SMS Messaging For Businesses
By definition, SMS means “short message service.” However, SMS only relays text, but not pictures, videos, or audio, like MMS. It has a broader audience despite more modern ways to communicate, such as emailing and sending messages via social media platforms. Statistics show that even in 2020, sending SMS is still a better way to communicate than emailing or calling. Let’s discuss SMS’s pros and cons.
Pros
- Your recipients can instantly receive your messages because mobile users are always connected to their respective telecom networks.
- Your reach is wider since almost everyone has a mobile phone.
- Your recipients can reply easier because SMS messaging apps or systems are straightforward.
- You can send bulk text, which saves time for marketing.
Cons
- Its character limit is only 160, which hinders creative messages.
- It can only accept alphanumeric characters, symbols, and emojis.
When Should We Use SMS?
Businesses can use SMS more efficiently compared to MMS for low-cost–low-margin targeting. If you want to reach as many people as possible in your small budget, we recommend using SMS. Most small to medium business owners will benefit from SMS marketing.
MMS Messaging For Businesses
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) allows a user to send several media types across it. For example, you can send text, pictures, audio clips, videos, and the always popular emojis 🤩. It can allow you to be creative in your marketing with fewer restraints. Let’s discuss its pros and cons and the instances where you can benefit from MMS.
Pros
- It can transmit up to 500kB of multimedia data per message.
- It permits you to send photos or audiovisual files up to 30 seconds long.
- It allows 1600 characters per message.
- It allows you to strategize creative marketing strategies.
- It gains loyal clients because it can allow personalized multimedia messages.
- It allows you to convey more expression and emotion thanks to emojis and pictures
Cons
- It can cost you more than SMS but still just a couple of pennies each
- It works best if what you sell needs a creative appearance to get attention and a better explanation.
When Should We Use MMS?
We recommend using MMS for high-cost–high-margin marketing because fewer people can afford newer phones that can process MMS. For example, if you run a VIP loyalty award program, MMS is a better option.
Conclusion
SMS is not a new way of communicating with your customers and clients. But it’s proven, reliable, popular, and is still useful in specific ways. On the other hand, MMS is a newer but costlier method to reach out to better clients. But we can agree that SMS has a broader reach while MMS allows creative and striking ways to communicate with a limited number of people. Txtra provides SMS and MMS services on all of our text marketing plans.
