This form of marketing involves the use of SMS or text messages meant to attract customers as well as subscribers. In this case, the terms SMS marketing and Text Marketing  are interchangeable. SMS is a general representation of the terms short message service and is a more formal way to refer them as a text message. Despite being used by businesses to generate sales, these services can play a big role in improving brand awareness, increase website traffic, and promote charity, especially in small and non-profit organizations. To achieve this, you need to know how text messages are used in marketing as discussed below.

Working of text messages in marketing

This method consists of a simple and effective process that consists of two major primary steps. The first step involves convincing your supporters and customers to opt-in so that they can be receiving promotional messages through SMS or MMS. In the second step, an appropriate service will be used to draft as well as to send messages to subscribers after signing up. Moreover, text message communication can also be used for two-way communication to enable features such as digital customer services which is popular among many businesses.

Opt-in methods
 

For customers to receive text messages, they need to opt-in using any of the following three methods.

SMS keywords

This method is mainly set to provide an easy way that people can use to subscribe the text messages. It is also used to: gather information such as email with data collection, host text-to-win contests, and collecting feedback with text-to-vote polls. For example, if an organization asks you to text HOLIDAY to 777444 just know the keyword here is the HOLIDAY. So, when you come across a text with the keyword, it means that the sender wants to receive future text messages from your business.

Web forms

This is another way in which customers use to opt-in the website of a given business. Here, an individual with a simple text of web can capture phone numbers, first name, second name, and other personal details. In case of a need to add this service to your web, you will just be needed to copy and paste the assigned piece of code. But if your aim is to adjust the already existing form with a field of the phone number, make sure there is a box that can be used by the users to check the opt-in messages.

Paper forms

This is expressed when the customers fill out the paper forms which are later used to collect their phone numbers to express the consent. Besides, they have the checkbox like the ones found in the web forms. These boxes are used by customers to either sign up or to tick off the received messages. However, one is encouraged not to send the message to someone who has not checked the box. An individual is also encouraged to put his or her completed form in a safe place for reference purposes.