All posts by Text My Main Number

Why Non-Profits Find Text My Main Number to be The Best Zipwhip Alternative

What’s Happening with ZipWhip?
As many know, Zipwhip is ending its services in December of 2022. This means that all clients must find a new home. For non-profits who have relied on Zipwhip over the past few years to message vendors, volunteers and donors through their business texting services, migrating over to Text My Main Number will be a simple and quick transition. The various features we offer will only increase the communication between your organization and others.
We Know What Non-Profits Need
Having worked closely with non-profits and setting up their business texting services, we know exactly what our clients need – and we can help with that.

  1. Frequent Reminders
    From donation drives to auctions, as a non-profit, these events are going on around the clock. As such we know how important it is for our non-profit clients to send out timely reminders of events and more. With our platform, you can schedule pre-written text messages to send to volunteers, potential donors and more. Besides events, there are the people you need to work with within your organization. With our platform, you can directly reach out to donors or volunteers when certain deadlines are looming. Our services make communication 10 times easier – and easier communication means greater turnouts and donations.
  2. Clear Communication
    Not all of us are master communicators. Sometimes we struggle to find the right words or we have a hard time coming up with creative ways to communicate our message. When you sign up with Text My Main Number, we offer a variety of templates you can utilize to message your volunteers, donors and the general public. Our excellent writers crafted easily customizable messages that get to the point and effectively communicate what you need to say.
  3. Recruitment Efforts
    Volunteers are the bread and butter of non-profit organizations. However, getting others to join your effort and non-profit will require some work. With this in mind, we’ve made it easy for non-profits to find potential helpers and volunteers. For example, we recommend our clients use our keyword feature. When clients enable a keyword, volunteers can text the keyword to your number and they can quickly receive alerts, a link to the application and reminders to sign up.
  4. Expansive Outreach
    One of the biggest efforts that non-profits do is outreach events. You want others to know and understand your initiatives, as quick and as much as possible. Since Text My Main Number is such an easy platform to navigate through, your clients will have no problem using the keywords to learn more about your initiative. The more people know about your non-profit the more change and impact you can make on your community and the world.

A Rundown of Our Plans
Signing up with Text My Main Number equips you with everything you need to make the most out of business texting. Better yet, implementing it in your business comes at a low cost. Here are the three major plans we offer at Test Main Number and a brief overview of each– trust us, you’ll get a bang for your buck.
Basic – $39.99 a month for an annual plan
With our basic plan, you can send 1250 outbound messages with 1 keyword available to use. You can have as many contacts as you want on the list and you have access to 24/7 support
Essential – $95.99 a month for an annual plan
The essential plan increases your available outbound messages from 1250 in the basic plan to 5000. A huge jump! Additionally, you have the option of adding 3 users with 3 keywords to use as well.
Premium – $159.99 a month for an annual plan
If your looking to draw in thousands of people to your events and to expand your organization like never before, going for the premium plan is your best bet. You have an option of sending up to 10000 outbound messages, using 5 keywords, automated birthday messages, having a group text blast and so much more.
Regardless of the plan you go for, Text My Number is all about making things easier for you. You can always add individual features to your plan, regardless of the one you choose.
Text My Main Number Features
Below are the features you can expect when you sign up for Text My Main Number. With these features as a part of your business texting platform, it will be so much easier for community outreach and event coordination.

  • Auto reply
    With upcoming fundraising events, your inbox will flood with messages and sign-up requests. The auto-reply feature allows you to automate reply messages depending on keywords texted to your business phone number.
    For example, if someone texts the words “volunteer sign-up,” the algorithm assumes that someone is asking about becoming a volunteer.
  • Scheduled texting
    If you have an upcoming fundraising event or charity event, scheduled texts are a great way to promote it ahead of time. You can have your pre-written text saved as a draft and schedule it to send whenever you want.
  • Group Texting
    There are many stakeholders non-profits have to deal with. This means that the messages you’ll be sending to your volunteers will surely not be the same as the ones you’re sending to donors. That’s why utilizing our group chat features will help you differentiate between certain groups. No more mix-ups anymore!
  • Direct Chat Messaging
    If there’s a concern from someone in your organization or a text message that you would like to directly respond to, TMMN has a chat function that enables that. With the chat feature, you can simultaneously have as many conversations as you want.
  • 24/7 customer support
    When you sign up with TMMN, you’ll have access to our free support service whenever you run into any issues. No more sitting around in anxiety when something goes wrong, no more tirelessly messaging a customer service team and receiving no response. Our 24/7 customer support team is available whenever and wherever you are.
    If you’re looking for the perfect Zipwhip alternative, look no further – Text My Main Number has your back. Contact us today to get started and to start this new chapter in your non-profit journey.

Looking for a ZipWhip Alternative? Text My Main Number Has Your Back

Text My Main Number provides several landline texting features that can boost your business’ revenue. Some of these features include Mobile2Email, SMS and MMS, Chat, and Group messaging. It is no surprise that these features are cost-effective and an efficient means of communicating with your business’s target audience when 98% of text messages are opened and read, whereas email only has a 20% open rate. In addition to 6 billion text messages sent in the U.S every day, 85% of consumers prefer text messaging over any other medium and 72% of business professionals prefer sending/receiving text messages rather than making phone calls. These statistics provide support to Landline texting as a potential means to increase revenue and streamline communication for businesses’.

    Let’s dive deeper into the features provided by Text My Main Number. SMS allows you to send and receive text messages with your existing landline number and MMS allows you to send and receive picture messages with an existing landline, toll-free, or VoIP business number. These features provide easy access to customers and can make communication simple and transparent. Survey texting is another feature included which conducts surveys to understand which of your products or service is most popular or least popular among your customers. 

As more people are likely to reply to a text than an email, you can be confident that this feature can generate a larger sample size for your business decisions. Auto Reply is another feature that allows you to customize automated reply templates that would respond to messages based on specific keywords texted to your existing landline, toll-free, or VoIP business phone number. API access, free support service, custom signature, SMS-E-mail integration, and scheduled texting are some of the other services that are included.

    Landline texting is fast in its delivery to your targeted audience and simple to use for your employees. You can send messages, reminders, or notifications to your audience within seconds and expect them to see your message within minutes of delivery. Most people read their messages within three minutes of receiving them and will respond within 90 seconds of reading. Text My Main Number is user-friendly and provides an easy way for your employees to keep track of clients and add edit, or store contacts. The simplicity of Text My Main Number aids its already efficient landline texting features. 

    Text My Main Number offers landline texting services across many industries such as legal, healthcare, insurance, education, entertainment, transportation, and real estate. The benefits for any business will be the same - streamline communication and provide an efficient and responsive means of communication. For example, by enabling the business messaging services for schools, students will be able to check the status of their grades, check exam schedules, and ask for help with assignments. Parents can send SMS/MMS to the school and vice versa. The school can send messages to make the parents aware of any emergencies, upcoming events, etc. 

Another example is using landline texting services for bars and clubs. By using these services, businesses can send promotional material via text to customers, notify customers of event changes, cancel reservations, take orders for bottle specials, etc. In both examples, landline texting services can streamline communication and provide an efficient and responsive means of communication to customers. For both industries, these services can increase customer satisfaction, improve ROI, keep a detailed log of messages, increase transparency, etc.
Again, the results of adopting Text My Main Number would be similar in other industries as well.

If you are interested in adopting Text My Main Number’s services, you can start your 14-day free trial with Text My Main Number by visiting Text My Main Number and submitting the form located on the page. Text My Main Number offers two Plans – TMMN Texting Plan and TMMN Phone Plan.

The Text My Main Number Texting Plan can be purchased monthly or annually. There are three packages included in the TMMN Texting Plan – Basic, Essential, and Premium. The Basic plan includes unlimited contacts, message history auto-population, multiple text forwarding, custom signature, emojis, multiple user access, reports, 24/7 customer support and more. If you pay annually for the Basic package, then it would be $39.99 per month and if you pay monthly, then it would be $49.99 per month. The Essential package includes everything in the Basic plus bulk messaging, E-mail – text messaging integration, native text messaging, group messaging, auto-reply, and more. If you pay annually for the Essential package, then it would be $95.99 per month. If you pay monthly, then it would be $119.99 per month. The Premium package includes everything in the Essential package plus multiple user chat, recurring messages, look up contacts, age restriction, marketing campaign, automated birthday SMS / MMS, and more. If you pay annually for the Premium package, then it is $159.99 per month. If you pay monthly, then it is $199.99 per month.

The TMMN Phone Plan includes one package which is 19.99 per month if paid annually and 24.99 per month if paid monthly. The features included in this plan are HD voice, 24/7 customer support, call recording, voicemail to text, unlimited minutes, and much more.

    Text My Main Number is a service that enhances communication with customers and provides an efficient means to deliver messages for business needs. Users from ZipWhip that are looking for other providers will find Text My Main Number is one of the best on the market. From its standout features to its affordable packages, Text My Main Number continues to be the top choice for business texting. If you're ready to make that change now, contact our representatives over email or phone and we'll discuss the ins and outs on how Text My Main Number can help you.

Why Text Message Communication Makes a Difference For Coaches and Sport Teams

While you may opt to call individual players or send out an email, there’s a more effective way to reach your team. Through business texting, you can communicate faster and better with your players and parents. Keep on reading to learn more about the benefits of texting as a medium to reach your team.
How Can Sport Teams Benefit from Texting Messaging?
There are tons of ways coaches can make the most out of business texting. Business texting is unique in that it implies more than sending a text to another individual. With business texting, you can send bulk messages, schedule texts and use it as a way to provide information to the masses. Here are just a few ways businesses can benefit from business texting:
• Avoid Using Personal Number
While using your home phone number may be beneficial with a small team, what happens when you coach a team of 20 or 40 players? What happens when you need to balance communications with stakeholders, volunteers, business partners, and more? We recommend you avoid using your personal phone number to text your team. This helps keep your private life and coaching duties separate. Business texting allows you to use a business number that everyone can reach you from.
• Sending Reminders in Bulk
It becomes tedious to message parents and teammates individually. Save time by sending out one simple message in one go. Send quick updates or details regarding game night – but make it simple with just one click of a button.
• Send out Team Surveys
As a good coach, you always rely on feedback and input from others. Whether that’s input on the new practice schedule or what snacks to bring to the games, send out a survey to parents and teammates. Once your recipients receive the link, you have access to important data that you can use to improve.
• Capture and Share Moments
Every parent wants an image of their child in practice. And team photos are a great way to capture fond moments. Text My Main Number allows you to send photos to all parents, volunteers and teammates in one simple go.
• Schedule Your Reminders
All coaches have a life outside of coaching. From family events to your full-time job, you may not always remember to send a reminder. As such, you can always schedule your text messages. No more forgetting, no more hassle with going on your phone when you’re busy. Schedule text messages for practice reminders or details regarding the game the next day.
• Collect Payments
It becomes taxing to constantly remind parents when to pay their fees. Additionally, it can be an awkward thing to do. Instead, opt to send out payment reminders or payment links. Through a text message, parents can pay their fees with the link you provide.
• Send Game Schedule Link
Paper schedules can get lost and emails get buried in the pile. Since text messages have a 98% open rate, you can ensure all parents and teammates won’t miss a game. Send out a link to a calendar invite or the latest schedule through text.

