Playbook
Marketing Agency Text Messaging
Business text messaging grows your clients’ businesses, bolsters your agency’s reputation, and increases revenue for everyone.
This playbook will show you how. The business texting strategies below will work for marketing agencies and consultancies of all sizes, but we do have agencies with 10-50 employees in mind.
We’re covering this topic in the situation that your marketing agency would be managing text communications for your clients. The advice here will also be helpful if you’re strategizing with clients, but not running their campaigns for them.
4 Essentials to Set Your Marketing Agency and Clients Up For Success
1. Set up your client’s Text Request account.
Sign your client up for an individual Text Request account, or become a Text Request Partner and add clients to your Text Request account. Becoming a Partner enables you to manage individual client accounts from one place.
Text-enable your clients’ office phone numbers, and pass costs on to your clients.
Some essential steps to take when setting up your client’s account are:
Importing contacts
Setting up user roles
Adding SMS Chat
Setting up available integrations
We’ll cover more of this in a bit.
2. Pilot texting with close clients.
You need a pilot client, or two, who are already committed to using texting in their marketing, sales, or service communications. Aim for the clients you have close relationships with—they’re more likely to try your ideas.
We recommend emailing clients with details on why texting could be a good fit for them, and a few example use cases. Below, we’ll cover how to turn this into a big upsell opportunity.
3. A planned tech stack.
We understand that Text Request needs to work alongside the software you already use, which is why we have integrations with common agency tools like:
Need help integrating? Our support team’s on standby—just contact us for help.
4. A plan for rolling text messaging out to more clients.
Once you’ve successfully piloted texting with your close clients, you’ll need a plan to roll it out to everyone. We’ll go into details in the last section, but here are a few high-level tips to get started:
Demonstrate the capabilities of texting
Highlight features that will be best fits for each client
Have resources readily available, such as case studies and webinars
As with any service you offer, the more your own agency uses SMS strategies, the more comfortable you’ll be with showing clients how to utilize texting.
6 Ways to Manage Texting for Clients and Profit From It
These are the most common use cases for agencies to manage texting for their clients. You can upsell for all of these the same way you would charge for the other services you offer.
1. Create lead generation opportunities through multiple SMS tools.
You’re already spending money to drive traffic to your clients’ websites, and with our SMS Chat feature, you’ll be able to capture more of it, especially after hours.
What is SMS Chat?
SMS Chat is a live chat widget that goes on a website. Visitors can initiate a conversation there, and carry it over to their phones even after they exit the page. Maintain communication with them on your computer, or any device.
Customers are going to have quick questions about their service, and texting is the best way to get in touch with them ASAP. Business owners can handle customer conversations and even find opportunities to upsell services that will add to their current experience.
What are Keywords?
A keyword is a specific word that people can text to your business number to receive messages on a topic. Once a keyword is texted in, a customer will receive a preset message to confirm their subscription.
How will customers know what to text in? You’ll need to promote keywords through existing email newsletters, social media platforms, and in-store signage.
For instance, customers can opt into your client’s text subscriber line by texting in a keyword such as NEW to receive the latest updates on things like new stock, and more. Keywords are a great way to create and manage contact lists that you can send promotions to later.
2. Share SMS promotions and deals.
Tap into text marketing and grow your client’s text subscriber base and drive sales, or in-store traffic and registrations. It’s a cost-effective way for business owners to stand out among their competition, and a way to distinguish your agency within your industry.
This is where importing your client’s contact list comes into play. Send a text to all those contacts at once, or to a targeted list. Add links or images to make the message more eye-catching.
Your agency can handle mass texting efforts when sending out promotions, deals, event confirmations, and more.
Sending out promotions over SMS is a quick way to expand your client’s subscriber list and increase engagement with customers, especially when you encourage them to opt-in with keywords.
For example, if your client owns a medspa, they can tell their customers to text the keyword PROMO to their business number to receive a discount on their next service. This can be communicated after a service, or advertised on social media.
To drive incentive and increase their subscriber base, your client should also inform customers that these promotions can only be exclusively accessed only through SMS. Clients can upsell and encourage customers to add on something else that complements the service they’re already getting for a good deal.
This first text is an example of how an autoresponse would work. A customer could text in PROMO and receive a message like this:
Spa: “Thanks for opting in to receive exclusive offers and content. Text STOP to opt-out at any time.”
