Is Video Messaging the Next SMS Marketing Breakthrough?

In January 2022, Starbucks announced a new text-messaging program for all its valued customers called “The Good Vibe.” Anyone texting “Hi” to 78887 received positive and uplifting messages sent directly to their mobile phone, and if that wasn’t enough, they would also receive a free drink.

Starbucks isn’t the only company that continues to leverage the power of business SMS texting. According to Juniper Research, B2C text messaging grew by 10 percent from 2019 to 2020 , with 2.7 trillion messages sent in 2020 alone.

The bottom line is that SMS marketing isn’t dead. But like other marketing techniques and platforms that have emerged over the years, it evolves. Today, the role of SMS has grown to include customer support, lead generation, and sales transactions. It also complements its strength with an equally potent tool: videos.

How Video Marketing Supports Your Business

Probably one of the most cost-effective tools for marketers today is video. It captures your customer’s attention, gives them a view of what you have to offer, and builds trust.

Video marketing is relevant because it allows you to deliver accurate information through a visual presentation. It also uses an emotional appeal so customers can easily understand how your product or service will benefit their lives. Visually appealing videos engage the senses and create a personal connection between you and your target audience.

Approximately 40 percent of direct messages sent between brands and consumers are through SMS texts. With too many messages received daily across all platforms, marketers are finding it difficult to capture audiences’ attention in a jiffy. This is why video marketing arrives just in time to stand out from the noise.

What Sets Video Marketing Apart from Other Platforms?

In just four seconds, video marketing delivers its point with full impact. In comparison, text-based ads take more time to read.

The average human attention span has decreased from 12 seconds in 2000 to just 8 seconds today due to the influx of technologies and distractions. Text-based ads, regardless of their titles or formats, are a distraction that requires readers to read from start to finish before understanding the full message.

Video Marketing’s Full Range of Applications

Video marketing has many offline and online applications. Back when websites were simple, e-commerce businesses would embed their videos using tools like Adobe Flash.

But today, videos are creative assets leveraged by digital marketers who work toward brand awareness, sales conversion, loyalty-building, lead generation, and customer experience optimization. Videos are also used in advertising content on social media and publishing websites like YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Pushing Videos to Mobile Devices

Because of the immense benefits of videos, more companies learned to maximize them for their SMS marketing campaigns by incorporating video messaging in their text messages.

Granted, it comes with challenges. For instance, video files are heavy to send as an SMS message. Moreover, mobile devices’ operating systems or browsers also dictate which videos can be viewed.

But technology continues to provide solutions. Businesses can already use platforms to convert and send videos as texts. They can also record their screens, splice them or break them down into micro videos, and connect them to video-to-text applications.

Text message marketing automation provides multiple ways to simplify your SMS marketing campaigns. With its capabilities, you can focus more on generating business results than stressing over the technicalities of your SMS programs. This allows you to enjoy peace of mind while maximizing your advertising budget.

E-commerce businesses can now convert their product videos into personalized text messages that potential customers receive on their mobile devices. They can also consider creating a variety of videos to support their sales funnel systems. For instance:

• Videos that introduce the products, which are excellent for people in the awareness stage
• How-to videos for customer support
• Promotional or demo videos for consumers who might be in the consideration stage
• Video testimonials

Businesses can also use video tagging to send specific videos for free to customers who already signed up for updates, by using a phone number or other form of ID. They can also still use existing technologies like QR codes, which can direct customers to targeted videos.

As SMS marketing continues its growth in 2022, video messaging emerges as one of the newest trends for businesses to adapt in order to maximize their marketing campaigns. In this age where consumers have short attention spans with too many choices, video messaging complements the strength of SMS by providing a comprehensive content delivery platform that will surely turn heads – and clicks.