Texts Vs MMS: Which Works Best for Marketing?
Text marketing is one of the best ways to reach out to your audience. In this marketing medium, your audience is the most interested because they opt-in to receive your messages. Under text marketing, there are two different approaches. You can use text messages. The other is MMS, which is a multimedia messaging service. Texts vs MMS is the most common confusion. In this guide, we will talk in detail about both of them and see which one works the best for your business. Let us cover the following points in this guide
What are texts?
Simple text messages are the most basic form of text marketing. You may know them as text messages most commonly. These types of messages contain text characters only. The text includes all kinds of characters. Moreover, they include characters from other languages and emojis as well. These are called Unicode.
Text messages are very versatile. The biggest advantage to this is that any mobile phone can receive them. Even the most basic mobile phones can send and receive messages. The format may be slightly different for longer messages. Smartphones can concatenate messages into one long message. However, older phones may show them as multiple messages as per the character count.
Millions of people around the world use text messages as their ‘to-go’ form of communication. They are simple, direct, and much better than picking up a phone. In-text marketing, you can use the power of this direct communication method to reach out to the masses. A service like ExpertTexting allows you to send thousands of messages at once to cater to your marketing needs.
Texts are also different from OTT applications. The ‘Over the top’ applications need an internet connection to download on your phone. Moreover, only smartphones can download these applications. The only people to receive these are the ones that use the same application as the sender. Whereas, text messages are sent out to anyone with a mobile phone. You just need an active mobile network.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of text is that they are quite cheap. Almost all around the world, network carriers have either packages or special prices for text messages. ExpertTexting is a mass texting service that makes mass texting affordable as well. MMS in turn, are rather more expensive than text messages.
What is MMS?
MMS is a multimedia messaging service. As the name suggests, you can use this service to send more than a basic text. You can attach photos, videos, gifs, and even documents when you send an MMS. MMS is another form of peer-to-peer communication. However, some mass texting services allow you to send out MMS as well.
Sending MMS is a great way to make your marketing more visual. Like text messages, MMS is a direct way of communication. A lot of marketers agree that adding a visual appeal can make your marketing approach more effective. This is perhaps since the beginning of time; hence, you see adverts in colorful and bright forms.
However, when it comes to MMS, the biggest disadvantage is the receiving. Not all phones have the ability to receive MMS. Smartphones and some older phones can receive MMS. However, the simple and old phones do not. Moreover, some services tend to charge incoming for MMS as well. However, you can try ExpertTexting to send mass MMS now too. Try the BETA version for a more visual text marketing experience.
The receiver still needs an internet connection via Wi-Fi or via mobile data to download the media content on their phones. MMS generally costs slightly more than simple text messages.
How to pick between texts and MMS?
While texts have many advantages, you might find yourself in a pickle of when to choose mass texting. Consider the following things if you want to choose texts.
- Budget: The first thing to look out for this the budget that chooses. Since MMS tends to be a little more expensive, they may not suit you. Of course, you can use ExpertTexting that charges less than half of what everyone else does. However, it is still higher than mass texting. But, if you have the budget and want to create a bang, then MMS is your option.
- Informational or promotional: Before you pick between texts and MMS, consider the type of message you want to send out. Your message can be informational or promotional. Informational messages contain basic content that does not require visual representations. These can include appointment reminders for healthcare or even beauty spas and salons. These messages usually require some basic information and you are good to go.
Informational messages can also contain invoices and other payment details that financial sectors find beneficial. Or, you can use these types of messages for simply updating your audience. With a service like ExpertTexting, you can also set up an API to send out transactional messages. These messages are sent out against the action of a customer. For example, when they set up an account for two-factor authentication. Similarly, these are usable in e-commerce websites.
All these instances require texts only and MMS may not be suitable. However, MMS may work better when you are looking to promote your business.
Multimedia messages are almost like embellishments for your text messages. You can add bright and colorful images to make them more appealing. Moreover, you can use videos to promote your business. MMS is also suitable when you want to send out coupons, barcodes, or even GIFs. All these are vibrant and usually catch the attention of your audience. Hence, even if someone does not read the text, they’ll scroll through the image. Even better, you can send videos because they are more interactive. - Length of the message: A standard text message contains 160 characters. However, you can send messages longer than that with ExpertTexting. You can send up to 800 characters at once. However, they only show as one on smartphones. Older phones may not have the option of concatenation.
However, if you are looking to send something even longer, then MMS is your friend. ExpertTexting automatically converts these long messages into MMS.
How you can use ExpertTexting
ExpertTexting is a mass texting service and now a mass MMS service as well. You can use it to send out mass texts to your audience more efficiently. ExpertTexting is one of the most affordable platforms for MMS and texts altogether.
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