COMPLETE GUIDE ON HOW TO SETUP A BULK SMS PLATFORM

 SMS marketing has always been a focal point for businesses, and bulk SMS is a service that enables them to reach out to the masses most cost-effectively and quickly possible. If you are looking to learn how to set up a bulk SMS platform, the guide below covers from A to Z.

Choose Your Provider

Bulk SMS is not only the most effective and cost-efficient way to convey your brand message to the target audience but do so in the most personalized way to improve personal reputation management. Today, individual users have a shrinking attention span, and personalized messages can help to make the most out of the few crucial seconds. However, to ensure you are doing it correctly and strategically, especially if it’s your first time, is to associate with a suitable service provider. 

You have two options when you want to have an SMS server of your own to send out commercial messages. The first is SMPP or Simple Messaging Peer to Peer. This is when you will need to take a connection from one of the operators available in your country. The other way is to rely on a re-seller SMS portal and pass your entire traffic through this. Both are effective solutions for retail reputation management, but the latter option might save you more in the long term.

Sync Your Database

Marketing through SMS is a direct and fastest way to have your customized message to enhance personal reputation management. For a successful customer relationship management process, you must access your target market’s demographics, including their mobile numbers saved in your database. You can do it in several ways, like collecting it during the initial registration process or asking for it during surveys online. You can also glean this information yourself from phonebook directories. However, that might not be the best of ideas. For starters, you don’t want to appear like a pushy salesperson; secondly, you might waste your effort and content on a target market that is not yours. Give access to this database to your SMS platform provider.

Craft Custom Text Message(S)

SMS is universal. You can categorize some of the most common types of SMS and build around them ahead of time. Some of the most received business SMS include;

• Welcome messages
• Notifying for upcoming sales
• Booking confirmations 
• Billing reminders
• Payment confirmations

The best practices include writing a concise and to-the-point copy, personalizing the message, and stating a clear call to action. This way, the customization will create a richer customer experience, and the reader will grasp the main idea of the message instantly. Another useful tip is to Capitalize the words you want them to emphasize. You can also spruce it up using different emojis and make the message look more aesthetically pleasing. 

Schedule Date And Time

This is crucial. You might have joined hands with the most reliable and effective provider. Your SMS content might even be crafted to perfection. You can access a goldmine regarding the customer contact list, but it will never realize its full potential until the timing is right. For this, you need to do your homework. Study customer insights, and find out when your target market is the most active when they have free time on their hands. When a message can be the most relevant to people, this is a key for personal online reputation management.

For example, if you intend to send out an SMS regarding an upcoming sales promotion, the messages should be scheduled for at least a week earlier to reach most people. Also, if your primary audience is the working class, set the time for somewhere late in the evening when people are free from work and relaxing at home. Remembering the salary payment date can also do the trick; conversion of promotional messages can do better when people have recently been credited where their salaries are as opposed to in the middle of the month. Schedule the message for delivery earlier in the month after carefully designing a plan for the rest of the weeks.

Analyze Results

There is no hard and fast rule for the timing here. You can do it after every campaign or after every month. The main objective is to quantify the conversions and check the success of your marketing efforts. The stats can help you identify a pattern that might have been doing well for you or a practice that didn’t go as planned. Learn from this, manage google reviews and find out what your competitors are doing to become the best at marketing.

Smartphones have become such a necessity for people today that it should be considered a marketing sin not to approach people via these tiny yet powerful devices. SMS marketing is one conventional and effective tool for increasing conversion rates. Utilize the tips above to optimize the use of mobile marketing. 

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