This second text is an example of an SMS offer the customer would receive later down the road after subscribing:
Spa: “Treat yourself and your mom by taking advantage of our $100 hydro facials this Mother’s Day weekend. Get your glow and go! Respond to this text to book your appointment. Offer valid May 5-8 only.”
Ongoing mass texting promotions will only grow their SMS subscriber list, keeping your clients happy in the long run and earning you more revenue.
3. Scheduling and confirming appointments.
More confirmed appointments for your clients mean more revenue for them and for your agency, so how do you make that happen? When you enable them to schedule and confirm appointments through text, you’ll land your clients more appointments, and they’ll be thankful for it.
People are less likely to miss appointments when they receive SMS reminders since texts are opened and read quicker than email. It’s also easier to shoot a text to ask for further information, rather than having to set aside time for it. Texting moves with you, and that’s why it works so well.
For instance, if a client owns a fitness studio, customers can text in and request a specific class they want to join. Or, they can cancel and reschedule the appointment via text too. When a business is easy to get in touch with, customers will remember that. They’ll be more likely to give you their business over and over, and even tell their friends about their experience.
4. Increase online reviews.
Online reviews are crucial to the reputation of any business. Text Request gives you an easy way to help your clients gather online reviews ongoing, so they rank higher in search results, stand out from competitors, and capture more new customers.
Your agency can use our Reviews feature on behalf of your clients, or your client can use it themselves. Either way, the set up is easy:
Connect your clients Google and/or Facebook business pages to Text Request
Create a review “campaign”
Start sending custom review links
Depending on your clients' preference, asking for reviews can be integrated into workflows so that a text goes out each time a service is completed. Or, reach out to customers who already have good relationships with your clients. They’re more likely to leave you a review.
Review requests can even be sent monthly on a set schedule as a consistent reminder to customers who haven’t left a review yet.
Texts are known for having a high open rate and response rate, which is why texting is ideal for requesting reviews. There’s a higher chance that customers will click on your link, especially when you make the review process effortless.
5. Bolster customer service.
Customers are already on their mobile devices, which is why texting works so well for ongoing customer service. They can communicate with your clients without having to download an app or create an account on a website – all they’ll have to do is text.
As for the business owner or your agency, you’ll be able to manage conversations via computer or the Text Request app on the go.
MMS makes it easy for customers to send pictures too, so clients can see exactly what they’re talking about. With a photo, clients will be able to spot things that are upsell opportunities, helping them earn more revenue while communicating with customers.
Depending on what your clients prefer, your agency can manage this, or the business owner could. Text customers status updates regarding their service, or any urgent information that needs to be communicated quickly.
6. Integrate texting into sales and marketing workflows.
Sometimes, you need automated texts going out as part of your sales process, marketing workflows, or based on some other trigger. For example, a text could go out after someone completes a lead capture form, after a purchase, or during a sales follow-up.
The process to set it up looks a little different depending on your tech stack, but know that you can create these workflows using our integrations with HubSpot, SharpSpring, Zapier, and Pipedrive, among others.
5 Ways Your Agency Increases Revenue With Text Messaging
1. Capture demand with SMS lead generation.
We know that leads are the cornerstone of any business, and text messaging has the power to capture those leads and keep them in touch with you.
First, you’ll need to enable your business number to receive texts and let people know that they can text you. Add our SMS Chat widget to your website so they can initiate conversations, then continue that same conversation on their mobile devices.
Prospects can use SMS Chat to ask you for information on:
Pricing
Scheduling a demo or a meeting
Information on your services, such as SEO, social media, etc.
Request a free quote
After they’ve entered their information into the SMS chat form, you can add their information to a list of interested contacts to follow up with later.
Promote keywords that people can text in to receive updates, specials, and more. Tie in your email newsletter to your text promotions, that way you boost even more awareness.
People who’ve opted in to receive your newsletter are either existing clients or interested leads, and the content in your newsletter should aim to drive those prospects further down the funnel.
Include company updates, such as current projects that your agency has been working on. Advertise ongoing specials, like a free course that your agency might be running. Show off your achievements and let prospects know that they should be doing business with you.
