Kingston Lane, an innovative lead generation and marketing automation solution for real estate agents, will begin offering services in Australia and New Zealand in September after extensive and successful beta testing in both regions.

Kingston Lane’s unique solution to real estate marketing challenges has been proven throughout 2018 in the United States. Agents in Australia and New Zealand will be eligible to access the company’s growing suite of “5 clicks or less” localized lead gen, sales, and creative campaigns.

In addition to Kingston Lane’s push-button lead farming, coming-soon websites and email campaigns, the company will make available its Seller Analysis Tool (SAT), which will allow agents to offer leads and clients a well-rounded perspective on how their home might perform when released to the market.

The SAT will be accessed by Kingston Lane users via the software’s unique “push-button” UX, allowing agents to quickly and accurately attract leads and serve clients via a clean, streamlined dashboard with an ever-growing menu of fast-to-deploy creative and strategic tools.

New features, locations for geo-targeted farming and even currency options are made available automatically to customers upon launch. Agents will be able to create free accounts for Kingston Lane to test-drive its feature stack.

The launch times with Kingston Lane CEO Sharran Srivatsaa’s presentation at the fifth annual The Business of Real Estate conference, sharing his tips and best practices.

“I’m excited to introduce Kingston Lane to these real estate communities, ones that are smart and eager to adopt new tech, and to be a part of conference pushing so many new ideas,” said Mr Srivatsaa.

The presentation highlighted tactics and business realisations Mr Srivatsaa embraced during his time growing Teles Properties, which was sold to Douglas Elliman in 2017. The real estate entrepreneur has been featured in a host of business publications during his career, including Entrepreneur, The Wall Street Journal and Forbes.

Michael Sheargold, CEO of Real Estate Results Network and Founder of DRIVE Performance, said that he was thrilled to have Mr Srivatsaa at this year’s conference.

“Having Sharran at the Business of Real Estate this year was incredibly exciting for the delegates,” he said.

“For him to choose the conference as his platform to introduce the Australian and New Zealand markets to Kingston Lane is impressive. When you look at how this amazing marketing and lead generation solution has helped agents in the USA, it’s great to know our agents will soon have this advantage.”

While double opt-in is not a requirement of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the level of confirmation a double opt-in requires, makes it the only practical way of meeting the requirements of the law.

What is a Double Opt-in?

In SMS marketing, double opt-in is when a brand requires that a consumer reply “YES” via text message to confirm they want to be included in a recurring text messaging program. This request from the brand to opt-in can either be in response to a consumer text messaging an SMS keyword to a short code, or entering their mobile phone number into a web form.

Single vs Double Opt-In

Interested in learning the difference between a single opt-in, and a double opt-in? Check out the video to see how both SMS marketing campaigns work.

Is Double Opt-In Required?

Even though double opt-in is not strictly a requirement of the TCPA, the burden of proof to establish that a consumer provided consent be a part of a brand’s recurring messaging program lies with the brand. This means that it’s the brand’s responsibility to prove that by text messaging a short code, or entering a mobile phone number into a website form, the consumer was aware that they were consenting to be a part of the brand’s recurring text messaging program.

In a perfect world, the act of a consumer text messaging a short code, or entering a mobile phone number into a website form would be good enough. Unfortunately, TCPA plaintiffs can claim that they were not aware that they were opting-in to a recurring text message program when they text messaged a short code, or entered a mobile phone number into a website form. TCPA plaintiffs can make this claim even if the brand thought they were clearly and conspicuously disclosing this information before consumers took either of those actions.

A double opt-in creates a digital text messaging trail of a consumer’s consent to opt-in to receive a brand’s recurring text messages, ensuring that the brand can prove the consumer knowingly opted-in, if they ever needed to.

Double Opt-In Example

Here is an example of a double opt-in message exchange that would commonly be used by a brand to opt-in a consumer.

If a consumer opts in after receiving the above message, it would be nearly impossible for them to later claim that they were not aware they were opting into a recurring text messaging program by replying “YES” to that text message.

If there were ever a dispute regarding whether or not a consumer gave their consent, it would be easy for the brand to prove that the consumer did, in fact, give their consent.

Another reason that we recommend a double opt-in for SMS marketing is to bind consumers to an arbitration clause. If you’re interested in learning more about arbitration clauses for SMS marketing, we suggest you check out this blog post by Adam Bowser from Arent Fox. Adam’s practice focuses on complex TCPA litigation, including class action trials and appeals. He’s a proponent of using arbitration clauses in SMS marketing.

Do you have questions about using a double opt-in for SMS marketing? If so, leave a comment below and we’ll do our best to answer them.

Double Opt-In Variations

Did you know there’s more than just one way to setup a double opt-in for your SMS marketing campaign? Check out the different ways below that you can use setup double opt-ins for your own SMS marketing campaign.

Double Opt-In Best Practices

The CTIA and the wireless carrier require certain best practices when performing a double opt-in for an SMS marketing campaign. To learn more about these best practices, check out the video below.

Everyone in your community needs a dentist.

Did you know that small businesses, like your dental practice, actually see more benefits from using social media than large businesses with big budgets? That is because social media marketing success depends not on how many followers you have, but instead on the amount of engagement your posts generate. Dental practices tend to be community-focused, which means it is much easier for your dental practice to be authentic and connect with local people online. Many people use social media as a place to ask for advice and recommendations on services and products. If your dental practice has an active voice online, you’ll be a part of those conversations too.

How do dentists advertise? Does social media marketing work?

Dentists across the country are discovering the power of social media, and they are not disappointed in the results. After all, 77% of prospective patients do their research through search engines online, and 44% of patients searching on a mobile device end up scheduling an appointment.

