SMS marketing for B2B? Yes!
The first question that usually comes up when you try to make a connection between SMS marketing and B2B business model is the following:
Is SMS marketing suitable for B2B companies?
Unlike B2C (business-to-consumer) companies focused on selling products directly to consumers, B2B is a business model in which companies are doing business with each other. B2B companies are selling products or services to other companies.
When we speak about SMS marketing, people usually think about B2C business model that utilises this marketing a lot.
So, when we try to connect SMS marketing with B2B business story, some people believe that this is not a good idea since this communication marketing channel is somehow reserved for business-to-customer industry.
Well, guess what – they are wrong!
And we will explain to you why.
Keep reading.
Although B2B model is considered as “professional environment” because business people are communicating and dealing with other business people instead of regular customers, the thing is B2B model is modified B2C model.
Yes, it is.
Why?
It’s simple: business people to which B2B companies are trying to sell products are also customers! At its core, B2B model is also a business-to-customer model with one difference – instead of “everyday” customer, there are some “serious” business people wearing suits and ties. Well, this description is just generalisation, of course, but you’re getting the point what we want to say.
In both cases, when selling to regular customers in a store or business people within some company, you are communicating and dealing with – people. This is the reason why SMS marketing, so popular and successful in creating relationships between brands and customers, can extend its reach and step into the world of business relationships.
It seems like some B2B companies are still overlooking the potential of SMS marketing merely because they think this marketing tactic is reserved for individual customer-oriented businesses. As long as they continue feeling this way they will be losing valuable marketing and communication channel used by other savvy B2B marketers who realised that SMS is more than just retail business-to-customer communication tool.
SMS marketing is so powerful because SMS is the most popular and most widespread mobile phone application. All mobile handsets have built-in SMS feature that is always on, you don’t need to install it or configure it, and even more importantly, SMS doesn’t require Internet to be able to work. This means that anyone with a mobile phone (read – almost everyone) can send or receive SMS text messages. Not to mention that SMS is so easy to use, its familiar and very efficient. And, it is very cheap compared to other marketing strategies.
Furthermore, here are some interesting industry statistics related to SMS:
- SMS open rate exceeds 99%, compared to 22% of emails
- SMS has an engagement rate 6 to even 8 times higher than email
- 90% of all text messages are read within 3 minutes of being received
- 98% of all SMS messages are looked at and are read within an average of 5 seconds (according to Frost & Sullivan)
- 97% of mobile phone owners use SMS at least once a day
How to use SMS in the B2B landscape?
B2B SMS marketing is a very effective way for you to establish good quality connections with your business partners, stay in touch with employees and communicate with your B2B oriented customers. Moreover, SMS is an ideal communication tool to send appointment reminders, updates, alerts, news, announcements and to go a step further by sending offers, discount coupons, limited-time offers or personalised greeting cards. Possibilities are almost unlimited and depend on your business objectives.
Statistics show that more than 60% of people worldwide think that businesses should use SMS more often and more than 70% of people would like to receive SMS messages from enterprises, carrying valuable information, updates or exclusive offers.
B2B SMS marketing strategy to communicate “first to know” VIP information to your best customers and industry influencers about special events, conferences, products launches or exclusive news will make the receivers feel special and want to stay close to your company.
SMS marketing approach needs to be adjusted to a bit different rules that apply to B2B ecosystem. SMS marketing needs to be more professional regarding the language, what you offer and how you communicate your offers. This doesn’t mean you need to be rigid or boring. Just pay attention not to use inappropriate slang or abbreviations that would maybe make sense when sent to regular customers. Your recipients must feel that your SMS-exclusive service brings them additional value regarding information and offers.
Mobile phones are the most important devices everyone uses in different purposes like browsing, buying, entertaining, learning, networking, etc. You must own this marketing space if you want to be successful. No other mobile tool/app connects and converts people as immediately as SMS. Remember this when you start planning your B2B marketing strategy.
We in HORISEN have developed an SMS trading platform for SMS wholesale business that might help you achieve the best business results by utilising SMS marketing. We are using it ourselves, and we’ve witnessed extraordinary results in promoting and developing our business model.
