SMS Marketing - Makes Your Business Easy

SMS marketing has emerged rapidly into the business environment, having especially pronounced impacts on the way small, appointment-based businesses operate. Understanding what it is, how and by who it is being used, will allow you to implement the service in your own business.

Get started with SMS marketing straight away and increase the number of touch points and quality of service given to existing clients. After all, it is a well-known fact in the business industry that selling more to current clients is far more time and cost effective than trying to draw in new customers. SMS marketing can help you achieve this and promote your business.

What is SMS Marketing?

SMS marketing does exactly what the name suggests, using the Short Message Service to market the business to customers, either through informing them about deals or simply engaging them with notices and reminders. Businesses are using the tool to increase reach and effectiveness of promotions, and to develop interactive, valuable relationships with clients at the same time.

Why is SMS Marketing effective?

SMS marketing enables businesses to send timely, targeted offers to current clients. Marketing campaigns have been shown repeatedly to be more effective when targeting a specific group of clients, for example, offering 10% discounts for Seniors who come in on a Thursday or special offers for VIP club members. It is also elicits a positive response as it has the advantage of communicating the message in 120 odd characters so clients don't feel bombarded and pressured by "advertising". Once you have the SMS marketing system in place, the same tools can also enable more general announcements, such as "Our Salon is flooded and all appointments for today are cancelled!"

How you can get started?

There are a number of tools around that enables businesses that run on appointments to send automatic text message reminders to their clients about upcoming appointments. Taking this further, businesses can create and send text message (SMS) marketing messages to their clients.

These tools aim to assist appointment-based businesses, such as hairdressers, salons, therapists or personal trainers (just to name a few), in achieving their maximum marketing and customer service potential. Ultimately, any business that utilizes appointments, wants to save money and increase sales can benefit from SMS.

Depending on the nature of your business, you may find some services more pertinent to your businesses needs, as a medical practice will not likely be advertising products to their customers, but only need the reminder function. Look for a tool that allows you to custom design what services you receive, how often and how they appear to the client. Make sure that the tool you choose gives the option for clients to opt out at any time, so the customer is happy regardless of whether they require the service or not.

Building the Outline for a Good Website

Having a successful web presence is key to taking your company from local to global. Creating a website can expand your customer pool from the areas around you to the world around you. It makes your business accessible to customers 24/7 with the click of a button. The potential of your company's web presence is great, no doubt about it. But in order to turn potential into results, there are a few things your web presence has to have in order to be successful.

Homepage: The first thing your website design should have is a homepage. This is the place where customers get their first impression. It has to be catchy, comprehensible, and organized. The homepage should give the viewer some basic info on what your business model is. What does your company do? Why are you reliable? What do others have to say about you? You should have some captivating images, maybe a few quotes, and the basic layout of your website. Use tabs or infographs to show your other web pages. Make sure they are easily accessible and interesting as well.

About: The next thing your web presence needs is an about section or company info page. This is the place where you can really shine. Explain to the customer why, specifically, you are the company they want to invest their time and money into. Show that you are trustworthy, reliable, and confident. If your customers were impressed with your homepage, this is where they will probably go next. Continue to impress them with details about your business model and your company's m.o.

Testimonials: If there's one thing customers trust, it's the word of a fellow customer. Include a section of laudable reviews or quotes on why others have been pleased with your company. If someone is browsing your website and sees real life testimony of your previous customers, it's bound to help your company gain their trust and peak their interest.

Blog: Don't underestimate the power of the blog. Having a blog is a great way to enter into a conversation with your customers. Blogs usually have a laid back feel and a conversational tone that is appealing to customers. They also help prove your credibility; if you are a pet sitting business writing blogs that offer tips on how to train your dog to stop barking when the mailman comes to the door, people will trust you know what you're talking about. Blogs are also constantly changing and being updated. This will keep customers coming back to your website to see the latest post.

Social Media: Don't forget to incorporate social media into your web presence. Add share buttons for Twitter, facebook, Google Plus, and other social sites so that viewers can share your company's website with their friends. In addition to share buttons, create a presence on Twitter and Facebook so that you can connect with customers on a social level. Become one of their likes, interests, or favorites.