Just think. Vacuum cleaners. How many brands of vacuum cleaners are there? Within a single house brand, how many different types of vacuum cleaners are there? How many different colours, different functions, different prices, different quality of vacuum cleaners?
Marketing a product or service requires a lot of effort and thought. With a competitive global market, it is very difficult to convince your target audience to buy what you have. As a result, many marketers look for marketing strategies that are fast and effective; to be one step ahead of their competitors.
The concept of SMS marketing is good. The message is delivered directly to the potential customers. It is cheaper, faster and more effective in reaching the masses than direct mailers. Traditionally, marketers use direct mailers to inform, update and attract. Direct mailing campaigns are costly compared to SMS marketing. For a direct mailing campaign, you will need to invest in designing a good layout, attractive graphics, grabbing text; quality print on quality paper; postage and handling. And you do not know if the mailer will be read or just thrown directly into the rubbish bin next to the mailbox. The cost? At least S$0.30 and above. And the turnaround time is minimally 3 days.
We are not saying that direct mailing campaigns do not work. They do. All marketing campaigns and tactics are effective but only when applied at the right time to the right target audience. And this is where, SMS marketing comes into play.
Consider this.
Direct mailing campaign at S$0.30 per mailer vs SMS marketing campaign at S$0.015 per SMS. For every mailer that you sent out, you can reach 19 more people via SMS. And SMS marketing is so direct in the face that people cannot simply ignore. Even to delete the SMS, they will have to glance through. They may choose not to fully read your SMS; they may delete it; but once they glance at it, the next time they see your brand, they will recall and they will become familiar with it.
And having a relevant and attentive SMS message activates a possible viral marketing. When just 1% of the people who receives your SMS marketing message forwards it to their friends and their friends forward it to their friends... it goes on. The impact is far bigger and wider than you can imagine. Will this happen with a direct mailing campaign?
Of course, the reverse might happen. A badly crafted SMS marketing message will result in it becoming a joke on cyberspace. It will be forwarded as a joke and your brand will be associated with it, at least for a short period of time.
The convenience and cost effectiveness of SMS marketing has enticed many companies to favor this method of marketing. A short message is all it takes for you to bring across your updates to your target audience.
For a relatively low cost, companies are able to reach out to the masses. However, for their campaigns to be effective, companies need to know that they cannot just send out SMS to everyone. It is best used for an opt-in base. People who are interested in receiving information and updates. These are the ones who feel that receiving SMS marketing messages benefit them more than the companies sending them the messages. And the option to opt out from receiving more messages must always be there.
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