Adapting the 5 S’s of digital marketing to SMS.

Setting goals is a fundamental part of marketing. If you currently do not have any realistic goals set up, then a great framework to help you get started is the 5 S’s of digital marketing. The framework, created by PR Smith, provides a basic but effective starting point for you to use. As described by Dave Chaffey, founder of Smart Insights, the 5 S’s of digital marketing “help check you’re covering the whole of digital marketing, not just sales”.

Whilst the intention of the 5 S’s is to focus on digital marketing as a whole, the framework can also be adapted to SMS marketing. The reasoning for this is that you should look to set a goal before you send out each text campaign that you send. For example, your goal could be a 3x return on investment, a 40% click-through-rate or 20 conversions. Whatever your goal is, setting a realistic and achievable one will help you because it will give you a starting point on what type of content and call-to-action your campaign should include. The benefit of using the 5 S’s framework to set goals, is that it has five clear sections that can help structure your next SMS campaign. Let’s look at each of the five in more detail.

1 - Sell

Most companies will be using SMS marketing to increase sales. In order to achieve this goal, your message must include an incentive or some content that is worth the time of your customers. Make sure that every text that you send offers value to your customers, otherwise they may opt-out of your texting list and your future campaigns could have been something that they were interested in. Your text campaigns could include a discount (buy one get one, limited time deal etc.) or exclusive offers on new products for example.

2 - Speak

Whilst SMS is typically used to sell, you can also use it to speak to your customers. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, as long as you have relevant content then your customers will be happy to listen. Speaking to your customers can go a long way in increasing brand both brand reputation and loyalty. You can speak to customers for various different reasons, such as collecting feedback, confirming orders, sending out delivery notifications or by sending personal messages such as a happy birthday text.

3 – Serve

The third part of the 5 S’s is all about serving your customers and adding value. In regard to SMS marketing, this can be broken down into two different segments. Firstly, it relates to the content that you send your customers, which is a recurring theme in this post. Make sure that your customers will gain value from opening every text message that you send. The perception of value can often be difficult to determine but think about whether your text campaign will make your customers either interested in purchasing or feel some type of emotion (such as happiness after a happy birthday text).

The flip side of serving is that customers can also respond to your text message campaigns. Your customers may not always reply, but when they do it is important to acknowledge what they have to say. Customers may reply with a request for more information, to make a purchase or to provide purchase feedback for example. The way in which you deal with these customer responses can have a direct impact on company reputation and brand loyalty. Therefore, it is important to ensure that you dedicate some time to check for responses and engage with the customers that reply to your campaigns.

4 - Save

When considering a new marketing channel, one of the most important factors to consider is your return on investment. This is where the fourth part of the 5 S’s of digital marketing comes in – cost. The benefit of SMS marketing is that it is a very cost-effective platform, with high a return on investment. You can send out text messages for as low as 1.6p per text message. SMS marketing also allows you to organise your customers into demographical groups such as age, location and previous purchasing history. You can then target each group with texts that they are most likely to engage with. This will significantly reduce your cost per conversion whilst also meaning that you do not need to send a campaign to the whole of your database.

5 - Sizzle

The final part of the 5 S’s of digital marketing is all about sizzle. Chaffey states that this segment is all about building your brand and the customer experience. When considering SMS marketing, sizzle is extremely important. Try to be creative with your text campaigns by thinking of quirky and interesting ways to get your point across. The wording that you use may be the difference between a customer purchasing or deleting your text message. One thing to consider is that it is important not to go overboard – don’t use puns excessively and make sure that your wording reflects the message in the content. Finally, think of your brand image and try to make sure that your tone of voice matches how you want your company to be perceived.