Features to Look For in Texting Platforms
Not all business texting platforms are built the same. Some come with limited features, while others may lack the customer support to help you transition to the business texting world.
At Text My Main Number, we provide all the innovative features you need to form the best communication with your team. On top of that, our customer support line is available 24/7 whenever you need assistance. Below are just a few key features you have access to once you sign-up with us:

  1. Grouping Contacts
    With Text My Main Number as your business texting provider, it makes life a whole lot easier. You can organize your contacts based on their titles (parents, teammates, volunteers, etc). This is so you avoid the trouble of sending people messages they may not benefit from. For example, updates on where to buy new jerseys may be beneficial to parents and teammates. However, volunteers and stakeholders may not need to know that information.
  2. Sending MMS
    One of the major perks of business texting is that you can send images, short videos or audio clips to every player at the same time. Parents and team members can all look back on a winning game or the updated practice schedule all through MMS messages.
  3. Message Templates
    Don’t know where to start? Are words not your strong suit? We created hundreds of templates across our platform that help you avoid repeating yourself. Whether you’re looking for a professional or an engaging tone, we have the texting templates that only improve your communication skills.
    Additionally, if you plan on using a particular message several times (ie. For practice reminders), you can store your templates. This way, when the time comes, you won’t have to waste time crafting the same message.
  4. SMS- Email Integration
    While we are all for mobile applications, some still prefer emailing. With our platform, you can send an email and convert it to a text message or vice versa. Whatever platform parents or team members prefer, this option allows you to stay in touch with everyone.
    Why Go With Text My Main Number?
    At Text My Main Number, our clients are our number one priority. So much so that we provide free trials and offer different packages based on your needs. For example, if you don’t plan on sending too many outbound SMS, you may want to opt for our basic package. Alternatively, if you want all the features mentioned above and the ability to text as frequently as you want, our enterprise package may be best for you.
    If you don’t know to start or are curious about how to integrate business texting in your coaching duties, our free customer support line is your go-to. We are sure you’ll love the benefits that text messages provide to connect with your team.

Why Text My Main Number is the Best Alternative from ZipWhip

The Situation with ZipWhip
If you haven’t heard already, one of the industry’s leading business texting platforms, Zipwhip is ending its services on December 1st, 2022. This means for long time customers, you have to find a different provider before the end of the year. If not you risk losing out on your business texting services with your clients.
With this forced change, you might be wondering which provider to go for. After all, there are hundreds of business texting providers out in the market who offer similar services. However, Text My Main Number stands out for a multitude of reasons.
Questions to Ask Before You Settle on a Provider
You may have been a long time Zipwhip customer but with these changes, you should re-evaluate where your company stands with business texting. Your company may require other services to accommodate customers over text. Alternatively, you may want to increase the number of characters per text for more efficient messaging. Either way, here are some questions you should ask yourself and your team before researching which business texting provider is right for you.

  1. How many texts do you send and receive a month from customers?
    You may want to upgrade to a different plan that offers more or less depending on your situation.
  2. Does the provider offer automated responses?
    Everyone knows that now more than ever customers want our attention. As such, leaving the on reading or in the dark is a big loss for the company and clients. Finding a provider who can provide automated response features, timed messages and more can bring a whole of convenience to your business.
  3. What changes in the growth of our company directly impacts our business texting services?
    Think about the changes within your company as a whole. Think about your customer demographic, your marketing department, etc. If any of these factors impact your texting in any way shape or form, consider how that may influence the type of features you’re looking to provide to your clients.

Standout Features from Text My Main Number
From our stellar customer service to our variety of plans meant to suit your needs, here’s why you should consider Text My Main Number during your switch. Below are just a few features our clients love to rave about.

  • Auto reply
    Whether you’re selling a product or offering a service, your inbox is likely filled with questions and inquiries The auto-reply feature allows you to automate reply messages depending on keywords texted to your business phone number.
  • Scheduled texting
    Perhaps you have an upcoming launch or announcement for your clients. If so, rather than timing the exact date and time, why not schedule it? By writing a message beforehand having the platform send it at a certain time, you won’t have to worry about forgetting your message.
  • Direct chat messaging
    If there’s a concern from someone in your organization or a text message that you would like to directly respond to, Text My Main Number includes a chat function that enables that. With the chat feature, you can simultaneously have as many conversations as you want with as many individuals as you want.
  • Exceptional customer support
    Any issues or trouble with your business texting? Do you want to learn about the full potential of some other features? When you sign up with TMMN, you’ll have access to our free support service whenever you run into any issues.
  • Survey Texting
    Wondering how your clients felt about your latest product launch or your current services? Looking to learn more about your audience demographic and to better connect and relate to them? You can send out a client survey conveniently over text when you sign up with Text My Main Number. Text messages receive a 98% open rate and are often responded to within 3 minutes. This means that you’ll receive the answers you want from customers in a short time.
  • MMS
    Rather than text messages, spice it up a bit from time to time and incorporate images or emojis. Many people are visual learners so they may benefit from seeing an infographic or image advertising your product.
  • Multiple Plans
    Whether you send 10,000 or 1,000 text messages a month, Text My Main Number has a plan that will suit your needs. Either way, you can receive upwards of the standard 160 characters that many business texting providers offer. As an example, if you’re looking for something simple that gives you one keyword and slightly over 1000 outbound text messages, we suggest going for the basic plan – this plan starts at $40 a month. Alternatively, let’s say you want to reap the benefits of all the features we have to offer at Text My Main Number, we suggest going for the premium plan. This plan allows you to send 10,000 outbound messages, gives you access to 5 keywords, you can do an integrated text response and so much more. For a thorough comparison of all the plans check out our website here to learn more.
    Before You Commit
    There’s no reason to make a firm decision right away. After all, you want to ensure the business texting provider you go for offers all the features and perks your business needs. We want our customers to love our service – that’s why we offer all businesses a free trial. For 14 days, you can try out all Text My Main Number features and run them by your team at no cost. This is a great way to decide if the platform is right for you.
    On the other hand, you can always reach out to our customer service team. With 24/7 support, our experts know the platform inside and out to provide you with an accurate depiction of our services. From the MMS features to details on the set-up, reach out to our team for more information.
    If you’re looking to make that change right now and sign-up with a business texting provider, reach out to our team at Text My Main Number by phone or email. We’d be happy to get it all set up for your business.

What To Do Now That ZipWhip is No Longer Offering Their Services

You might be wondering what to do now that ZipWhip is ending its services after this year. Some of you may be long time customers who are shocked and saddened by the news, many of you may be confused about what to do next that your business texting provider is now retiring. While change can be uncomfortable, let this be an opportunity to explore potential prospects and discover new business texting providers. Some providers may even improve your service delivery. If you’re wondering what your next steps as a business will look like, keep on reading.
The End of ZipWhip
For those who are unaware, in 2021, Twilio, a cloud communications company acquired ZipWhip. While many thought this was to better its platform, that changed a few months later. Later in 2021, ZipWhip announced to its customers that it would end its business texting services at the end of 2022. As such, customers can no longer renew their services at the end of the year.
ZipWhip Customers
Given that ZipWhip services are ending by 2022, many ZipWhip customers are looking for alternatives. Thankfully, there are a ton of business texting providers in the market. While most companies will offer the standard services as ZipWhip does, each provider has something unique to offer.

How to Implement a Solid Transition Plan
Before your contract ends with ZipWhip, it’s best to give yourself at least 2 months in advance to find another texting provider. Whether you run a small or large company, familiarizing yourself with what’s available in the market is key to a smooth transition. Below is a step-by-step plan to help you figure out your next steps.

  1. Do Your Research
    The research aspect may be the most boring part, but it’s also the most vital part of any transition piece. Take a look around at various business texting solutions and write them down. You don’t have to do extensive research on each company – simply take a look at the features and their website and keep tabs on the ones that stick out to you. If you’re looking to learn more, make some phone calls and emails to prospective business texting providers.
    During this time, it’s a great opportunity to consider how your business texting needs may have changed. With this in mind, you can find the products and plans that match your needs.
  2. Take Advantage of Free Trials
    Any good business texting company will offer a free trial or demo account so you can try out the product. Once you’ve narrowed down your options, give every product a try with a free trial. Does it have all the features you need? How easy is it to navigate the platform? Can you envision a smooth transition for your team?
    Give every product the necessary time to assess all its features. Every business texting company offers its unique qualities so consider if it makes a difference to your business.
  3. Make the Purchase
    Once you’ve settled on a product and a business texting company, go ahead and make the big purchase. Keep in mind that it can take a good chunk of time to set up the product, implement it across your company and train your employees. As a good measure, keep a workflow chart to organize the implementation of your new software. Additionally, get familiar with the product yourself before you train your employees and the rest of the company. Keep in constant contact with the customer support at the business texting company so that you understand the ins and outs.
  4. Team Training
    Properly training your team will make or break the implementation. It’s not enough to provide surface-level training to your staff when it comes to new software. While many business texting products may resemble ZipWhip’s platform, it’s important to adequately train your staff on the new product. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and knows how to operate the system.
    Ideally, you want to spend a few weeks on the training portion of implementation. You can use videos, FAQs and more aids to teach about the new business texting software. As our little recommendation, we suggest hosting group and one-on-one training to optimize the effectiveness.
  5. Inform Customers
    Your customers may not be aware of the changes and the ins and outs with changes to the ZipWhip closure – and they don’t have to. However, it’s important to inform your customers that you’re changing services to keep up with the transparency. Additionally, since you’ll most likely be using a new number under a different software, it helps avoid confusion. You can also use this as a time to introduce new features and new aspects of your business texting.
    Keep in mind that during this stage you and your team should be fairly comfortable with the new software. Trying out scenarios and running tests with the new software should be a common activity in the office.
  6. Transfer Client Numbers
    The last and most important step before the final rollout of the software is to transfer the existing numbers over to your new provider. Make sure to do this in the late evening or early morning when interactions with your customers are limited.
    Why Text My Main Number is the Perfect Alternative
    At Text My Main Number we offer similar business texting services as ZipWhips with incredible and noteworthy features. A few features our clients love are:
    • Office and Off-hours Reply: If you’re out of the office or you’re on a vacation, automated text messages keep your clients informed and up-to-date. Rather than leaving your clients in the dark, automated messages reassure your clients of a time they can receive your response.
    • Long messages: Many carriers offer the standard 160 characters messages. However, we know that sometimes businesses have much more to say. That’s why we offer packages that allow you to send well over the 160 character limit.
    • MMS: Rather than text messages, spice it up a bit from time to time and incorporate images or emojis. For example, if you’re running a challenge over text messages, you can have the rules outlined in an image to add greater appeal.
    Given the support and features we have in place, we’ll ensure you’ll have a smooth and seamless transition within the company. Once you have all your existing client numbers transferred to our software, you can finally resume your business texting again. To learn more about our services or to give our platform a try, contact our team!

