How To Run Text Marketing Contests
The text marketing industry keeps on growing. As more businesses take advantage of this marketing channel customers will start to be more conscious of the businesses, they give their number to. This means that you need to take your text marketing up a notch to lure people into subscribing to your list. Text marketing contests are one of the most interactive ways to bring people towards your brand.
Since texting is a direct and instant way to reach out to customers, it gives you a bigger chance of engagement among customers. Text marketing contests help improve engagement. In this guide, we will tell you how you can use contests to provide value for money, increase your list, and create customer loyalty.
Why Use Text Marketing Contests?
One of the biggest ways of marketing is to incentivize. Brands that give incentives to their customers find a level of loyalty in them. Moreover, this is one of the best ways to bring in some foot traffic and then work to retain the customers. Text marketing contests also work to bring people to your list to receive future updates and promotions about your business.
Text marketing is perhaps one of the few channels that offer two-way communication. Use this feature to allow your customers to respond. When you use a platform like ExpertTexting, you get an upper hand. ExpertTexting’s conversational style inbox allows you to record and hold one-on-one conversations. These allow users to engage and participate in your promotional contests.
Moreover, let us not forget, the psychological element in human beings. No matter what the monetary value, even something small as a prize tends to build happy hormones in the human mind. This in turn can give you a customer to add to your list.
How To Run Text Marketing Contests?
Running text marketing contests is easier than it looks. The first thing you need to have is an account with a mass texting service provider. One of the best out there is ExpertTexting. It is user-friendly and charges you as you use the service instead of tying you up in contracts. Once you have your text marketing contest, here are a few things you can do to begin.
Know your audience
The first thing you need to ensure that you have in mind is your target audience. Ask yourself questions about the audience. Dig up old campaigns by different brands and make your case study. Most of the time, brands open contests to the vast public. However, this is wrong too. A big audience does not necessarily mean you get what you want out of the campaign.
Find your target audience and make sure to narrow it down for your convenience. With this process, if people subscribe to your list in the future, they are going to be leads instead of blind leads. these leads will have a high chance of conversions as well.
Targeting randomly can eventually waste your money in text marketing. Your future promotional campaigns will have a high unsubscribe rate and very low engagement. This can overall influence your ROI.
To avoid all these, know your customer for the particular contest, target them, and then promote to them your competition. We have a comprehensive guide on how you can know your customer. Click on the image below to read it.
Pick your prize
One of the most important parts of the contest is the incentive. What is the prize that lures people in? Selecting the right prize can be tricky. You cannot make it something small and flimsy. However, you can also not give out things that dent your business’ finances.
One of the best ways is to offer special promotions or discounts. For example, if you run an eCommerce store, you can send out a special discount voucher valid for six months of unlimited use.
This way, you can bring the customer again and again to purchase a special discount. Moreover, you can boost and promote your brand easily with the contest.
The prize depends on your margin or profit and the type of campaign that you are running. The best way is to use the prize to make your customers engage with your brand.
Begin campaign
Once you have the mains things down, it is time to begin your campaign. Sign up to ExpertTexting and simply begin your campaign. You can record the responses in the one-on-one conversation style inbox. Watch the video below to know how this inbox works.
Moreover, you can schedule your contest messages days and weeks before. This allows you to simply automate the running of the contest. Once the contest is over, you can sit see the answers, and respond as per your campaign.
To know how to start a campaign with ExpertTexting, watch the video below.
Promoting your contest
Now that you have your campaign down, it is time to promote the contest before starting it. Of course, you will need help from many different channels to bring your contest to light. The text marketing laws require you not to send messages to people who haven’t given your prior express consent. This is why you need to invite people to join your list to take part in the contest. Here are a few ways you can promote your contest.
- Email
If you use email marketing then send a blast to your recipients. Tell them your keyword or place the QR code on the email for them to scan. Once they join in, they can participate in the contest. Make sure to mention that they may receive future promotional text messages when they join. They can cancel anytime, but if they are subscribed, they will receive messages. - Social media
One of the most popular ways to reach out is through social media advertising. Feel free to advertise your contest everywhere you find your target audience. The best way is to put up your QR code so people can scan and be a part of your contest. - Click to join
Turn your web traffic into your leads for your contest as well. ExpertTexting offers you a click-to-join button that you can place on your website simply. This allows mobile users to simply click and be redirected to their default messaging app. Here, the message will be pre-drafted and pre-addressed. All they have to do is to hit the send button to be a part of your list.
Get started with ExpertTexting
ExpertTexting is your one-stop solution to running text marketing contests and doing so much more. ExpertTexting is a user-friendly interface that makes it easy to toggle around. You can use it to send out promotions, reminders, and more.
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