By Saten Aghajanyan.

No matter what industry you are in, lead generation is an important part of every business venture. It is the main source of revenue in addition to being an avenue for new business opportunities.

Amidst all the technological development, a lot of new channels have emerged for businesses to use to generate new leads. Among all, SMS Marketing has proven to be one of the more efficient ones (learn more here). Not to mention, it is the most affordable lead generation channel out there that

can provide the most bang for your buck.

What is SMS Marketing?

SMS Marketing (which stands for short message service marketing) is implementing the text messaging channel to communicate both promotional and transactional to customers/people on mobile devices. It is an ideal channel to raise brand awareness, increase customer loyalty and drive up business revenues.

SMS Marketing Benefits

You will be hard-pressed to find any large business or corporation globally that does not engage in text message marketing in one way or another. And there is a solid reason for that. SMS marketing provides a lot of benefits that are unmatched by other marketing channels. It is the reason why since the inception of SMS itself to up until now SMS marketing has managed to retain one of the top spots as a marketing channel.

Now you may be asking yourself – what makes SMS marketing so lucrative and what kinds of benefits it has that appeals to most businesses? The answer is neither short nor simple. In reality, it is a combination of factors that makes SMS marketing as appealing and as useful as it is. It also helps that it is the most preferred channel of communication among consumers, ahead of email, direct mail and app notifications.

The following is a comprehensive list of all the benefits SMS marketing offers to businesses, regardless of size and location.

• SMS marketing is just about the most affordable marketing and communication channel to reach the masses. As far as spreading information to the largest number of people is concerned, no other form of marketing is comparable in terms of pricing. Of course, prices mostly depend on what country you choose to conduct your marketing in but generally, most of them lean on the cheaper side.
• Accessibility and Worldwide Reach. Most traditional forms of marketing, or even digital ones for that matter, tend to miss out on one important thing—they are neither completely accessible nor do they reach everyone. SMS marketing, on the other hand, ticks both boxes. Over half of the world population owns a mobile device, making them readily accessible at any time and anywhere in the world. Since SMS also is not limited by any geographic boundaries, those people can be reached even from the other side of the world.
• High Open and Conversion Rates. Businesses investing money in marketing have one real concern—results. Most channels of communication, while wildly prominent, are counter-intuitively ineffective. Most ordinary people would comfortably put email ahead of SMS in terms of an effective marketing channel. However, it is more than three times less effective statistically. SMS offers the highest open rate with a staggering 98% and conversion rates in the 25-35% range. Moreover, SMS messages are opened within 3 minutes of being received. That is absolutely not the case with emails that can go months being neglected.
• Increased Customer Engagement. SMS marketing is also known to increase customer engagement which, in turn, also serves to marginally increase customer loyalty. SMS marketing is not limited to receiving offers and reminders. The right text message at the right time can engage customers better than social media or email. Not to mention that businesses set up chatbots and use the SMS channel to communicate with customers: either to resolve issues or collect feedback.

These are some of the key benefits of SMS marketing but the list does not end there. SMS marketing also offers benefits like immediacy, personalization, reliability and great return on investment. Having said all of this, it is pretty easy to understand why SMS marketing has been a dominant marketing channel for so long and why it is here for the long haul.

SMS Marketing for Lead Generation

So how is SMS marketing relevant to lead generation? The answer lies within the facts and statistics regarding SMS in general. Here are a few key ones to take into consideration.

• Nielsen survey shows that consumers spend 14.1% of their mobile time texting, compared to just 5.3% for email.
• 90% of customers prefer texts to phone calls.
• 44% of customers prefer to get promotions through SMS.
• The click-through rate on SMS averages around 17%, which is 5 times higher than that of email.

If you want to reach potential customers and generate new leads, you have got to do it on a channel they spend most of their time on, thus are more accessible.

SMS marketing is very flexible by its essence, therefore not limited to any one particular industry. Businesses across all industries can find a use for SMS marketing in their lead generation pursuits. So let’s count down some examples of industries that can benefit from using text messages to connect with potential clients.

• Real Estate. You can frequently contact potential buys using the SMS channel, letting them know what properties are available in the form of reminders.
• Ad agencies. Advertising can benefit from SMS marketing the most since it is the easiest way to connect with customers and collect information about them. Running a promotion? Let people know about it through an SMS message and see how easy it is to attract new customers.
• Event Management. Regardless of what kind of event you are organizing, it makes sense to promote it to as many people as you can. SMS can be used to promote the event and drive up ticket sales, thus increasing both event awareness and attendance.

Additionally, using SMS marketing you can provide your potential leads with a customized and personalized experience by facilitating two-way communication with them. Using SMS autoresponders, in this case, can help you automate this task.

SMS autoresponders can be used to contact leads, provide them with necessary information about your business (products and services) and send additional information and resources that they can use.

Of course, do not forget to collect as much information from your potential leads as possible. This will help you to qualify and categorize them accordingly so that later you can divide them into segments for a more targeted marketing campaign.

Feature Image Credit: https://unsplash.com/photos/SYTO3xs06fU

By Saten Aghajanyan

Saten Aghajanyan has been working at Dexatel OU as a sales manager for over a year and is now a part of the newly-formed marketing team representing their recently-launched product SendSMS, which provides wholesale SMS services. Currently, she works as a digital marketer helping develop the brand name while simultaneously giving people full information about mobile marketing, especially SMS marketing. Before working at Dexatel, she volunteered for different organizations and large events.