WhatsApp Marketing Strategies: Unleashing the Business Potential for Success

WhatsApp marketing refers to utilizing the WhatsApp messaging platform as a strategic tool for promoting products, services, or brands to a targeted audience. It involves leveraging the features of WhatsApp to engage with customers, build relationships, and drive business growth.

With the advent of the WhatsApp Business Platform & WhatsApp Business App, the possibilities for marketers have expanded manifold. Gone are the days of traditional marketing approaches; now, you can craft personalized campaigns that captivate your audience. This blog will discuss how WhatsApp can be used to facilitate marketing and the steps required to begin your journey on this popular platform.

Key Takeaways

• WhatsApp offers numerous benefits, including a global audience, higher open rates, quick responses, cost-effectiveness, multimedia content, and end-to-end encryption.
  

• Studies have reported that WhatsApp Business speeds up customer service by 225%, increases sales by 27%, and improves conversion rates by 20%. Thus, using WhatsApp as a marketing tool can help businesses engage their audience, provide efficient customer support, enhance brand visibility, and drive growth. 
  

• Marketing strategies include sending broadcast messages, using automated reminders, running click-to-WhatsApp ads, personalizing conversations, utilizing chatbots, adding clickable buttons, conducting contests, creating communities, and encouraging referrals.
  

• To get started with WhatsApp marketing, businesses should sign up for WhatsApp Business, create a brand persona, build a substantial contact list, create message templates, and promote their WhatsApp channel on other platforms.
  

Exotel’s WhatsApp Product Suite offers a comprehensive solution for businesses looking to leverage WhatsApp for marketing, sales, and customer care, providing automated marketing promotions, OTP delivery, e-commerce storefronts, AI chatbots, live agent chat, and more.

Why Use WhatsApp as a Marketing Tool?

Before exploring the different marketing strategies, let’s have a look at the features that make WhatsApp a popular choice among marketers.

i) Global Audience

WhatsApp boasts over 2 billion monthly active users worldwide. By using WhatsApp as a marketing tool, businesses can tap into this vast user base, reaching potential customers from diverse geographical locations and cultural backgrounds

ii) High Open Rate

Unlike traditional email marketing, where emails may go unnoticed in crowded inboxes, WhatsApp messages have a significantly higher open rate of 99%.

iii) Quick Responses

WhatsApp facilitates real-time communication, enabling businesses to engage with customers promptly. This fosters a sense of trust and reliability between businesses and their customers.

iv) Cost-effective

Since WhatsApp uses internet data for communication, sending messages, images, videos, and other media content can be more economical than traditional SMS marketing.

v) Multimedia Content

With WhatsApp, businesses can leverage various multimedia formats to create engaging marketing campaigns. They can share images, videos, audio messages, and even PDFs to showcase products, services, or promotional offers creatively.

vi) End-to-end Encryption

WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption ensures secure conversations. Customers highly value this level of privacy and security.

WhatsApp Marketing Strategies

More than 200 million people send messages to WhatsApp business accounts daily. WhatsApp thus provides a golden opportunity for your business. The following marketing strategies can help you ensure a positive user experience and build long-lasting customer relationships.

✯ Send Broadcast Messages

The broadcasting feature is useful for efficiently sharing updates, promotions, new product launches, or important announcements with your entire audience. However, you must ensure that your broadcasts are relevant and not spammy, as users can opt out of receiving them.

✯ Send Automated Reminders

Use WhatsApp to set up automated reminders for appointments, events, or deadlines. You can thus reduce the chances of missed appointments and improve overall customer satisfaction.

✯ Run Click-to-Whatsapp Ads

Click-to-WhatsApp ads enable users to initiate a conversation with your business directly from the ad itself. Such ads can be placed on various platforms like Facebook or Instagram, driving potential customers to start a conversation on WhatsApp.

✯ Personalize the Conversation

Building personalized connections is a vital component of marketing. Address customers by their names, remember their preferences, and tailor your messages to suit their needs. Personalized conversations create a sense of rapport and help convert leads into loyal customers.

