SMS is a great tool to boost customer engagement and brand loyalty. Not only is texting the most immediate method of communication and marketing, it’s also an easy way to collect feedback from your customers. In addition, SMS can supplement other marketing strategies. In this article, you’ll learn how SMS can complement marketing methods you may already be using.
Opt-In Methods
First, you need an SMS platform such as AGE SMS & MMS to easily send mass text messages. To grow your list and document subscribers’ consent, your SMS service needs opt-in methods.
AGE SMS & MMS opt-in methods include:
- Keyword to easy-to-remember short code
- Website form
- Mobile tap-to-opt-in button for mobile version of website
- QR code
- Kiosk screen to pull up on a tablet
SMS and Email Marketing
Text club subscribers who have opted in have already confirmed they are interested in your pizza shop and value the content you send them. With an industry average of a 98% open rate for SMS, you can be confident that they will see your text message. The average open rate for email is 21.3%, meaning that most of your email subscribers are not seeing your e-newsletters.
However, each has its own benefits, and the two can complement each other. One example might be to send an SMS reminding your customers to check their inboxes for the latest specials and menu items. You might also consider texting the permanent URL for the email campaign. If doing this, make note of the click-through-rate on the SMS link and the open rate on your email to see which strategy accomplishes a higher open rate for your e-newsletter. Also, assess which subscribers are more frequently clicking on links in your e-newsletters.
SMS and Social Media Marketing
With 70% of Americans using social media, you certainly don’t want to exclude it from your marketing strategy. That statistic refers to social media usage across desktop, mobile devices and tablets. A larger portion of the American population—96%—owns cell phones and can receive a text message.
With social media’s organic reach declining and the focus now more on a “pay to perform” method, businesses simply do not have the same control over audience’s feeds that they once did unless they’re paying to boost their content. With SMS, you know your audience is seeing your message.
Use social media to promote your text club.
Create a Facebook post on your business Facebook page. Promote your keyword to short code or share the link to your opt-in web page. Make sure you have created an attractive social share image so when you publish your link, it pulls up the social share image that links to the web page when clicked.
Create a story on your business Facebook page. Create a story with an image that promotes your keyword to short code or share content you have created in your Instagram account.
Create a clickable story on your personal Facebook page. The ability to add a link to a story is not yet available for business Facebook pages unless you have 10,000 fans or more. Small business owners should consider taking advantage of the feature on their personal Facebook pages. For a tutorial on how to share a clickable story from your personal page, click here.
Also, be sure to create Instagram content to promote your keyword to short code and share your Instagram content to Facebook.
Use your text club to grow your social media accounts and boost engagement.
Include a link to your Facebook or Instagram accounts to remind text subscribers to follow you on those social media platforms. You can also share the link to a specific post and ask customers to comment or post a photo. Copy the URL to the Facebook post, shorten it using a URL shortening tool and use it in an SMS blast.
SMS and Digital Advertising
As you know, the cost of digital advertising is continually increasing, and the market is saturated with your competitors’ ads. Nonetheless, digital advertising can be a good method to bring new customers to your website and through your doors.
Once you drive them to your website, you want to integrate a retargeting campaign. Add a text club signup form with a unique keyword to text back those visitors with exclusive one-time deals to encourage them to visit your restaurant or order online.
SMS and Print Advertising/Direct Mail
Print material gives pizzerias an opportunity to showcase their products with eye-catching imagery. Make sure to use high-quality photography and simple, concise text. Consider utilizing a QR code to direct people to a unique landing page. Because QR codes track the number of scans, location and date of the scan, you can evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign. Advertise an SMS keyword specific to your campaign, a unique promo code or QR code with a custom URL on the print materials.
Use Your Pizza Boxes
Promote your keyword to short code on your pizza boxes or print a QR code that opens a pre-filled SMS when scanned by the customer. If you prefer not to order a large quantity of custom boxes or pizza box flyers, consider printing some stickers and partnering with local non-profit organizations to help them raise funds in exchange for their help putting stickers on boxes. You could also promote your keyword to short code or the QR code on your receipts.
As a friendly reminder, make sure to monitor the efficiency of your online marketing strategies by using customized URLs.
If you do not already have a Google Analytics account, create one. If you’re not sure how to do this, you can follow this tutorial. This helps you see the best traffic sources to guide you in determining the most effective and cost-efficient marketing strategies. When promoting online ordering, use trackable links across all online marketing efforts and in your SMS campaigns. If you’re promoting the same website across multiple media vehicles, use the Google Analytics Campaign URL Builder to customize a unique URL for each medium. Use a URL shortening tool for the custom link.
To learn more about AGE SMS & MMS and how text message marketing can work for your pizzeria, visit sellmorepizza.com.