Because of its ever-increasing possibilities, social media is quickly becoming the most useful tool available to dentists. Practices that have a solid social media strategy in place are witnessing increased reach to new patients and improved appointment numbers. Dental social media marketing is ultimately helping practices meet their bottom line. The good news is that it has never been easier to connect with patients and build a reputation online.

As a local dentist, you can easily foster connections with local individuals using social media. Social media is excellent for small businesses like dental practices because social posts get shown to a high number of local users. It’s designed as a platform for self-promotion and gives you the ability to reach and connect with new patients. Not only is social media marketing the absolute best way to reach new patients and improve relationships through communication and engagement, but it is also the most useful tool dentists can use to ease the fear that many people feel when they face the possibility of visiting the dentist.

Your potential patients get a glimpse of your practice culture and the kind of experience they will have in your practice right on your social pages. Dental social media marketing provides a way for you to make your patients feel welcome and comfortable before they take one step into your practice. Through sharing light-hearted, fun, engaging content, you let patients know that they are in good hands.

By posting pictures, you are giving your practice an online personality, which eliminates scary “visiting the dentist” stigma for nervous patients. Remember: you are selling the good experience people will have in your practice, not your clinical care. Your dental social media pages are not a medical journal. Although great clinical care is important, your patients are more interested in finding a trustworthy, compassionate dentist that they feel comfortable with.

Attracting and retaining new dental patients is about trust and relationships. Social media is the place to show your community that you care about people, not just teeth.

What does My Social Practice do to help dental practices?

We know dental social media because, well, we created it. In the early days of social media, My Social Practice saw that every strategy for building a successful business was going to drastically change in the wake of the social media revolution. We became laser-focused on mastering the capabilities of social media marketing for dental, orthodontic, and specialty practices.

We wanted to create a service that would be just as effective as hiring a social media marketing specialist but easy enough for dental professionals to do themselves, right in their practice, without breaking the bank. Why did we choose to focus on dental practices? Because few businesses have the type of personal, intimate relationships that dentists and orthodontists have with their patients. We know that effective social media strategy excels at leveraging those relationships to transform and grow a business.

The dental industry is projected to reach $35.7 billion by 2023. That is a lot of opportunity for your team, practice, and family. If your practice wants a sound portion of that profit, you need a dental-specific social media marketing plan.

It cannot be overstated how significant social media content is to the success of your practice, and the value of social media marketing to dental practices is only growing. The trouble is, not many practices have the time or resources to hire a full-time social media specialist. That’s where we can help.

Over ten years of trial and error, we’ve packaged everything our experts understand about dental social media marketing into a seriously powerful solution for dental practices. My Social Practice won’t stop until your dental practice establishes a dominant presence on social media in your community. By sharing loyalty-building patient experiences, using organic online word-of-mouth marketing, and tailoring our tactics to fit your specific objectives, My Social Practice will help your practice outshine your competitors and reach your goals.

Should you hire a marketing expert or do it yourself?

Our pro-managed package takes social media marketing completely off your already full plate. Everything from posting new photos to engaging with users and responding to comments is handled by your personal social media manager. Your manager is an expert on how dentists are using social media to attract new patients, what to post on a dental Facebook page to get attention, how to make Instagram content for dentists, and more. They will plan, strategize, and report on your social media efforts so you can focus all of your attention on your practice and patients.

You can rest assured that your manager is sharing photos, creating opportunities for engagement, and carrying out a plan for your Facebook and Instagram marketing. You can also rely on your manager to advertise your practice by promoting selected posts and running regular social media giveaways on your page to reach more people. The pro-managed package allows you to build an awesome online presence, whether your busy schedule allows you to stay engaged or not. You can participate as little or as much as you like.

If you are more of a DIY person, My Social Practice’s self-managed social media package equips you with the resources and coaching your dental practice needs to be successful while allowing YOU to choose what you post, when you post, and your level of engagement with your fans online. Fill your dental Facebook and Instagram pages with creative, out-of-the-box posts in just a few clicks. Never again ask “What should I post on my dental Facebook page?” or “How do dentists use Instagram?” Let My Social Practice develop creative post ideas and a solid marketing plan while you stick to what you love: dentistry.

Your personal social media consultant will help you set effective goals, give you marketing strategies and ideas, train you on your social media platform’s best practices, and provide your team with continual direction. With My Social Practice’s self-managed package, we hand YOU the reins while supporting you every step of the way.

To keep the engaging social media ideas flowing, we ship you a box full of props, signs, and instructions to create two months of lively in-practice social media content in a snap. We’ve discussed how patients think more about how comfortable they are with you and your team than they do about anything else. When potential patients check out your practice on Facebook or Instagram, your posts should show your practice is friendly and inviting.

By posting fun and engaging content online, you boost retention and keep top-of-mind awareness. Our clients report increases of up to 30% in their new patient intake since starting to utilize social media. The materials we send you are specifically designed to celebrate your patients, introduce your team, showcase your practice culture, and ultimately bring in new dental patients. Everything that comes in your box is directed toward building trust and relationships with current and potential patients online.

Over ten+ years in the dental marketing industry, My Social Practice has developed the ideal hub for busy dental practices looking to make waves online. As a client, you’ll have your own dental marketing app and website. Our engineers have made it incredibly easy to use and personalize. Your app and member site are packed with example posts of what’s working for other real dental practices, a massive library of dental social media posts, calendars to schedule content and stay organized, and of course endless tips and tricks from our dental marketing experts. Your hub will be regularly updated with trending ideas, content, and instructions.

Why work with My Social Practice?

Dentists have found it so easy to work with My Social Practice because unlike traditional marketing agencies, we concentrate on the dental industry and the dental industry only.

