Whatsapp marketing and SMS marketing are two relatively newer forms of marketing available to brands and marketers alike.
The question is: which one is right for your business?
Before we get into this, it must be said that both forms of communication are almost guaranteed eyes on your brand.
The majority of people today (especially online consumers) are on their phones for a large portion of the day, and any sort of notification gets seen.
Now, back to the discussion at hand…
SMS marketing has been around for a longer time, and from our personal experience achieves high ROI stats when used correctly.
Even more important when your brand wants to scale and hit its MER targets.
On the other hand, Whatsapp is used by well over 2 billion on the planet and continues to grow and add new features that keep its customers from downloading other apps such as Telegram and Signal.
Pros and Cons
Let’s take a closer look at the pros of both marketing types:
SMS:
No smartphone or internet connection needed
Covers all cellular networks
Short and concise marketing
Whatsapp:
You can create a Business Profile
Rich visual media
Unlimited character limit
And the cons?
SMS:
160 character limit
Additional costs when responding to customers
Somewhat outdated
Whatsapp:
Needs an internet connection
Requires an app
Costs extra for a Business Profile
Combining Whatsapp and SMS
Many of you may be thinking…
But, isn’t SMS a dying form of communication?
They said the same about email marketing a few years ago and we regularly see high performance from both for our brands.
So, here’s the good news.
Whatsapp and SMS marketing aren’t mutually exclusive.
We often talk about a combined marketing strategy (and if you read our weekly emails you may have come across a few articles on it).
Whatsapp and SMS may seem similar, but it’s no different from using Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to market your brand on different channels that different people respond to in different ways.
You may not respond to SMS, but someone without a smartphone or who doesn’t have Whatsapp will.
The exciting thing is that this new channel has been added where you can add videos and voice notes and gifs to your marketing messages that make the possibilities truly endless.
In conclusion, introducing Whatsapp marketing to your strategy should not mean stopping your SMS channel.
It should be seen as an opportunity to grow even more.
WhatsApp Business is a way for businesses and brands to reach out to their dedicated customers on an even deeper level and we, for one, are excited about going along for the ride.
