If you are familiar with our blog or have been reading up on blog articles from other business texting services, you have probably come across the suggestion to include non-promotional content in your SMS Marketing. This might seem counterintuitive to your strategy; after all, isn’t the whole point of an SMS marketing strategy to make sales?
While increasing sales is certainly one potential benefit of an SMS marketing strategy, it is time for your business to start considering the bigger picture. Sure, one sale is great! But, how can you turn those one-time buyers into repeat customers and eventually into brand loyalists?
The best way to create brand loyalty is to build trust with your customers! One of the ways to establish trust is by delivering impeccable products and/or services, as well as convenient customer service. However, content marketing, like SMS, is another great way to show customers that your business is here to help.
Before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s look at some definitions.
Ideas for Non-Promotional Content to Include in Your SMS Marketing
What is content marketing?
Content marketing is “a form of marketing focused on creating, publishing, and distributing content for a targeted audience… Content marketing attracts prospects and transforms prospects into customers by creating and sharing valuable free content.”
The goal of content marketing is not necessarily ‘direct sales,’ but rather, it’s about playing the long game. It should be educational, entertaining and/or inspiring. When your target audience knows, likes and trusts your brand, the sales will flow naturally.
What is non-promotional content, and why is it important?
Forbes defines non-promotional content as “a neutral, no-sell strategy in which helpful, useful information is the star of your marketing content, rather than your product or service itself.”
Non-promotional content is the bread and butter of your business’ content marketing strategy. Some examples include blog posts, webinars, behind-the-scenes, tips, etc.
Consumers are smart, and in large part, they dislike pushy salespeople. On the other hand, if your business is constantly engaging your audience with valuable, non-promotional content, you will not only be able to build brand awareness but a trusting relationship that converts, as well.
Now, we are not suggesting that you ditch your SMS marketing discounts and coupons! Quite the opposite, actually. Non-promotional content is not intended to replace promotional content, but rather pique the interest of your audience and keep them engaged. That way, when you do send them promotional content, they will feel more inclined to make a purchase.
So far, however, we have only explored non-promotional content in a broad context. But, don’t worry! Now that we have the basics down, keep reading for some ideas on how to include non-promotional content in your SMS marketing strategy.
- Two-way chat
Customer service can be provided at every stage of the sales journey. Make your customers aware that your business is available for any questions, comments or concerns- whether they have already made a purchase or not.
While this strategy can work well for many different types of businesses, it may be especially beneficial to service-based businesses. For instance, if you run an auto body shop, advertise your text chat capabilities on your website and allow customers to text your business with pictures for a rough estimate on repairs. Or, perhaps you run a hair salon. Give customers the ability to contact your salon via text with haircare or styling questions.
If this sounds like too much to keep up with, keep in mind that you can always limit your availability for two-way chat. However, make sure that customers know that you have received their message and will get back to them at your earliest availability.
One way to do that is through auto reply, one of the features included with Text My Main Number’s subscription packages. When enabled, your auto reply feature will automatically respond to texts with a message or customized template of your choice when you are ‘out of office’.
- Offer tips and tricks.
One of the most popular ways to provide non-promotional content through SMS marketing is by giving customers tips and tricks in your business’ area of expertise. Not only with this strategy position your brand as a voice of authority in your industry, but it will also be genuinely helpful to your target audience.
One easy way to incorporate tips and tricks into your SMS marketing content is by repurposing existing blog content from your business’ website. You know what they say- “work smarter, not harder.”
If your business is already producing blog articles, you can turn that content into short-form, text appropriate tips and tricks. As a bonus, you could also include the link to your blog post for customers who want more detailed information.
- Send reminder messages.
Although this may sound broad, that’s kind of the point! Many different businesses across industries can benefit from sending reminder messages to customers via text. Reminders can be sent for a multitude of reasons: appointments, abandoned carts, restaurant reservations, etc.
For instance, texting is having a huge impact on improving abandoned cart rates for online shopping. The reason for this is simply that people are on their phones constantly! Gently reminding them of the items that they left behind can go a long way in ensuring that your business is not leaving money on table.
Reminder texts are also a great option for doctor’s offices. Missed appointments cost the U.S. healthcare industry $150 billion each year! However, sending a simple reminder text the day before an appointment will cut down on missed appointments greatly. Either the scheduled patient will show, or they will be able to cancel with enough time to allow someone else to get an appointment at that time.
Reminders could also go the way of ‘tips and tricks.’ For instance, some fitness studios offer students the opportunity to sign up for texts that will remind them to hydrate, stretch, get up from their desk to move around, etc. Some people like the idea of having an ‘accountability buddy’ or someone to nudge them in the direction of doing what’s best for their body. Why not make that ‘someone’ your business?
Whatever reason your business has for sending reminder messages, customers will definitely appreciate it! It shows that you care and that your business looks out for its customers!
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Now that you have a complete understanding of non-promotional content, why it’s important and how to implement it into your SMS marketing strategy, go off and brainstorm!
This
is far from an exhaustive list of non-promotional content ideas, but that’s
what’s so fun and lucrative about SMS marketing! Get with your team and start
getting creative about how your business can use SMS marketing to build lasting
relationships with customers based on trust, value and great products/services.
For more tips like these on how to make the most of
your SMS marketing strategy, check out the rest of our blog!
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