You won’t need to explain the significant importance of HIPAA or why some days you just get too busy to even give a single thought to social media. We get it, we know what dental professionals’ lives look like in a busy practice. We also acknowledge that the purpose of dental social media marketing is more than just a fun addition to the practice. We understand that your marketing efforts need to increase your bottom line, and we’re here to help. Check out what dental practices have to say about us here.

What happens when I request a demo from My Social Practice?

When you fill out a demo request form or contact form on our website, a dental marketing expert will reach out to you on your contact phone number and email within two business days. Our experts will reach out to schedule a time to talk with you about your dental marketing needs. Don’t worry, your private information is kept on a secure server. We never share any of our data with third parties.

The purpose of a demo call with a My Social Practice marketing specialist is to discuss your particular marketing goals and where we can help you achieve those goals. Our experts analyze your practice to identify weak areas that we can help improve, and also to see where we can best leverage your strengths. My Social Practice will tailor a personalized dental marketing strategy based on your practice size, patient needs, personality, staff, and location. We want to know everything we can about your practice to create the best possible course of action.

How much should I pay for dental social media marketing?

On the low-cost end, many patient management services offer “social media” as a bonus or add-on. This type of marketing typically consists of a pre-made image posted automatically once or twice a week to your Facebook page. While this is certainty cheap, we’ve seen dental practices social media pages flounder with this type of impersonal, auto-posted content. Unfortunately, this is how many dentists use Facebook, with no successful results.

These kinds of posts are uninteresting, and they do not allow you to create an online personality for your practice or spark an engaging connection with your patients. Stock images and infographics have a place on social media, but if that type of content clutters your page, it ends up looking like spam. Remember, the purpose of social media is to be social!

On the other end of the marketing scale, you can hire a marketing agency to design and develop custom content and ad campaigns for your practice’s social media pages and website. The problem for small businesses like a dental practice is that the cost of hiring a full-scale advertising agency can easily cross into several thousand dollars every month. For most, this solution is not realistic.

Our exclusive focus on helping dental practices has allowed us to provide smooth, innovative dental marketing services at a low cost. Depending on your practice needs (Do you need a new, modern dental website? Do you need more Google reviews?) and growth goals, the cost of your unique dental marketing package will fall somewhere in the middle of the scale.

Chat with us and get set up with what your dental practice needs — no fluff or extras, just a custom marketing plan that fits your practice. My Social Practice offers the most valuable, out-of-the-box dental social media marketing solution on the planet. That’s it. That’s all we do.

The team from Productive and Free share their lead magnet ideas in this infographic.

Here are a few that make their list:

Check out the infographic for more.

A version of this post was first published on the Red Website Design blog.

Dive Insight:

Nike’s new ad inverts the brand’s classic slogan, “Just Do It,” by calling on people to “For Once, Don’t Do It,” as the company stakes its position in support of the growing number of people around the country angered by police brutality against black people, a position Nike has been cultivating in sometimes-controversial marketing over the past few years. The ad dropped as people in cities across America took to the streets to protest the death of George Floyd, who was killed in police custody in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.

Nike is leveraging the wide recognition of an iconic slogan meant to inspire people to be the best athletes they can be to drive eyeballs to a video that still hopes to encourage action, but around inspiring people to not be quiet about racism or social injustice or to think it doesn’t affect them.

“We hope that by sharing this film we can serve as a catalyst to inspire action against a deep issue in our society and encourage people to help shape a better future,” Nike said in statement in a CNBC report about the ad.

The message is in line with Nike’s support for social justice in recent years. For Nike’s 30th anniversary of its “Just Do It” campaign in 2018, the brand worked with Colin Kaepernick. The former quarterback was a divisive choice for the face of the campaign because he rose to prominence for protesting police brutality against African Americans by “taking a knee” during the singing of the national anthem at a game in 2016, an action that drew large groups of detractors as well as supporters.

While the campaign could have been a risk to Nike because of its potential to upset NFL executives, the company decided the risk was worth it if the campaign would engage a young urban market. Nike later reported that the campaign generated “record engagement with the brand” both negative and positive.

Nike continued its support of social justice for African Americans last year when it ceased distribution of its Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July sneaker because of a request by Kaepernick, who took issue with how the Betsy Ross-made flag image used on the shoe has been associated with the U.S. period of slavery, and because of the flag’s current use by extremist groups.​

The latest effort from Nike comes as consumer demands for brands to take the lead on putting people before profits have only grown louder during the coronavirus pandemic.

The problem is not the Google My Business platform; it’s that not nearly enough businesses take full advantage of its impressive features. And that’s why we’ve written this guide. Here, we’re going to share 13 optimization strategies:

With these optimizations, you can turn your listing into the best free customer acquisition tool you didn’t know you had. Let’s get into it.

Note: As mentioned above, the more familiar term “Google business listing” is formally known by Google as your Business Profile, but we’re going to stick with “business listing” to avoid confusion.

What does an optimized Google business listing look like?

Before we get into the strategies, let’s make sure we’re on the same page about what a Google business listing looks like and why you need one. To help you visualize what you’re striving for and why, let’s take a look at a mockup of an incomplete Google business listing versus a complete and optimized listing.

Here, Carl’s Google listing is a short box, but Ernie’s Google listing would show even more when you scroll. This diagram doesn’t encompass all of the features of an optimized Google business listing, but it does give you an idea of how much more attractive and engaging an optimized profile is.

Why you need to optimize your Google business listing

The comparison above makes it clear that an optimized Google business listing helps consumers to choose your listing over competitors, but there are other benefits to optimizing your listing for effective local marketing.

Improve engagement

More and more, consumers are entering and exiting Google without going to any other website. Why? Because the information in search results pages themselves is fully answering their questions, resulting in “zero-click searches.” With potentially more consumers interacting with your businesses through your Google listing than your website, you’ll want that listing to be optimized for quality engagement and conversions.

