How to Use SMS Proximity Marketing

Reaching your target audience at the right place and time is a widely shared objective in digital marketing. Whether you want to increase brand recognition or drive sales, proximity-based marketing helps to enhance the customer experience. But what is SMS proximity marketing, and how can it benefit your business?

What is SMS Proximity Marketing?

SMS proximity marketing, sometimes known as proximity-based or location-based marketing, sends text messaging campaigns to a customer’s mobile device using wireless Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) signals. These messages are typically sent to customers through your brand’s app and vary based on location.

When implemented, SMS proximity marketing creates highly personalized marketing messages in real-time, meeting your customers’ desires. For example, a retailer can install beacons throughout the store and configure them to send targeted messages with special offers based on individual customer preferences. Using proximity-based marketing strategies to reach your customers can create marketing campaigns that drive sales and nurture customer relationships.

Is Proximity Marketing Legal?

Proximity marketing is generally legal, but its compliance depends on adhering to various regulations, particularly regarding data privacy and consumer consent. Businesses must follow laws such as the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the EU and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) in the US, which require explicit consent from users before collecting and using their location data. Transparency about data usage and providing opt-out options are crucial to maintaining legal compliance in proximity marketing campaigns.

How SMS Proximity Marketing Works

Location technologies use customer data and geotargeting to send personalized marketing messages when customers are within range of an active beacon. These beacons emit signals that transmit messages and other location data to nearby devices.

To receive messages, a user must first enable Bluetooth on their mobile device, download your brand’s app and then consent to receive marketing messages from the app. Once active, a beacon scans for Bluetooth-enabled mobile devices within range while broadcasting its unique ID number at regular intervals. Your proximity-based mobile app should also record each activated beacon’s ID numbers, which are associated with their locations.

Once a consumer agrees to receive messages from your brand, the app will send notifications for personalized marketing messages that include anything from text and images to audio and even product videos. For example, a customer might receive a promotional message for products located near the beacon, like a “buy one get one” deal.

Key Technologies Behind Proximity Marketing 

Proximity marketing thrives on several advanced technologies that enable precise and targeted communication with customers. Bluetooth, NFC, and Wi-Fi play pivotal roles in this ecosystem, each bringing unique capabilities to the table. 

• Bluetooth, particularly in the form of beacon technology, allows businesses to send highly targeted messages to smartphones within a defined range. When customers come close to a beacon, their device receives a Bluetooth signal that triggers a contextual SMS or app notification, enhancing in-store experiences with personalized offers and information. 
• NFC (Near-Field Communication) enables interaction when a customer’s smartphone is within centimeters of an NFC tag. This immediate, close-range communication is ideal for product-specific promotions and instant engagement, such as scanning an NFC-enabled poster to receive a special discount. 
• Wi-Fi helps establish geofences—virtual boundaries around a physical location. When a customer enters or exits these geofenced areas, their presence is detected via Wi-Fi signals, prompting the system to send timely and relevant messages. Together, these technologies create a robust framework for proximity marketing, facilitating seamless, location-specific customer interactions that drive engagement and sales.
  
  

How to Use SMS Proximity Marketing

SMS proximity marketing offers enormous potential beyond just sending special offers to your customers. If you configure your marketing tools right, you can leverage them to collect customer data, giving you valuable insight into your customers’ needs, wants, and expectations of your brand. Collecting all this data also enables you to identify patterns in buying behavior to predict future shopping trends.

Here are three ways to use proximity-based marketing in your business.

Create Personalized Offers 

Personalized offers resonate more deeply with customers because they cater directly to their preferences, behaviors, and needs. By leveraging customer data—such as purchase history, browsing patterns, and location insights—businesses can craft highly relevant messages that stand out in a crowded digital landscape. 

For instance, a texting platform can analyze a customer’s past purchases and send targeted SMS offers on similar products or complementary items. Additionally, using demographic information and behavioral data, businesses can segment their audience and customize messages to different groups, ensuring that each customer receives content that feels uniquely relevant to them. 

This level of personalization not only enhances the customer experience but also boosts engagement, loyalty, and conversion rates, making it a crucial strategy for any successful marketing campaign.

Choose the Right Timing and Location 

Timing and location are key factors in ensuring that your messages resonate with customers and elicit prompt responses. Utilizing location-based technologies like geofencing and beacons, you can precisely target customers when they are near your business or in a context where they are most likely to act on your message. 

Additionally, understanding customer behavior patterns, such as daily routines and peak activity times, allows you to schedule messages when they are most likely to be read and appreciated. By synchronizing your messaging strategy with the right timing and location, you enhance the relevance of your communications, foster stronger connections with your audience, and ultimately drive higher response rates and sales.

Integrate With Broader Marketing Strategies 

By harmonizing SMS proximity campaigns with email marketing, social media, and in-store promotions, you can ensure consistent messaging across all touchpoints. This multi-channel approach not only reinforces your message but also guides the customer through a consistent and engaging journey, from awareness to purchase. 

Utilizing a CRM to sync customer data and insights across platforms enables you to tailor communications effectively and maintain a holistic view of customer interactions. Integrating proximity marketing with other strategies amplifies your reach, strengthens your brand presence, and ensures that every customer touchpoint is meaningful and aligned with your overall marketing goals.

Benefits of Proximity-Based Marketing

Below are four benefits of proximity-based marketing.

Increased Revenue

In general, people prefer buying products from the location nearest to them, where proximity-based marketing comes into play. For example, a retailer can send coupons for popular products when they detect customers are in the vicinity. When customers receive these marketing messages, they are much more likely to make a purchase, particularly if the message is personalized to their previous purchase history.

Improved Customer Engagement and Retention

With SMS proximity marketing, you can connect with your customers on their smartphones while they’re shopping in your store. According to a study from IBM, 72 percent of consumers will act on a call to action from a marketing message if they receive it while in sight of the retailer. So ensure your proximity-based marketing messages are valuable and targeted to your customers, so they don’t unsubscribe or lose interest in your brand.

Increased Referrals

Although digital marketing offers enormous benefits for your business, nothing beats word of mouth. By collecting data about your customers, you can retarget them via proximity-based marketing to encourage them to continue supporting your business. Eventually, they might refer your brand to their friends and family, particularly if you offer them an incentive like a referral code that saves them money on future purchases.

Personalized Customer Experiences

SMS proximity marketing can be a powerful tool in creating a rich, personalized experience for individual customers. This type of advanced personalization brings the benefits of online services to the brick-and-mortar location, creating a new hybrid experience.

For example, suppose a customer is in front of a display of video games. In that case, an SMS proximity marketing platform can send them a coupon for 20 percent off on video games today only. By sending targeted messages like this to your customers, you can enhance the customer experience and quickly see the ROI of proximity-based marketing.

Partner With Textedly for All Your SMS Marketing Campaigns

SMS proximity marketing can open up a whole new world of possibilities for your business, from real-time updates to personalized special offers for your customers. If you’re wondering how to get started with proximity-based marketing for your brand, Textedly can help.

With our powerful SMS marketing software, you can start sending personalized marketing messages to your customers with just a few clicks. In addition, Textedly can be integrated with 1,000+ apps so you can connect your existing systems and leverage the power of customer data to create targeted proximity-based marketing campaigns almost immediately.

Sign up for a free trial with Textedly and start texting your customers today.