If you have been longing to know what SMS marketing is all about and you want to know how to maximize its importance, then this article is for you. First, we will define what SMS marketing means, and then we can go further to talk about the functions of SMS Marketing Software. 

What is SMS Marketing?

SMS Marketing is a system or type of marketing that involves sending leads or promotional campaigns to prospective customers or clients via SMS. SMS in itself stands for “Short Message Service”. This means that when you are sending SMS marketing leads, the message has to be precise, concise, and straight to the point. 

Messages sent via SMS are mostly meant to communicate updates, alerts, and time-sensitive offers to people who need and have given their consent to receive such messages. If you want to excel in marketing, then you have to have good communication skills. Hence, your SMS Marketing strategy should be top-notch. 

You should be able to communicate to your customers or clients what your business is all about and what value they will get from doing business with you. SMS marketing today is one of the most effective means of telling people bout your business. This is because people in this generation are more attached to their phones and can easily get your message as it enters their phone. 

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What is SMS marketing Software?

SMS Marketing Software is an algorithm or programmed system that is automated to help you send text messages to both existing and prospective customers or clients. SMS marketing software is cloud-based and can be used to reach a global audience. 

Sending text messages is the most direct means of reaching people today. Most mobile users have different apps on their phones that can enhance SMS marketing and this is why marketers are considering SMS marketing to increase sales. 

There are quite a number of SMS marketing software available today. We will take a look at some of the best SMS marketing software that can help you get ahead of your competitors. With an automated system of sending messages to your customers, you will not miss sending reminders, and updates to your customers. 

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The Best SMS Marketing Software

Now, we will take a look at some of the best software for SMS Marketing. 

1. Text Magic

Text Magic is a software that is best suited for multi-platform marketing. It is an SMS marketing software developed in the United Kingdom. It is one software that is capable of streamlining your marketing efforts over several channels. With Text Magic, it is easy to send reminders, updates, new offers, bulk SMS, and notifications from your web browser, desktop, or mobile phone. 

You can easily send text messages to your employees and business associates at a low cost. Also, with Text Magic, you can send SMS marketing messages to multiple platforms from a single interface. 

You have the opportunity to enjoy two-way communication between you and your subscribers when you use Text Magic. It will allow you to send bulk or mass text messages to your customers or clients. It offers you the benefits that you can get from sending email marketing. 

Text Magic gives you the luxury of automating, streamlining, and optimizing your SMS marketing schedule because it offers CRM solutions through Zapier and APIs integrations. 

Some of the features on Text Magic, that makes it exceptional include the following; 

  • SMS gateway API
  • Online SMS through TextMagic.
  • Enterprise SMS solutions.
  • Added security through 2FA and SSO. 
  • Accurate monitoring, and measurement of impact.
  • It is available on different mobile devices.
  • It enables two-way communication.
  • Global coverage. 

It is economical to use Text Magic. Getting started with Text Magic is easy as registration on their platform is free. No charges on inbound messages as only outbound messages are charged, and this is done on a prepaid basis. 

You have access to unlimited credits on your Text Magic account. The credit can be used any time you like. Your credit doesn’t expire when you use Text Magic as your SMS Marketing Software. You can also decide to pay-as-you-go, you can decide to cancel your subscription at any time and all credit will be refunded immediately. 

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2. Simple Texting

This is the software that is most suitable for complete SMS marketing. It is a software that is good for both small and large business owners because of its affordability. With simple texting, SMS marketing is as simple as it can ever be. 

It is good for sending bulk SMS, and opt-in SMSs to all contact on your list. You can create a drip campaign and send automated follow-up messages using simple texting. 

You can embed your promotional images and links into your messages when you use simple texting. It allows two-way communication and you can track who among your subscribers clicked on the link(s) that you send to them. 

One added advantage that simple texting has is that you can set up a customer support service on it. This will help you resolve any issue that your subscribers may have with doing business with you. 

