People are always on their phones. One of today’s main forms of communication is text messaging. In fact, text messaging is the most used feature on smartphones. Collectively, American adults send a total of about 8.5 BILLION texts everyday. Needless to say, your business needs a piece of that pie!

Lots of business owners are hesitant about text marketing because they are concerned that there will be backlash. Businesses never want to get on a consumer’s “bad-side” and so they’re afraid of being obnoxious. However, it’s more common than you think for businesses to utilize text marketing, and people are pretty on board with this updated marketing method. In fact, most Americans say they are happy to receive promotional text messages from businesses they work with, and they don’t see it as an annoyance.

Text marketing really is less scary than you think. Here’s why:

Sky-High Open Rates

SMS messages have a 98% open rate. People always open their text messages, which means they’re reading what you’re sending. Text messaging gets your business’ information out and in the right hands right away. With an open rate at almost 100%, you can’t deny that it’s worth a shot to market to your customers through text messages. Even people who don’t typically open their emails or respond to social media are looking at their text messages.

When you send out marketing information through a text message, you want to make sure it’s worth it. Knowing that 98% of your consumers will be opening and reading your message means the pressure is really on–in a good way! This is your shot to send out an awesome promotion and get your business right in front of your consumer’s face. If you want to make sure your marketing promos are being seen, text message marketing is your best friend.

Consumers Appreciate a Deal

If you’re going to send out a business-related text, make it worth their while. People love to receive a good deal. Everyone wants to work with the business that will give them the most bang for their buck. The good thing about text messages are that they’re short and sweet. Get straight to the point with your text marketing. If you’re offering a 20% discount on a new product or service, let your customers know through a text message that they’re sure to see. Include in the message a blurb about showing you the text to get the deal, so you know how many people are coming through your door because of your text marketing campaign. A good strategy for this message would be a text worded something like this, “Hi! It’s your friends at JR Plumbing. We wanted to let you know we’re offering 20% off any plumbing service this month. Just show us this text to get the deal!” Short. Sweet. To the point. Effective.

Millennials Prefer Text Marketing

Over 80% of millennials admit to opening text messages within 90 seconds of receiving them, and over 70% of millennials say they prefer text marketing to receive promotions, over other methods of communication. Why? Because they’re always on their phone anyway. Millennials are between the ages of 18-35, which means they’re homeowners, career-oriented, family-oriented and even some in college. You’re reaching a wide variety of people with a wide variety of interests and needs when you market to millennials. Why not market to them how they want? Text marketing is perhaps the fastest method of marketing. If you’re getting open rates of almost 100% and most of those opens are within 90 seconds, you’re reaching your audience as quickly as possible. Why is this so important? Because chances are, your competitors are already doing the same thing.

Don’t let your business fall short to competitors because you’re not up-to-date on the most current and preferred marketing methods. Instead, stop being afraid of text marketing. It’s not as scary as lots of business owners think it is, and it’s definitely worth your time.

If you have any questions about text marketing, setup a free demo with one of our experts and get to know more about how it works, why it works and when you can get started increasing your business’ revenue!

For more insights on marketing strategy that actually works for small business, subscribe to the FreshLime Newsletter here. Connect with Jay Bean, Founder of FreshLime and Small Business Marketing Expert on LinkedIn and Twitter. And last of all, if any of these tips have helped you or if you have anything to add please comment below. We’d love to hear from you!