How Your Recruitment Team Can Benefit from Business Texting

In the realm of recruitment, well-established and strong communications attract the right candidates to your company. And as many recruitment teams know, hiring is an exhaustive process that requires a lot of resources. However, modern recruiters have been making the most of business texting for recruitment reasons.
What is Business Texting in Recruitment?
If the concept seems new, it’s because it is. Business texting generally refers to businesses communicating with customers or clients through text messages.
In a recruiting context, this involves companies or HR departments using text messages as a way to advertise open job positions, schedule interviews, and communicate with candidates throughout hiring. While traditionally recruiters use email or phone calls, texting is proving to be even more effective at communicating with candidates.
But Why Texting?
Long gone are the days when texting is solely meant for personal communication. At Text My Main Number, we often encounter this question from a few curious partners. The reality is text messages are far more open and engagement rates than emails. It’s easy for emails to get buried with the rest, it’s easy for someone to miss a phone call. However, text messages receive just over 98% open rates and are responded to within 10 minutes. In recruiting, companies are reporting that candidates have a 60 – 70% response rate.
Besides how effective it can be with communicating with your audience, texting your candidates makes your lives as recruiters easier as well. For example, you can send out messages or schedule interview times on a mass scale. With a simple send button, hundreds of your candidates can receive all the information they need.
How You Can Use Recruitment Texting (with texting examples)
Depending on your industry, top candidates take anywhere from 10 days to a few months to get hired by a company. As such, you want to make your decisions and your communications as fast as possible to hire the most qualified candidate. Here are just a few ways to stand out and improve the speed of hiring:
• Interview Scheduling
If you’re mass hiring, it can be easy to confuse times and it can take a long time to schedule everyone one-on-one. So why not send out a poll link to all candidates?
Example: Hi Emily! We’ve read over your qualifications, and we’d love to invite you in for an interview. Please click on the link attached to this message to schedule an interview at a time that works for you! Looking forward to hearing from you soon!
Besides scheduling an interview, you can use this opportunity to remind your candidates of their interview times. This not only shows others that you have their best interest in mind, but it also makes the recruitment process a lot smoother when everyone shows up to their interview.
Example: Hi Emily, this is just a friendly reminder that your interview is tomorrow at 4 PM. Our address is 123 Front street and you can find free parking in the garage of our building. To get into our building, our door code is 5890.
• Answer Questions
It’s important to keep an open level of communication with candidates. Remember, this is both an exciting and nerve-wracking time for your candidates as well. As such, encourage them to ask questions and get in touch with you if they need to.
Example: Hi Liam! Just to follow up on your previous question, this job will require you to work from 8:30 AM – 4 PM on Mondays – Thursdays and from 8:30 AM – 2 PM on Fridays. We love an early start to the weekend here!
• Sending Updates
Things happen along the recruitment cycle. Sometimes you have to reschedule appointments, other times your company may have decided to pause hiring. Either way, it’s important to keep your candidates updated at all times. What better way to do that than through texting?
While you may want to use this opportunity to tell your candidate they’ve gotten the job, a phone call may be the best way to convey this exciting message.
Example: Hi Emma! While we appreciate the time you spent applying to our firm, we have decided to pause hiring until we sort out our finances for year-end. But don’t worry! We will reach out again in late January to continue the process.
Example: Hi John, it was great meeting you today at the interview! Can you please send over your reference contacts as soon as possible? Thank you!
• Promote Open Positions
When someone signs up for your texting services, you can also use this as an opportunity to promote any upcoming positions at your company. You can do this by having a separate keyword that individuals can text to your business number.
On our platform, you can easily sort these individuals out and place them in a group. This way, you don’t send your candidates potential job openings as well.
Example: Hi there! Looks like you’ve expressed interest in working for our company. Here’s a new job posting that just opened up: Financial Analyst -2 + years experience, 45 – 50 hour work weeks. To learn more about the role and to apply to it, click on the link below.

Recruiting Texting Tips

  1. Never use your personal number: Using your home phone will make things very messy. You want that separation between your job and your personal life. As such, create a different business number that you can use for solely recruitment-related reasons
  2. Keep the texts short: As recruiters, it’s easy to fall into the same habits of writing long paragraphs explaining the scope of a job or a job acceptance letter. However, it’s important to keep your messages short on texts. It’s simply the nature of the medium. This makes it easier for candidates to scan your messages and act accordingly. Try your best to narrow down the main idea of your message and showcase that in your texts.
  3. Sounding Too Robotic: Remember that your candidates want to talk to a real person. As such, add some personality and flair to your texts. This puts your candidates at ease and makes a good impression on your company.
    If you’re looking for a business texting platform that allows you to schedule messages, send out bulk tasks and more, try out Text My Main Number for a free trial. If you have any more questions, feel free to contact our team to learn more about how our services can make your recruitment process a seamless one.

How to Use Business Texting for Your Food Truck

Food trucks are gaining more traction than ever before. With fewer people willing to commit to long-term leases, food trucks are a great way for restaurants to expand their horizons, reach more customers while saving money. All you need is a passion for food and a truck to serve your customers.
To keep up with the demand of your customers and increase the effectiveness of your business, we recommend incorporating greater speed, creativity, and personalization in your marketing strategy. As such, business texting is one of the best ways to achieve this. If you’re curious about how you can use business texting to your advantage in your food truck ventures, keep on reading.
How Food Trucks Can Benefit from Business Texting
To first understand why business texting can be beneficial for your business, you must look at the staggering statistics associated with texting in the first place. On average, 95% of text messages are open and read in 3 minutes or less. On top of that, over 4 billion people across the globe can receive and send SMS messages. In this current day and age, people would rather text their friends and family than receive calls. By meeting the needs and wants of your customers, you’ll stand above the rest.
This means that you have an effective and easy way to alert the customers of your food truck. With a simple text or image, you can enjoy the influx of hungry customers right at your door.
How else can you take advantage of business texting for your food truck?

  1. You can send delicious photos of your food to customers to promote your food truck.
    Images play a big role in selling a meal to customers. There’s no better way to promote your food truck than through photos that can show your customers what you have to offer. As such, pull out the lighting and use the right angles – take the best photos you can of your dishes and drinks to captivate hungry watchers.
  2. You can alert your customers of food truck hours.
    Food truck hours and locations can vary. Perhaps you want to switch up the location to attract others from another part of town. On the other hand, you might want to switch around the hours to test out which open times work best. Either way, there’s flexibility that comes with owning a food truck – this comes with pros and cons. To ensure your regulars know exactly when and where you’ll be, send out a business text the day prior. Alert them of your location and what items are on the menu for the day.
  3. Offer amazing discounts during slow hours
    Sometimes the element of surprise can excite and entice your customers to come out to your food truck. During slower hours, feel free to drop a discount on any of your food items. It’ll be a great way for more people to come out to your food truck.
  4. Improve customer engagement.
    The best thing about business texting is that it allows you to directly interact and engage with your customers. No more unread DMs or lost emails. For example, let’s say you send out promotion and a customer is interested in the ingredients you use in your dishes. With business texting you use a different phone number, separate from your home number, to contact and speak with customers.
  5. Increase brand awareness.
    While social media is a great tool to increase your brand awareness, business texting takes it to a whole new level. People sign-up for your SMS services because they’re already interested in your food truck and your business. Use this as an opportunity to make them loyal customers – promote your business, send out fun surveys, wish them a happy birthday and more. Business texting gives you a chance to interact with your customers in creative ways. This makes you more memorable than your competitors.

Sample Food Truck Text Messages
While texting seems like an easy task, business texting requires creativity and strategic marketing communications. If you’re curious as to what business texting looks like in action for food trucks, here are a few examples to look at below.

  1. Sharing food photos.
    Humans are visual consumers. Food photos can truly showcase your menu items and what you have to offer as a food truck. From menu items to customer favourites, display your tasty food truck items to get more customers coming out.
    Sample: Include photo – Marvelous Monday calls for our mac and cheese balls! Southern Delight is open until 9 PM today so come out and enjoy some delicious food.
  2. Promoting Discounts and Specials
    Discounts and specials are a great way to motivate your customers to come out and support your business. Since business texts are consumed very quickly, you and ensure your messages will be sent out and read in a matter of minutes. You’ll be surprised by the turnout!
    Sample: Come out and enjoy our lunch special – Chicken Tender Sandwich Combo for only $8.99! Make sure to arrive soon, they’ll sell out quickly.
  3. Promote Draws and Giveaways
    Contents and giveaways are a fun way to engage with your audience. It adds a level of competition while rewarding a loyal customer.
    Sample: Looking for a chance to win 2 free meals on us? Click on the link below to enter our contest and you could be the lucky winner. Simply fill out the information sheet and tag us on Instagram.
  4. Abrupt Updates
    Bad weather, low ingredient supply – tons of factors play a role in needing to change your location or closing shop for the day. There’s no better way to update your customers on these changes than through business texting. They’ll get the notification as soon as possible and will appreciate your efforts to keep them alert and aware.
    Sample: The weather just isn’t on our side – with the winter storm creeping up, we’ve decided to close shop at 3 PM today. But don’t worry! We’ll keep you updated on our hours for the next few days.
    When you combine business texting with your food truck business, great things happen. At Text My Main Number, we ensure our clients have access to all the innovative tools and features they need to promote their business. If you’re curious or want to give our platform a try before finalizing your decision, contact a representative from our team to learn more.

How Real Estate Businesses Can Benefit from Business Texting

Are you running a real estate business? Wondering how to gain leads and the traction you need to sell homes and close deals?
In the world of real estate, how you communicate to clients and stakeholders is the key to success – business texting only strengthens that skill. Whether you recently opened your practice, or you’ve been in the business for 20 years, business texting is making waves in every industry. If you’ve ever considered business texting or never heard of it, keep on reading to learn how it can skyrocket sales and build your reputation.
What is Business Texting?
Business texting is as it sounds – businesses use text messaging as a medium to communicate with clients. From promotional deals to abrupt notices, business texting is one of the most effective ways to communicate with your clients. But what exactly makes it so effective?
For one, just look at the way we communicate daily. Texting is more convenient – so much so that 75 % of millennials prefer texting over a traditional phone call.
Secondly, text messages have a greater reach. Over 4.2 billion people worldwide can send and receive text messages and have a much greater response rate than emails and calls. The bottom line, business texting came into existence because of its incredible potential to communicate and connect with clients. Better yet, business texting keeps your personal phone number separate from your work numbers. This avoids any mix-ups and crosses between your business and personal life.
Why Would Real Estate Agents Benefit from Business Texting?
As we mentioned, communication is key in the real estate industry and business texting helps with making it smooth and seamless. Here are ways real estate agents can use and benefit from business texting in practice.

  1. Quick Communication
    Homebuyers want to know when they can schedule the next home viewing or be alerted about a great deal. Since the majority of text messages are open and read within 8 minutes, business texting is the perfect way to connect with your clients about important and time-sensitive information.
    Clients always want to be kept in the loop about potential properties and it’s your job to meet their expectations. This means making yourself available and attending to their needs. Texting your clients through mobile will be much more convenient than rushing back to your computer.
  2. Friendly Reminders
    If there’s a timeline on when documents to close a deal are required, you can use texting as a means to reach your clients. With mobile messaging, you can better manage to remind one client about documents, another on an upcoming viewing and more. You’ll feel better knowing that clients are up to date with upcoming events.
  3. Effectively Establishing and Maintaining Client Relationships
    The more you keep in touch with clients, the more you reach out about exciting new properties that meet their criteria, the more clients will be inclined to work with you. Texting adds a personal touch to communication between yourself and clients. You can also collect some data on birthdays or current addresses to send birthday messages and gifts as well. This only increases the loyalty between you and your clients.
    Additionally, if clients are interested in a particular property, you can use a keyword they can text. This streamlines communication with all clients. When clients text your keyword, they can receive information on the property and schedule a viewing if they’re interested. This automated process makes life easier for clients to view properties.
  4. Standout Among Competitors
    Real estate is a competitive industry. A good way to stand out among competitors is by implementing new and innovative solutions. Additionally, it’s an untraditional communication method and is still a new concept to many industries. If you can reach clients more effectively and faster than other real estate agents, you have an advantage over competitors in your region.
    Besides communicating potential properties, you can also use business texting to remind clients to leave reviews and spread the word about your business. Given the high open rates, you’ll have a greater chance of landing more reviews on your website and Google.
  5. Sending out Potential Properties
    Rather than emailing client properties, you can also opt to send listings over text as well. This doesn’t involve sending a long list of properties. You can send concise blurbs and links to properties as you discover them. You can also send along a PDF of links to keep everything organized for yourself and your clients.

