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Advances in Text Blasting are Making SMS Cool Again
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to wreak havoc and create uncertainty in many parts of the world, including the Philippines, assuming that we’ll return to business as usual in the near future could result in you missing out on opportunities and sacrificing market share to more proactive competitors. Business decision-makers simply can’t take a “wait and see” attitude. They need to make the most of the tools available to them. And the humble SMS could just be the answer.
An ever-changing market demands an ever-evolving communication tool
One strategy being adopted by B2C businesses to reach and influence existing and potential new customers is capitalising on the established power and penetration of SMS. Today, forward-looking companies are embracing innovations in text blasting and bulk SMS to remain relevant.
For some, focusing on SMS might sound counterintuitive – why would you want to channel time and investment into what’s considered by many to be a legacy platform? The truth is that today, SMS isn’t a monolithic, one-dimensional tool. That’s because B2C sales and marketing leaders in the Philippines are pioneering creative ways to leverage SMS in ways never before imagined.
Before we delve into the next-generation use cases for SMS, it’s helpful to consider the history of SMS in the context of the Philippine marketplace.
The rise and rise of SMS
Cast your mind back a decade. How did you typically communicate with friends and colleagues? By SMS, right? Texting was a great fit for Filipino culture and soon became entrenched in our daily lives. SMS enjoyed a long reign as the most popular means of mobile text communication.
But it didn’t stop there. Businesses quickly recognised the potential of SMS to spearhead their B2C marketing efforts. That’s because, for outbound marketing, it’s more likely that a text or chat message will be read than an email.
So, it’s not surprising that SMS became the marketing communication channel of choice for most businesses seeking to engage with their customers directly and instantly.
In recent years, tools like Messenger and Viber have become the preferred means of person-to-person communication. But for businesses, the value inherent in SMS shouldn’t be overlooked. It remains the most reliable and direct way to connect with your customers. SMS still has an important role to play in your marketing and omnichannel customer communication strategy. You just need to understand how to use it more creatively.
A new dawn for SMS text blast
Leaders in B2B marketing in the Philippines, such as Promotexter, are building on the basic functionality offered by SMS and injecting new capability to make it a viable and potent marketing tool.
First, more sophisticated ways of distributing SMSs have been introduced.
Text blast involves a business reaching all the people within a group in their subscribed customer database at the same time. Today, leaders in SMS business messaging offer intuitive platforms that facilitate the sending of bulk SMS in an instant in different ways. For example, with Promotexter’s text blast app, you have the following options:
- Use the “Compose blast” feature to send SMS campaigns with the same message to all recipients.
- By selecting “File Blast,” you can send SMS campaigns with different messages to each recipient and utilise a drag-and-drop file feature. The ability to assign brand-aligned sender identities to each message enhances SMS personalisation.
Text blast involves a business reaching all the people within a group in their subscribed customer database at the same time. Today, leaders in SMS business messaging offer intuitive platforms that facilitate the sending of SMSs in an instant in different ways. For example, with Promotexter’s text blast app, you have the following options:
- Use the “Compose blast” feature to send SMS campaigns with the same message to all recipients.
- By selecting “File Blast,” you can send SMS campaigns with different messages to each recipient and utilise a drag-and-drop file feature. The ability to assign brand-aligned sender identities to each message enhances SMS personalisation.
Bulk SMS functionality enables a business to send out large volumes of SMSs at wholesale instead of consumer prices. Today, bulk SMS options are becoming more flexible. Promotexter, for instance, offers bulk prices without requiring volume commitments giving businesses the best of both worlds.
Advanced business messaging platforms such as that offered by Promotexter also provide you with granular visibility of the cost and performance of each of your SMS campaigns – including details such as the number of messages sent, pending, delivered, bounced, read, and more. This allows you to monitor the return on your campaign investments.
But that’s just the start.
Promotexter has taken this even further by introducing APIx, which offers high capacity, dedicated endpoints and asynchronous processing. APIx allows for the integration of SMS campaigns into third-party systems (applications, websites and software). The high-speed SMS API endpoint is capable of receiving 10,000 requests per second.
For example, Promotexter’s SMS 2FA Verify API enables you to generate and send two-factor authentication PIN codes by SMS within your application. An all-in-one solution through a single API. You also have the option to customise the code’s length, type and expiration, all via a single API.
For example, Promotexter’s SMS 2FA Verify API enables you to generate and send two-factor authentication PIN codes by SMS within your application. An all-in-one solution through a single API. You also have the option to customise the code’s length, type and expiration, all via a single API.
A carrier-hosted “mobile” number that works in all networks, and no SIM card required. Once assigned to your Promotexter account, all you have to do is configure an auto-reply message. All incoming messages are forwarded to your VRN in real-time, and you have the option of either using the VRN or your brand’s sender name when sending auto-replies. You can view and reply to incoming messages in your web-based account inbox or automatically forward them to your application via a webhook.
The answer is pretty simple. SMS is ubiquitous. Everyone can be reached, every time. Viber and other over-the-top (OTT) chat apps can only reach their own installed base. These of course are huge installed bases for many chat apps, but if you want to reach all of your customers you need SMS. This is why Promotexter introduced SMS Fallback which contains a short URL link to the rich content, perfectly complimenting a Viber-first messaging strategy, to ensure all your customers are reached.
Clearly, advances in SMS functionality have the potential to reinvigorate your B2B omnichannel marketing strategy. To ensure you harness the depth and breadth of the capabilities of this new breed of bulk SMS, text blast and text blast apps in your outbound marketing efforts, it makes sense to engage with a partner that has an established track record and insight into the nuances of the evolution of SMS and is firmly established in the Philippines market.
Why not get started by signing up with Promotexter?
The answer is pretty simple. SMS is ubiquitous. Everyone can be reached, every time. Viber and other over-the-top (OTT) chat apps can only reach their own installed base. These of course are huge installed bases for many chat apps, but if you want to reach all of your customers you need SMS. This is why Promotexter introduced SMS Fallback which contains a short URL link to the rich content, perfectly complimenting a Viber-first messaging strategy, to ensure all your customers are reached.
Clearly, advances in SMS functionality have the potential to reinvigorate your B2B omnichannel marketing strategy. To ensure you harness the depth and breadth of the capabilities of this new breed of bulk SMS, text blast and text blast apps in your outbound marketing efforts, it makes sense to engage with a partner that has an established track record and insight into the nuances of the evolution of SMS and is firmly established in the Philippines market.
Why not get started by signing up with Promotexter?