Boost your local ranking

Google’s algorithm for ranking business listings does not just consider proximity and relevance but also activity and quality of information. Optimizing your Google business listing sends these signals to Google to rank you higher in local results. And higher rank, as you know, means more visibility and engagement with your business.

Completing your Google listing in full can help your business to rank in search results like these.

Convert more customers

A regular Google listing alone doesn’t offer much in the way of acquiring customers. They can find out where you are located and read your reviews—if they know to search your business name in the first place. But with an optimized Google business listing, consumers can discover you in keyword searches, call you, visit your website, research your products and services, view/contribute FAQs, request a quote, book an appointment, make a reservation, and more.

How to optimize your Google business listing

Now that you see that optimizing your Google business listing is the key to getting found in local search, standing out above competitors, and winning customers online, it’s time to get to work on doing just that. Here are 13 ways you can turn your Google listing into a 24/7 marketing and lead generation tool for your local business.

1. Create a Google My Business account

First and foremost, it’s important to note here that a Google business listing is a separate entity from a Google My Business account. The latter is used to gain access to and optimize the former. Which means that in order to make the optimizations laid out in this guide, you need to have a Google My Business account and then tell Google to connect it with your Google listing. To create an account, head to Google.com/business and sign in with the regular Google/Gmail account you use for your business (as opposed to your personal Gmail, if you have one).

2. Complete every section

The completeness of your Google listing not only helps Google to rank you higher in local search results, but it also increases the number of actions customers take when they find your listing. There’s a lot of information to provide, so here are some guidelines for prioritizing.

These aspects of your listing should be completed right away:

These sections take a bit more time and thought:

These sections are ongoing:

3. Be meticulous with contact information

Here are the steps for optimizing the contact information in your Google business listing:

4. Write your “from the business” description

The first thing to note is that the brief description that appears just below your business name in your business listing is not actually in your control. This is the editorial summary that Google writes to ensure consistency across the platform.

This description is not in your control.

Bummer, I know. But the good news is that Google does a pretty good job at coming up with descriptions.

The description you do have control over is the “from the business” section in your Google My Business account dashboard. This section appears lower in your profile, often under the reviews section.

To optimize the “from the business” section of your Google listing:

5. Choose a category

Choosing a category is a must for optimizing your Google business listing. Here’s why:

Your category appears in the top portion of your Google business listing.

Google offers a set number of categories, so it’s important to choose the correct ones. Here’s how to optimize your Google business listing using categories:

Also, keep in mind that Google might ask you to verify your business if you edit your category list or add multiple. This is just to ensure accuracy across their platform.

6. Select applicable attributes

As we just mentioned, once you choose a category, Google will give you a list of attributes you can check off to further describe your business. Attributes are special features that potential customers seek out, like “gift shop on-site” or “free wi-fi.”

Attributes are not specific to the Google My Business platform (review sites like Yelp have them, too). But Google’s attributes get really granular, like “good for working on laptop” or “popular for travelers”. Check out this attribute list to see what I mean.

7. Add photos

Uploading photos to your Google listing through your Google My Business account dashboard is important for three reasons:

This doesn’t mean you should go crazy and add a hundred images to your profile at once. Follow these tips to use photos to optimize your Google business listing:

Google will pull specific photos from a listing and display it directly in local results if it matches the keyword searched.

8. Get Google reviews

If you were to get a list of businesses in search results like the one below, which one would you be most likely to choose? The one with four attractive yellow stars or one of the two below with no reviews at all?

Google knows that reviews are the #1 influence on consumer buying, so this is a key ranking factor in their algorithm. You can also see for yourself the impact of reviews on ranking. For most searches performed on Google, the first three local results that appear (in what is known as the “Local 3-Pack”) are the ones with multiple reviews and solid star ratings:

In addition, Google may also display a business listing in search results if it has reviews that contain those keywords.

Google will embolden keywords in your reviews to further validate relevancy.

To optimize your Google business listing with reviews, follow these tips:

Be careful not incentivize reviews with discounts, gifts, or cash, though—that’s not allowed.

9. Post to your Google listing

Just like with social media platforms, you can post to your Google business listing about announcements, offers, events, and products. Posts are created in your Google My Business dashboard and show up on the “Updates” section toward the bottom of your listing. However, they might become more prominent based on the search query.

Here’s how posts help you to optimize your Google business listing:

Your Google My Business posts will even appear on Maps—it’s free advertising for your local business!

Here are your tips for optimizing your Google business listing with posts:

10. Ask and answer questions

Have you noticed on Amazon that in addition to the product description and customer reviews, there is a section for questions and answers? Google offers the same feature in Google business listings.

Image courtesy of searchengineland.com

Answers to these questions may be the impetus for a customer deciding to choose your business. However, this section is particularly important to optimize because not only can anyone ask a question on a business’s Google profile but also anyone can answer. This can lead to inaccurate information on your listing, or even worse, something like this Q&A on a pizza restaurant’s listing:

Here’s how to optimize the Q&A section of your Google business listing:

By monitoring and seeding your Q&A section, you can ensure accurate information, highlight your best features, and reduce common barriers to entry.

Note: Google has temporarily suppressed the Q&A section of most business listings right now in response to COVID-19, so you may not see this option for your listing for a while.

11. Add products and services

Adding products and services is especially helpful if your offerings are not made clear in your business name. Populating this section also adds content to your profile that can help it to rank for even more relevant searches.

When adding products and services, include the name, description, and price (if applicable). The full description will show up once a searcher clicks on the product. Also, Google may link to your products from your category section.

12. Set up messaging

This feature gives searchers the option to send a text message to your phone directly from your Google business listing. With 82% of smartphone shoppers (92% for millennials) using their device for local search, this is a great opportunity for customers to get in touch with you.

