Why you should be using targeted groups in your SMS marketing and communications: Part II
No matter what kind of organization you run, there are plenty of good reasons to create multiple, targeted groups in your text messaging program. In part two of this three part series, we’ll look at some examples of how restaurants, bars, and coffee shops use this approach to great effect.
For background, a “group” is a distinct set of people that you intend to send text messages to. Some people call this a keyword, others call it a list. We call it a group. Whatever you call it, this post is about why having more of them is usually better for business.
Restaurants, bars and coffee shops do it too
Many restaurants that are open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner already know how different their customers are throughout the day. Maybe the daytime crowd consists of downtown business people or retirees, while the nighttime crowd is more about families or couples on dates. Is it a good idea to market your lunch specials to your dinner crowd and your dinner specials to your breakfast crowd? Hey, it’s your business—it’s your call. But if your customers are distinct and you know it, consider creating different bulk texting groups to communicate with them. They’ll be happier and you’ll be more successful.
TextMark’s restaurant and bar industry customers are having success using different groups to promote things like happy hours, food and drink specials, new menu items, contests, and links to order online. It seems these professionals inherently understand what others are just starting to grasp: That their customers are not one monolithic, homogeneous mass. So why treat them that way? In other words, don’t push that gorgeous 12 oz. Filet Mignon to the loyal customer who happens to be vegetarian. And don’t be the Bar & Grill that texts the happy hour drink specials to the high school student who came in last Friday night for a post-game ice cream sundae. Just serve yourself a heaping helping of targeted groups. Then relax and watch your business boom.
What do your groups look like?
Marketers sometimes call this “segmentation.” But don’t let the lingo intimidate you; it’s not that complicated. Here’s a blog post we found, aptly entitled “Rules For Targeting And Segmentation”, that we thought might come in handy. It breaks down the concept nicely and even offers some specific ideas.
