How easy is it for you to communicate with your customers? Want to cut through all the noise and get their full attention? Customers now expect more from businesses and want to interact with them differently, thanks to the convenience of mobile. Find out just how important text messaging has become for local businesses and how to use it effectively in this webinar with SMS marketing experts from Podium. Podium interviewed more than 1,000 consumers to understand their attitudes toward texting local businesses and how local businesses can take advantage of it. They’ll share the results of this research, with tips and advice to help you make the most of these insights. You’ll also learn: -How customer preferences impact local businesses. -How to create an effective text message strategy (and what to avoid). -How local businesses of all sizes can benefit from promotional text messaging. Join Podium’s Matt Boyce, Marketing Director, and Austin Miller, Partner Marketing Manager, for this discussion on how to use text messages to market your business effectively.

2. Agenda
01 The evolution of business messaging
02 Consumer messaging trends
03 The power of conversational messaging
04 SMS marketing for local businesses

3. We surveyed over 1,000 consumers across the United
States and Australia to learn:
- How messaging has evolved over the last decade, and how
customer preferences impact local businesses
- How to create an effective text message strategy (and what
to avoid)
- How promotional text messages can be an effective
marketing channel for local businesses of all sizes
The question: how do customers want to
communicate with local businesses?

4. The evolution of
business messaging
01

5. 98%
Same-day open rate of text
messages
18%
Click-through rates of text
messages - 6.9x higher than
email.
12%
Local businesses using
texting as a marketing tool
A new age of customer communication.
Telegram Postal Mail Catalog Email Text

6. “We have to be thinking about consumers of the future.
They are the people who grew up with cell phones
and computers…they are very efficient
with their time, and we need to be
aware of that.”
“
Madeline Sweeten, LA Furniture

7. Consumer messaging
trends
02

8. It’s simple: your customers want to text.
209%
The difference in response rate between text
messaging and phone, email, or Facebook.
1.8x
Consumer preference for texting compared to
any other communication method.

9. The power of
conversational messaging
03

10. 74% of consumers
report that they would
be more likely to text
with a local business if
they knew a real person
was going to receive
and respond to their
message.
Beyond blasts messages:
consumers crave conversations
50% of consumers
report being more likely
to respond to a text
message
from a business if the
employee introduces
themselves.

11. Texting’s unfair advantage
How do you currently converse with
local businesses you frequent?
Would you like the ability to converse
with a local business via text message?

12. SMS marketing for local
businesses
04

13. Local businesses are uniquely positioned to win with SMS
marketing.
Local businesses have an unfair
advantage in gaining consent to
promote via SMS, the most intimate
channel available to marketers.

14. SMS marketing best practices
How often would you like to receive promotional text
messages from local businesses?
Which of the following types of promotional text
messages would you like to receive from local
businesses?

15. SMS marketing best practices
59% of consumers have been texted
by a business that they did not give
permission to.
61% of consumers would unsubscribe
from promotional messages from
a local business if they received
messages they didn’t recall signing
up for.

16. Business texting is here.
What will you do?

17. We’re encouraging our dealers to adopt Podium’s messaging
tools. The days of email communications have gone by the
wayside. If you don’t make a meaningful connection with
customers within five minutes, they’ll go to a competitor.
Podium creates a frictionless buying experience starting with
Google search and ending with an effortless way to pay.
“
Jamie Ziegler, Director of Product Management, Hunter Douglas

18. Podium – the messaging
platform that does it all.
Win more leads.
Turn online prospects into offline buyers by standing out
when they’re searching and providing a convenient way to
get in touch—no matter where they’re looking for you.
Earn more repeat customers
Answer questions, schedule appointments, and close
the deal without the hold music and phone tag.
Do more as a team.
Don’t just do more—do it together. Connect and collaborate
with your team, all from the same platform where you
interact with your leads and customers.

19. The next revolution: Podium
Campaigns
Turn interactions into opt-ins
Upload existing opt-in lists and collect new opt-ins at a
variety of existing Podium touchpoints, including via
webchat, after leaving a review, or while making a payment
Build and share campaigns
Design SMS marketing campaigns to drive engagement
for upcoming or seasonal promotions. Segment your
opt-in list or send it to everyone at once
Measure and maximize results
Podium makes it simple by giving you pre-built dashboards
that surface digestible insight on unsubscribes, click rates,
transactions, and more

20. We’re in the business of
modernizing local
businesses.
Download the 2021 Local Business Messaging Report
Learn how Podium can revolutionize the way you do business.
Trusted by over 100,000 businesses and 90 million happy customers.
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