✯ Offer Support with WhatsApp Chatbot and Live Agent Chat

Utilize WhatsApp chatbots to provide quick and automated responses to common customer queries. Additionally, offer the option for customers to chat with live agents for more complex issues. This blend of automation and human support ensures efficient customer service, enhancing customer satisfaction.

✯ Add Clickable Button to Messages

WhatsApp allows you to add interactive and clickable buttons to your messages. These buttons can direct customers to specific actions, such as visiting a product page, making a purchase, or subscribing to updates. Interactive messages make the user experience more engaging.

✯ Conduct Contests and Surveys

Running contests and giveaways on WhatsApp can be a fun way to engage your audience and encourage interaction. Invite participants to share content, answer quizzes, or provide feedback for a chance to win prizes. Such campaigns can help increase brand awareness and foster a sense of community.

✯ Create Group Chats and Communities

Forming WhatsApp groups based on shared interests or common customer segments can be a powerful way to foster a community around your brand. Use these groups to share exclusive content, offer special deals, and facilitate discussions.

✯ Encourage Sharing and Referrals

Leverage WhatsApp’s forwarding feature to encourage users to share your content, promotions, or referral links with their friends and family. Word-of-mouth recommendations carry significant weight, and encouraging sharing can organically amplify your brand’s marketing efforts.

Get Started With WhatsApp Marketing

WhatsApp Business has over 5 billion downloads globally. Moreover, the total spending on this platform is expected to amount to $3.6 billion by 2024. To become a part of this growth journey and to lay a strong foundation for your WhatsApp marketing efforts, the following steps are crucial. 

A. Sign up for WhatsApp Business: You can get the app on Google or Apple App Stores. You can then follow the registration process to create your business account.

B. Create a Brand Persona: Whether you want to be formal, friendly, humorous, or professional, having a clear brand persona will help you connect better with your audience and set the right expectations.

C. Build a Substantial Contact List: Start by reaching out to your existing customers and inviting them to join your WhatsApp channel. You can also use mediums like email, social media, or your website to encourage people to opt-in to receive WhatsApp updates. 

D. Create Message Templates: Create message templates for common customer interactions, such as greetings, order confirmations, shipping updates, and more.

E. Promote Your WhatsApp Channel on Other Platforms: Add a WhatsApp icon or link to your website, email signature, social media accounts, and marketing materials.

Boost Your Marketing Efforts With Exotel’s WhatsApp Product Suite

Exotel offers WhatsApp solutions for marketing, sales, and customer care. All these solutions contribute to creating a positive customer experience. With Exotel’s one-stop WhatsApp platform, you can:

√ Run automated marketing promotions: Exotel’s WhatsApp solution allows businesses to automate marketing campaigns. This automation helps broadcast promotional messages, offers, and updates to a wide audience, enhancing brand visibility and engagement.

√ Enable verification by delivering OTPs: Exotel’s platform enables businesses to securely deliver OTPs through WhatsApp, providing a convenient method for user authentication during account setups and transactions.

√ Create an e-commerce storefront: With Exotel’s WhatsApp solution, businesses can set up an e-commerce storefront within the messaging app. This feature empowers customers to browse products, view descriptions, and make purchases directly through WhatsApp.

√ Deliver instant support with AI chatbots: The integration of AI chatbots enables businesses to provide instant and automated customer support. These chatbots can answer common queries, guide customers through basic processes, and offer quick solutions.

√ Offer real-time support with a live agent chat: For more complex queries or personalized interactions, Exotel’s platform enables businesses to transition from AI chatbots to live agent chats seamlessly. Businesses can thus maintain the human touch in customer interactions.

√ Reduce the burden on your call center: By employing AI chatbots and automation, businesses can offload routine and repetitive queries from their call center. This allows agents to enhance overall operational efficiency.

√ Employ WhatsApp integrations: Exotel’s WhatsApp solution integrates with various third-party tools and platforms, including CRMs, service desks, marketing tools, payment gateways, and e-commerce apps.

Ready to unlock the full potential of WhatsApp for your business? Explore our comprehensive WhatsApp Product Suite today. Click here to schedule a call and embark on a journey of success with WhatsApp.