To enable messaging, select the “Messaging” tab in your Google My Business dashboard, and you have the option to install this via Google Play or the Apple App Store.

Two notes on Google My Business messaging:

13. Maintain your listing with a solid Google My Business strategy

As you can see, a Google business listing is not a one-and-done marketing task. It’s a local marketing tool that requires ongoing action in order to maximize your benefits. This includes:

Just like any Google SEO strategy, your Google My Business strategy should center around providing as much quality information about your business as possible, not just in your listing but in the sources that Google uses to populate your listing—your website, review site profiles, and even your social media accounts. We can’t ever know every specific ranking factor, but we do know their ultimate goal: to connect searchers to the best business for their needs through detailed, trusted information. So focus on getting your Google listing to represent your business as accurately and thoroughly as possible, and then make sure to maintain this, and you will reap its benefits.

Indeed, Facebook recently noted that the number of people watching Facebook Live content has risen by 50% since January, while overall increases in digital video consumption have even forced the major providers to reduce their video quality in some regions to avoid over-straining networks. 

If you’re looking to engage your audience, video is now key. And for businesses in particular, it can be a powerful medium for your brand messaging.

Underlining this, the team from Elite Content Marketer have put together this overview of key video consumption stats to provide more context in your planning. Check out the infographic below, which was created no conjunction with Graphic Rhythm Designs. 

When compiling the 60 absolute best SMS marketing statistics we could find, we didn’t cut any corners. Meaning we zero’d in on the why SMS marketing is a rapidly growing channel, as opposed to boring you with stats about how many people have a mobile phone, or how many texts get sent every day – it’s a lot, and we already knew that.

In this article, we focus on the text message marketing statistics that matter most to businesses and their marketing, sales, and customer support teams. Additionally, we cover why your customers want companies to text them, as well as how effective and efficient SMS marketing really is.

By the time you’re done reading through all these great SMS marekting statistics, you should either be asking yourself why your company isn’t already engaging with your audiences via SMS/MMS, or why you’re not sending more SMS text messages to customers.

We’ve broken down the 60 SMS marketing statistics by category:

What do consumers think of SMS marketing?

In general, it appears companies are afraid that they’ll be invading their customers’ privacy by sending them text messages. Which is why it’s not surprising that one of the most common questions concerning SMS marketing online is, “Is text marketing legal?”

The answer is: Yes, absolutely.

In almost all cases, people need to opt-in to receive texts from your business. And this is a good thing, because opting-in is a great signal that someone is a good prospect, quality lead, or is likely to convert with promotional offers or upsells.

A lot of online marketers laugh at the idea of SMS marketing services because they think it’s more regulated than email marketing. Fortunately, that’s not the case.

Other marketers shy away from text message marketing because it’s a new and therefore intimidating channel, or they feel it’s too intrusive to show up in their audiences’ text inbox. However, the data proves out that this idea is also not the case.

1. 75% of consumers are comfortable receiving SMS messages from brands as long as they opt-in to messaging. [1]

2. 64% of consumers think businesses should contact them via text messages more often. [2]

3. 75% of consumers want to receive texts with special offers. [3] 

If 3 out of 4 of all consumers would like to see special offers, discounts, and coupons delivered to their smartphones via SMS, you shouldn’t be worried about giving it a shot, right?

One recommended strategy for promotional text message marketing is to create a call-to-action that has a sense of urgency, such as a limited-time offer that needs to be redeemed by a specified date. 

Another strategy would be to encourage SMS/MMS recipients to share promotional offers with their family and friends in order to earn more points.

4. 75% of consumers are particularly frustrated when they can not respond to a text message from a business due to limitations with certain kinds of texting tools. [4]

5. 56% of people surveyed would rather message a business than call customer service. [5]

6. 67% of people would rather text with a business about appointments and scheduling than by email or phone. [4]

7. 59% of users want their communications built into the phone – not as a separate app, that they need to download. [6]

SMS is the preferred channel for consumers because opt-in is simple. Furthermore, they don’t have to download a brand’s app to receive notifications. Furthermore, SMS is more direct than a push notification from an app, and it won’t get lost in your email inbox.

8. 77% of consumers are likely to have a positive perception of a company that offers SMS. [7]

9. Up to 80% of consumers preferred to track their orders via text when products were shipped. [8]

The last couple of SMS marketing statistics we’ll include in this section highlights why SMS marketing in the USA is increasingly important. And it’s about the largest group of Americans and soon to be the highest spending group of American consumers – Millennials.

10. 83% of millennials open SMS messages within 90 seconds of receiving them. [9] 

11. 75% of millennials prefer SMS communications for deliveries, promotions, and surveys. [9]

Contrary to popular belief, most people aren’t discouraged by promotional offers sent via text. This is due to a few key factors. Most notably, SMS marketing is actually less intrusive than other marketing channels because users must provide you permission to send them texts from your business.

After reading through these first 11 SMS marketing statistics, you should feel much more comfortable about whether or not you’ll be upsetting any of your customers or prospects. 

Consumers are okay with companies sending them text messages, and even encourage their favorite brands to do so.  

Comparing SMS Text Messaging to Other Marketing Channels

So how does text message marketing compare to other marketing channels? And what makes SMS different than other marketing channels?

The value of text message marketing is that it’s the most preferred way for billions of people to interact with one another. People keep their phones by their side at all times and are always ready to use them.

And once again, the SMS marketing statistics we’ve gathered make that crystal clear.

