Text Messaging Helps Business Pivot During Pandemic

I often call myself a rockstar, life changer, and dog lover. I reside in a quaint shoreline town in New England with my husband. Some of my favorite things in life besides my amazing family are animals, the beach, and boating. I love my job with Project Broadcast because it helped me build a successful side gig without the effort and now I share my knowledge with all of you.

September 20 • 3 min read

The recent pandemic took a toll on many businesses and most small business owners had to reevaluate how they would move forward. Brick and Mortar Business Owners were affected in a way like no other because they usually relied on foot traffic to stay in business and they didn’t have that option. Many businesses closed their doors, while some grew and thrived larger than ever. How did they do that? They had to PIVOT!, as Ross Gellar would say.

How did they do that? They had to PIVOT!

If you own a Brick and Mortar business and you aren’t collecting customer information at the time of purchase, you are missing a huge opportunity. How else would customers know if you’re having a sale? Yes, word of mouth is great and storefront signage would work too, but how can you let your existing customers know? Well, several business owners started using texting platforms such as Project Broadcast to get information out to their customers. Some Brick and Mortars even set up delivery of products to customers during the pandemic and most of this was achieved through texting.

Let’s go back to the beginning of the pandemic (I know, I know…). Doors were closed for restaurants and stores and the only place anyone could really go was a grocery store or a Home Improvement Store. We could place a takeout order and have it delivered to our cars, but that was it. We all shifted our focus on what we could live without and what we actually needed. But doesn’t shopping for goods and gifts also count? Isn’t supporting that local gift shop important too? Not in the eyes of a national pandemic, that’s for sure. Now what if your favorite downtown gift shop texted you a web page with gift baskets and gift ideas with the ability to purchase them and have them delivered to your doorstep? Now that sounds amazing, right? Well, several Brick and Mortars got creative and did this exact thing.

Now what if your favorite downtown gift shop texted you a web page with gift baskets and gift ideas with the ability to purchase them and have them delivered to your doorstep?

Through Project Broadcast, you can create a web page called a Landing Page and add anything you want to it including pictures of goods and shop buttons for Paypal. Then you can send it out to your customers. Now, if you don’t have your customers’ information, this won’t work. So let’s get you prepared for the next pandemic. Only kidding, we don’t want that to happen. But, what if it did? Would you be ready?

Collecting customer contact information is super easy. You can have them scan a QR code that sends a text to your number using a sms link generator and have it text a keyword to your business number. Then, if you have that keyword set up properly, it can send a link to a digital form for the customer to fill out. We call that a configurable form in the Project Broadcast world. Voila! Your customer just provided their information.

Now what to do with it….? Well, you can have a birthday club that texts them a fun discount or a Happy Birthday on their birthday. You can alert them of sales or specials. You can keep them informed of local events going on in the area of your shop. The list goes on and on… Just let your imagination run with it.