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What if you could use a channel that helps you reach your customers instantly and directly anytime you like? On top of that, what if this channel ensures as high as 98% open rates for your messages?
Well, that’s exactly what WhatsApp marketing can offer your business.
It can help you send customers updates, notifications, and promotional materials. The best part about this marketing channel is that it generates high response.
However, success on this platform is not easy if you don’t have a proper strategy in place. A well-planned WhatsApp Marketing strategy is key to engaging better with your audience and converting them into prospects.
In this blog, we will explore WhatsApp marketing concepts in detail, learn how to create a WhatsApp marketing strategy for your business, and understand the platform’s most effective strategies and best practices.
Before we dig deep, let’s start with a quick definition…
WhatsApp marketing strategy is a set of methods that a business follows for brand promotion. It’s the standard guideline for promoting products or services on this platform and engaging with customers effectively.
A marketing strategy for WhatsApp works as a guide for brands to use and enhance the value of brand communication with the target audience. It serves as a map that shows the routes for creating value through marketing.
A growing number of businesses use WhatsApp to market their brand and achieve improved conversions and sales. The channel is beneficial whether you’re a small or a big enterprise.
Let’s look at examples of how brands are marketing themselves using WhatsApp –
Adidas is one of the leading sportswear manufacturers in the world. It’s a brand that not only creates excellent athletic products but also shows how its unique brand personality is unmatched.
Goal
In 2020, Adidas wanted to promote the new Predator football boots and create excitement among football fans.
Campaign
The company launched a campaign where it allowed amateur football teams in London to rent players for their games. It used the WhatsApp channel to make players available for clubs and ensure higher engagement.
Results
The campaign was a big success as teams in need of substitute players sent a message to the WhatsApp number and Adidas dispatched a player to their game. This marketing campaign stood out for innovation and creativity of the highest standards.
How Did they Do it?
The brand created a dedicated WhatsApp number to make the campaign successful. With footballers already contacted and collaborated, the WhatsApp channel became the medium where teams could contact Adidas and request a player.
Netflix is a popular streaming service that offers a wide range of TV shows, movies, documentaries, and other shows.
Goal
Around 2019, the leading streaming platform Netflix was facing a growing number of inactive and churned subscribers.
Campaign
The brand decided to tackle the pressing situation through a WhatsApp campaign, “I Am In.” The idea was simple – to get back users who either unsubscribed or became inactive and send them recommendations, notifications, and announcements. The campaign design was not iconic but it did the trick – the company just made use of a WhatsApp newsletter for the task.
Results
The result was amazing as Netflix managed to minimize the churn rate and improve retention.
How Did they Do it?
The company used the WhatsApp channel for its wide accessibility and ease of user participation. It deployed an advanced AI bot to send updates and enhance user experience.
Maggi is a famous maker of noodles and soups that are staples of kitchens across the world. It’s a brand whose product cuts across age and geographical barriers.
Goal
Around 2018, the company was looking to boost brand engagement among its loyal users.
Campaign
It decided to increase brand awareness subtly – by sharing a free cooking guide on WhatsApp. The idea was to personally connect with customers, be an active participant in their culinary joys, and inspire them to cook tasty dishes in easy steps.
Results
The cooking guide answered customer questions, gave step-by-step cooking instructions, and also shared how-to-videos. The campaign was a huge success as it achieved the desired results of creating awareness and connections with the audience.
How Did they Do it?
The company used WhatsApp so that the campaign was accessible to a large group of users and provided an ease of participation. It also deployed an AI chatbot on WhatsApp to enable automated interactions.
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, or KLM, is one leading airlines in the world, and also the flag carrier of the Netherlands.
Goal
Sending flight updates to passengers is nothing new and most airlines do that. Around 2017, the Dutch Airline, KLM, however, took this practice to a new level when it decided to send updates to the passenger’s dear ones as well.
Campaign
The airlines decided to send flight alerts via WhatsApp messenger to both the passengers and also to their family members.
Results
This simple WhatsApp marketing ensured that the company not only engaged with existing customers but also with potential ones.
How Did they Do it?
They integrated an advanced chatbot technology with the WhatsApp platform. The intention was to send quick and real-time updates to passengers and their family members.
You can use WhatsApp as a marketing channel and engage with your audience effectively. There are many ways to market using WhatsApp, including –
Sending bulk promotional SMSs was a standard marketing practice before the arrival of WhatsApp. The practice continues today as well but the channel of preferences has changed for marketers.
Businesses can now use WhatsApp Cloud API to send mass messages and engage with potential customers who have opted in. Using the API, you can send a variety of things, be it product updates, booking updates, shipping updates, marketing messages, and so on.