12. Consumers are more likely to open text messages before any other form of mobile communication. [10]

13. In fact, consumers preferred channels for receiving brand updates are as follows: [4]

• SMS: 48%
• Email: 22% 
• App notifications: 20% 
• Direct mail: 8%

14. SMS messages have a 98% open rate compared to 20% of emails. [11]

15. The average response time for a legitimate email is about 90 minutes, compared to 90 seconds for a text message. [12]

16. Only 10% of SMS marketing messages are spam, compared to nearly 49.7% of emails. [13]

17. The response rate of SMS text message marketing is 45% vs email response rates at 6%. [8]

Additionally, engagement rates are also much higher when comparing SMS marketing and email marketing. 

18. 19% of links in text messages are clicked vs 2% of links in emails. [14]

19. SMS messages have an average click-through rate of 36%, while email click-through-rates are a dismal 3.4%. [13]

20. When it comes to sales, 90% of leads prefer to be texted, compared to being called on the phone. []

21. 55% of consumers prefer SMS for appointment reminders vs 35% of consumers who prefer email for those notifications. [16]

Unlike a website, SMS marketing is a persistent channel. Your website isn’t a persistent channel, because when a lead leaves your website without you capturing any of their information, they’re gone.

SMS marketing services provide a persistent marketing channel because you can re-engage with those people over and over again, more strategically.

Furthermore, you own this channel (an owned phone number), the same way you own marketing assets like your website. That makes SMS marketing a win-win because you both own the channel, and it’s a persistent channel.

How Effective is SMS Marketing?

Short answer: Pretty darn effective.

22. 98% of Sent Text Messages are Read. [17]

23. SMS messages have a 209% higher response rate than phone, email, or Facebook. [18]

24. It only takes 90 seconds on average for a person to respond to a text message. [19]

25. 90% of SMS messages are read within 3 minutes of being received. [14]

26. Furthermore, 95% of texts that are read and responded to happen within 3 minutes of delivery. [14]

When comparing different industries response rates, here are five of the largest industries and their results:

27. SMS response rates within the first 15 minutes of delivery. [13]

• Retail: 32%
• Betting & Trading: 33%
• Entertainment: 37%
• Travel & Transportation: 54%
• Finance & Banking: 57%

28. Sending business appointment reminders to customers through SMS reduced missed appointments by 26%. [8]

29. 91% of users who opt-in to receive texts from a brand see those messages as “somewhat useful” or “very useful”. [20]

The numbers don’t lie. Text message marketing, by far, has the best engagement rate of any marketing channel. Furthermore, mobile marketing is as fast as it gets for both delivery and response times.

SMS Marketing Statistics & SMS Sales Statistics

The following 16 SMS marketing statistics should convince marketing and sales teams to give text marketing serious consideration because they demonstrate that companies who are not adopting SMS as a channel, are likely losing out on substantial revenue.

30. 31% of consumers respond to SMS surveys, with an average response time of fewer than six minutes. [21]

31. SMS produces engagement rates six to eight times higher than retailers normally achieve via email marketing. [22]

32. 48% of Internet consumers said they would prefer to receive their loyalty-related messages via SMS. [10]

33. 50% of US consumers make direct purchases after they’re sent an SMS branded text, a discount coupon, or a QR code. [23]

34. Consumers who get SMS marketing messages are 40% more likely to convert than those who don’t. [24]

35. SMS produces engagement rates 6-8 times higher than retailers normally achieve via email marketing when used for redemption, data collection, and brand awareness. []

36. Coupons delivered via SMS have redemption rates 10 times higher than those of printed coupons. [13]

37. 64% of US smartphone owners said they would like to receive service-based messages from retail stores. [24]

38. 55% of US consumers said they would like to receive service-based messages from travel companies and delivery/restaurant businesses. [24]

Remember, they have to opt-in with an SMS keyword or some other way. So, consumers don’t need to receive your text messages if they don’t want to. Plus, they can always opt-out, which is why we recommend including an opt-out keyword, such as STOP.

39. 90% of customers say they have gained value from SMS loyalty programs. [11]

40. 83% of marketers promoting email subscription via SMS said it was “very effective/effective.” [20]

41. Using short, branded links in your mobile marketing campaigns can help improve conversions by up to 34% which is why we recommend using a URL shortener like Rebrandly. 

The reason why the click-through rate of branded links is much higher than that of short, generic links is that branded links are more easily trusted, as opposed to bit.ly/952769112, something like chatbots.org/sms-tools looks a lot nicer, tells you what to expect when you click on it, and it uses a brand name.

42. 96% of marketers rated mobile welcome SMS as “very effective/effective” or “somewhat effective.” [20]

43. 77% of consumers said they opted-in to a brand’s text messages to receive coupons or deals. [25]

44. 33% of consumers said they opted-in to a brand’s text messages to gain access to more meaningful content. [25]

45. 41% of consumers said they didn’t opt-in to a brand’s text messages because the texts didn’t provide meaningful content. [25]

SMS Statistics for Customer Support

Text is makes it easy to communicate with your customers because it’s instant, convenient, and universal. And the best live chat software allows you to proactively engage with customers and prospects in order to grow revenue, qualify leads, and offer real-time support across multiple channels – including SMS.

46. Consumers in the US prefer SMS over voice calls for customer service. [26]

47. More than 50% of customers prefer contacting support through text messaging compared to all other major communication channels. [17]

48. 70% of consumers want to use mobile messaging to troubleshoot issues. [27]

49. 68% of consumers would like to use mobile messaging to contact a company with billing questions or concerns. [27]

50. 71% of consumers — say using text messaging to communicate with a business was effective. [28]

51. 97% of companies found they communicated with consumers more efficiently after launching texting initiatives. [6]

52. 39% of businesses use some form of texting to communicate with their customers. [4]

Your customers want to use text for customer support issues. These numbers should have you thinking about the impact SMS could have on your business if you offered live chat support with SMS as an option, in addition to your other support channels.

Text Marketing Trends in 2020 and Beyond

Text message marketing is a massively underused marketing channel in general, and for that reason, it can be the perfect complement to your overall marketing strategy. And it’s growing, fast!

