In the present conversational era, your business needs to be able to optimise engagement with your customers. It also needs to provide more convenience and accessibility for them to interact with you and your brand.
WhatsApp Business opened up quite a few avenues for customer connection which has a more significant impact on customer satisfaction. Using WhatsApp Business marketing for your brand can expand its reach with improved message deliverability, create a tailored experience for each customer with secure conversations and so much more.
Having a highly competitive marketing edge is undoubtedly a game-changer, especially if you are willing to get creative for added leverage.
It’s important to note that the WhatsApp Business App has some shared features but is not the same as the WhatsApp Business API. The former is a standalone, free-to-download mobile app that is designed for small businesses and allows you to stay in direct touch and engage with customers via a smartphone.
IN contrast, the API caters for the needs of larger businesses with higher messaging volumes and who require automated processes and integration with existing communication platforms.
WhatsApp Business for Marketing
WhatsApp marketing is all about strengthening brand relationships with your customers and delivering value in a secure and personal one-to-one environment. WhatsApp Business will help your company to infuse your unique brand identity into every conversation and make room for more creativity in your marketing campaigns.
To give you some inspiration to develop your own creative marketing campaign and brand promotions take a look at what other companies have successfully implemented.
1. Know Your Audience
Make every word count. Make sure your writing style is relevant and appeals to your customers’ needs and wants. (Keeping in mind, of course, how easy it is for users to opt-out of WhatsApp business marketing notifications.)
Knowing their audience, the Indian healthcare brand, Saffola, built its marketing campaign around fighting the craving for unhealthy food. This was particularly aimed at customers who were trying to diet and lose weight. To help people stay on track and combat their harmful eating habits, Saffola made use of an interactive WhatsApp chatbot. A user could send a message to the bot when they felt a comfort food craving coming on and in turn, the chatbot would try to distract the person with pre-recorded positive reinforcements, puzzles and even a rap song which coincidentally was later used to promote Saffola’s newly launched active slimming drink. There’s some out of the box thinking right there!
2. Personalisation
WhatsApp can provide your business with a robust set of opportunities for personalisation such as welcome messages, special offers, and birthday congratulations. This approach keeps customers more engaged and interested.
The streaming giant, Netflix, is a prime example of how to keep users engaged in a brand or service. They offer personal recommendations straight to users’ smartphones. When a person opts-in for the service, they then receive messages about their Netflix account as well as TV series and movie suggestions based on their personal preferences and what they generally like to watch. Netflix is pretty sharp and makes sure to keep interacting with their customers with upcoming show announcements and reminders even after users cancel their subscriptions to entice them to re-subscribe.
3. Form a Relationship
Over 55% of people feel more connected to a brand when using a messaging app. Maintaining such a connection with your WhatsApp business marketing strategies will not only increase sales but will help you to cut costs. Smart businesses know that customer retention is far cheaper than acquisition.
Recently, the upmarket lingerie brand Agent Provocateur pushed the boundaries of WhatsApp with their recommendations to customers during their Menage a Trois marketing campaign dedicated to Christmas. The company set up a group chat conversation between customers and the brand assistant on WhatsApp so customers could receive personal recommendations and be given ideas on what they should purchase for Christmas. The campaign was a resounding success and 31% of the WhatsApp chats turned into store visits and 61% converted into online store traffic on the website.
Based on this, Agent Provocateur made WhatsApp recommendations and counselling a permanent service for their VIP customers.
4. Design your Communication
WhatsApp has impressive open rates in comparison with other channels but if you offer irrelevant or poorly produced content, your marketing strategy will be dead in the water. Try to set the hook by not limiting yourself to only promotional messages, but by entertaining, educating, and assisting your audience.
Deciding to concentrate on a narrower audience, the sportswear brand, Adidas, used WhatsApp for part of a new shoe promotion campaign. Their target audience was amateur football players where there was a tendency for players to sometimes drop out of games at the last minute. Adidas offered to help tackle these issues by finding substitute players using WhatsApp messaging. All players had to do was send a message to the WhatsApp hotline and share essential information about the match. In return, Adidas would send a top-notch football player as their replacement for the match. Due to this creative campaign, Adidas received a lot of buzz in the football arena as well as in related retail websites and blogs.
How Can You Use WhatsApp for Marketing?
The above are simple yet effective examples of how creative thinking outside the box can lead to highly successful marketing and brand awareness campaigns. This will boost your sales and both retain loyal customers and recruit new consumers.
Contact the Cellfind Business Team today for advice and pricing on connection and messaging options for your business to get ahead of your competitors in the marketing arena.
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