It’s no question that SMS marketing is in its prime, which is why you’ll see the medium integrated into almost every single type of marketing automation platform you’ll come across. That goes to show that SMS messaging has gained its respect and popularity to stand next to traditional, modern and future performance marketing channels including: mixed media, push notification, and email.
As a decision maker in your business you have to commit to one out of the plethora of options to live amongst your technology stack, that’s a given. So how are you deciding between what to choose? Here we want to explore the pros and cons of choosing a SMS marketing option versus a full automation platform.
Understanding the basics: What are they?
Text Message Marketing Platforms
As the names suggest, text marketing platforms offer campaign messaging services that allow you to send SMS and MMS messages. Think of them as the masters of text message communication, allowing businesses to send direct, immediate and personalized messages to customers’ text inboxes. From transactional to promotional messages, text marketing platforms excel in mobile engagement and offer a deeper immersion into the text message experience.
Marketing Automation Platforms
These go beyond text marketing platforms, offering businesses a more robust suite of tools to automate communication across various channels including email, social, push notification and even mix media. Marketing automation platforms are designed to handle the entire customer journey and allow your team to orchestrate across multiple touch points.
Focus: Simplicity vs Versatility
Text Message Marketing Platforms
Have you ever heard the term, “The jack of all trades versus the specialist”? Text marketing platform would be the specialist in this case! Since text marketing platforms are laser focused on SMS and MMS functionality, you get a more robust app architecture that has innovative features and micro-services that supports sending, collecting, and reporting on your campaign performance.
Marketing Automation Platforms
On the other hand, marketing automation platforms would be the jack of all trades because with these solutions you get access to a wealth of engagement tools that offer a more unified experience connecting email, SMS, mobile app push, reputation management and customer data. If your goal is to send an email, follow it up with a text message, and then retarget customers on social media, you’ll need the power and flexibility of a full automation platform. It’s not just about sending messages—it’s about creating a seamless experience across the customer’s entire journey.
Capabilities: What’s in the toolbox?
Text Message Marketing Platforms
Text marketing platforms shine in as campaign service providers for SMS and MMS campaigns. They offer extremely valuable features like:
- Number selection like vanity and dedicated short codes, 10DLCs, and toll-free numbers as reliable sender ID options.
- Data collection toolkits to grow your mobile database using text-enabled keywords, QR codes, webforms and keypads.
- Two-way messaging to have real-time conversations with customers.
- Drip campaigns to engage customers in strategic flows based on triggers and key events.
- Advanced analytics to harvest detailed SMS and MMS analytics to track open rates, responses, delivery codes, URL clicks and more.
If you’re running an SMS and MMS campaign, these platforms have everything you need without the distractions of extra features you won’t use.
Marketing Automation Platforms
If you like larger platforms that come with a larger toolbox, then you fall in love piloting the depth of a marketing automation platform. They offer valuable features like:
- Multi-channel marketing campaign control (email, SMS, mobile app push, social media, etc).
- Customer journey mapping to visualize the entire path from lead to conversion.
- Automation workflows triggered by customer behavior (e.g., abandoned cart emails or welcome text messages).
- Advanced analytics that give you insight into how each channel contributes to your bottom line.
This makes full automation platforms the go-to for businesses that want to manage comprehensive, multi-faceted campaigns with personalized messaging at each stage of the customer journey.
Ease of use: Simplicity meets power
Text Message Marketing Platforms
Generally text message marketing platforms are more user-friendly. The narrow focus on SMS and MMS allows them to offer a less cluttered and intuitive interface. You won’t need a marketing degree or a dedicated IT team to run effective campaigns. Many platforms offer pre-built templates, simple customer segmentation, and real-time reporting, making it easy for even small, medium and enterprise businesses to get results.
Marketing Automation Platforms
Are powerful, but can be more complex. Managing multiple channels and building intricate workflows takes more time and expertise. However, with complexity comes opportunity—these platforms offer deep customization, allowing businesses to tailor their communication at scale. For larger organizations with diverse marketing needs, this trade-off can often be worth it.
Cost: What’s the investment?
Text Message Marketing Platforms
Text marketing is typically more affordable and doesn’t lock you into deep contracts. The price for licensing text marketing software usually depends on the number of texts you send, making it ideal for small businesses or those with a tight marketing budget. If SMS is the core of your strategy, you won’t pay for features you don’t need.
Marketing Automation Platforms
Marketing automation platforms can be more expensive due to their broader feature set. These platforms often charge based on the number of contacts and the complexity of the automation. If you’re a larger business or looking to run comprehensive campaigns across email, SMS, and beyond, the additional investment can pay off through higher engagement and conversions.
Use cases: Who should use what?
Text Message Marketing Platforms
Text marketing is perfect for businesses that want a direct, no-nonsense way to engage with customers via SMS and MMS. That goes for in-store and online retailers, restaurants, gyms, hospitality services and any type of local businesses that can use these platforms to send promotions, reminders, and updates directly to their audience, keeping the message clear and the costs low.
Marketing Automation Platforms
Marketing automation platforms are designed for businesses with complex marketing needs. Enterprises or e-commerce brands looking to build personalized customer journeys across multiple channels—email, SMS, social media—will benefit from the flexibility and power of a full automation system. These platforms allow you to nurture leads, re-engage customers, and provide a seamless, multi-channel experience.
Which one should you choose?
Text message marketing platforms
Your team and company should go with text marketing if SMS and MMS messaging are a day-to-day and primary marketing tool for your advertising, promotion and retention strategy. Also text marketing is a great option if you are looking for cost-effective solutions, want to focus on direct and immediate engagement and are looking for a platform that offers you deeper access to text marketing functionality.
Marketing automation platforms
If your team should opt for a marketing automation platform if you have the resources to handle the complexity of a larger marketing suite, want to manage campaigns across multiple channels and if personalization at every touchpoint is a key priority. Also, if your team is looking for more advanced workflows, analytics, and journey mapping to scale your marketing efforts.
Choosing between a specialized text message marketing platform and a marketing automation platform depends on your business’s goals, size, and complexity. If SMS marketing is at the heart of your strategy, a specialized text marketing platform will give you the simplicity and efficiency you need. However, if your business relies on engaging customers across various channels and wants to build personalized, automated campaigns, a full automation platform will provide the versatility and power to succeed. For those very agile teams, we see them using both.
Having trouble deciding? Take a tour of SAM, Textmunication’s text marketing platform.
