Five Strategies for Real-Time SMS Marketing

Modern companies are using analytical data to incorporate seamless messaging platforms. IBM, among other providers, have surveyed a multitude of companies, concentrating on top-percentage enactors with leadership capabilities. Within them, 65 percent of leaders used real-time analytics to drive messaging. An additional 49 percent of other respondents followed suit.

By its nature, real-time messaging should be instantly reactive to real-time data. Approximately 95 to 98 percent of all text messages are read within a minute of receipt.

Here are five strategies to consider when using real-time data to drive SMS messaging:

Take Advantage of Social Media Spillover

Social media and mobile are now inseparable, and mobile media has overtaken desktop and other media combined. Internet users allot about 51 percent of total browsing time to their smartphones, and even more use mobile exclusively to access social media sites.

Real-time data is an incredibly viable social media measurement tool. In fact, many big-hitting companies are studying social media usage above mobile usage. Why? Because social media is all-encompassing. If you’re able to align real-time data gathered from social media usage, you’ll equip your SMS campaign with a distinct advantage.

Set Baselines

When real-time data is everywhere, clutter emerges. Not all data is useful, and you should know the difference between user-specific and population-specific information. Demographics will always be a driving marketing factor, and SMS marketing, more than ever, is personal. As you gather data for an SMS campaign, separate it into viable “clusters.” These clusters, when matched with your primary SMS population, are powerful tools. Your baseline population should contain well-known activities, preferences, demographic information and smartphone-related information.

React with Geo-Specific Offers

Again, smartphones have ignited a “personalized” revolution. Mobile users love custom content. If your SMS campaign offers brick-and-mortar and geo-specific offers, it’ll prosper. Currently, four out of five shoppers use a mobile device to shop. Don’t pass up the opportunity to incorporate real-time data. Custom-tailored SMS offers, geo-specific coupons and one-time-only deals are average mobile marketing offers—but they’re great real-time data endpoints. Enthuse the consumer, and offer them incomparable offers. Real-time data measures when, how and even why consumers consider products and services. If you’ve collected the right data, tailor it to the local consumer’s needs.

Consider the Campaign as a Whole

Because real-time data offers immense scale, you should consider your marketing campaign’s other components. Sure, you’re focusing on SMS marketing—but your online, and offline, marketing efforts are contingent on your SMS strategies.

Real-time optimization and performance-boosting efforts require intensive study of social mechanics, a bread look at consumer lifestyles, and the impact a campaign has on itself. Is your SMS campaign increasing in-store sales? Are your consumers accessing brand information via social media? What communication forms do they prefer? Real-time information delivers the resources needed to answer, and act upon, the business world’s biggest conundrums.

Automate, but Don’t Over-Automate

Of course, real-time data’s biggest boon exists in marketing automation. If you have the information, you needn’t struggle with manual SMS extensions. You needn’t separate every hair to gain success. You can, however, over-streamline processes to the point of being ineffective, boring, or worse: annoying.

Make sure every automated SMS targets smaller groups. If you don’t, your SMS target will be misaligned as your consumer group grows. It will grow, too. Examine your automated services frequently, and remove any unnecessary deliveries. Automated SMS campaigns work when texts are appreciated, and over-automated platforms will “spam text” consumers.

Remember: Your SMS campaign is constantly growing. As you gather real-time data, automate and create winning solutions, you should always consider the next step. Mobile marketing is a never-ending process. Examine changing social media trends, technological improvements and new smartphone options. Your ability to enrich the consumer’s life may use real-time data, but the power behind effective strategies comes from you, the decision maker.

Want more? Check out our most-read content:

White Paper: How to ‘Future-Proof’ a Streaming Analytics Platform
Research from Gartner: Real-Time Analytics with the Internet of Things
E-Book: How to Move to a Fast Data Architecture
The Value of Bringing Analytics to the Edge
Factory Testbed Focuses on Visualization
What’s Behind the Attraction to Apache Spark
Video: Loop AI Labs on How Cognitive Computing Understands Language

Liked this article? Share it with your colleagues!