When you think of texting, things such as inside jokes with your friends, gifs, and smiley faces come to mind.
In case you didn't notice, 'business branding' wasn't mentioned in that list.
Perhaps, that's why texting is so useful for building your brand. It's not an oversaturated space while offering a direct contact point with your customers. Of course, that doesn't mean you can send any old text message to your audience and expect it to be a rousing success.
Branding requires careful strategizing to successfully establish your business's identity and story. When your messaging fires on all cylinders, your texts become a secret weapon that drives revenue and promotes goodwill.
So, how do you ensure your text marketing is insightful, engaging, and valuable to your brand over the long haul? Find out by reading the rest of this blog:
Show Your Customers How Much They Mean to You
A core principle of branding is building relationships with your customers. Nurturing these connections means you can't treat people like they're a mere cog in an overwhelming corporate machine.
You must prove to each customer – individually – how much they mean to your business. Make them feel valued and that their experience with your brand is the world to you.
How can you accomplish the above feat?
With text marketing, when you have the correct tools, there are 1-on-1 chat capabilities.
Thus, you're available to your customers with one mere text—something that proves extraordinarily useful in urgent situations. The moment there's a problem, you can promptly fix it instead of the issue escalating beyond your control.
By being present through texts when people need you, they'll convert and spend more. Plus, you'll cultivate long-lasting relationships that increase the lifetime value of your customers.
As for functionality, texts allow you to quickly answer questions without getting in the way of your busy schedule. Conversely, you might procrastinate answering emails or get stuck on long phone calls. Whereas texting offers a happy medium where you can satisfy customers and complete your work.
Furthermore, during these interactions, you have a chance to add your own unique feel and "vibe" to your messaging. This factor differentiates a customer's experience with your brand from even the most dominant corporations on the market.
Harnessing the Power of Reviews Through Text
Compiling reviews – on Facebook, Google My Business, and similar platforms – provides the social proof you need for successful branding.
In fact, 87% of consumers read online reviews for local businesses in 2020. Beyond that, nearly 90% of people see online reviews as equally crucial to a personal recommendation. Another benefit of the social proof generated by customer feedback is that it indirectly improves your SEO.
Before going any further, it's worth noting that bolstered SEO means more clicks on your website, building your brand's recognition.
But there's a caveat to the above notions.
Namely, getting customers to leave these reviews is easier said than done. People are busy, and they forget. And without ample strategizing, you'll find consumers are likelier to leave negative feedback than positive.
Texting gives you an avenue to encourage customers to leave positive reviews. All you must do is send them a gentle, well-worded reminder through a text. Ensure there's a link to your platform to streamline the process. This way, you'll remove a critical feedback barrier, making acquiring social proof far more simplified.
Making Safety an Integral Aspect of Your Band
As per all the above content, texting does wonders for your brand.
Unfortunately, the stellar work you do to hone your identity and nurture relationships can fly out the window with one critical mistake.
Namely, issues with safety and cybercrimes will cast a shadow on your business and leave a sour taste in customers' mouths. Since many texts leave links for opt-ins and opt-outs, there are an array of risks to consider.
Choosing your text marketing platform should involve you scrutinizing your potential providers' cybersecurity.
At Contact Cloud, there's built-in automation, empowering each business to customize the handling of opt-in/opt-out requests. The solution isn't one-size-fits-all—instead, taking a bespoke approach to meet your needs.
Still, not all businesses have the capability to manage those highly customizable capabilities. Nor is there the available time to learn such nuances. In which case, Contact Cloud deploys a standard opt-in/opt-out blueprint. What's more? This template can also be customized to satisfy your brand's specificities.
Most importantly, Contact Cloud's FormReactor enables you to build your opt-in text list by adding a form to your website. Using this form prospects will be able to join your list to start receiving relevant text notifications from your business.
Text Messaging is Your Key to the Branding Castle
Here's one last statistic that'll help convince you of the branding power provided by business texting:
64% of consumers think businesses should contact them via text messages more often. Meaning that most people want to hear from you so you can show them precisely who you are. Don't feel hesitant or like you're inconveniencing someone. Nowadays, it's expected for you to use this form of marketing to build your brand.