If you’re a small business, then WhatsApp business is fine for sending bulk promotional messages. However, big enterprises need a service provider like REVE Chat to use the API for mass messaging.
With WhatsApp, you can automate conversations with your customers and save your reps the inconvenience of replying to everyday messages. The platform allows you to set up automated notifications for any type of communication, be it related to shopping, orders, abandoned carts, etc. Using this feature, you can send automated delivery updates to customers, confirm orders, and so on.
But how does exactly WhatsApp support automation? Well, WhatsApp has integrated chatbots that support pre-scripted responses to frequently asked questions. So, you can also benefit from this feature and automate notifications whenever any event happens.
Customers always expect great experiences when they connect with a brand. With a WhatsApp Business account, it becomes easy to serve your customers better and improve their overall experience with your brand.
You can improve customer experiences in three ways –
Call-to-action buttons are key to marketing messages on WhatsApp. You must choose them wisely and also ensure they are strategically placed. The right approach to using a CTA button is to offer a clear path for every action you want your customers to take. Make sure the CTA you use helps people buy directly from WhatsApp.
Customers prefer dealing with reliable brands. It’s therefore important to build trust and gain authenticity for your business. The WhatsApp platform provides an array of features that your business can use to increase its recognizability among consumers. Some of the steps are –
With WhatsApp, you can create a catalog of your products and services and then share it with your customers for marketing. In the catalog, you can mention the price, product/service description, product code, and a website link.
A catalog on WhatsApp can contain up to 500 items. Your customers can browse the catalog and quickly find your offers. This can enhance engagement.
Plus, you can send the entire catalog to customers who have opted in and increase familiarity with your products or services.
Many businesses also share catalog links through different channels, mainly social media so that potential customers can easily discover the business and the offers.
Your marketing effort can become more effective when you quickly connect with team members. Using WhatsApp, it’s incredibly easy to stay in touch with teams and colleagues.
You can use the “Group Chat” feature of WhatsApp to enhance team collaboration and bonding. This feature allows you to message up to 256 people at a time. You can create a dedicated group for marketing or sales where you can share updates, PDFs, and other documents.
It’s always a mistake to redirect the customers to a new channel when they have reached the end of the sales funnel. It might frustrate them; they might opt out without buying. You should rather consider taking payments within WhatsApp itself. Doing that ensures that you keep everything aligned within this channel and boost customer experience with your brand.
If you feel that broadcast messages are not proving effective in generating clicks and conversions, consider using WhatsApp Carousel Messages. They are recent additions to the platform and can generate more clicks for the novelty aspect.
You can send 10 carousel cards in one message for marketing.
You can use the carousel template to –
Customers love personalized engagement. The more personalized experience you provide, the more chances of conversion it can create. 78% of customers consider personalized communication as a key consideration for purchase.
With WhatsApp Business App, you can send personalized messages to customers and boost engagement.
Tips to personalize WhatsApp messages:
The “WhatsApp Status Updates” feature is quite trendy these days, aren’t they? It seems everybody is fond of it. Brands can also capitalize on the popularity of this feature to create engagement through storytelling.
You can share stories and promotions using rich media content. You can announce updates and special offers this way. This feature is ideal for promoting matters that are urgent and need immediate attention of the audience.
Hosting quizzes and challenges has long been a key marketing strategy. It creates instant connection and engagement with the target audience. WhatsApp understands that well and maybe that’s why gives the feature where you can host quizzes.
Tips:
There are many channels where you can promote the event at virtually no cost and get good traction. With WhatsApp, event promotion can ensure amazing results because the communication is one-on-one and the message is delivered directly to the prospects.
To promote an event on WhatsApp, you can do many things, including –
You can use REVE’s WhatsApp campaign feature to run targeted campaigns for maximum returns. This feature can help you turn conversations into conversions. You can easily customize messages to connect with your audience and drive engagement by adding images, videos, and product catalogs. Using REVE’s WhatsApp campaign feature, you can invite users to take part in informative webinars and other events.
What is more beneficial – engaging users on the website or WhatsApp?
Engagement on WhatsApp is more beneficial as it leads to better conversion rates for your business. That’s why you should consider redirecting your website traffic on WhatsApp.
You will just need a WhatsApp Button on your website or landing page to redirect the traffic. As soon as someone clicks on the button, he/she will be redirected to your WhatsApp.
Tips:
Increasing the visibility of your brand is one of the key aspects of effective marketing. With WhatsApp, you can easily do that and drive more users to your business. You just need to create a WhatsApp link and then share it across channels.
The link can be added to your WhatsApp business profile bio and distributed across popular social channels.