53. Compared to 2016, 23% more people will opt-in to receive SMS messages from companies in 2020. [18]

54. 7 million people will choose to receive business SMS messages in 2020. [18]

55. About 61% of marketers still don’t use SMS. If you start now you’ll be on the cutting edge. [28]

56. Despite SMS marketing statistics that prove SMS marketing is effective, 65% of brands still don’t have a formal strategy in place for bulk SMS messaging to take advantage of the amount of time we spend on our phones. [28]

57. Polls predict that by 2020, 85% of interactions between brands and customers will be managed without speaking. [29]

58. The use of SMS marketing grew 197% as a strategy in B2B efforts from 2015 to 2017. [20]

59. Despite the SMS boom, 61% of businesses have yet to embrace the platform. [30]

60. 73% of brands expect their SMS marketing budget to increase in 2020. [8]

Hopefully there’s no doubt left in your mind that SMS marketing is a highly viable and even necessary marketing channel. Don’t pass up the opportunity to grow your customer base with text message marketing in 2020.

Getting started with SMS text message marketing

Now that you know the most important SMS marketing statistics, it’s time to learn how to run great SMS marketing campaigns.

Watered-down, mobile-targeting tactics are costing you conversions, clients, and revenue. Meanwhile, SMS marketing is lurking in the background, waiting for you to capitalize on it.

So, take a look at these two articles of “SMS Marketing Examples” and “How To Send a Text Message Blast.”

Or, watch our video on “How To Do Text Message Marketing.”

SMS marketing is the fastest way to reach the more than 5 billion people that send and receive text messages around the world. And that’s because it’s instant, convenient, and universal.

When you’re ready to execute your own SMS marketing campaigns, opt-in programs, and text message blasts, use MobileMonkey’s suite of SMS marketing tools.

Have questions? MobileMonkey’s SMS FAQs help doc has answers.

Important next steps

See all the tools in MobileMonkey’s multi-channel chatbot platform by getting started with MobileMonkey for free.

References

1. MarketingProfs

2. Text Better

3. SmallBizDaily

4. ZipWhip 

5. Nielson

6. GSMA

7. eRetailers

8. Statista 2019

9. OpenMarket

10. eMarketer

11. SMS Comparison

12. CTIA

13. DSIM

14. SMS Global

15. GSMA

16. Flowroute

17. SmallBizDaily

18. Mobile Xco

19. GSMA

20. Salesforce

21. Business.com

22. Retail Dive

23. Mobivity

24. Vibes

25. Exact Target

26. Twilio

27. GSMA

28. MMA Global

29. CNBC

30. SMS.to

The post 60 SMS Marketing Statistics That Will Change Your Mind About Text Message Marketing appeared first on MobileMonkey.

Email marketing and video are two services that can be combined and provide great results, because one is engaging and the other is cost-effective. What’s more, email marketing is the most affordable way to reach different audiences, as well as one of the easiest to measure.

There are a lot of different email marketing services—both and paid—that can offer you the same thing: a way to use video in email marketing.

But just incorporating video into your email marketing efforts isn’t enough.

Why Video in Email Marketing?

The obvious answer would be, “Because it’s engaging,” but is this true?

According to a report published by Forrester, video in email marketing can increase the click-through rate by as much as 300 percent.

Oh, and check this one out: “Marketers who use video grow revenue 49 percent faster than non-video users.”

A video increases click-through rate for emails, helps brands grow revenue way faster. What else can it do?

Video can actually influence decision-making. A staggering 48 percent of users want the video to reflect what they’re interested in. Imagine segmenting your audience and hitting it with targeted video ads that do exactly that. This is bound to bring back conversion.

The above sources show that video—either on its own or used in email marketing—is effective, provided that you know all of the fruitful ways to use it in an email and the reasons for using it.

But is your business ready for a marketing strategy that includes video marketing? Do you know how to build a video marketing strategy that will pay off? Gauge whether or not you’re ready by doing the following:

• Determining your goals: Doing this will help you pinpoint the exact type of marketing content—and more specifically the type of video—you need to come up with.
• Assessing your existing marketing efforts: Are your current marketing efforts up to par? Videos in email marketing might be gold, but maybe you need to obtain some silver first. Evaluate what you’re already doing to see if it’s time to add video to the mix.

Now, since you have an idea of how useful video can be when used in your general marketing campaigns, let’s go ahead and see how you can implement it in your email marketing campaigns.

Why You Should Use Video in Email Marketing

There are more than a couple of reasons why you should incorporate video in your email marketing strategy. Let’s look at what it can get you that a plain old email can’t:

1. Engagement

Engagement is one of the most important reasons for using video in your overall marketing strategy—and especially in your email marketing strategy. Video is one of a few things that can be beautiful, engaging, cost-effective, and sales-boosting at the same time. Humans rely on their vision more than any other sense to learn and comprehend things, and video marketing takes advantage of this.

Let’s assume that you need to boost your influencer marketing game. Your videos need to be relevant to that goal and short enough for the prospect to actually watch them.

By cutting up your content and the information you need your audience to know, and offering small, bite-sized pieces, you make it easier for them to digest all of the necessary information.

2. Open Communication

Videos can create the impression that there’s an open dialogue between the brand and the consumer. Creating, for example, a video showcasing the use of your product or the creative process behind it can make the prospect or the customer feel like they’re part of the creative process itself. And who doesn’t love to be included?

3. SEO

Another benefit of video marketing—and another reason to use it in your email marketing campaigns—is that videos can do wonders in terms of ranking on search engine results pages.

In other words, with some proper SEO magic, your email marketing campaign and your video in this email marketing campaign could go viral—something that won’t happen as easily with a text post, no matter how clever the copy.