2. Streamline your workflows with texting.
Texting helps build and nurture existing relationships with your clients. Having regular check-ins and being readily available to answer questions via SMS establishes you as someone your client can trust—and integrations can make a big difference in these workflows.
It helps to touch base while your team is working on something for your client, especially when a project has a hard deadline.
For example, your team could be working on website design for your client’s florist business. Your team could text your clients and ask what photos they want to be included on the home page, and to place them in a Dropbox folder. The link for the folder can be texted over, too. From there, a client can easily send over resources through their phone.
Texting is a crucial part of your client communication, especially when it comes to making time-sensitive decisions. Complete projects quickly and get faster results when you enable texting for your agency and your clients.
3. Ongoing customer service around the clock.
Clients want to text you with questions, concerns, and updates—and these texts will most likely come after hours, when they have free time. Ideally, you want those texts going to a business line instead of your personal cell, so you can create some semblance of work-life balance.
Setting up an autoresponse is a great way to send out information after hours while keeping your business and personal communications separate.
An autoresponse is an automatic reply to all inbound messages during a custom time period of your choice.
If your clients find themselves needing additional help after hours, they’ll be able to send a detailed text for your CSRs to respond to first thing in the morning.
When clients text in their questions during business hours, a member of your team will be able to quickly respond and resolve issues. They can text in requests, like adding more money to their PPC campaigns, or texting a photo to use in a social media post.
It takes less time to send a text than it does to make a phone call or wait for an email response, especially when your client has a quick question.
4. Marketing promotions for your agency.
Your marketing agency needs a way to promote and drive registrations for internal events and resources, like webinars and virtual courses. Texting is a great way to increase attendance by sharing registration links with your contacts and subscribers.
Before the webinar, be sure to send out a text with the webinar link to the people who’ve confirmed their attendance. Attendees can then text you directly with any questions they might have about the event, such as if there will be a recording of the webinar, and for a link to download it.
If you offer a virtual course and are running a special on it, send out promotions to let subscribers know. Chances are, you’ll see a higher conversion rate – especially when you get the word out via text.
5. Gather reviews from happy clients.
Customer reviews bolster your online presence and reputation within the agency space, which is why you need a lot of them.
After finishing a project with a client, use text prompts to gather their feedback. Text Request makes it simple to insert your agency's review link into any message.
The more reviews your agency has, the higher you'll rank in search results, and the more new clients you'll see coming your way.
5 Steps to Get All Your Clients Onboard
1. Text your clients first.
Texting clients first establishes they can use that channel to reach you directly. Here’s a list of things your agency can start texting clients for:
Ongoing Q&A about their current services
Upselling additional services
Gather feedback to improve your services
Demonstrate how texting can be a valuable tool for your clients’ growth, by regularly using it to communicate with them.
2. Ask your top clients to share what works for them.
You’ve already established trust with your top clients, which makes them the perfect candidate to give honest feedback.
Document your top clients’ success through case studies and guides that other clients can read to implement their own text messaging strategies.
Ask them which features benefit them the most. It will most likely depend on the type of business they are and what industry they’re in, but this is helpful information you can use to coach other clients similar to them.
These personalized documents and guides will ultimately boost the reputation of your agency.
3. Host webinars to promote texting as a tool.
Demonstrate how to integrate texting into your clients’ everyday workflows with text messaging centered webinars.
Webinars work well because they are easily accessible and attendees don’t have to worry about traveling to a conference. They’re also just an all-around great resource to reference, especially when a team is still in the learning stages.
We’ll even be able to host a live training session as part of the webinar. Our team will happily participate and teach your clients how to use certain features.
Zoom and Google Meet are the main tools that most organizations use to host webinars. These tools also record your event, so the people who couldn’t attend can watch it later.
4. Regularly share text messaging guides and resources.
Our customer success team is only a text away if you’d like a walkthrough of the resources we have to share with your agency, as well as with your clients.
These free resources include:
We’ll even go the extra mile and help you create tailored resources that align with your branding. Just text us your needs.
5. Generate revenue by managing your clients’ texts.
Whether you choose to add clients to their Text Request account, or refer clients to sign up for an individual account, you can charge a fee for the Text Request account itself, plus an hourly rate to maintain and manage the account.
Now, agencies have a texting solution to offer clients, generate new business, and increase monthly revenue.