You can also integrate the link with the WhatsApp QR Code logo and share it on your preferred social channels for enhanced visibility.
WhatsApp is now a top marketing channel for businesses. Marketing on this platform ensures personalized engagement with the target audience. However, marketing on WhatsApp is not as simple as it looks on the surface.
For marketing on WhatsApp, your business will have two options
While the WhatsApp Business app is free to use and feels ideal for small businesses, it comes with limited features that may not accommodate your company’s marketing goals.
In contrast, if you’re a big enterprise, you should consider using the WhatsApp Business platform.
To use the WhatsApp Business Platform, you need to integrate it with a reliable third-party platform like the customer engagement platform revechat.com. It will ensure various additional features to better manage your customer communication and improve your marketing performance.
Creating a winning marketing strategy with REVE Chat is a three-step process –
Step 1 – Setting up your WhatsApp Business Account
Step 2 – Creating a template message
Let’s look at each of the steps in detail –
To set up your WhatsApp Business Account, you first need to connect with REVE Chat. Make sure you’re logged into your Facebook account in the same browser.
To create or add your existing WhatsApp account:
Now you can create or select your business profile. Here we are selecting our “World Travel” as the business portfolio. If you don’t have a business portfolio, you can easily create one by selecting the Create new business portfolio option.
While creating a new WhatsApp business account and profile, you will need to provide a phone number and also select how you want to receive the verification code. Following that, you will be asked to verify the phone number.
Now your WhatsApp Business account is connected with REVE Chat. This means you can use this omnichannel platform from now on to reply to any new customer query.
After setting up your WhatsApp account with REVE Chat, creating a template message is next. As per the policy of WhatsApp, only templated messages can be sent to recipients, and that too, after prior permission.
After creating a template message, we need to get it approved by Meta. Once the approval comes, which normally takes a couple of minutes max, you’re ready to send a campaign.
However, you can’t send a campaign message unless there is a payment method added to the account. So, consider adding a payment method before sending the message.
After your template is approved and you have sent the campaign, what’s next? Well, you can go ahead and create a new campaign.
To create a new campaign, you will need to go to the campaign tab. Click the “Create Campaign” button at the top right corner. A new pop-up will appear, where you will have to provide various information like:
After creating a campaign, you can also view campaign details by clicking on any campaign. It will show you the details panel appears from the right side. From here, you can download a report from the top right button ( containing each contact’s delivery time, status, failure reason, and if any contacts reacted- their response).
Creating WhatsApp templates within the system is a streamlined process that allows for better management and customization of your marketing campaigns. By following this guide, you can create effective templates that meet your communication needs and enhance your marketing efforts.
If you have any questions regarding the price per conversation for WhatsApp business click this link for more info.
For a more detailed guide on how to use the REVE chat campaign, click here.
Explore more: How to Do WhatsApp Marketing: 8 Simple Steps (2024)
WhatsApp presents a strategic opportunity for businesses to forge stronger connections with their audience. It allows brands to humanize their interactions, building trust and loyalty in a competitive market. As a core component of your marketing strategy empowers you to reach your audience on a deeper level, driving growth and building lasting customer relationships.
At REVE Chat, we understand the vast importance of WhatsApp marketing strategy for your business. This is why we help you achieve your goal by leveraging our omnichannel platform. So, you can sign up with us, check our tools for engagement, and add value to your WhatsApp marketing strategy.
WhatsApp marketing is the concept of using the messaging app WhatsApp for business promotion. It includes a new channel for marketing and business growth through customer engagement and relationship building.
It takes a robust WhatsApp marketing strategy to attract more customers on WhatsApp. The basics to attracting more customers on WhatsApp include –
WhatsApp marketing is extremely effective for small businesses as it can open a window of opportunities for them. The platform enables a real-time, one-on-one engagement with the audience for business marketing. It has tons of tools for automated messaging, sales, and more.
Building strong and lasting customer relationships is the most important strategy for WhatsApp marketing. Businesses can use the power of personalized communication and value-added content to forge long-term bonds with audiences. Group chats, status updates, community building, and product displays are some of the tools available with WhatsApp for implementing the most important marketing strategy for the platform.
Each marketing channel is unique in terms of approaches to user engagement, and each can do what others can’t. While email marketing is ideal for elaborate storytelling and lead nurturing, WhatsApp marketing suits fine for immediacy and personalization. Both are excellent for building customer connections either quickly or gradually.
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Mamunur Rouf is the Head of Product at REVE Chat. With extensive experience in product management, he focuses on creating innovative communication tools to enhance customer engagement and meet the needs of businesses worldwide.
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