Some of the features that make simple texting good for SMS marketing are listed below;

  • Collection of data through custom fields. 
  • Two-way messaging. 
  • Audience tracking and segmentation. 
  • It allows the creation of an autoresponder. 
  • It can be integrated with third-party tools like MailChimp and Zapier. 
  • It has a time-saving message template. 
  • It offers advanced message scheduling. 
  • It is available on iOS and Android apps. 
  • Group texting and self-cleaning lists.
  • You can create polls and surveys on simple texting. 

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3. SlickText

for those who prefer web-based SMS marketing, SlickText is the best option for them. It is an entirely cloud-based SMS marketing software. It is affordable and it pays attention to details that other SMS marketing software do not cater for. You can send bulk SMS using SlickText. 

SlickText is a CTIA (Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association) compliant software and will not charge you for incoming messages. It has a mobile app that you can use to send text messages, and also monitor your progress on the go. It provides tips on how you can use the software to your advantage. 

The important features on Slick Text include; 

  • MMS support
  • Bulk SMS 
  • SMS autoresponders
  • Two-way messaging
  • Helps to send automated birthday messages to subscribers
  • Integration of Zapier, Email, and Facebook messaging. 
  • SMS-based polls and surveys
  • Allows opt-in links
  • Great audience engagement
  • Advanced text message scheduling. 
  • Simple customer segmentation. 
  • Automated drip campaigns. 

SlickText offers several packages as the pricing is dependent on the features you might like to have. It has up to ten different pricing plans. 

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4. Salesmsg

Salesmsg is good for both small and medium scale business owners. Salesmsg makes sure even small business owners can also enjoy the benefits of automated SMS marketing. It is economical to reach your clients using salesmsg. 

Salesmsg has a friendly user interface that makes it easy for SMS marketing campaigns. It integrates other applications such as Zoho, Hubspot, and Zapier. It can help you generate new contacts who you can message to get new customers or clients. 

Salesmsg can work with other applications such as ClickFunnels, Slack, and MailChimp among others. The following are some of its main features;

  • Two-way messaging
  • It is scalable, simple, and secure
  • Supports MMS
  • Tag-based segmentation
  • Emoji support and calendar integrations. 
  • Autoresponder and canned responses
  • Supports toll-free numbers and landlines
  • Archived and private conversations. 

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5. ClickSend

This is an SMS Marketing Software that is good for business owners who want to get the best Pay-Per-Text Mass messaging. It provides a global reach for your marketing text messages. 

You don’t need to download any app to enjoy ClickSend. The software is online and you can send SMS through the mail and cellular services. With ClickSend, you can send bulk messages online via Facebook messenger. 

It has a dedicated API that helps the integration of third-party apps. With this, you can easily connect with several marketing automation platforms. ClickSend allows you to streamline your marketing strategy to achieve the maximum result. 

ClickSend supports SMS marketing through postal, channels, fax, and you can also send voice messages to your subscribers. Inbound messages on ClickSend are free regardless of the plan you subscribe to. No setup fee and it provides a free progress report and you can personalize your user preferences.  

Some of the important features on ClickSend are;

  • Dedicated online APIs and dashboard. 
  • Round-the-clock customer service.
  • It has global coverage.
  • Easily interfaces with Salesforce, Zapier, and other applications. 
  • Supports MMS, Voice, SMS, and fax gateway. 

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6. Tatango

For those who are looking for an SMS tool that can help them reach out to people around, then Tatango is the ideal choice for them. It is a software specifically designed for political SMS marketing. It is the best political SMS marketing software by a mile and has been up there for over 10 years. 

You can create workflows on Tatango even if you don’t have programming knowledge. With Tatango, you can easily separate your subscribers so that you can send the right messages to the right set of customers. 

You can easily track and analyze messages sent to your subscribers for proper marketing impacts. It allows you to create and merge tags for personalized text messaging. 

The features that make Tatango great include the following; 

  • Total administrative controls. 
  • Event-based automation.
  • Multi-channel messaging.
  • Dedicated mobile messaging API.
  • Message tracking for insights.
  • CYIA compliant

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7. EZ Texting 

EZ Texting is a web-based SMS marketing software that allows you to curate real-time text messages. It is the best ease-of-use SMS marketing software. It is suitable for all business types because of its flexible and affordable packages. 