Sign-up with Text My Main Number
Besides, simply sending text messages, depending on the carrier you go with, there are a ton of creative ways to connect with clients through texting. With Text My Main Number, you have a range of options. Below are just a few advanced features we offer for businesses who sign up for our service:
• Automated Text Messages: If you’re out of the office or you’re on a vacation, automated text messages keep your clients informed and up-to-date. Rather than leaving your clients in the dark, automated messages reassure your clients of a time they can receive your response.
• Survey Texting: Wondering how your clients felt about your latest product launch? Looking to learn more about your audience demographic and to better connect to them? You can send out a client survey conveniently over text. With the stats we mentioned earlier, rest assured you’ll have a greater chance of receiving a response than over email or phone.
• MMS: Rather than text messages, spice it up a bit from time to time and incorporate images or emojis. For example, if you’re running a challenge over text messages, you can have the rules outlined in an image to add greater appeal.
Texting Tips to Close a Deal
• Keep it short: As in any text message, don’t drag out what you have to say. For example, if you’re letting your client know about a listing, give a concise blurb about the number of rooms and square footage. Other than that, the link should address it all.
• Avoid sending frequent messages: Unless it’s of high importance, sending your clients properties all the time can turn clients away. Keep it within office hours and develop a schedule with your messages.
Business texting can change the game for all real estate agents and businesses. If you’re looking for a business texting provider, reach out to our team at Text My Main Number to get started today!

5 Effective Ways to Alert Customers About Your Pop-Up Shop

Pop-up shops are more than just a trend. It’s a great way for e-commerce stores to offer their customers a physical in-store experience. It’s an amazing way to increase brand awareness without spending thousands of dollars on rent.
While online experiences are the most convenient and popular way for consumers to shop, you can’t deny the different experiences a physical shop offers. With that being said, here’s how to advertise your pop-up shop successfully.
Why Businesses Should Consider Using Pop-Up Shops
A pop-up shop is a temporary store set up by a business that rents out an area for a short-term lease. This cuts down on the paperwork and the headaches involved in renting commercial property. Given the temporary nature of a pop-up and its low cost, businesses can set up pop-up shops worldwide as well.
Besides merely selling products/services, pop-up shops allow you to test out fresh visual branding and help you reach out to new customers. You can also use it as a chance to promote your new product and to see customer reaction. All of this is possible with the short-term and temporary nature of pop-up shops.
Pop-up shops are perfect for your business, no matter how small or large. Small businesses can use the opportunity to gain more traction and large businesses can create pop-up shops to reach unexplored locations. Businesses like Glossier, Amazon and BrandBox are just a few examples of brands that took advantage of pop-up shops.

Marketing Your Pop-Up Shop
Since pop-up shops are temporary, there’s only limited time to promote them to your customers. Advertising your pop-up shop is not an activity you can do last minute. You need to spend adequate time and implement effective marketing strategies that can gain interest and excitement in a limited time. As such, below are a few marketing tactics you can use to advertise your pop-up shop.

  1. Use Facebook
    While Facebook has garnered some negative press over the past few years, it remains the most popular social media platform. With over 2.8 billion people using the site, marketers and businesses find Facebook as the most effective platform to engage on.
    From Facebook Stories to Facebook ads, use this platform to inform your followers of your pop-up shops. You can promote your pop-up location, timings and mention the purpose of your pop-up as well. Using Facebook Analytics, you can also find the times that your followers are the most active on the site. It’s best to post your information during these times to ensure you effectively reach most of your followers. You might also want to consider tailoring your pop-up shop ads to different demographics.
  2. Take Advantage of Instagram/Facebook Stories
    Instagram Stories, Facebook Stories– there’s something about the short-form video that consumers seem to love. The stats about the popularity of short videos and stories speak for themselves. Over 500 million people use Instagram Stories alone and 58% of consumers say they found an item more appealing after seeing a story about it.
    Instagram or Facebook stories are a great way to engage with your audience about your upcoming pop-up shop. You can use a poll feature or highlight behind the scenes of your shop to garner interest. But promoting your pop-up shop goes beyond the initial stages. You should continue to advertise your shop during and even after it wraps up.
    If your followers do happen to miss out on your current pop-up, they’ll keep an eye out for the next one. Using your stories to promote before and after your pop-up shop is a great way to keep eye on your business, products and your next launches.
  3. Email Marketing
    Many businesses still rely on email marketing to promote their products and services. As such, if you have an email marketing system in place, you should also use it to promote your pop-up shop. Promote your pop-up through your email newsletter or your weekly promotional email content. You can still get a good return on investment with email marketing if done correctly.
  4. SMS Marketing
    With the rise in mobile usage across the world, SMS marketing is quickly becoming a marketing method that businesses rely on. Text messages have an open rate of 98% and they are read in a matter of 10 minutes or less. As such, it’s the perfect medium to promote your pop-up shop, even if you are slightly late with promoting it. With a simple text, thousands of your customers that sign up to your SMS marketing will receive a quick notification about your pop-up.
    You can send out a survey to see what your consumers expect, you can add images to effectively promote your pop-up shop, and so much more. It’s all up to you and your creative style. Better yet with SMS marketing, you split your consumers up according to their demographic. As such, you can tailor your pop-up shop ads according to each group for more effective marketing. SMS marketing is one of the best ways to alert your audience.
    If you’re looking for a business texting provider, Text My Main Number is a trusted source among many clients. From the ability to automate messages (perfect if you want to send daily reminders to your customers) to 24/7 customer service, Text My Main Number is the partner you need in this digitalized and mobile marketing outlook.
  5. Website Announcements
    Your website is your next best place to promote and gain awareness towards your pop-up shops as well. On your website, you can set the pop-up shop announcement as a header or have it as a pop-up widget in the corner. Any way you can get people to know about your shop through your website. This is an effective method as well.
    This is because you know when people visit your website, they’re already interested in your business, product and/or services. As such, you may expect a greater turnout from this strategy as well.
    Pop-up shops are becoming a popular strategy among small and large businesses – you can take advantage of them as well. And when you implement at least one of the wide array of marketing strategies and tactics mentioned above, you’ll most likely find yourself with a large crowd at your pop-ups!

The Ultimate Do’s and Don’ts Guide to Business Texting/SMS Marketing

If you’ve recently integrated SMS marketing into your business, you may feel overwhelmed with the number of ways to go about it. It’s more than sending a text when a promotion happens. It’s much more than advertising your business once a week through texts.
At Text My Main Number we want to ensure our customers know the best tips and tricks to make the most out of their business texting. Increased revenue, greater attention to your business, more customer loyalty – here are ways you can achieve all of this through SMS marketing.
The Effectiveness of SMS Marketing
As mobile devices become more prominent figures in our lives, our ways of interacting with one another have changed. The stats speak for themselves – text messages are opened and read within 10 minutes and have an open rate of 98%. Marketing professionals are seeing increased engagement and greater sales after implementing There’s no denying the effectiveness of communicating through business texting.
And as every marketer knows, you have to meet your customers where they are. Higher open rates mean there’s a higher chance your customers will engage with your business. SMS marketing is becoming a popular method to engage and reel in sales.
The Do’s

  1. Do Ask for Consent
    No one wants to be bombarded with text messages from a company, especially when they never signed up for it. Even if customers provide their phone numbers for other reasons (shipping, etc), they never specifically signed up for your texting services. In that case, you shouldn’t use their phone number either.
    If you want to collect phone numbers from a potential customer, there are plenty of ways to do it. For example, you could advertise your business’s texting code on your social media. When you sign up with Text My Main Number, we provide you with a code. Customers can text this code to your business number which automatically allows them to receive your text messages.
    Alternatively, customers can leave their phone numbers in a form. Your team can continually add these phone numbers to your contact list. The methods mentioned here all have one thing in common – customers voluntarily sign up for your business texting.
  2. Do Start with a Welcome Message
    Like the start of a letter or the beginning of an email, you need to include an introduction. You want to ensure your customers remember why they signed up. In the case that you don’t send a message for a few weeks, the welcome text will serve as a placeholder, reminding customers of your business and your business texting services.
    Instead of manually texting each customer every time someone signs up, use our auto texting feature. Prepare a standard welcome message and every time a client signs up to your business texting software, the message will automatically be sent.
  3. Do Keep it Real
    The ability for clients to text your business number and reach out directly to your business gives an illusion of authentic human interaction. And that’s exactly what customers want.
    As such, you want to frame your text messages as though it’s coming from a sales rep or agent (even though it might be automated). This means being genuine, kind while being professional as well. Here’s an example of a good response:
    “Hey there, thanks for reaching out! Please fill out the survey attached so we can learn more about how to make your experience between. Thanks again, Emily.”
  4. Do Include Non-Promotional Content
    Besides creating authentic messages, you also want to include more personal messages. Not every message has to be sales-focused. Customers don’t always want to be sold something and building a more personal relationship with customers prompts greater customer loyalty.
    We highly encourage businesses to take the opportunity to wish customers a happy holiday or link to a blog that would help your customers. Combining sales-focused texts with non-promotional messages is a great way to keep your customers engaged.

The Don’ts

  1. Don’t Overdo It
    The last thing you want to do is annoy your customers by spamming their inboxes. A way to avoid this is by creating purposeful messages rather than texting solely to engage with your customers.
    Knowing when and how often you text your customers is key to ensuring you don’t bother them. This means choosing the appropriate time of day to message, messaging once a week, etc. Additionally, don’t overdo the number of words you use in one message either.
    For example, maximizing the characters you use is not always appropriate. From our experience, short and sweet messages do the trick. If you need more explaining, direct your customers to a blog or a PDF via links.
  2. Don’t Text During Off-Hours
    Texting your customers outside of business hours can be annoying as well. No one wants to receive messages at 2 AM or odd hours of the day. Unless it’s an urgent message, you should send texts during your normal hours of operation (from 9 AM – 5 PM would be the most appropriate). Want to alert your customers about an incredible sale? Chances are that message can go to it during appropriate business hours rather than midnight. As a suggestion, use automated and timed messages as a way to avoid texting at off-hours.
  3. Don’t Forget to Include Your CTA
    Remember that SMS Marketing is more than another strategy to implement. If done correctly, SMS marketing can lead to greater sales, more engagement, more followers, etc. As such, make your call to action clear in your messages. Whether that means checking out your new blog post or following a set of tips to maximize sales, customers will find greater value when your call to action is apparent in your messages.
  4. Don’t Forget to Stay on Brand
    While your SMS Marketing may not be directly linked to your Instagram or your website, keep in mind that SMS marketing is still a way for customers to recognize and engage with your brand. As such, you should still allow for your brand voice to shine through your SMS marketing. For example, if your brand is energetic and happy, have that shine through your messaging. The last thing you want to do is confuse your clients with mixed branding.
    Conclusion
    Keep the dos and don’ts list in mind when you carry out your SMS Marketing. While each business may have different techniques and tricks when it comes to it, this list is a fairly standard way to ensure your business texting efforts produce results. If you’re just starting and want to learn more about SMS Marketing, reach out to our team at Text My Main Number to get started!

