What Is SMS Marketing?

SMS marketing, aka text message marketing, is a strategy that allows venues to connect with their audiences via text messaging. Whether they’re sending reminders, sharing resources, or promoting their wedding services, SMS marketing offers a direct and effective way to engage with brides and grooms.

Why Wedding Venues Need To Use SMS Marketing

From years of experience in the wedding industry, at EverBridal, we’ve learned a key insight about bridal behavior: Couples often create a new email address just for wedding planning. While this helps them manage the avalanche of wedding-related emails, your venue’s emails can get lost among messages from bridal shops, florists, decorators, photographers, and competitors.

Leveraging SMS marketing puts you ahead of the game, as text messages have much higher open rates. Did you know that they boast a whopping 98% open rate, compared to just 20% for emails? As a result, wedding venues can ensure that their messages are seen, enhance engagement, and attract more brides to their business.

Another advantage of utilizing text message marketing is that it enables you to connect with Gen Z and meet their demands. According to a survey, more than two-thirds of this generation prefer text messaging. That’s why, by diversifying your communication channels and offering faster interactions, you can reach the up-and-coming demographics.

Last but not least, text marketing is a powerful tool for minimizing no-show rates. With automated reminder messages, wedding venues can make sure that couples never miss a beat on crucial dates and details. This strategy keeps appointments on track, reduces last-minute cancellations, and boosts client satisfaction.

How Wedding Services Can Create a Successful SMS Marketing Campaign

Step 1: Build your list

Do you have a fantastic guide on choosing the perfect wedding venue or a brochure highlighting your services and amenities? Now’s the perfect time to share it with your audience and gather important details like names, phone numbers, and email addresses. If you haven’t created content for your page, no need to panic. You can easily host giveaways or set up a signup form to start growing your list and boost your SMS marketing efforts.

Step 2: Decide what you want to communicate with couples

The last thing you want is to have a long list of potential brides and grooms but no strategy for reaching out to them. Imagine contacting them months later only to find out that it’s too late, or they don’t recall signing up and are confused by your message.

To avoid this, it’s crucial to have a clear communication plan in place. By knowing exactly what you want to share with your prospects and when, you can maintain strong relationships, keep your audience engaged, and ensure your messages are timely and relevant. You can start with a warm welcome message, share tips or resources tailored to their interests, and send periodic updates with exclusive offers.

Step 3: Choose an SMS marketing platform

The good news is that wedding venues don’t need to send text messages one at a time from their smartphones. With SMS apps like SimpleTexting and Twilio, you can easily schedule messages, set up campaigns, send automated answers based on recipient actions, and stay connected with your prospects.

When choosing the best text messaging service for your wedding venue, consider the following:

• Is the platform user-friendly?
• Does the service fit within your budget?
• Are there features for creating personalized SMS content?
• Can you access detailed analytics to track and measure the performance of your SMS campaigns?

SMS Marketing Tips

Be transparent

To comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and steer clear of hefty fines—between $500 and $1500 per unsolicited text—make sure you get clear consent from brides and grooms before hitting send on your SMS campaigns. By being transparent about what they can expect and how often you’ll be in touch, you not only meet regulatory requirements but also foster trust with couples.

Avoid sending messages too frequently

While posting on Instagram multiple times a day can help you reach more couples, the same strategy can backfire with SMS marketing. The rule of thumb is to send 2 to 6 messages a month to keep your audience engaged without overwhelming them.

Keep it short and sweet

Text messages are limited to 160 characters, and longer texts might get split into multiple messages, which can confuse your audience and clutter their notifications. So make every word count by using URL shorteners, including a snappy call to action, and getting straight to the point.

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