The start of a new year presents a prime opportunity to take your communications strategy to the next level. Well-equipped with fresh ideas, and successes from the previous year, there’s everything to play for.
To help keep up the momentum, we’ve created a 2024 marketing calendar to add some content inspiration for your new year strategy. We’re also going to give you the lowdown on how to use it to become better acquainted with your customers’ interests, boost loyalty ahead of peak trading season, and encourage two-way conversations.
Let’s have a look at some ways that you can align our marketing calendar with your sales and marketing strategy to nurture customer relations next year.
Get to know your customers
Reaching out to offer seasons greetings or mark the occasion of World Nutella Day is not only a great way to join in the fun with your customers, but it’s also an opportunity to dig a little deeper into their preferences. By pushing out a similar SMS campaign for both occasions, you could compare the traction from customers and see which one achieved a higher engagement level. This is useful for figuring out whether your customers enjoy a bit of silly fun or they prefer to be more serious.
‘We hope you’ve had a wonderful holiday, and we’re looking forward to spending more time with you this year! In the spirit of the season, here’s a discount code for 20% off! Love from Hair20.’
‘Nutella on pancakes, Nutella on toast, Nutella on bananas – we love it! World Nutella Day is our favourite occasion here at Hair20! We chocolate lovers have to stick together, so here’s a code for 20% off!’
Of course, there are many other factors that can skew the results and often this can be as straightforward as convenient timing.
One of the best ways to improve how many hits you get from your SMS campaigns is to thoroughly track the ROI. Most SMS platforms, like Text Anywhere, come with their own SMS marketing features and analytics, giving you an insight into information such as click-throughs, open rates, and read receipts.
So the more SMS campaigns that you send, the deeper your insights into customer behaviour will be. Use this alongside our 2024 marketing calendar which will give you a whole range of content ideas for regular SMS sends.
Be prepared for peak season
Sending SMS campaigns regularly is a great chance to build a foundation of consistent outreach with customers so that once peak season comes back around, they know your brand and trust your motives. Plus picking out dates from the marketing calendar just to let customers know that you’re thinking of them could really boost their engagement.
For instance, you could send mindfulness prompts and wellbeing check-ins with useful resources during Mental Health Awareness month. Sometimes it’s the small actions like this that make a big difference to how your customers feel about your brand!
Another upside, as we touched on earlier, is that the more SMS campaigns you send, the more insight you have as to how well your comms are received. If you found out through experimenting that more customers clicked on your free next-day delivery offer than your gift-with-purchase offer, then you can ensure that your Black Friday campaigns follow in this vein. By personalising the reward in campaigns like this, you’re showing customers that their preferences have not only been heard, but also valued.
Start two-way conversations
Using text messaging solely as a sales tool isn’t just restrictive for your ROI, it’s like being the out-of-touch friend who only texts or calls when they’re trying to gain something. While confirming appointments, and pushing out limited-time sales information are both important use cases, the power of sending a message to show customers how much you value them should not be taken for granted.
With 50% of consumers preferring SMS messaging to traditional channels, there’s huge potential here for opening a regular feedback channel. Why not use International Cat Day or the International Day of Friendship as a way to start a two-way conversation with your customers?
‘Happy International Day of Friendship! We’re extending the hand of friendship today and we want to hear from you! Fill in our survey and receive 15% off your next wax melt purchase. Lots of love MoonlightCandles.’
Using SMS surveys with a discount incentive is the perfect way to encourage customers to show their cards when it comes to how they feel about your products and your service.
Why not also use these content ideas to get ahead with your campaign scheduling? You could use SMS automations to work hard for you in the background whilst you turn your attention to other important matters like logistics and product upgrades.
Whether these ideas tickle your fancy or not, one thing is for certain. The best brand-to-consumer relationships are born out of continued loyalty and engagement in the form of starting a two-way conversation.
Making your comms more human
SMS marketing isn’t just about sending out texts when you need something, it’s about building a meaningful connection with your customers, getting to know their wants and needs, and showing up when it really counts.
Whether you’re looking for an excuse to boost customer outreach, loyalty, or insight, the 2024 marketing calendar offers a whole host of content ideas and greetings that could play a key role in elevating customer engagement next year.
