WhatsApp Marketing Guide: Definition and Tips

Have you ever heard of Whatsapp marketing? Considered one of the most popular messaging apps in the world, WhatsApp offers several tools that you can enjoy to develop effective marketing strategies to straighten your relationship with your customers, increase customer retention rate, turn leads into clients, raise brand awareness, and build credibility. 

With more than 2 billion active users, WhatsApp enables you to send personalized messages to your target audience. It can be used to offer assistance when your customers have any doubts and to send offers and coupon discounts according to their interests. You can also close sales directly through WhatsApp. Check out the article to learn more about this.

What Is WhatsApp Marketing?#

WhatsApp marketing can be defined as the marketing strategies created to promote a brand using WhatsApp. Companies from multiple sectors, small and big ones, have adhered to WhatsApp business and started using its features to achieve their goals. 

You can create a storefront in Whatsapp containing important information about your company, automate messages, organize and filter customer conversations, and much more with WhatsApp business. Then, implement WhatsApp marketing actions to drive attention to your brand, deliver high-quality content to your target audience, and sell more.

Each communication channel requires a specific approach considering its particularities. That isn't different when it comes to WhatsApp. Therefore, WhatsApp marketing focuses on understanding how to make the most of this platform, ceasing its potential to have a direct conversation with customers. 

WhatsApp Marketing Benefits#

There are several reasons why you should enjoy WhatsApp marketing to promote a brand. Customers value receiving personalized assistance, the buying experience must be pleasant, and you can do that through WhatsApp. 

Deepen the Relationship With Customers#

Once you use WhatsApp to communicate with your target audience, you are offering them a direct link to speak with your team. It isn't necessary to call or send an email, the customer can just open Whatsapp and type what they need. This simplifies their relationship with your brand and makes them feel closer to you. 

It's essential to have a short response time and count on a team that's prepared to help with customer issues. If you do that, you show that your brand cares about its customers, which helps to build a trusting relationship and motivates the client to keep returning.

Increase Conversion Rate#

WhatsApp marketing strategies are also very helpful when it comes to turning leads into customers. Imagine, you built a WhatsApp contact list through the contacts that subscribed to your newsletter. This is an indicator that those people are interested in your brand and content. 

You can use WhatsApp to help them through the buyer journey. If the person is in the decision process of whether to buy or not an item, you can send a message with something to encourage them such as a coupon discount, or free delivery. Use the data you have about your customers to develop personalized approaches, which are much more likely to convince them to buy, 

Sell More#

One of the main goals of WhatsApp marketing is to increase the number of sales. You have the opportunity to implement marketing strategies that focus on showing your potential customers why they should buy products from your company. As you establish a trustworthy relationship with your target audience, and conquer credibility, people become more prompt to make purchases with you.

Low Cost#

Another great advantage of WhatsApp marketing is that it doesn't require high investments to put it into practice. Unlike paid ads, you can use WhatsApp for free without having to pay any fee. What it takes are dedication to deliver valuable content to your target audience and consistency

How to Implement WhatsApp Marketing#

Create a WhatsApp Business Account#

The first step to begin with WhatsApp marketing is creating your WhatsApp Business account. Different from the personal account, with this one you can publish your product catalog on WhatsApp, set up automatic messages according to the message you receive, and label conversations to organize them. WhatsApp becomes not only a marketing tool but a sales one as well. 

Get to Know Your Target Audience#

Before defining how you are going to promote your products and brand on WhatsApp, it's fundamental to know who your target audience is. Identify what their main demands are and how you can help them, and plan the content that you are going to publish on WhatsApp based on that. 

Plan the Marketing Actions#

So, you have created a WhatsApp business account for your company, and you have plenty of information about your target audience, the next step is to plan the marketing strategies. Define your goals, and analyze what actions can help you conquer them. 

For example, if you have a clothing store for women and want to promote the summer collection launch. You can send through WhatsApp a special coupon discount for everyone who buys an item on the collection launch day. To make the experience more personal, you can send product recommendations to the clients based on their previous purchases. 

Create a schedule where you will define when messages will be sent through Whatsapp, and to whom they will be sent, and choose the content format. Remember that the messages should be aligned with the step of the buyer's journey that the customer is in. 

Measure Results#

After you start putting the WhatsApp marketing strategies into action the work isn't done, it's time to gather feedback and analyze the results. Were you able to achieve your goal? If not, observe what can be improved, and test new approaches. 

WhatsApp Marketing Examples#

KLM#

When you buy your flight ticket with  KLM, you can opt for receiving notifications via WhatsApp. Then, you are going to receive your booking confirmation, be reminded when the check-in opens, get your boarding pass, and see flight status through WhatsApp without having to use any other app.

Adidas#

Adidas created a special campaign focusing on amateur football players who lived in London to launch a sneaker. They put a WhatsApp hotline available, so the players could send a message in case anyone on their team needed to be replaced for a match. Then, Adidas would help them by sending another player. The campaign lasted only 6 days, but it drew the media's attention to the brand. 

Lidi#

At the beginning of the pandemic, the food retailer company, Lidi, started using WhatsApp to inform customers about the best time to go shopping in their store, to avoid crowds. Now, WhatsApp has become a tool to provide customer assistance and improve their experience with the brand. 

Start Enjoying WhatsApp Marketing Possibilities#

Now that you understand what WhatsApp marketing is and how it can be helpful to enhance customer experience, what about using it in your business? Discover how this tool has been implemented in your business sector, and create a marketing plan.