You have absolute control of all the features in EX texting from your dashboard. It provides you with a guide to understand how the software works. Its user-friendliness is second to none. 

EZ Texting SMS marketing software comes with exciting features such as; 

  • Easy integration with third-party apps. 
  • Text-to-landline messaging. 
  • Innovative contact management.
  • No charges on incoming messages.
  • Text forwarding and scheduling. 
  • Reusable message templates. 
  • Personalized text message drafting.

It has four different pricing plans to suit its users. The subscription can be monthly or annually. 

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8. Heymarket 

Heymarket is a good SMS marketing software that can be used by small- and large-scale businesses to boost their sales. It allows for customer support and provides shared inboxes to enhance prompt responses to customer’s questions and requests. 

It is a good SMS marketing software that can be used to engage in SMS marketing campaigns as it allows users to send bulk SMSs. You can also monitor your reach with the help of Heymarket to be sure your customers are getting the message. 

Heymarket can also integrate several marketing applications and social media platforms. This will increase your reach. You can integrate Heymarket with applications such as Microsoft and Slack to make the task as easy as possible. 

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Best Practices for SMS Marketing

Now that we have an idea of the best SMS marketing software around, let us look at the rules that can help in achieving a maximum result with your SMS marketing software. You have to do the right thing so that you can reach your target audience as this is what will guarantee an increase in sales. In the next section, we will take a look at the rules that can be followed to get results with your SMS marketing software. 

Ensure Your Contacts are Subscribed to your SMS

Text messaging is the direct method of reaching out to your clients or customers. Hence, you must make sure that you have permission from your customers to send messages to them.

You don’t want to waste time sending messages to people who don’t need it. Once you have the consent of your customers to send messages to them, then you can achieve a lot. 

Get the Proper Timing for Your Messages

One good advantage of text messages is that people often have their phones right in their hands and they can see as messages come in. Unlike emails that are checked on occasions, a text message is a direct line to reach your contacts. 

Avoid sending SMS to people at odd hours. This can be a total turn-off. To avoid this, some countries have restricted hours of the day where you cannot send marketing messages. 

So, you have to be sure of the timing, so that you are not doing the right thing at the wrong time. 

Include Your Company Name

Do not forget to include the name of your company in your marketing text messages. The reason why you need to include your company name is that when you send messages through shortcodes your recipient needs to know the message is coming from you. With these shortcodes, your company name will not show unless you include it in the body of the message. 

Without your company name in the marketing message, your customers wouldn’t know how to get to you or patronize you. Hence, make sure you include your company name so that you can be reached by your customers. 

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How Does SMS Marketing Work?

SMS marketing messages when sent do not carry your phone numbers because they are sent from shortcodes. The shortcode contains 5-6 digits and they can be sent to multiple recipients or a single recipient. 

Most countries prevent sender information to be altered. Hence, the message your recipients get will show the shortcode that your SMS provider used. This is why you should always include the name of your business in the body of the text.  

This is how SMS marketing works. It is quite different from sending your regular text messages. 

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Types of SMS Marketing Messages

There are two types of messages that you can send as far as SMS marketing is concerned. The message can either be Campaigns or Transactional. 

  • Transactional: Transactional messages are “one to one” messages that are sent as a result of the course of an event. An example is a text message providing you with details of an item you bought and is been shipped to your residence. 
  • Campaigns: This SMS marketing type is “one to Many” bulk SMSs. This type of marketing message is sent to tell customers about promotions, new products, product updates, sales, and coupons among others. 

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Summary

The goal of SMS marketing software is to help you send timely updates and sales promotions to your existing or prospective clients or customers. How well you can communicate what your business is all about will go a long way in helping you boost sales. 

SMS messages are effective because it is sent directly to the recipient who most times have their mobile phones right in their hands.

Communication is very important in business and as such, it is important to ensure you are doing it well so that people can know what your business is all about. Do your due diligence, and decide which SMS marketing software is best for your business. 

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