Where email failed to hold audience attention, SMS marketing might just succeed.
Recent research by HubSpot indicates that most 12-17 year olds are moving away from email usage, towards SMS, instant messaging, and social media. There was a 59% drop in their Web-based email usage over the last 12 months. If most teenagers prefer to communicate with text messages, social networks and instant messaging, then email marketing doesn't achieve as much as it used to. SMS marketing is looking like the new best thing.
HubSpot's figures hint that SMS marketing isn't just for teenagers. HubSpot report that "web-based email usage has been on the decline among ALL Internet users under the age of 55." So SMS marketing could be important for all age groups.
This is not to deny email marketing as a technique, but to remind us that SMS marketing (and social media marketing) deserve a place in mainstream marketing practice. SMS marketing has two main benefits that traditional marketing doesn't have. The first is that its medium (text message) is a communication channel preferred by customers (this also why Facebook advertising is successful).
The second reason for SMS marketing success is that it communicates with audiences in a more personal way. The 'one-way' transmission model of communication is gone: we now know that two-way communication is more successful. So SMS marketing, like social media marketing, works because it makes communication between organisations and publics as easy as possible. SMS marketing becomes valuable when audiences can send an SMS to an organisation and get a personalised reply.
SMS marketing is not the overnight solution some claim it to be. It works well as an addition to other marketing channels. It is effective and well-planned. Above all, it must always adhere to marketing best practice and offer customers something of value. That 59% of teenagers who don't use email won't necessarily be customers of SMS marketing right now, but as HubSpot puts it, "today's kids are tomorrow's customers-and they're probably not going to be reading your email."
Watch this video for a quick introduction to SMS marketing: what it is, why it works, and how you can use it.
HubSpot's figures hint that SMS marketing isn't just for teenagers. HubSpot report that "web-based email usage has been on the decline among ALL Internet users under the age of 55." So SMS marketing could be important for all age groups.
This is not to deny email marketing as a technique, but to remind us that SMS marketing (and social media marketing) deserve a place in mainstream marketing practice. SMS marketing has two main benefits that traditional marketing doesn't have. The first is that its medium (text message) is a communication channel preferred by customers (this also why Facebook advertising is successful).
The second reason for SMS marketing success is that it communicates with audiences in a more personal way. The 'one-way' transmission model of communication is gone: we now know that two-way communication is more successful. So SMS marketing, like social media marketing, works because it makes communication between organisations and publics as easy as possible. SMS marketing becomes valuable when audiences can send an SMS to an organisation and get a personalised reply.
SMS marketing is not the overnight solution some claim it to be. It works well as an addition to other marketing channels. It is effective and well-planned. Above all, it must always adhere to marketing best practice and offer customers something of value. That 59% of teenagers who don't use email won't necessarily be customers of SMS marketing right now, but as HubSpot puts it, "today's kids are tomorrow's customers-and they're probably not going to be reading your email."
Watch this video for a quick introduction to SMS marketing: what it is, why it works, and how you can use it.
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About the Author:
This article was written by Andrew Campbell, the Country Manager of TXT2GET Australia. TXT2GET are a leading SMS marketing company operating from the US, NZ and Australia. For more free insights, industry trends and research reports, visit the TXT2GET blog.
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