BULK SMS AND EMAIL MARKETING: A COST EFFECTIVE STRATEGY

Today, more and more brands are trying to reach customers. Email and SMS have become an even more important part of the digital marketing scenario for this reason. Bulk SMS and email marketing are powerful marketing channels that can easily boost sales and increase website traffic. This blog highlights strategies for bulk SMS and email marketing, and how they are cost-effective.

Email marketing is a digital marketing strategy in which commercial messages are sent to the target audience through emails. The target audience usually consists of existing customers or leads. In SMS marketing, promotional or transactional messages are sent to the target audience via text messages. Read our blog on Email Marketing: Importance, Tools, and Tips to use emails on a professional marketing level.

One of the major reasons for using bulk SMS and email marketing is that their use is inexpensive as compared to traditional marketing channels. Businesses might use mail or SMS marketing tools to send, track and analyse emails but many such tools are available online for little to no cost. Even if you opt for premium plans, the costs are much lesser as compared to the costs incurred for promoting via TV, radio or print media. In order to know how bulk email works and how to do bulk SMS marketing, keep reading.

1. Email marketing strategies

1. Timing and frequency: In order to know how bulk email works, the time at which your target audience receives the email is a key factor that affects open rates. Segment your email list according to time zones and send them during peak times. Open rates are high in the early afternoon and evening. Another factor is the frequency at which you send emails as your emails won’t be opened if you are sending them every day. Based on your industry, sending emails weekly or monthly or bi-monthly is a good idea.
2. Catchy subject lines: Subject lines are the first thing that viewers read. Thus, it should have a catchy subject line that attracts the interest of the receiver. Using generic subject lines will decrease your open rates, so write subject lines that stand out. Keep the subject lines short and the optimum length would be 10 words or 50 characters. Check ELEMENTS TO CONSIDER FOR PROPER EMAIL WRITING FOR FORMAL LETTERS to make the communication process very smooth and convenient.
3. Optimization for all devices: People no longer open emails on desktops. A large percentage of people opt to check emails on smartphones or tablets. It has become necessary to use a responsive design for emails. An optimized design allows people of all kinds of devices to access the content as intended by the sender. Compress images, use fonts that can be read on all devices and also keep paragraphs short to optimize content.
4. Engaging content: Create content that is engaging and of value to your email list. Good quality of engaging content will increase open rates and enhance conversion rates. Use GIFs or images to get better results for your campaigns.
5. Personalize emails: Personalize each email you send. It makes the audience feel like they are communicating with people which builds trust in your brand. Using personalized subject lines can also increase open rates.

2. SMS marketing strategies

In order to know how to do bulk SMS marketing, you need to adopt the following strategies:

1. Offer incentives: Offer discounts, promo codes, deals, etc. to your customers through text messages. They are more likely to act if such incentives are sent through text messages.
2. Clear CTAs: Make sure you include a clear call to actions in your texts. Make them stand out by using all capitals or including white space. CTAs drive the success of an SMS marketing campaign. Thus, it is important that your CTAs are clear, easily visible, concise and easy to understand.
3. Keep messages short: Long messages are seldom read. If you include too much information, the reader might get confused. Keep the message short and to the point so that your audience responds in a positive way.
4. Communicate value: Communicating value is important in bulk SMS and email marketing strategies. It is important that you provide high value to your customers if you are using SMS to communicate with them. Send them reminders, deals, follow up emails, etc. Make sure that it is something that the reader would find of some value.
5. Create a sense of urgency: Include deadlines or time limits in messages. This creates a sense of urgency and encourages the audience to respond faster. In this way you can easily gain information or get them to act in a positive way.

Most of the businesses use bulk SMS and email marketing for promoting their products and services, offering deals, for transactions, etc. It is a cost-effective strategy with high ROI, better reach and a personalized medium to connect with the audience. By using the above techniques, you can easily optimize your strategies to get the best results. Read our another blog on B2B EMAIL MARKETING FOR SOFTWARE COMPANIES: SCOPE & COST in order to know more about email marketing