The New Demand for SMS Marketers: Why it’s a Necessary Skill

One trend that has emerged as a promising method is SMS marketing. With text messages receiving 98% open rates and businesses texting as an effective way for businesses to reach their clients, hiring an SMS marketer is a great investment. Alternatively, training your current marketers with these skills will ensure greater success.
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing is a marketing strategy businesses can use to reach customers whenever and wherever they are. Businesses often send out discount codes, available promotions, product ads and more through text messages to their followers.
Nearly half of the world’s population owns a cellphone. This makes SMS marketing the most effective way of communicating with clients and customers. Whether they’re online, offline with notifications on or off, you can almost guarantee your messages will be sent. Here are other statistics that increase the effectiveness of SMS marketing.

  • Americans with cell phones check their phones at least 47 times a day.
  • Nearly 56% of consumers have already signed up for business texts from brands and are interested in doing so more often.
  • Business texts receive 6 times the engagement in comparison to email marketing
    From these stats alone, you can see why 56% of businesses are looking to invest more into SMS marketing. Firstly, consumers want to connect with brands through text messages. Secondly, given the popularity of cell phones and mobile applications, SMS marketing will inevitably provide your business with a leg up.
    The Benefits of SMS Marketing
    There are other major factors prompting businesses to look more into SMS marketing. Here is why businesses are investing more into SMS Marketing than ever before.
  1. The Rise of Mobile Marketing
    More people are spending time on their phones than ever before – roughly 6 hours a day to be exact. As we’re also seeing, more businesses are customizing their websites to fit mobile displays and developing apps for their services as well. Some big apps (ex: Tik Tok) are found exclusively on mobile devices. It’s safe to say that mobile marketing is a safe bet given the trends.
    A general rule of thumb for marketers is to seek out these trends and follow the customers to platforms where they spend the most time. Currently, that just so happens to be mobile devices. And as we’ve found throughout the past few years SMS marketing provides desired returns.
    Nearly 96% of marketers who implemented SMS marketing found it to drive up sales and revenue. This is to be expected with the rise of mobile platforms.
  2. Outdated Marketing
    Many big names companies have slashed their marketing budget in recent years. Why? Because of the lack of sales and revenue despite pouring millions into marketing. This could be due to the pandemic but big names such as Airbnb, L’oreal and Coca-Cola are taking a step back from ads.
    From billboards to excessive TV ads, the time and money put into these marketing tactics don’t always perform the best results. Even look at email marketing. What once was a marketing strategy every business took part in, is currently ineffective. Emails only receive about 20% engagement and most emails now go unread.
    These marketing channels do not meet consumers where they are. They also don’t account for the changing nature of consumer habits and behaviours.
    SMS marketing is becoming an increasingly popular channel for businesses. It’s effective and it costs much less than renting a billboard or airing a TV commercial. When you sign up with Text My Main Number, we offer competitive rates and packages depending on your business needs.

Hiring an SMS Marketer vs Training Current Staff
Given the popularity and wide usage of SMS marketing, you may start to wonder whether you should hire someone specific to this role. Alternatively, you may wonder if it’s better to train your staff with SMS Marketing.
There is no clear-cut or right answer here. With SMS marketing still in its early stages, there are no certificates or diplomas someone can earn for the role. Currently, social media marketers and marketing staff are more than capable to perform SMS marketing (of course, given their background). However, if you do plan on building a team of individuals dedicated to SMS marketing, here’s what to look for.

  • Social Media Experience
    In this day and age, social media has taught us that consumers love short and to-the-point information. That’s why Tik Tok has become as popular as it is. Concise messaging is exactly what SMS marketing is all about. As such, it’s best to recruit someone who has social media experience and can communicate information in short yet effective ways. These skills are directly transferrable to SMS marketing.
  • Big Problem Solvers
    SMS marketing is still a new field. There is no one way to correctly implement the channel into your marketing strategy. That’s why someone with the ability to be creative with their solutions and tackle problems from new angles would be the best to take on the role.
  • Experience with Marketing Campaigns
    Marketing campaigns require someone who can put together different materials to drive a larger consumer basis. A successful marketing campaign would also mean a growing subscribers list. As such, someone with this type of experience would prove to be effective at SMS marketing. For example, if someone’s resume includes that they’ve done email marketing in their previous role, that’s a huge sigh of relief for your business.
    No matter who you assign to the task, your SMS marketers should understand the business texting software inside out. They should know all the features and how to operate the software to ensure a smooth process. Luckily our customer service team at Text MY Main Number would be happy to walk through all the features with your team.
    SMS marketing is a new field but it’s rapidly growing. Get ahead of the curb and hire someone to take control of your SMS marketing to drive up your sales and give your business the attention it deserves. If you need an easy-to-use business texting software, Text My Main number has your back.

How to Create SMS Challenges for Your Business

Since everyone loves to a challenge, SMS challenges are a great way to draw in many participants. Creating a fun SMS challenge series shows your customers that you’re invested in their well-being and it adds extra credentials to your expertise.
But what exactly do these SMS challenges entail? For started if you’re in the fitness industry you can send out a 30-day plank challenge. If you’re in marketing, you can develop a 7-day mini-challenge where your followers must implement one of your tips into your social media marketing. The challenge you develop highly depends on your business.
However, regardless of the industry, these challenges are meant to help your consumers achieve a goal. Whether it’s learning a new skill or attempting to improve an aspect of their lives, SMS challenges are perfect in that case. If you’re wondering how you can create an SMS challenge for your customers, here are the steps you need to take to make it successful.
Why SMS Challenges Work
As we mentioned, people love gaining something valuable from businesses. SMS challenges can be a way to improve customer relations with your consumers while gaining a new audience. 34% of new customers are gained through things like contests and challenges. Additionally, businesses on Instagram that conduct challenges and contests find their follower base to grow by 70% more than businesses that don’t. Needless to say, SMS challenges and contests can do wonders for your business.
Creating an SMS Challenge

  1. Creating a Keyword
    A keyword is a phrase that consumers who want to participate in your challenge would text to your number. Once they text that phrase, they are automatically enrolled in the challenge. For example, if you’re a marketing agency launching a 7-day marketing challenge, your keyword could be “7DAYMARKETING.”
    Tip: Choose a keyword that sounds relevant to your challenge. This ensures that customers resonate more with the keyword and relate it more to the SMS challenge you have.
  2. Creating a Welcome Message
    As you create your keyword, make sure to include a welcome message that customers can read once they sign up for your challenge. It can introduce the challenge, let consumers know the rules, and other important details you may want to include
    Example: Welcome everyone to our 7-day marketing challenge! Every day, we’ll send out a marketing tip that you would then implement into your social media marketing that day. Looking to master social media marketing? Stay tuned for the best tips in the industry and watch your engagement skyrocket!
  3. Set Up Automated Messages
    Each day will involve new messages and tips. It’s best to have those set up before launching your challenge so you don’t risk falling behind. With the auto-response feature from Text My Main Number, the software allows you to time your messages. For example, you can set the message to be sent every day at noon to add consistency.
    Once you develop all your messages, that’s the majority of the work done. Set your messages to auto-response to ensure that you don’t have to do it manually. If someone responds with a question, you can then reach out and respond directly from the phone number.
    Tips: Always explain the challenge for the day and why it’s important and include encouragement. This adds more personality to your challenge and having your support would encourage your consumers to continue. Additionally, when you use Text My Main Number as your SMS provider, you can easily embed links and resources in your text. If you have more to say but feel a text message can’t adequately explain your challenge, you can always send your participants to your website or social media page.
  4. Promote Your Challenge
    Do you want to attract more attention to your challenge? First, you want to work with your current audience. You can develop social media campaigns that promote the purpose of the challenge and make sure to include your keyword in the post as well. The more your customers see the keyword the more they’ll be more inclined to join the community signing up to the challenge.
    Then you want to target those outsides of your followers. Make sure to embed popular hashtags and post at popular times in your post so you can gain greater exposure. Finally, with permission from your followers, you may want to share photos or progress from those who signed up for the challenge. Whether people want to improve their service or if they just want to feel a part of a community, these pieces serve as great marketing material.
  5. Track the Progress
    Keeping track of your analytics is a must in an SMS challenges. You can pull these numbers right from your SMS campaign – number of clicks on links, responses, number of subscriptions/unsubscriptions and more. This data will give a greater sense of the success of your challenge and the changes necessary in your future challenges.

Features to Take Advantage From Text My Main Number
When you sign up with Text My Main Number, there are tons of features you can use to improve your SMS challenges. Below are just a few of the many features to use during your challenge.

  • End of Challenge Survey
    Want to know what your participants thought about your challenge? You can send a survey at the end of your challenge to understand your customer’s experience. Simply create the survey and include a link to it in your final text message to conclude the challenge.
  • Scheduled Texting
    You can schedule text messages to send at a specific time. Rather than be all over the place when you send your texts, having a set time will be better in your SMS challenge.
  • Chat Widget
    If your participants want an answer to a quick question, you can always use the chat widget to speak to your consumers. With the widget in place, you can engage in many conversations at the same time.
    SMS challenges are a great way to motivate your consumers. It keeps them accountable for achieving their personal and professional goals. Furthermore, it’s a great way to show off your expertise and your services as well. If you’re ready to launch your SMS challenge, get in contact with Text My Main Number today!

New to Business Texting? Here’s How to Get Your Sales Team on Board

However, business texting promises a quick and highly effective method to attract customers and ultimately close deals. With the average adult on their phones for nearly two hours a day and with 98% of text messages being open and read, you’ll have a better chance at reeling in your customers through business texting.

At Text My Main Number, we understand the learning curve and difficulties involved when introducing an entirely new system to the team. But we’re here to help. Keep reading to learn about the do’s and don’ts when introducing business texting to your sales team.

What to Avoid

  1. Implementing Business Texting with No Training
    Business texting is not a hard concept to wrap your mind around. It’s easier to learn and get a hang of after a few attempts. Despite this, it’s better to prepare and train your team on how to use business texting. This avoids any confusion and develops a seamless transition for the whole team.
  2. Using Personal Contact Information
    Sales teams need to consider the added benefits of texting but also need to minimize the potential pitfalls. Some of these pitfalls include letting sales representatives text from their phones. Using personal phones to text increases the risk of miscommunication and lacks control of the conversation with a potential customer. For example, a sales rep may accidentally send a text to the wrong number. It’s hard for your team members to separate between personal and work numbers when it’s all combined into one device.

If the sales representative’s phone gets lost or stolen, customer privacy is at risk. For such reasons, a work phone can be a much appropriate option that can minimize risk and improve communication with customers.

  1. Outbound Only Communication
    Another pitfall to avoid is to use texting only for outbound communication. Including no options for replies or interactions can hinder sales. You’ll lose out on forming that personal touch to your sales outreach strategy. Besides this, outbound only communication can easily seem like spam once you send more and more alerts, promotions, etc.
  2. Lacking Engagement
    One more common pitfall is sticking to an unnatural script when communicating with customers. Once again, this will not allow you to form a personal touch to your messages and texts – and that’s what customers crave. The more customized you make the messages, the better.