Ways to Use Video in Email Marketing

You already know about SMART goals and how you need to study your KPIs before deciding on your marketing efforts. But I need to make sure you understand something very important before moving on:

Not all email providers support video. If your prospect doesn’t use a supporting email provider, all they’ll see is some fallback text, aka an ugly box with some text explaining why the feature is not working.

(Source)

Unless you don’t mind missing out on a great deal of conversion, don’t base your entire campaign off HTML5 (the markup language used to code videos into your emails). Instead, work with the following elements:

1. Use a GIF

One of the best video-in-email-marketing tactics is using an animated GIF. GIFs have been around for quite some time and are supported by pretty much every email client.

There are some email clients that don’t support GIFs, so the best thing to do is include all of the information the user needs on the first frame of your GIF. That way, they’ll be able to read about the special offers (if there are any), and they’ll be enticed to click on your CTA.

After that, if you’re pursuing lead generation, you can create a dedicated landing page with some great landing page copy and see your conversion skyrocket!

Pro tip: On your landing page, use the same GIF or something that could be coming after the GIF you used for your email marketing campaign.

2. Use a Play Button

This is one of the easiest ways to “embed” a video into your email marketing campaign and meld video marketing and email marketing together. It’s also one of the most rewarding, if you ask me.

The process is fairly simple: You get an image from the video in question, a screenshot, an actual thumbnail of the video—that’s totally your call—and then use it in your email marketing campaign. On that image, you’ll add a play button element, making the image look like a video that’s waiting to be played.

(Source)

You can click on that image or you can click on the “WATCH THE VIDEO” CTA—whatever you prefer. You’ll be redirected to the video.

Pro tip: Use autoplay on the landing page. It doesn’t make sense for the user to click on a play button twice. However, be mindful of the sound. It’s best for the video to be muted, just like the social media videos we bump into on various platforms.

3. Add an Actual Video to Your Email Marketing Campaign

You can always segment and study your data, check the email providers and devices each of your customers use, and in the end, weigh the pros and cons and use an actual video. If, for example, most of the users you need to target for your next email campaign use Apple Mail, go ahead and embed that video.

A word of warning, though: You may miss out on a lot more engagement, and there will be no need for a prospect to spend time on your website because they won’t be redirected there.

4. Put a Video in Your Email Marketing Signature

Yes, folks, this is a thing and, honestly, it’s interesting!

The setup process doesn’t differ from adding a static image and the play button to your email marketing campaign. You’ll just need a thumbnail, the play button, and the link for redirecting your prospects.

By adding a video of yourself to your email signature, you can make it seem like your prospects are talking to someone they may have met before. Plus, adding a tone of voice, facial expression, and that “close contact” feeling puts a face to a name.

This is a great way to engage prospects with cold emailing, especially if you use the word “video” in your subject line.

5. Create Video Marketing Testimonials

One of my favorite tactics that you can use to boost your business is customer testimonials.

Both in pure email marketing and in pure video marketing, testimonials can be goldmines for engagement, increased purchases, and helping people become brand ambassadors.

Now, imagine what could happen if you create a video email marketing campaign with testimonials. Testimonials can raise brand awareness with less words than an entire campaign would need.

The fact of the matter, of course, is that testimonial videos are not as cost-effective to create. But if budget is one of your primary concerns, a person talking about how your product made their lives easier—or, better yet, how your product made them into the person they wanted to be—will pay back in full.

6. Produce a Video Marketing Series

You want to tell the story of a person who came across your product and loved everything about it—so much so that they became a repeat customer, joined your customer loyalty program, and so on and so forth.

How are you going to tell their story if it’s well over the two-minute mark? By creating an email marketing campaign that splits the video into a series!

This will keep your audience on their toes, engage them, and even have them looking forward to your email. Not to mention that it’s a fantastic way to upsell and cross-sell products to your existing customers.

Use your data to segment and see who might be interested in the product in the video campaign you’re about to release and … voila! All the prospects interested in the campaign you’re planning will be right there and you’ll be ready to work your magic!

7. Get the Video Marketing Shares

One of the best things about video, like I mentioned earlier, is that it can go viral in seconds.

OK, seconds may be an overstatement, but you get the gist. A video can go viral easily, making a whole video marketing campaign or email marketing campaign go viral as well. Just make sure your content is shareable, either by making your email shareable or by sharing your content on your social media platforms for maximum engagement and exposure.

While you’re at it, think of incentivizing shares. For each share, you could give out a code for a small discount, free shipping, or exclusive insider news about your brand.

Social shares can get you more prospects without you doing anything other than setting up a landing page.

Video in Email Marketing: The Honorable Mentions

There are many more ways to use video in email marketing to get your prospects on board with your product:

• If you’re a SaaS company, you can use video in your email marketing campaigns to help with your users’ onboarding. Just set up the videos, your campaign, and a dedicated page, and you’ll be good to go.
• If you need to market a location—maybe you’re a tourist agency or maybe you’re a restaurant in that area—create a newsletter and include a video showcasing all of the fun activities a visitor can do there.
• If you’re selling a product, you can use video in email marketing campaigns to show your prospects how to use that product.

Is there an event you want to promote? Is there a PR crisis you want to avoid? Or maybe, just maybe, you need to create a digest to keep users on their toes?

There’s no better way than creating a video email marketing campaign that showcases how your brand loves its prospects and customers.

The Takeaway

Video in email marketing is beneficial.

Whether you need to create presentations that will give your customers inside information about your product or you need to promote online courses, you can go ahead and create videos to support those needs.

Lesson-1: Introduction to Digital Marketing : https://youtu.be/wfOp0lsCXAY
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Lesson-17: Landing page: How to Make a Beautiful landing page : https://youtu.be/Pk0USzDxfsg
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