During the holiday season, you probably want to raise your marketing to reach your clients trying to find the perfect gift. What’s more perfect than a beautiful family portrait from your studio?! However, your client’s inboxes are already full of marketing from other businesses that want to reach them as well. Check out these tips to help your SMS marketing stand out this holiday season:
• Personalize it – You don’t want to sound like a robot when you text your clients. Personalize your automated texts by adding merge fields (e.g. “Hi [First Name]! We had a great time visiting with you at your session today! Let us know if you have any questions or comments to pass on! Thanks – The Studio”). On top of that, always sign your studio name with your texts so your clients know where you’re texting from.
• Keep it simple – Many people probably remember the term KISS – Keep It Simple, Silly! Text messages are meant to be looked at quickly. Your clients aren’t going to stop their busy schedule to read a book of information texted to them, especially from a marketer. Even a long link can be off-putting to a client. There are services out there that take a long URL and shorten it for this specific reason. Bitly is one of the leading services available for shortened URLS – See for yourself!
• Keep it a secret – Shhh! Clients love getting exclusive offers! Offer special promotions they can only get by being part of your SMS marketing.
• Reward them – Give your clients a reason to want to receive your texts. One way is by offering them a prize when they opt-in (e.g. “Give us your phone number for SMS marketing and receive $10 off your next purchase!”). Users with the Platinum SMS plan can go even further. Since your SMS number is dedicated to your studio only, you can have your clients text you first in order to opt-in (e.g. “Text “PHOTO” to 888-888-8888 and get $10 off your next purchase!”).
• Keep it relevant – When sending texts, ask yourself “Can my client do anything with the information I’m sending them?” If you’re sending out a text blast telling people about the Christmas tree you put up at your studio, it might put a smile on their face, but there’s nothing they can do with that information. Pretty soon you’ll be lower on that client’s priority list for which texts to view. Using the Christmas tree example, you can get the client involved by texting something like “We’re getting in the holiday spirit with our new Christmas tree at The Studio! Stop by this week only for an exclusive Christmas Photo Session!”
It’s important to always have your client in mind when sending out marketing texts. One of the best ways to do this is to keep yourself in mind as well. Think of the marketing texts and emails you’ve received. Which messages grabbed your attention? Which ones did you know would go nowhere?
Click here for more information/pricing on the SMS add-on!