How effective is SMS marketing in 2024? or Is it dead!

SMS used to be widely in use a few years back. However, with the growth of the Internet and the popularization of Instant Messaging, SMS Marketing 2024 seems somewhat obsolete in modern times. 

Is SMS even valid in modern times? The simple answer is yes! SMS and everything related to SMS are still good even in this age of the internetInternet. This includes services like Messaging, Multimedia Messaging, and, naturally, SMS marketing. 

SMS marketing, in simple terms, is promoting your business by sending them messages on their cell service provider. This is usually done by broadcasting a text to a broad audience in bulk. 

An SMS can be sent to promote new products to subscribed customers, update them on their business status or simply communicate with them through SMS. 

Since you can only send SMS to phone numbers, it is evident that you will need the participant’s phone number. It can be a bit hard to obtain. Therefore, most SMS marketing is done towards customers who have willingly given their contact information and are willing. 

Although there are instances where the customers or recipients are tricked into giving their contact information, it is not an ethical way of conducting SMS marketing, and companies that use this method are usually shunned or blacklisted. 

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The process of SMS marketing is relatively simple. The company lists every contact information they have, creates a bulk message, and then sends them in bulk. This is the most used form of SMS marketing and one of the most effective ways. 

Although the messages are sent in bulk, the AI that controls the SMS can change some information within the text, such as the recipient’s user name and their user ID, to make the SMS feel a bit more personal. 

Bulk SMS is not the only form of SMS marketing, though. Organizations can also send the user notifications about subtle changes in the user’s accounts through SMS. 

Although the specifics may vary, the general process of SMS marketing is as follows.

• Step 1: Collect the contact list
• Step 2: Choose the recipients
• Step 3: Create the message
• Step 4: Send the message
• Step 5: Check the rate of response of the recipients

By following this general process, SMS marketing is conducted.

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If you have a cell phone and have ever filled out your number with a service provider, then you might already know some of the uses. You may have gotten a notification about a change in your user account or just a promotional SMS.

However, do you know the full spectrum of areas where SMS marketing is conducted? 

Let’s take a look at them, shall we?

Sending updates

This is one of the best-known uses of SMS marketing and is one of the most common methods to send updates to customers. 

This use of SMS marketing 2024 being widely in use is relatively simple. SMS can reach people even when they are not online. Although people are online most of the time at this age, there are times when they cannot go online. They can be on the road or just in an area without internet. 

By sending the updates and noteworthy news to the SIM card of the recipients, a company can ensure that their message is received. Although this can still fail if the person is in an area without cell reception, technology has reduced this risk by a lot. 

Businesses don’t just use SMS to send updates but to promote this product. You should be well aware of this use if you were of the generation when Ncell was still known as Mero Mobile. Back in those days, SMS was the primary means of marketing. Just about everything promoted their products via SMS. 

Even the cell service provider sent SMS’s promoting their call-tune services. This tactic is still used by a lot of businesses and service providers. The only difference is that, unlike the old days when SMS used to be pure text, you can find links leading to the sales pages.

Depending on the promotion and offer, these offers can be both bulks sent or personalized. If you have been a loyal customer or the company values you, they can send you customized offers tailor-made for you. If you are a general customer, you will likely receive bulk SMS.

MMS

MMS stands for Multimedia Message Service. This should tell you what this is used for – to send images, videos and gifs to the customer. Although not widely in use, this method of SMS marketing is still used by companies that want a creative edge over their rivals or are promoting/ offering innovative products.

Before we answer the burning question of whether SMS marketing 2024 is still valid in this golden age of technology where everything is online, let’s look at some of the pros and cons of SMS marketing. 

By now, you should have guessed a few of them, with the most apparent one being; it can be used in places that don’t have an internet connection. Even so, you may not be aware of some. 

Let’s quickly list them out.

Pros

Can reach places without internet connection

It is cost-effective, i.e. you don’t need to spend a significant amount on marketing campaigns.

A personalized way of communicating with your clients/ customers 

Can get quick responses since everybody checks their SMS

Cons

The SMS needed to be short to be cost-effective

It can be hard to increase engagements

SMS can feel a bit like spam mail

Hard to integrate with other marketing activities

From this, we can see where the strength and weaknesses of SMS marketing lies. The most significant power of SMS marketing is to work offline and ensure that your message gets through. In contrast, the biggest drawback is character limit and difficulty integrating with other popular forms of marketing. While you can still communicate well even with the character limitation, the latter cannot be ignored. 

Is SMS marketing still effective in 2024?

Now that we have covered all the bases, let’s get to the core question – Is SMS marketing still effective in 2024?

The sole reason for even the existence of this question is our dependency on the internet in modern times. People are barely offline, and it has been proven time and again that digital marketing and social media marketing is overpowered when it comes to gaining engagement. 

SMS marketing seems like a relic of the past – a time before the internetInternet. So, is it still valid?

The answer is a surprising yes. SMS marketing is still valid even in this age of the internetInternet. The reason for its validity is surprisingly simple as well. 

Here are three significant reasons why SMS marketing is still valid in 2024. 

• You cannot escape the reach of SMS marketing

First of all, SMS marketing works offline. This means that regardless of where you are, unless you are completely isolated from cell service, SMS will still reach you. Furthermore, even if you are in a place of no benefit, SMS will contact you once you get even the tiniest bit of cell service. 

• Blocking SMS marketing is risky

Another reason why SMS marketing is still effective in 2024 is that you cannot block it without some risks. 

Technology has allowed us to block ads, popups and even spam mails. However, you cannot block SMS. Don’t get us wrong, you can block SMS, but once you stop an SMS from a company, it would mean that you will be unable to get any updates from the said organization. 

The chances are, if you gave a piece of private information, i.e. your number, to a company, you probably need their updates. Blocking their SMS marketing attempt is missing out on the updates that can be crucial to you. 

For instance, if you block SMS from a bank, you might miss out on the risk updates and information about their policy change. 

• People will open an SMS

In this age, people are constantly on alert for notifications. People just don’t want to miss out on any form of notifications, especially when it is directly on their cell service. 

As soon as people receive any notification, especially SMS, they immediately open it. This new instinct of people means that many people open an SMS right away. 

Even if people do not open your SMS right away, they still open it later when they receive a new SMS for another update. This means that although delayed, your message will almost always reach your customer. 

For these three primary reasons, SMS marketing is still valid, even in the age of the internetInternet. The core theme behind all these reasons is; you cannot escape SMS and eventually open it. 

SMS is old technology, and most of us don’t even remember when SMS marketing was the “big thing” in the commercial world. Although Digital Marketing and social media marketing are significant players here, SMS marketing 2024 still retains its validity simply because this form of marketing covers a niche that they don’t; the offline digital world.

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Ruby is an IT Engineer | Blogger | Digital marketer who offers Copywriting, ghostwriting, and blogging services to provide digital marketing content that gains social media attention and increases search engine visibility.

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