We all live with mobile phones ruling the digital world, so mobile-focused marketing has become a crucial point of every strategic marketing plan. Bulk SMS marketing or any kind of digital marketing is a must for every small or big business that wants to keep a competitive edge and maintain an advantage within the industry over their competitors.
In India, sending promotional bulk SMS communications can be seen as an effective and reliable way to keep customers informed about your discounts, sales promotions, and offers to help increase sales, and it also helps in maintaining customer interaction.
Promotional and marketing SMS campaigns can be area-specific or time based, relevant to the recipient, and delivered quickly and easy to read to help improve marketing performance. A large number of Indians still live in rural areas, so it is one of the best methods to reach a larger audience.
Text marketing is one of the easiest and cheapest ways of business communication. But in India, its true potential has still not been completely harnessed. Do you know?
- Almost 60% of users reply to a text message within a few minutes
- 45% of prospects try or choose a brand after getting an SMS
- 67% of users prefer texting with a business about scheduling an appointment over email or phone communication
However, SMS can be used not only to engage existing customers but also helps in exploring new audiences. Transactional Messaging can also be used to deliver timely messages. The benefits of text messaging for businesses are too good to be ignored.
Promotional SMS examples
A promotional SMS gateway is used to distribute bulk sales and marketing text messages to promote a company brand and its products or services. Typical promotional bulk SMS examples include:
- Sales instore and online
- Discount code to be used online or in-store
- Special offers, e.g., buy one get the one-half price, in-store only
- Events, e.g., invitations and pre-sale tickets, customer days, product launches, etc.
- Launch of a new website
- Exclusive offer only valid for a limited time
- Competitions
The benefits of promotional bulk SMS
SMS promotional messages are a cost-effective way to promote businesses of all types, keeping customers informed of discounts, sales, and special offers that may be of interest to them. Additional benefits of promotional bulk SMS include:
- Cost-effective
- Enhances marketing campaigns
- Increase brand awareness
- Encourages customer loyalty and engagement
- Improves customer communications
How to choose a promotional SMS service provider
There are several factors to take into consideration when choosing the right promotional bulk SMS service provider. The following points will help you to identify and evaluate the right bulk SMS gateway provider.
Country and network reach
An SMS service provider should not limit its service to your location. Research the market for a bulk SMS solution that can connect to a vast number of networks and countries. For example, ToucanText will enable you to connect to over 1000 networks in 195 countries worldwide, making it one of the most connected SMS providers globally.
Message expiration
Ensure that the messages that you buy do not expire, and once a block of SMS messages has been bought, they remain on your account until they have been sent.
SMS Message reliability and security
Make sure that the SMS provider that you are planning to use provides a secure and reliable service with easy access to a customer portal and customer service.
SMS API integration
Choose a promotional bulk SMS service that provides an SMS API that uses popular development platforms and languages.
SMS automation
Having the ability to integrate with other business systems and applications will help you to automate SMS communications when certain triggers are initiated following an event or defined condition within another business system, such as a CRM application. Automated SMS will help to guarantee timing, relevance, and personalization.
SMS Portal – Simplicity and user experience
Make sure that the user interface of the SMS provider that you choose is clearly laid out and easy to use. An SMS portal will simplify the way you manage your messages and contacts, view reports, and assign users.
