Are you one of those marketers or companies who think you are actively involved in bulk SMS marketing simply because you are sending bulk SMS filled with “irresistible offers”? Bad news: that’s not marketing and you’re just wasting your time and money. Good news: you can change things, but first, you need this knowledge…
What is marketing by the way?
According to market legend Philip Kotler and his co-author Kevin Keller in the book Mighty Book, MarketingManagement“Marketing is about identifying and meeting human and social needs. One of the shortest and best definitions of marketing is “meeting needs profitably.”
And I especially like Richard Schefren’s definition of marketing: “Marketing is getting the market to want your product or service.”
So are you really doing mass SMS marketing?
Considering the marketing definitions above, would you say that you are really doing bulk SMS marketing? I mean, if you rent a list of phone numbers or even build the list yourself and then send them promotional offers, would you say you’re marketing? Would that lead your market to want your product or service?
Not likely. It takes more than that. That’s what people call “sms blasting”. In fact, bombard people with too many offers and they’ll end up not liking you instead of wanting you and your product.
That said, when do you really say you’re doing SMS marketing?
When SMS Marketing Really Happens
First, understand that marketing is a process and it takes time to materialize. To do bulk SMS marketing in the real sense, you either need to build your own list of phone numbers from scratch or buy a list whose demographics you know, I mean a list that has people who actually need what you sell.
When you have that in place, identify the human and social needs of these people as Kotler and his friend have said, then meet these needs by constantly providing resources that solve their problems and/or help them achieve their goals…while in at the same time demonstrating its competence and quality.
As time goes by, your list will get to know you and identify with you. Then selling to them becomes easy. That is marketing. And let’s not forget the good old practice of segmenting your list so you can communicate with them in a targeted and personal way.
So, criticizing people with the same message at the same time is not marketing at all. And if you want to succeed in your SMS bulk marketing campaigns, take the time to market ace against blasting It is not optional, it is mandatory. Change course today!