As a business owner or marketing manager, you always look for new ways to promote your products and services. Promotional messages are a great way to reach consumers and generate interest in your brand. But how can you ensure that your promotional messages have the maximum impact?
There are several things to consider when distributing promotional messages, such as the message type, distribution channel, and timing. Let's take a closer look at each of these factors.
Importance of promotional messages
A promotional message is a short message that a company sends to consumers to promote, advertise, or market certain products. They may contain coupons, discounts, and different promotional offers. Unlike transactional messages, promotional messages are not triggered by customers' actions; the company and fall predetermine them under a more comprehensive marketing campaign.
Promotional messages announce sales, new products, or special offers. Also, they are used to remind customers about upcoming events or deadlines.
Promotional messages are essential for several reasons. First, they can help increase website traffic, subscriber engagement, customer retention, and purchase rate. By sending promotional messages to your target audience, you can stay top of mind and encourage them to take action. For example, special offers, birthday specific, will impact customers' emotions and make them feel special, hence loyalty.
They are cost-effective and usually cheaper than traditional marketing efforts as they do not require much design work, for example.
These messages can increase the potential customer base as they generate word of mouth thanks to shareable offers such as referring links to friends and enjoying a discount.
Now that you know you can leverage promotional messages to increase revenue in the long term and accumulate a loyal, engaged customer base, let's look at the types at your disposal.
The different types of promotional messages
Businesses can use many promotional message types to reach their target audiences. Some common types include:
Product/service announcements are typically used to introduce new products or services. They are used to generate interest and awareness among potential customers. Ensure you share regular information before, during, and after the release.
Sales alerts: these are typically used to notify customers of upcoming sales or promotional events. It should include information on what is on sale, the period, and prices.
Holiday promotions: are often used to encourage spending during the holiday season. You can exploit consumer behavior during holidays and personalize your messages.
Flash sales: are run for a short time and focus on a limited quantity. They are usually used to entice customers to make a purchase quickly. They are an excellent way to destock old products.
Promo codes: they are an excellent way to attract customers. For example, you can use them to reengage people who abandoned their carts.
Each type of message has its purpose and can be used differently to reach different audiences.
Keep scrolling to find out advice on how to best approach promotional messages.
Best practices for sending promotional messages
When creating a promotional campaign, it is essential to consider the target audience. Creating a campaign that is personalized for the customer will ensure maximum engagement. Businesses should consider their customer's age, gender, location, and more when crafting a promotional message.
The following are vital criteria to abide by in your messages:
Professionalism
Although it is essential to maintain professionalism, businesses should also avoid sounding too formal. This can turn customers off and make them less likely to engage with the promotion. The key is to strike a balance between being professional and being personable.
Slang, abbreviations, and emojis can be used in promotional messages, but only if they are appropriate for the target audience. For instance, slang would not be suitable for an older demographic, but it might work well for a younger crowd. The same goes for emojis - they can add personality to a message, but only if they are appropriate for the audience.
Avoid capitalizing all letters in the message. Also, do not overuse questions and exclamation marks. These can be irritating.
Precise
It is important to be clear and concise when crafting a promotional message. The goal is to get the customer's attention and persuade them to take action, so the message should be direct. Promotional messages should also be specific, detailing what customers will get if they take advantage of the offer.
A call to action
Take advantage of the chance to increase your conversion rates by including a call to action in your promotional messages! Ensure your CTA is clear and eye-catching, so customers know what they need to do to take advantage of your offer. Including a CTA will help boost click-through rates and ensure more customers take action on your offer.
Frequency
Promotional messages can be overwhelming, especially during the holiday season. You will be one of many sending promotions to potential customers; there are hundreds of competitors doing the same. So make sure you do not push your luck. Keep messages at a reasonable pace. Only send messages at night; try to focus on weekends, for instance.
The most effective distribution channels for promotional messages
There are many different distribution channels for promotional messages. Some common channels include email, SMS, and WhatsApp. Email is a widely used channel that allows businesses to reach many people quickly and easily. But so is SMS! On the other hand, Whatsapp is a newer channel that is becoming increasingly popular.
Email is the most widely used channel for promotional messages. It is quick, easy, and inexpensive to send emails. Email also allows businesses to track who opens and clicks on links in the email. This information can be used to segment and target audiences more effectively. However, promotional messages usually end up blocked or in spam folders.
SMS allows businesses to send highly targeted messages. SMS messages can be customized based on the recipient's location, interests, and purchase history. However, they are character limited and do not support multimedia messages. Also, promotional messages can be blocked by default on smartphones.
Whatsapp is gaining more ground. It allows businesses to reach a wider audience than email and SMS. Whatsapp also allows companies to send group messages, which can be used to promote sales or events. Whatsapp messages can be easily tracked or monitored.
Besides, sending messages on the WhatsApp Business Platform follows strict regulations that help ensure you're prioritizing consumers' interests and hence a high delivery rate.
You have to use preapproved templates to send promotional messages; thus, once you get approved, you will know that all your messages will be delivered successfully.
Indeed, WhatsApp is the perfect tool to use and achieve high ROI from your promotional messages campaigns. Consider trying it and judge its effectiveness for yourself. Contact Businesschat and let us give you a free demo of how it works.