers read them in full.

It’s cheap

When you look at the cost compared to the results, few marketing channels are as good as SMS. Texting is cheap, just a few pennies per recipient. Combine that with a very high percentage that act on advertisements sent via text and you have a very powerful marketing channel.

It’s interactive

Finally, texting is interactive. Many business owners are accustomed to thinking about advertising as a one way communication. Texting allows for two way communication. A great SMS campaign will allow for communication back and forth between business owner and customers.

Source:  Business News Daily