This Year, Small Business Saturday’ is on 5th December and is not that far away. In its third year in the UK, the event encourages shoppers to support small businesses within their local communities. Therefore providing an exclusive day for small businesses to showcase their products and services.
In 2014 it was reported an impressive 16.5 million people shopped in the UK on Small Business Saturday, an increase of 19.5% from 13.8 million people in 2013. In addition awareness of the event increased from 33% to 64% proving significant momentum for the day and the potential for additional sales.
Some businesses are hesitant to adopt SMS Text messaging as a promotional tool, believing this form of communication to be ineffective. In reality, SMS marketing is cost-efficient, simple, effective and highly valuable.
See our 4 tips to successfully implement your SMS Marketing strategy
1. Make it personal
The key about small businesses is the personal relationship a business has with its customers. Tap in to this relationship by showcasing your character and charm by making your texts personal to your business. With TextCampaign you can send high volume personalised SMS marketing campaigns. For example, you can entice customers to visit you on Small Business Saturday with the following; “Visit us in Kingston High Street today and have your new jewellery engraved for free, by our expert, Alfie”.
2. Keep customers updated
Do you have an important announcement you need to let your customers know about urgently? 90% of text-messages are opened within 3 minutes, faster than email, so sending your message via SMS is the best option. You could send a bulk message to make your customers aware of any changes to your opening hours on Small Business Saturday. Your customers will be grateful for letting them know of any important changes, remember to not be evasive and importantly make sure your compliant.
3. Customer database
Building your SMS List is crucial for not just advertising but also to be used as a market research tool. Using Text Survey allows you to send simple single or multi-question SMS survey in minutes. You’ll be able to receive invaluable customer feedback by return text-messages. Using the elements of Text Survey will help to understand what customers think of your products and services, which in turn will help you build on the successful parts to grow your business and customer base further.
4. Call to action
It is imperative your SMS Marketing Campaign includes a call to action, showing customers the direction you wish them to follow, e.g. visit your store/website. You could include promotional codes or deals to be used on Small Business Saturday UK or, in fact, any other significant day in your business calendar.
SMS marketing goes hand in hand with Small Business Saturday UK as a cost-efficient and effective way to promote your business in the build up to the day.
Contact us today for information and advice on text message marketing on 0845 122 1302 or email us at [email protected].