Traditionally, nonprofit organizations and advocacy groups had limited reach with supporters. Common marketing tactics included expensive billboards, TV ads, radio commercials, and direct mail. While these channels are still commonplace in many organizations’ marketing efforts, alternative methods, such as text message marketing, are more affordable and significantly more effective.
No matter the missions and services nonprofit organizations provide, they all need reliable communication to sustain growth. Finding more efficient and successful ways to engage your supporters is a priority in nonprofit marketing. With a 99% open rate, SMS marketing is at the top of the list. In this blog post, you’ll learn how to get started with SMS marketing in five simple steps.
What Is SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing, also known as text message marketing or mobile messaging marketing, refers to using text messages to promote an organization’s services or products and build supporter loyalty. Organizations use SMS marketing to share updates, promotions, events, coupons, and other essential information with their audiences.
SMS marketing uses two types of text messages: short message service (SMS) messages and multimedia messaging service (MMS) messages. SMS texts support plain text, emojis, and links and are limited to 160 characters. MMS texts can include up to 5,000 characters and media content such as images, videos, and audio files to increase engagement. Regardless of the type of messages you choose, SMS marketing is proven to drive results across all industries.
Mobile messaging marketing is growing substantially. Compared to 2016, 23% more mobile users opted in to receive SMS messages from companies by 2020. Text message marketing is one of the most effective and accurate ways to communicate and engage with supporters and raise more donations. Text messaging click-through rate (CTR) is 9.18% higher than other marketing channels. Mobile phone users are 4.5 times more likely to respond to text messages than emails. If you haven’t invested in SMS marketing, you’re missing out big time.
Partnering with a nonprofit expert is crucial to ensure your success. Tatango has over 14 years of experience in helping nonprofit organizations strategize and exponentially increase their reach through SMS marketing.
Get Started with Nonprofit SMS Marketing in 5 Easy Steps
Launching a new marketing strategy can feel overwhelming. Follow these five easy steps to get started with nonprofit SMS marketing today.
1. Choose an SMS software provider.
The first step to start with mobile messaging marketing is choosing an SMS software provider. Ideally, look for a provider specializing in nonprofits and understands your organization’s challenges and limitations. Tatango is specifically built for all nonprofit organizations, whether you’re committed to ending hunger, protecting the environment, or helping children.
2. Integrate your phone number with your website.
Once you’ve chosen an SMS software provider and phone number, Tatango can provide a simple line of code for you to add to your website. From there, whenever someone provides their phone number on a web form or donation form, their number will sync with your text messaging program so you can continue to spread the word and raise donations from them.
Subscribers can also provide consent by texting a keyword like “give” to your phone number. Choose a keyword that aligns with your SMS nonprofit campaign.
3. Grow your subscriber list.
When strategizing to grow your subscriber list, make sure your methods are TCPA compliant. The TCPA is a federal statute that regulates text message marketing to ensure consumers don’t receive unwanted text messages, telemarketing calls, and robocalls. The TCPA requires organizations to have “prior express consent” before texting consumers. Types of consent may vary, depending on the technology, device, and message content, and penalties range from $500 to $1,500 per violation.
On a basic level, the TCPA regulates:
- Who a nonprofit can text
- How a nonprofit can text
- What a nonprofit can text
- When a nonprofit can text
Tatango’s customer success team will help you develop an integrated strategy to grow your subscriber list quickly and efficiently while complying with TCPA regulations.
4. Send messages regularly.
Once supporters join your SMS marketing campaign and consent to receiving texts, you can start messaging them. Sending messages regularly is critical to a successful text message campaign. Establishing the ideal frequency to text your supporters may take some time and require a bit of trial and error. One thing is certain: When defining frequency, avoid sending messages at inappropriate hours or days. Tatango’s SMS marketing experts can help you determine how often and when to send messages based on your target audience.
5. Know your metrics and optimize frequently.
Once your nonprofit SMS campaign is up and running, tracking results is essential to ensure you’re hitting your goals. You can’t improve your strategy if you don’t know what’s wrong. The first step is defining your key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure performance. Once defined, use this information to optimize your campaign as needed. Tatango’s subscriber and messaging analytics features make tracking and optimization easy.
Partner with the Nonprofit SMS Marketing Experts
With digital marketing, nonprofit organizations now have more efficient, effective, and low-cost options for communicating with their supporters. Partner with Tatango to elevate your nonprofit organization’s reach and bring in record donations. We know that learning new marketing technology and tools can be intimidating. Our customer success team is here to guide you every step of the way, so you won’t have to do it alone.
Schedule a call with an SMS marketing expert today to request a free demo.