The Right Way to Implement Business Texting

  1. Training and Providing Adequate Resources
    You can’t expect everyone on your team to learn the ins and outs of business texting immediately. While we make our user interface as simple and easy to navigate, your team may want a more in-depth outlook on all the features. You can always contact our customer service team and we’ll walk you through the software, how to use it and more. With the proper training, business texting will become much smoother when integrated into your strategy.
  2. Using Templates
    Having templates for each promotion and text adds consistency to your messages. It also allows your sales reps to customize as they see fit. When you sign up with Text My Main Number, you can sort your contacts into different groups. For example, you can separate your customers according to gender, age, location, etc. Depending on who you’re tailoring the messages for, your sales rep can then send modified versions of the same texts to different groups. And you don’t have to start from scratch – we offer plenty of industry-specific templates on our blog for you to check out.
  3. Provide Reps with a Work Number
    We highly encourage you to separate between business numbers and personal numbers for your staff. Your staff can then have individual numbers for texting and reaching out to customers. This organizes the process and makes things a lot easier for your team.
  4. Let Your Sales Team Do What They Do Best
    Once your team has their numbers, they can then do what they do best – interact and engage with your customers. Having that back and forth between your sales team and your customers will ensure that your team can provide substantial assistance to your customers. Text My Main Number makes it easy for your team to send SMS, MMS messages, surveys and even fun emojis to text your customers.
  5. Check–Ins
    With the integration of any new system or feature to the company, it’s important to do a decent number of check-ins with your team. This ensures things are going smoothly and everyone’s adjusting to business texting. Once a few months have passed you can then see how your sales and profits perform.

How to Increase Sales Through Business Texting
a. Add a personal touch
Clients love it when they feel like they’re talking to a human being. Make sure your team knows that while they should remain professional, there’s nothing wrong with letting their personality shine through when interacting with customers through texting.
b. Send Messages Strategically
One of the perks of business texting is that you can collect essential data. Find out when your customers are more likely to interact with your text messages and try to schedule text messages at that specific period.
c. Don’t Spam
Be careful with how many messages you send out to your customers. You don’t want to spam them with text messages as that can prompt them to remove their number from your services.

To reap the added benefits of texting your potential customers you will need to know how to use texts efficiently and effectively through Text My Main Number. This software includes features that can help assign sales representatives their numbers allowing the conversations to be more organized and clear.

You can also invite team members, set their roles as a member or managers, and give access to numbers and contacts to team members. Text My Main Number provides the option to import contacts from an existing contact list and decide which lists you want team members to join.

How to Use Your Survey Texting Feature This Holiday Season

It’s that time of the year again – the jolliest time of the year, the holiday season. From Christmas to Hanukah, to the boxing day shopping that follows shortly after, there’s something about the colder weather and warm cups of hot chocolate that make the end of the year so special.
This is also the time for business owners (much like yourselves) to reflect on what the year 2021 has brought for you and your customers. It’s also a great time to reach out to your customers and followers and keep that engagement going. Over the years, retail shopping has increased by 4.4% during the holiday season. Which means buyers are ready for what you have to offer.
When you sign up with Text My Main Number, you’ll get the perks of survey texting. Survey texting is exactly what it says it is – a survey that you distribute over text to those who sign up. This allows your followers to answer any questions you may have, fill out feedback surveys and more. It’s also a great way to engage with your customers. Keep on reading to find out how you can use survey texting to your advantage this holiday season.
Benefits of a Survey over Text vs Email
Text surveys are a new method that businesses are beginning to employ due to the popularity of mobile devices. With so many people on their phones and sending hundreds of text messages a day, sending a survey text is the best way to reach your audience. Alternatively, emails have a much lower open rate and response rates. People don’t have access to their email all the time, meaning many customers might not see your emails.
However, the concept of survey texting is simple: you send a link or a direct survey over SMS to your clients. Your customers and followers then receive the link and can answer on their own time. Here are the pros and cons of text surveys:
Pros:

  • Simple to create and easy to send out
  • A much higher open rate of 98% ensures more people will answer your survey than email surveys
  • With so many people using their phones, your customers are more inclined to respond from their phones
    Cons:
  • Direct SMS surveys are sometimes limited in the number of words you can send
  • May be limited on how many messages you can send depending on your plan

Ways To Use Survey Texts This Holiday (with template questions)

  1. Customer Feedback on Your Services
    As the year comes to a wrap, you want to know what your customers resonated with this year. Was it in the crease in Instagram lives over the past few months? Did you see engagement numbers skyrocket for a set of posts and why? Instead of purely looking at the statistics, couple the numbers with empirical data.
    This can help shape your social media marketing strategy and business goals when you find out what your customers are thinking when they interact with your brand. Alternatively, you can also learn about the pitfalls in your strategy this year. There’s an endless number of things you can ask your customers through a customer feedback survey. Use this information to your advantage to improve and advance your business.
    Example Templates
    How would you rate our customer service this year on a scale from 1 – 10?
    Did you find the automated customer chat function on our website useful? Did it help you find what you needed?
    What was your favourite Tik Tok trend that we participated in?
  2. Understanding Your Customers
    Everyone knows that this time of year calls for big spending. The best way to target your services and products to your customers is by asking simple demographic questions. For example, let’s say you own hand-made candle business. You can ask particular questions that allow you to understand your customer demographic better so that you can serve them better. That means you’ll have better insight and create strategies for all aspects of your business.
    Don’t be afraid to throw in an incentive – whether it’s a $10 gift card or a mini gift, this information is important. Not only will your customers gain a prize, but you’ll also build a stronger rapport among consumers. Just remember to pair up the prizes and incentives with meaningful and quality customer service.
    Example Templates
    What do you plan on buying the most this holiday season?
    What’s the perfect gift someone can give you?
  3. Fun Survey to Engage
    Not every survey text you send needs to be to collect data, etc. It can purely come from a place of fun engagement with your consumers! The more you interact with your customers, the more you build that emotional bond that makes your business stand above the rest.
    In the same way, you would ask a friend what they’ve been up to, show your customers you care about them. Given the holiday season, there’s a ton of questions to ask. Be creative, have fun with it – and trust us your customers will enjoy the thoughtful survey as well.
    Example Template
    What’s your favourite meal to eat/cook during the holiday season?
    There are hundreds of cultural and religious holidays spread throughout December – which ones do you celebrate?
    What’s your feel-good holiday movie to watch?
    General Survey Texting Tips
    Sure, surveys aren’t hard to make. However, there are certain etiquettes and rules to follow when it comes to survey texting.
  4. Don’t Spam Your Customers.
    No one likes seeing someone message you the same thing over and over again. If not all of your customers are responding, make use out of the ones you have. Otherwise, use your social media to remind them to fill out the surveys.
  5. Short and Sweet Always Win.
    There’s no need to have blocks of texts or ask 20 questions (even though it’s hard to fight the urge). Cut your survey down to 2 – 6 questions and make sure it’s quick and easy to read. That’ll make your customers more inclined to answer.
    Survey texts is a powerful marketing tool – you just have to implement them to see the benefits it provides. Contact our team at Text My Main Number to learn more about our survey texting feature and how your business can benefit from it!

What is Business Texting? The Importance of the Zipwhip Acquisition

However, it may surprise you that these aren’t always the most effective methods to engage with your audience. In recent years, more businesses have resorted to business texting to increase their profits and market their platform.
With its growing popularity, it’s no wonder a huge company like Twilio has purchased ZipWhip, a major player in the world of business texting. This news only emphasizes the importance and popularity of business texting. It’s becoming more relevant and essential for businesses – keep on reading to find out how business texting can transform your platform.
Twilio’s Acquisition of ZipWhip: A Look at Two Companies
Twilio has become the world’s biggest communications platform for thousands of businesses across the world. Without knowing, you have most likely interacted with Twilio’s interface as well.
Have you ever used a customer support chat or received an appointment reminder? That’s most likely Twilio’s interface at play. Many developers from companies such as Airbnb and Netflix use Twilio’s programmable application program interface (APIs) as a foundation to build and tailor customer chats, video platforms and more to their software. More than 9 million developers across the world use Twilio to enhance their customer engagement systems.
Here are just a few ways they help support a company’s communication:

  • Marketing campaigns
  • Messaging
  • Video Software
  • Email
  • User Verification.
    When a company like this with such a large presence in the communications industry makes any acquisition, you know they’re doing it to strengthen their business. As such, the acquisition of ZipWhip made huge headlines and shined a spotlight on why businesses need to integrate business texting.
    For many years, ZipWhip became the go-to platform for business texting means. It allowed its customers to send text messages in bulk. Whether it was to send customers promotions or reminders, mass text messaging allowed businesses to reach their clients anytime and from anywhere. Zipwhip grew its customer size to over 30,000 customers serving everyone from small companies to large Fortune 500 brands.
    Twilio made the executive leap forward to acquire a prominent player in business texting to strengthen its platform. Alternatively, Zipwhip can now rely on an important resource in business communications to further its platform as well.
    The Benefits of Business Texting
    This acquisition shows how important business texting can be. If you haven’t yet integrated business texting into your business, here are a few benefits to look into and why people believe it’s just as important as having a social media platform.
  • Reach more people
    Compared to emails, text messages have an average 98% open rate. Additionally, people open up a text message within 90 seconds of receiving it. This means that there’s a higher chance your customers will read and engage with your content over text than they will with emails.
  • Increase engagement
    Nowadays, more people spend time on their mobile devices than any other form of technology. When sending out promotions or reminders to your customers, you’re preventing your followers from losing interest in your business.
  • Easy mode of communication
    T.V ads require booking a slot with a news channel. Posting on social media every day requires appealing visuals and catchy slogans to gain attention. However, with a simple text to those who sign-up with your business – you can send out millions of messages with a simple click of a button. Additionally, you can prepare drafts beforehand as well.

The Twilio/Zipwhip Acquisition: Leaving Customers Behind
While this greatly benefits both companies, customers may take a hit from this business transaction. With any acquisition comes uncertainty. Twilio may decide to copy and paste Zipwhip’s platform to its own. On the other hand, it may change the business texting platform completely. This naturally leaves customers in the dark about whether or not they can receive the same services as they once did.
Customers may have to change the way they send business texts or they may have to learn how to operate on a brand new platform that may not work for them. So while this acquisition may draw more attention to business texting, Zipwhip customers may receive the short end of the stick
An Alternative: Text My Main Number
Zipwhip may have been acquired but that doesn’t mean other business texting software doesn’t exist. You have the freedom to partner up with a new texting software. Text My Main Number has become a trusted source among its customers for a few years and is growing its pool of customers by the day.
While we understand it might be hard for some customers to adjust to a new platform, our customer support team is available to you 24/7 to assist you in every way. Whether you have questions about integrating a new feature or you’re confused by how it all works, our professional and reliable customer support team is there to help. Besides our customer support team, here are a few noteworthy features you have access to when you sign up with Text My Main Number

  • Texting Templates
    Signing up with Text My Main Number means that you have access to tons of ready-to-use texting templates. Whether you’re looking for a go-to text message asking for payment, a holiday-themed text or more, we provide templates that you can easily copy and paste. We also have tailored industry templates that you can utilize depending on your business.
  • SMS and MMS
    You have the option of sending both text messages and images if you need to as well. Remember, visuals can captivate and intrigue an audience. Having the flexibility to customize your text messages with images and words is a great way to engage with your consumers even more.
  • Group Text
    Customers love content tailored to their liking. The more you can customize your audience’s experience, the more likely they’ll stick around for the long run.
    When you sign up with Text MY Main Number, you have the option of grouping your customers once they sign-up with your code. You can split up your customers based on age, interest, etc and group them. Then, you can send out different messages to each group.
    The uncertainty revolving around Zipwhip might make you uneasy, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Our team at Text My Main Number would be more than happy to support your business texting ventures from here on in!

