“I mean it’s free to use, everyone has it, we can send images, and we absolutely love using it. What’s more to consider?”
When considering marketing methods to use, WhatsApp often springs to mind for us doesn’t it?
I mean it’s free to use, everyone has it, we can send images, and we absolutely love using it. What’s more to consider? Let’s do some mass marketing with WhatsApp already!
But the problem for now is that WhatsApp was made specifically for personal communications, and not marketing. In other words, it’s best used for chatting with people you know, and who also know each other.
Be warned though, read on and you’ll learn why our favourite messaging app could potentially cause huge problems if used for advertising.
“…creates a high risk for privacy breeches.”
The first thing that businesses should be super wary of is that whenever a WhatsApp group chat is created, all participants are able to see the contact numbers of all other participants. This creates a high risk for privacy breeches. Anyone could easily copy the list of contact numbers and begin an onslaught of pesky spam messages to everyone else.
The only way to get around this privacy problem is to send messages individually. Which was exactly what Netflix did to notify users of new show releases. Sadly, this involves systems and manpower which smaller businesses don’t always have the luxury of implementing.
Secondly, if you’ve ever received unsolicited messages over WhatsApp, notice that it only takes 2 clicks to have the number blocked for eternity. The only reason why we received that unsolicited message over WhatsApp was because Mr. SoccorBetMaster69 thought that it was a genius idea to do so. But in doing so, he essentially got his number blocked in less than 2 seconds. So it’s our duty as responsible marketers to avoid silly spammer antics as such.
Moreover, some folks might add that we could potentially explore the WeChat option. But the thing is WeChat isn’t an app that most locals use, leaving us stranded once again.
Call us biased or blunt, but until a viable mode of B2C marketing communications within WhatsApp is rolled out, it can be quite a source of anguish for us marketers who have been searching high and low for a viable way to advertise via this messaging app which we utterly adore but to no avail – yes, we totally get it too – Till then we will be waiting in anticipation the day to finally come.
“Then what should we do about it now?” one might ask.
“How else is our business to showcase products and services?”
Certainly it’s true that people are after all highly visual, and respond best to images instead of plain text. In fact, it’s scientifically proven that we respond to images as much as 60,000 times faster that text. That’s why we desperately need a suitable substitute media to send colourful images with long text (for the added context) to hend-held smart devices.
This is where MMS marketing comes in and mitigates our problems in an instant. For starters, your recipients are already DNC cleared by default. So there are no privacy issues to even begin with.
With MMS marketing, you can still deliver vibrant image files and include multiple links to landing pages. And the best part is that you have got a 1,000 character limit where you can provide plenty of information and CTAs for your recipients.
Now, combine all the above points with the fact that we can even choose the demographics we want to broadcast MMS messages to, and we’ve got a very useful marketing method on our hands to leverage on. Because not only you can broadcast to your mailing list, you can also send MMS messages to your target demographics from different networks – such as Singtel or StarHub.
“…your MMS message will be there for easy referencing; welcoming a latent sale.”
MMS marketing makes perfect sense. Your budget is allocated only to reaching out to true potential customers, using a highly visual medium, and closely conforms to privacy laws.
And most importantly, you don’t get blocked within a blink of an eye. Your MMS message has the likelihood to remain in your recipient’s phone, serving as a reminder of what your business provides for a long time. And when the right moment arises, your MMS message will be there for easy referencing; welcoming a latent sale (a healthy alternative to WhatsApp for now).
And that’s the wonders of thinking long term when marketing your business, always consider the compounding effects of certain marketing mediums.
To learn more about MMS marketing, click here. You can send us your specific questions regarding the type of demographics your business can reach, anything about DNC checks, and the costs involved in sending your MMS broadcast.