6 Tips for Setting Up a Successful SMS Marketing Campaign

SMS marketing can offer an impressive ROI, providing you have an effective strategy in place. With access to the right tools and an innovative campaign message, you can use SMS marketing to increase brand awareness, collect donations and even increase sales. To get started, take a look at these six tips for setting up a successful SMS marketing campaign:

1. Set Clear Goals

Before you begin planning an SMS marketing campaign, it’s vital to set clear objectives. Identify how many conversions you want to obtain within a set time period, for example, or how much you want to raise in donations. When setting campaign goals, remember to make your targets SMART: specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound.

2. Segment Audience Lists

Most organizations have multiple target audience segments, and each segment can benefit from its own marketing messaging. Instead of sending the same SMS content to every member of your target audience, segment your contact lists and send targeted messages to each group. This increases the relevancy of the content and, therefore, improves conversion rates and ROI.

3. Integrate with Existing Tools

An SMS marketing campaign doesn’t have to be run in isolation. In fact, you can enhance campaign results and reduce time and costs when you integrate campaign management tools with other platforms. For example, Tatango integrations enable you to use a powerful EveryAction SMS tool to combine donation management and SMS marketing. With a variety of integration options available, you can incorporate SMS campaigns into broader marketing activities for enhanced performance.

4. Run A/B Testing

Like all types of marketing, it’s worth testing your SMS messages to optimize performance. Drafting two versions of a message and monitoring the responses allows you to determine which is most effective, for example. Similarly, sending SMS messages at different times or on varying days enables you to identify the most lucrative window for dispatching messages. Remember – your target audience may be spread across different time zones, so take this into account when scheduling your messages!

5. Include a CTA

A call-to-action, or CTA, inspires a user to perform a specific action, such as making a donation, signing up for a newsletter or making a purchase. With persuasive copy, you can convey a sense of urgency and encourage users to act quickly, rather than risk them losing interest. Drafting the perfect CTA can take time and skill, so be sure to experiment with different options, test various CTAs and work with professional copywriters to enhance your messaging.

6. Monitor Data Analytics

Accurately monitoring campaign analytics gives you a greater insight into performance and enables you to undertake optimization activities swiftly. This directly improves campaign outcomes and gives you the opportunity to maximize your ROI before the campaign ends.

When to Use SMS Marketing

As so many people have access to a cell phone, SMS marketing can be used for virtually any purpose. From fundraising for political campaigns and charitable organizations to launching new start-ups and selling products, there are a variety of ways that SMS marketing can help you to achieve your goals!