How To Get More Google Reviews Online for Your Restaurant

The internet has taken over how many businesses operate. In particular, the way people choose their restaurants has drastically changed as well. 93% of people read online reviews before they purchase a product or enter a restaurant. Additionally, 91% of people between the ages of 18 and 34 trust an online review the same way they trust a personal recommendation. This goes to show the importance of good online reviews.
As persuading as positive reviews can be, so are negative reviews. Negative reviews can easily sway prospective customers away from your business. Keep on reading to learn the various ways you can increase the number of reviews left on Google.
Why Focus on Google Reviews?
Google is one the most popular search engines in the world. As such when someone googles the name or location of your restaurant, they’ll be automatically faced with a google rating. Google reviews are important because 59% of shoppers use them to guide their decision-making.
Potential customers will most likely use this rating and read the reviews before they visit your restaurant. Think about it as the first stop for any customers you welcome in the future. As such, creating a good repertoire on Google reviews is in your best interest. While your business deserves to get the recognition it deserves, customers are also eager to know where they can have a great dining experience.
But keep in mind, not everyone posts a review whenever they visit a spot they like. Unfortunately, people are more likely to post negative reviews than they would positive. So what’s the workaround for this?

Ways to Get Your Customers to Leave Reviews
Below are some useful tips you can use to ensure your customers leave Google reviews for your restaurant – and five-star reviews at that.

  1. Text Reminders
    Business texting is not only useful for sending out promotions or for your customers or clients to reach you. It’s also a great way to send reminders.
    Texts have on average a 98% open rate – that means that your reminders for your customers to leave a review will most likely be read. This exceeds the open and engagement rate in comparison to emailing or posters.
    Once you ask your customers to leave their phone number when they make a takeout order or make a reservation, you can use that number to send a reminder. At Text My Main Number, we make the process much easier by allowing you the freedom to schedule these texts, create a custom reminder template and more.
    This is a great way for your customers to remember to leave a review. Simply embed the link to your Google review page in the text and you’re all set to go!
  2. Share a Promotion to Encourage Reviews
    Who doesn’t love gifts and prizes? To incentivize your customers to leave a review, think about incorporating a draw. Every time a customer leaves a review, you put their name into a draw where they can have the chance to win a free meal or a gift card to your restaurant.
    This better motivates your customers to write a review on Google. It also establishes a better relationship with your customers, turning new customers into loyal customers. You can send a simple business text to all your customers about this promotion.
    Better yet, you can tailor your messages with our group messaging function. Here, you can split your customers up into groups depending on their demographic and send a tailored message that would resonate with them.
  3. Use an NPS Score
    Using a net promoter score is a great way to understand your customer’s experience while getting a review from them as well. This way, you show interest in your customer’s experience at your restaurant.
    Simply send out an NPS survey once you enable our survey texting feature. This will embed a link into your text where your customers can review your menu, hospitality, etc. Once they’ve completed this, ask your customers to leave this review online to your number of Google reviews.
  4. Market it on your Social Media
    Social media is the powerhouse that connects people all around the globe. So use it to your advantage! Encourage your customers to leave a review online using Facebook, Instagram and even Tik Tok.
    If your customers are more inclined to leave a review on the post, simply encourage them to check out Google reviews. Once you spread around this message, your customers will begin to understand the value of Google reviews.
  5. Hand out Stickers and pamphlets
    While technology is taking over, this doesn’t mean the old traditional sticker and pamphlet don’t work either. Hand out fun stickers and pamphlets to your customers after they leave your restaurant or drop by to get their take-out order.
    If your customers get their meals in person, you can also mention this and explain the importance of these Google reviews for your restaurant as well.
  6. Give them a memorable experience
    There’s nothing like a great experience that will motivate someone to write a great review. By simply creating a welcoming environment, showing generous hospitality and providing great food, a great experience is enough to excite people to provide a review on Google.
    Valued customers will do a lot to show their loyalty to you. As such, if they know they can help your business by leaving a simple review on Google, they’ll be happy to do it. They can share their experience, and this will likely get others to do the same.
    What to Do When Someone Gives a Bad Review
    You can provide the greatest services and meals to die for, but sometimes you’ll be faced with a bad review. Here are a few tips to handle it.
  • Be professional
    Never use harsh language when addressing the review. Show professionalism as a way of representing your restaurant and brand.
  • Explain the Situation
    Sometimes you’ll run into some unpleasant customers. Use their review as a chance to explain your side of the story professionally so potential customers understand.
  • Move on and continue doing your best work
    Bad reviews are inevitable, no matter how great your restaurant is. If you provide a stellar experience all around, more than likely the good reviews will trump the bad ones. As such, move on and continue!
    Google reviews are important for the success of your business. By encouraging your customers to leave a review, you’re doing a huge service for yourself and your potential customers!

ZipWhip Acquisition – What This Means for Businesses

In today’s day and age, acquisitions can strengthen both company’s platform and reputation. In Twilio’s case, as a lead player in the world of cloud communications, acquiring Zipwhip means taking on a popular mass texting platform for many businesses. But will the platform remain the same? Will customers face interruptions in the days or weeks to follow? Will customers receive the same customer service as they did when Zipwhip was independent?
All About Twilio
Twilio began as a project 13 years ago in Chicago. As online communication began to take off and the need for companies to have communication channels increased, that’s when Twilio came into the equation. Twilio allows developers to automate much of their business communication. For example, businesses can seamlessly make phone calls, receive text messages, and stay connected with their customers.
You can send files and communicate in multiple ways with all your clients on a simple app. You can monitor a variety of communication across multiple channels. Many large companies like Netflix and Airbnb have used Twilio to secure their user accounts, communicate with their customers and more.
The Plan for Zipwhip and Twilio
For Twilio, Zipwhip acquisition means strengthening its current platform with businesses. Everyone knows messaging is the preferred way by consumers and businesses in this day in age. That’s why business texting is on the rise. Their vision in acquiring Zipwhip is to develop secure and high-quality toll-free messaging at a large for clients. Here are their plans (as taken from their website):
• Another affordable, trusted, high-quality engagement option via messaging-enabled toll-free numbers
• A messaging channel that is easy to adapt and flexible enough to meet varying business requirements; toll-free is the most flexible number type and has low-friction onboarding
• Improved opportunity to expand the toll-free channel across both voice and text
• Direct connections to carriers reduce carrier complexity, including onboarding, gateway, registry and spam detection, and remediation for all of the major U.S. carriers, ensuring routes have high-quality traffic
As planned, the combination of both platforms will only strengthen their business ventures by meeting all needs of customers. Since Twilio acquired Zipwhip, this means that Zipwhip will become an extension of Twilio – as such any large decisions made will have to go through Twilio first.
Risks with Acquisitions
This change can be exciting yet nerve-wracking for some Zipwhip customers. For some who have remained loyal to the platform for many years, you may be wary of the changes that can result from this acquisition. And the reality is, change is inevitable.
The customer service may change, the platform will certainly look different – this can be for the good or the worse. This may even cause some business owners to panic and wonder where else they can receive their services. However, it’s not the only option out there. If you’re looking for alternatives during this transition period, Text My Main Number is always at your service for your business texting needs.

The Benefits of Business Texting
No matter who you choose to partner with, business texting has a world of benefits that your business needs. Mobile platforms are taking over with more than 5 billion people using their phones every day. Taking advantage of this powerful medium can skyrocket your business to another level.
Business texting is taking over by a storm. 98% of text messages are opened and read – this is drastically higher than emails which only have a 20% open rate. This is why more businesses integrate business texting into their marketing strategy.
Use mass text messaging to remind your clients about flash sales, promotional content, or the latest news relevant to your business. Landline texting allows you to reach more customers with greater effectiveness.
For small business owners, there are many benefits that business texting offers for small businesses. Better yet, Text My Main Numbers gives you a plethora of templates so you can efficiently send a reminder to your clients.
An Alternative: Text My Main Number
Text My Main Number has become a trusted resource for small and large business clients. We offer a variety of services to make sure your business texting needs are met. Here are just some of the features you’ll have access to when you sign-up with Text My Main Number:

  1. Survey Texting
    Customer surveys can be the most efficient tool businesses use to understand their customers. Customer surveys are a great way to engage with your existing clients – it shows that you care about their opinions. If you find it exhausting to create an email survey, there are other ways. For example, you can utilize business texting to send out customer feedback surveys.
    At Text My Main Number, we offer the option of conducting survey clients over landline texting. Simply create and send out a mass survey to those in your contact lists and that’s all it takes. Since clients are more likely to open an read their text messages, you can rest assured knowing that you’ll get more responses with the use of survey texting.
  2. Group Texting
    Everything nowadays revolves around tailored content. The more you can customize your audience’s experience, the more likely they’ll stick around for the long run. With Text My Main Number you can place contacts in one or more groups based on their demographic. You can send notifications to a group all at the same time.
  3. Invoicing
    Do you run a law firm or small business? To make your life 10x easier when handling payments, Text My Main Number has an invoicing feature that allows you to send bills and overdue payments over text messaging. You don’t have to worry about paperwork that may or may not get signed or tracking down clients. The invoicing feature allows you to get paid on time.
  4. Autoreply Texting
    Whether you’re out for the day or you’ve taken a much-needed vacation, you never want to leave your customers in the dark. Our support service team can help you set up an auto-reply feature to answer back to clients even when you’re out of town. Check out our website to see some ready-made templates you can use.
    The acquisition of Zipwhip brings about new changes to nearly 30,000 customers. While that may be the case, you can embrace the new. Text My Main Number has all the features you need to get your business texting back up and running so call us today!

How to Get More Business for Your Dental Clinic

The dentist is not everyone’s favourite place. However, given the need for healthy teeth and oral hygiene, visiting the dentist is a must.
Dental practices need to do what they can to get patients to walk through the door and onto the chair to ensure your business runs successfully. That’s how good marketing plays an important role in the business. Here are the best marketing tips dental practices can implement.
5 Marketing Ideas for Dental Clinics
While patient retention is an important area to look into, that’s all dependant on your customer service skills and abilities as a dentist to address your client’s concerns. What we’re here to address is how to get new patients. Regardless, while many competitors will pop up in your area, here are the ways to stand out among the rest.

  1. Sponsoring Events in Your Community
    Sponsoring or even connecting with local charities or initiatives in your community is a great way to expand your outreach as a dental practice. You can do this through banners. For example, if you’re sponsoring a local soccer team, they’ll display your dental practice banner in the stadiums and more. This ensures you have greater exposure. Additionally, it also builds your credibility.
    When people see that you’re connected to a high-profile event, they’re more inclined to trust your business more. Consider creating banners and commercial ads with your phone number or something that stands out.
    Most importantly, keep it local. More than likely, people who live in the surrounding area will be more inclined to visit your dental clinic than those who live farther away. As such, don’t waste your resources on big television ads – just focus on the local scale and you’ll see a greater return.
  2. Use Business Texting to Connect with Patients
    In 2021, technology and social media have helped businesses across the world get the exposure they need. Business texting is a new and more modern way to connect with your patients. Emails receive a far lower open rate than texts – text messages receive around a 98% open rate.
    This means texting is a more efficient method of communicating with your clients. Whether you want to advertise a sale, promote a message or tell your patients about new dental equipment that you’ve upgraded to, business texting is the way to do it.

When you sign up with Text My Main Number, we make the process easy for you. You have the option of creating message groups to tailor your messages, send surveys out to patients and more with our platform. You can use business texting to do appointment reminders as well. The process gets 10x easier when you sign up with us.

