The world of marketing has changed. Thanks to digital marketing, which allows companies to target the right audience and engage them into action, the role of the marketer has changed, and so has the way we engage with customers.
In a recent report by the American Advertising Agency Agency (4A’s) and HubSpot, it was found that only 6% of consumers regularly watch the traditional TV commercials, while 82% watch videos or online content associated with a brand or product.
And it’s not just about watching TV commercials. According to the report, consumers are actively communicating with brands via online platforms like blogs, forums, and social media – all of which can be accessed by marketers through paid advertising.
It’s a steep transformation that has required a complete rebranding of marketing as we know it. Gone are the days of relying on traditional advertisements such as TV commercials, which can be cheaply produced but struggle to be relevant to a digital audience.
Instead, you need to be developing content that will engage and delight your audience – whether that’s through blog articles, social media posts, or video content.
Thankfully, technology such as HubSpot and Salesforce have helped pave the way for marketers, providing us with an array of inbound marketing tools to make our jobs easier and more enjoyable. These two platforms work in tandem to empower marketers with all the technology they need to drive digital marketing success, from creating email campaigns to running paid advertisements on social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.
In this article, we’ll discuss how Salesforce, with its SMS marketing tool and inbound marketing approach, can help save you time and money while enabling you to target the right audience with relevant messages through text alerts.
How Salesforce Can Help With Text Alerts
With Salesforce, you can set up automated text alerts to be sent to your customers and subscribers when certain keywords or search terms are entered into the platform. You can choose from a variety of trigger phrases, such as “ordering”, “new customer”, or “account activated”, to receive text messages when a certain action is taken.
The best part about these alerts is that you can put them on hold until a subscriber interacts with your content. As a marketer working in digital marketing, this is a skill you’ll be using daily. When a lead or customer performs an action – such as making a purchase or filling out a form – you’ll be notified and able to follow up with a quick text message containing important information about the product or service you’re promoting. This saves you the effort and time it would take to follow up with an email query.
Why Is Automated Text Alerts Important?
Most businesses are now functioning virtually everywhere with customers, clients, and partners across the globe, and as a result, they can be found online at all times. Thanks to the prevalence of smartphones and the internet, customers can now be engaged with 24/7, meaning you can never stop marketing to them.
With customers gaining access to information at the tip of their fingers, the need for impromptu engagement has never been greater, and having a quick and easy way to stay in touch is critical to maintaining a relationship and encouraging further action – whether that’s buying a product or signing up for a newsletter.
With that in mind, let’s dive into how you can use text alerts to engage with leads and customers.
Follow Up With Relevant And Timeless Content
When you set up automated text alerts with Salesforce, you’ll begin to receive a stream of relevant responses from your list of subscribers – all of which are followed up with relevant and timeless content.
This is key to retaining your leads and customers, as they will remain engaged with your content while also being exposed to new ideas and opportunities presented by your brand.
The best example of this is Zane Lanier, CEO and founder of Lanier Digital Marketing, who says that “the purpose of my marketing efforts should be to continue to educate [my] customers on the value they get from using my products and services without ever thinking about marketing.”
When subscribers engage with your content – whether that’s through a blog article or Twitter – you can follow up with additional relevant and valuable content that will continue to educate them on the value your brand provides.
Grow Your Audience, Increase Engagement
One of the great things about automated text alerts is that they allow you to target the right audiences with the right messages, as the platform automatically filters the content you receive based on the keywords or search terms you provide. This is a massive time-saver, as you no longer have to rely on overly broad or generic targeting – such as “enthusiasts” or “baby boomers” – to receive important marketing messages.
As you grow your audience, increase your engagement via text messaging, and follow up with relevant content, you’ll find that your text campaigns are efficient and highly effective – and they’re never duplicated, as new leads and customers are constantly fed into the system.
How SMS Marketing Can Work For Your Business.
To succeed in digital marketing, you must first understand the different types of customers you have. Only then can you develop an efficient strategy that will enable you to reach and engage your audience – whether that’s through blogging, social media, or email marketing.
Thanks to advancements in technology and the internet, consumers have greater access to information than ever before, and this presents new opportunities for businesses to engage with leads and customers via various digital channels – and SMS marketing is an ideal solution for those seeking instant engagement.
As a marketer, you’ll be using SMS marketing to send out relevant messages to buyers based on their profile, social media activity, or keyword search – all of which can be found within the platform. Depending on your strategy, you can then decide what action to take subsequently.
To get started with SMS marketing, you’ll need a free account with a reputable service provider, such as Twilio, which provides easy setup and has a mobile marketing section dedicated to help you. When you sign up for an account, you’ll need to provide a mobile phone number and a short code – typically 20 characters or less – which you can give out to your subscribers via a text message when they opt-in to receive messages from your brand.
To get started, simply send your code out as a test message to ensure that your number is valid and you have the ability to send short messaging services (SMS) – also known as text messaging – on your mobile device. Once you get that validation message, you can set up a new automated text alert with the brand or product you’re promoting, and begin to receive responses from customers in no time.
From there, you can decide how you want to engage with your audience – whether that’s through a discount code for a product they might like, an invitation to a special event, or a freebie of some kind, such as a downloaded app, a white paper, or a guide to help them along the way.
You can also send out texts to subscribers who haven’t interacted with your content yet, reminding them to check out your blog, open up a demo account, or fill out a form – all of which are relevant and valuable leads that may yet to become customers. This is important for growing your business and audience, as you can continue to engage with leads and customers based on their interests, helping you to grow your business and gain trust along the way.
The great thing about these text messages is that they’re relevant and timely, as you can instantly see when you open your inbox – whether it’s on your mobile phone or through a web portal.
Thanks to the power of automation and the internet of things, you can put out the same message to hundreds of thousands of subscribers with little effort – and while this might seem impossible, it’s a reality many businesses, brands, and marketers now take for granted.
If you find that your existing email marketing platform isn’t giving you the results you need, SMS marketing is an excellent solution that can help you find the audience you’ve been looking for.