Marketing campaigns backed by solid marketing tools are essential. Even the best marketing campaign, without the correct tools, can fail. Email and text marketing are two of the best tools for marketing campaigns.
Email is a widespread marketing tool. Most marketers are familiar with email marketing and use it in their marketing campaigns. Text marketing, on the other hand, is an emerging marketing tool. It’s an important way to direct customers to your business. However, text marketing often takes a backseat to email marketing. Text marketing is a relatively new marketing tool that some marketers aren’t as comfortable with.
No matter the current positions of email and text marketing, both are necessary to carry out a solid marketing campaign. Rather than thinking about email and text marketing as separate, think about them as two halves of the same whole. Each is supportive of the other. You can get so much more accomplished by integrating the two, rather than advocating for one over the other.
Email Marketing Overview
Both email and text marketing bring unique strengths to your marketing strategy. Email is more of a traditional marketing method. More companies use it than text marketing even though both email and text send messages to hundreds of thousands of customers at once.
Email is one of a few marketing communication methods that is largely always employed. No one thinks twice about launching an email marketing campaign. Because of this, marketers are more comfortable with email marketing since they’ve used it more.
Email Marketing Weaknesses
Email marketing, though, has some down sides. Marketing emails have a low click-through rate and an even lower customer conversion rate. Plus, it’s more of the same for customers. Customers receive marketing emails from pretty much every company they’ve ever bought something from.
Your marketing email, no matter how well written, will probably fall on deaf ears. It’s just more white noise. Plus, it’s often difficult for customers to opt-out of marketing emails. And email marketing lists are bought and sold from one company to another over and over again without the consent of the customers.
There are regulations to keep this from happening, but they are rarely enforced. This creates a free-for-all system that provides little protection for the customer.
Email Marketing Strengths
Despite its pitfalls, email marketing is ideal for a number of communication situations. First, it’s a perfect tool to use to communicate sensitive information through. Emails can be encrypted allowing the contents of the email to be confidential.
Second, email is ideal if you need to convey a lot of information at one time. If you have a lot that you need to inform customers about, email is the way to go. Third, there are a plethora of well-established email marketing companies. These companies partner with your business to reach your email marketing goals. A simple Google search will turn up many options.
Text Marketing Overview
Text message marketing is a relatively new marketing tool. Despite its age, though, text marketing is ideal for communicating with emerging generations, such as Gen Z and Millennials, who prefer to communicate over text rather than through email. Text marketing is most effective when you use integrations and tools to your advantage. If marketers aren’t familiar with text marketing, they may have to think outside the box to implement it.
Text Marketing Weaknesses
Text marketing is great, but it does present some hurdles you need to overcome. The first is that you are only able to market to customers who opt-in to your text messages. Basically you have to have customers’ permission to text message them. Therefore, you need to find a way to advertise your text marketing campaigns in a way that customers want to hear from you.
The second is that text marketing can become spam if a business doesn’t follow the proper laws regarding text message marketing.
However, unlike the (email law) text marketing is easy to opt-out of and is strictly enforced. Federal TCPA guidelines give lawmakers teeth to make a business follow customer privacy laws.
Text Marketing Strengths
In spite of the hurdles, which are easily overcome, text marketing remains a viable marketing method. It’s a great way to get the word out to customers if information is time-sensitive, don’t have ready access to the internet, or smartphones.
Plus, the response time for text messages is remarkable. In addition to the incredible response time for messages, text marketing has many other advantages.
Another worth mentioning is that text marketing through any number of text marketing companies has lots of helpful tools for businesses and marketers. Text marketing tools such as keyword campaigns, broadcasting, webforms, contact database, and personal inboxes help a marketer carry out their best marketing campaigns.
Integrating Email and Text Marketing
Both email and text marketing are necessary for you to carry out robust marketing campaigns. When you are integrating these marketing tools, the first thing you need to look at is who you are marketing to. In other words, what is the demographic and psychographic of the customers you’re trying to attract? Once you have the answer to this question, you’ll be better able to reach the maximum number of customers.
Another way to integrate email and text marketing is to cross-market. This means that you’ll promote one tool using the other tool and vice versa. For example, when you employ a text campaign, ask for a customer’s email as part of the opt-in process. And when you employ an email campaign, ask customers to opt-in to your keyword campaign.
Obviously not every customer will want to communicate with you both ways, but the point is to use email and text marketing for their strengths. Each has its place in the marketing arsenal. Use it. Remember, the real payoff comes when each marketing method is integrated with the other. When you use text marketing in this manner, you’ll be able to achieve greater success in your marketing campaigns.