  1. Ask Patients to Leave Reviews and Spread the Word
    Nowadays, everyone relies on Google reviews or some kind of online review system to understand the quality of a dental practice or a restaurant. All in all, people trust the reviews they see. Real patients sharing their real experiences will show others the quality of your practice. As such, make sure you provide the best services around.
    Additionally, reviews also help with SEO (search engine optimization). When you Google dentists in a location, tons of results pop up but only certain ones reach the top of the search results. The more reviews you have (namely more positive reviews), the more likely Google will favour your site over others.
    Ask your patients to leave a review after their appointment or create a sign by the door of your office. The more they can leave honest reviews and spread the word about your practice, the better.
  2. Create a Referral Program
    Referral programs are a great way to get your current clients engaged and to reel in new patients to your clinic. Firstly, you need to uphold a high standard as a practice for patients to refer to your clinic. Secondly, this referral program will continuously bring in new patients to your business.
    This doesn’t always have to follow the traditional reduction in prices. You can choose to reward your patients with an entry into a contest or to win gift cards as an example. You can even create a gift basket and use that as a contest prize.
    Additionally, you can also work with other local businesses to support their platform as well. You can partner with local grocery stores or cafes to offer exciting and fun treats if they make a referral to your clinic. The benefits of a referral program are endless, so take advantage of it as soon as you can!
  3. Up your Social Media Presence
    Social media and dental practices don’t seem like they’ll go hand in hand, but think again. Dental practices can use the widespread use of platforms like Instagram, Facebook and even Tik Tok to endorse their business. So get those creative juices flowing and think about ways to hit your target audience on these platforms.
    For example, a few dental practices have used Tik Tok as an educational platform – they run their viewers through how a cavity forms or spills all the news related to veneers. Alternatively, people use Facebook and Instagram to post fun updates about the dental practice or any interesting happening inside the clinic.
    You might want to work with a social media manager to launch off your project or you can get a freelancer to do the work for you. Either way, putting yourself on these platforms will increase your audience and will more than likely reel in more patients.
    General Marketing Tips
  • Keep it authentic
    You always want to remain authentic, no matter the medium you choose for your marketing. Even with your practice, highlight some of your values to your audience.
  • Know your audience
    With dental practices, knowing your audience means knowing your demographic in your location. Are there a lot of families residing in your area? Are there more elderly people? Tailor your marketing to your demographic so your message resonates more with your audience. While everyone should be visiting their dentists, remember that people have fears about going to a dental clinic as well.
    The increased competition means you need to pay more attention to how you market your business. And with the advantages of technology, there are many creative approaches to take. Besides marketing, make sure to invest in your patients – your hospitality and customer service will keep them coming back every time.

Including Non- Promotional Content in Your Business Texts

Now that you’ve rolled out business texting for your business, you are now more than ready to launch promotions, endorse your products and so much more. It might seem reasonable for you to simply use this texting platform to only promote your business.
While we encourage you to continue this, non-promotional content can be just as effective. This means content that doesn’t directly link to your business or your brand.
Sometimes we get so lost in endorsing our business, that we forget our customers are humans. They want helpful advice, updates about the world, and so much more. Customer engagement means establishing trust with your customers – there’s no better way to do that than through non-promotional content. Customer engagement is preferred by around 78% of customers.
What is Non-Promotional Content?
Non-promotional content is anything that does not directly sell anything to your customers – instead, the information you’re providing is at the heart of that content. This is a difficult thing to do. To indirectly promote your business. But the purpose of this non-promotional content is to keep your customers engaged and enjoy the content that doesn’t solely focus on your business all the time.
Just look at a company like McDonald’s. While they specialize in selling burgers and fast food, they participate in a variety of charities (which they endorse), develop fun contests and regularly share messages on their social media. We understand that not every company is like McDonald’s.
But you don’t have to be to see results. If you’re wondering how you can incorporate non-promotional content seamlessly into your marketing strategy, keep on reading.

  1. Contests
    One way to engage your customers is by creating a contest where everyone has the chance to win something. Whether it’s a gift card or something from your business, developing a contest is the perfect way to engage with your customers.
    A reward also gives your customers an incentive to participate in the contest. Whether that’s whoever can post the craziest selfie on Instagram or whoever can come up with a creative name for your new launch, this is a fun way to get your consumers excited.
    Example: Join us on our Instagram to win a gift card of $100 to your favorite restaurant. A little thank you from us to you. All details are on Instagram.
  1. Speak on Current World Issues
    We’re exposed to different issues and problems going on around the world through the news we consume. Whether it’s a natural disaster or recent devastation, it’s important to put a spotlight on these problems.
    Customers now prefer more human interactions with the businesses they buy from. Additionally, the new generation of consumers is more willing to purchase from a business that fights or stands for a cause.
    As such, familiarize your audience with your morals and show that you care for social and environmental issues. While you’re not directly promoting any service, you are promoting your values as a brand. This will entice consumers depending on their interests.
    Example: Earth Day is the time to reflect on our carbon imprint. Make sure to turn off all electronics for one hour today!
  2. Educate Your Consumers
    You can never go wrong with educating your consumers on something new. Make sure to have the content relevant enough to your platform so that the information doesn’t seem random. For example, let’s say you run a law firm. You may want to provide a general infographic about what to do when you get into a car accident.
    There are multiple ways you can educate your consumers about an issue or a relevant topic. Through business texting, you can point them to your social media, or you can start a fun weekly informational texting schedule. Alternatively, you can refer to an important resource. You can attach a link to a pdf or document that your consumers can keep. Overall, consumers value educational content – information they can make use of in the future.
    Example: Click on the document to find out what you should do when you end up in a car accident. Save it on your phone or device!
  3. Tips and Advice
    While this is similar to educating your consumers, tips and advice are generally more specific. For example, perhaps you have particular advice for your clients about how to do the perfect color match between different hues and tones. You might want to give your two cents so your consumers can use that to help themselves in the future.
    Advice is always something helpful for your consumers. This just shows that you care about them, thereby establishing greater customer trust and retention.
    Example: Have you ever wondered what colors look best together when doing some interior design? Check out our new blog post on what colors look best together.
  4. Ask For Opinions
    Every business wants to provide their customers products and services they want. When you ask for feedback through polls or questionnaires, you can get this insight directly from your customers.
    When you sign- up with Text My Main Number, you can easily conduct a survey or poll through text. Since the text has a 98% open rate, you’re more than likely to receive a lot of responses. Once, you have this insight, you can transform your marketing strategy even further.
    If you sell a service, you can ask your consumers what improvements they would make. If you sell a physical product, you might ask how you can improve its functionality.
    Example: We want to hear from you! Tell us about your experience with our recent launch by completing the survey below.
  5. Promote Customer Stories
    This is a sneaky way to promote your business without explicitly doing so. You can post your customer feedback to highlight your strengths as a business. Record any positive feedback and share it with your consumers. You can display it on your Instagram and use texting to inform your consumers to check it out.
    Example: Check out our latest Instagram post on all the love we’ve received throughout the years.
    Not everything you do has to directly promote your business. You’ll get tired of texting the same thing and your consumers will get bored of reading the same business promotions.
    Instead, take a human approach. Share fun tips, helpful resources, and current world issues with your consumers. Build that connection through business texting with your consumers and establish the long-term retention your business needs.

Best Marketing Ideas to Try Out This Fall Season

This season brings tons of creative ways you can cater your content to the Fall. Below you’ll find out the most effective and spectacular marketing for the Fall.
The Benefits of Landline Texting
Daily, nearly 6 million text messages are sent and read every day. It is the modern way of communication meaning it’s the most effective way to reach people. That’s why we encourage all businesses, big or small, to sign up for landline texting.
Landline texting helps you reach your audience quicker. Not to mention, more people will likely read your message as well than through the traditional email medium.Here are the benefits of landline texting for your business:

  • Reach more people
    Compared to emails, text messages have an average 97% open rate. With more people getting reminders on your next stop, you can reel in more eyes to your business
  • Increase engagement with your consumers
    Nowadays, more people spend time on their mobile devices than any other form of technology. When sending out business text messages, you’re preventing your followers from losing interest in your platform.
  • Easy mode of communication
    T.V ads require booking a slot with a news channel. Emails require list servers and more. However, with a simple text to those who sign – up, you can send out millions of messages with a simple draft and click of a button.
    Fall 2021 Marketing Ideas
  1. Promotions
    Nothing screams the welcoming of a new season like one with promotions and sales. Whether it’s sales for Thanksgiving or a sale on summer items, it’s amazing to welcome the colder months and to get people excited for Fall.

You can utilize Facebook ads or launch a text to all your subscribers to inform them of these irresistible sales. Alternatively, if you own a store, you can also share weekly sales that you may have available.


Promoting these sales now encourages greater spending from your buyers when the holidays roll around. As such, use this method strategically.

  1. Countdown to Holiday Season
    With the holidays around the corner, using this Fall season to lead up to the winter holidays is another to keep your customers engaged and hopeful for the next few months.
    You can customize your text messages to your customers depending on the holidays they celebrate. Use that feature when you sign up with TextMyMainNumber – develop a customizable experience for all your consumers.
  2. Transform your Branding
    Creating that Fall atmosphere on your website or social media involves many components. Let’s just look at a few:
    Colors – Yellow, orange, and red all evoke the feelings of Fall with the changing leave colors. Once you re-design your website and incorporate these colors, you’ll feel the Fall vibes right away. Consider changing the text colors or adding graphics of the same color palette.
    Images – When people think of Fall, they imagine pumpkins, changing leaves, and nature. Include these images within your Instagram posts and more to create that Fall atmosphere.
    Words – Think of the words like cozy and warm when you re-write your copy to fit the Fall these. This will most likely give your website the SEO boost it needs as well.
  3. Decorating Mail Gifts
    While this idea requires greater effort, it will certainly draw in greater consumer recognition and retention. Considering mailing some gifts to random consumers that consist of fall-themed treats. Teabags, mugs, scarves, you name it! By doing this, you’re showing that you care about your consumer’s experience more than anything.
  4. Getting Audience Ready for Halloween
    The colder weather and the earlier nights mean Halloween is just around the corner. For many, this means a fun time to get dressed, turn on some scary movies, and all of the above.
    Consider mentioning Halloween in your marketing. You can use surveys on Instagram, over-business texting, and over Facebook to ask your consumers what they would dress up as, etc. You can also share seasonal content like the best scary movies to watch as well. These marketing efforts encourage engagement between your business and your audience so don’t be afraid to get creative.
  5. Launch an Instagram Photo Contest
    To create a fun contest, ask your consumers to take images near the biggest pumpkin they can find or who can dress up in the best Halloween outfit. The boost in engagement will be a boost for your business as well.
    Make sure to encourage your consumers to share their images and use relevant tags as well! This encourages a community among your consumers as well.
  6. Host an Online Social Party
    While COVID-19 has shifted the way many of us have ‘party,’ this period has introduced many useful tools Host a social party during the Fall on Instagram live, Facebook lives or Zoom – it’s one of the best ways to engage with your audience online nowadays.
    Instagram’s lives have become increasingly popular among consumers nowadays. Include questions, create a Q&A or stream a movie – show how accepting your company is!
    General Marketing Tips
  • Keep it Consistent
    Since you’re designing content for Fall, ensure that all of your social media platforms speak to that change. For example, if you change the color scheme on your website, start incorporating those color changes in your posts or blog posts. Consistency is key to ensure a uniform aesthetic along with your company.
  • Always Ask for Customer Feedback
    You might think everything is smooth sailing, but there’s nothing wrong with asking your consumers what they think. It can only improve your efforts and encourage greater trust between your consumers and your business. If you’re going to sell a product or service to your consumers, you want to ensure that you’re meeting their needs and requirements.
    Take this chance during the Fall to explore and explore your marketing efforts. If you’re considering implementing business texting in your marketing initiatives, reach out to our team at TextMyMainNumber to get started today!