5 Ways to Grow Your Driving School Business with SMS Marketing
Driving school success relies on attracting new customers and building trust and rapport with existing students. A solid SMS marketing strategy will easily achieve both, as well as helping your business stand out from the competition.
A low cost, high impact outreach tool, text message marketing is also really simple to set up, so it’s ideal for new and small businesses too.
Now sure where to start? Here are 5 SMS marketing for driving school tips to rev up your business performance.
Run a more efficient business
Texts and instant messages are short, fast and convenient. That’s why teens and tweens love them. Getting in touch with your students via the method they use most means more effective communication, and more convenience for them too. Use SMS for a range of communications to help cut costs and boost efficiency.
- Send class reminders
- Receive confirmations and cancellations to avoid time wasted by no-shows
- Request student feedback
- Send personalized driving tips and study reminders
Impressive open rates
SMS has a much more impressive open rate than email:
- 99% of text messages are opened and read
- Just 28-33% of emails are opened and read
When you’re a small business you want to spend time on marketing that rewards your efforts. Setting up text message marketing is quicker than emailing, with no need to spend time and money on graphics. SMS marketing for driving schools is also more likely to be read than email and social media posts, so target your efforts where it counts.
Spread your special offers and promotions
SMS is a great way to spread the word about upcoming special offers or promotions, as well as targeted offers for existing students. You can:
- Text a code or link that entitles the receiver to a discount off their next class
- Offer a free or discounted first class to those who sign up for your SMS alerts
- Let students know about any upcoming events you’ll be attending so they can find out more about your service in person
Make an instant connection with potential students
Add a keyword and short code to your existing advertising to make it easy for anyone that’s interested to get in touch and sign up for more info. As soon as they see your flyer, poster, business card or print ad they’ll have an instant point of contact, and a call to action that enables them to make contact right there and then.
Reach a wider audience
While local advertising is great, its scope is limited. How many people in the tri-state area will see your newspaper ad or posters? Compare that to the possible reach of SMS in the same area, when 90% of Americans own an SMS-enable phone. Your text info and offers can be easily shared by recipients forwarding texts to friends and relatives they think might be interested in your services. It means your customers are actually doing some of the marketing leg work for you.