How SMS messaging will underpin the biggest marketing trends

Add to this the diminishing concentration span of the average Internet user (think bounce rates of three to four seconds on your average, poorly optimized website), and you’ll quickly realize that if you’re not scrambling to meet their demands, you’re missing out on valuable opportunities.
So what three trends should we be looking out for this year in the real-time marketing world? And does a medium like SMS messaging still have a place among the Snapchats and Twitters of the world?

1.     Relationship marketing

Marketing is evolving, focusing more on the relationship between business and consumer than on a hard product sell. Enter social media and we have major acceleration on this evolution, as people and brands engage at a personalized, conversational level.

And this conversation is constant, which means bands need to be regularly available to interact with their customer base. Every relevant Facebook comment and Tweet needs be vetted and responded to. Brands need to be there to accept praise and deal with criticism. This is the bread and butter of relationship marketing and helps brands foster long-term loyalty.

2.     Ephemeral marketing

The progression of social media has paved the way for apps like Snapchat, Whisper and Tango, platforms that offer instant, temporary content. This is the world of ephemeral marketing – a world that offers marketers exciting but challenging prospects. These platforms are no longer just fun, fly-by-night spaces for curious teenagers, but rather a massive opportunity to engage with an enormous market through quality, easily digestible content.

The challenge for ephemeral marketers is that they’re not quite sure what this kind of content is just yet. These platforms are largely for peer-to-peer communication, and interrupting that with ads can backfire on the brand. Still, these platforms are here to stay and marketers need to work out viable strategies to keep up. Think smart, fresh content that positions your brand more as a cool buddy than an embarrassing relative trying to be hip with the youngsters.

 3.      SMS messaging

Marketing through SMS messaging is easily measured, and allows marketers to work in precise numbers – how many people received the marketing message? What are the responses? How many have unsubscribed since the last message? This enables marketers to better understand what works and what doesn’t, and to iron out mistakes that are costing them customers.

SMS marketing offers your customers a consistent value proposition and is easy to integrate into marketing campaigns. It also facilitates easy two-way communication that goes a long way towards nurturing customer relationships. If you aren’t taking advantage of SMS, you could be missing out on a simple but lucrative opportunity to generate sales and increase the exposure of your business.

Use our SMS Gateway to leverage the 98% open rate of SMS – far higher than most other marketing channels. Why not test Clickatell Platform to see how fast and easily we can deliver to your country?