SMS Marketers Wanted: The Rise of a New Skill Set

There have been a lot of doom-and-gloom headlines about the state of marketing. Most of them declare that “marketers face an existential crisis.” 

The reasoning is simple: not only is the death of third party cookies looming, but marketing just isn’t working anymore. Consumers are ignoring what once was effective, and it isn’t an anecdotal observation or posturing. Consider that:

• Globally, 42.7% of internet users use ad blockers.
• 75% of emails are never read.
• 74% of people are tired of social media ads.

There’s no point whining about this aversion to modern marketing. (After all, it’s not going to lead to higher open or click-through rates.)

So, what can you do? Follow the lead of smart companies and invest in SMS marketing. And while you’re at it, hire an SMS marketer.

In this article we’re going to make the case for why your next marketing hire needs to have deep expertise in text message marketing.  

Why Are SMS Marketers in Demand?

This is going to sound painfully obvious, so bear with me: SMS marketers are in demand because there’s been a huge increase in the number of companies sending texts. 

57% of businesses say they plan to increase their text marketing budget in 2021. As the amount of money spent on sending texts increases, businesses are looking for a dedicated person to ensure these dollars are spent wisely.

To understand what led to this demand for SMS marketers, we need to first understand why brands are investing in SMS.

1. Declining effectiveness of traditional marketing channels 

No one in marketing wants to admit that most of what we do doesn’t work. Or at least, doesn’t work very well.

Thankfully this is changing: in 2020, AirBnb reduced its performance advertising by $542 million and saw no material impact on sales. They continued cutting their budget in 2021, with similar results. 

It’s not just recognizable brands like AirBnb that have realized how ineffective their marketing is. There are tons of small and medium-sized businesses that have wasted considerable time and money on popular advertising channels like Facebook and Google. 

You can say the same thing about email marketing, where 79% of people will never even open your message. Devoting hours to sending an email that a small portion of your list is going to read is…not a very wise way to spend your time.

There are a host of reasons why this is the case. The main factor that nearly everyone agrees on? All these channels have become uber-competitive and noisy. 

2. The rise of mobile marketing

Against the backdrop of declining marketing performance, we’ve seen mobile traffic overtake desktop traffic. On top of this, people spend as much as 5.7 hours a day on their phones.

A good marketing north star is to meet your customers where they are. Because of this, the focus has shifted to mobile marketing:

• Designers now focus on mobile-first design
• Most––if not all––new marketing channels are mobile-focused (TikTok is a great example)
• Even SEO has become mobile-first

It’s no surprise, then, that the number of companies sending texts has increased rapidly. SMS has one of the highest ROIs of any marketing tool, with conversion rates as high as 29%.

To give you some perspective on how ridiculous that is, you can expect a 3.26% conversion rate from your emails.

Who Makes a Good SMS Marketer?

Deciding to invest in a new channel is all well and good, but the problem comes down to resources. That’s why there are nearly 12,000 job posts on the popular job site Indeed.com that mention SMS marketing.

If you read through any of the listings, you’ll soon find they differ wildly in what they require.

This is understandable. Every so often, a marketing role appears which is poorly defined simply because it’s new. Over time, the role evolves to better meet the needs of the channel or beat out the competition.

Just look at content marketing. Ten years ago it was good enough to hire a “blogger” and have them churn out a couple of lightweight blog posts a week.

Now companies are looking for writers with journalism backgrounds who can write thousand-word articles on topics as niche as data storage.

The SMS marketer role is still in its nascent stage. Just having someone dedicated to your text messaging efforts is likely to be enough to generate value. 

Still, there are a couple of things to consider when hiring for this role:

• It’s probably not a bad idea to hire someone who has proven they can run effective direct marketing campaigns. (It’s why most companies are looking for someone with experience in both SMS and email marketing.)
  
  This is simply because they have successfully grown subscriber lists and been responsible for sending out regular communication.
• Look for a marketer with social media experience. They’ll quickly pick up the conversational tone needed when texting customers.
• All marketers need to be data-driven. However, because you can see results in almost real-time, it helps to have someone in the role who has proven they can interpret and act on data.

SMS Marketer: An Evolving Role

As mobile marketing develops, a lot of businesses have found themselves facing a huge learning curve. Luckily, by hiring the right person, you can turn SMS marketing into a key business driver.

We hope this guide has given you a great place to start as you find the right marketer for your brand. Go forth and conquer the new world of text marketing. 

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