Introduction

You would gain detail about what whatsapp marketing is all about, why you should consider whatsapp marketing for your business and how to start in no time. I implore you to read to the end to see my to see a FREE webinar on how Sam Harvard made N850k in 3 days using WhatsApp.

Unarguable, social media has come to stay. Almost everyone has at least  an account with various platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc. Research reveal that first activity that people do when they wake up in the morning is to check these media for notifications, messages from friends and family, also before they sleep at night.  In fact, this has become our daily lifestyle. And smart businesses are taking advantage of this everyday. Unfortunately, many people still doubt making money on these platforms is impossible. I was also naive of this, not until I made my first $100 using this WhatsApp marketing strategy.

However, what we used to know is making money online via content creation on Facebook and Youtube, whereby you receive commissions when visitors click on ads while watching your contents. Unfortunately, WhatsApp do not allow this model of money making (content creation and commission on ads placement).

You can use start generating recurrent income with two hidden WhatsApp tools. Also with Whatsapp, there is a way to sell, even if you do not have existing products. Whatsapp is taking over as email marketing is becoming ineffective in term of engaging online sales. Reason for this is not far fetch. It is because  people have quick access to WhatsApp than email. Simple! So, the best strategy to sell and reach larger percentage of audience is to adopt WhatsApp method of selling. It is also easier to engage customers on WhatsApp compare to email. For instance, you can effectively communicate  with your customer using voice note which is virtually impossible with email marketing.

What is WhatsApp marketing

WhatsApp marketing is an online selling method for promoting brand, product, and services using WhatsApp communication channel. This channel helps businesses to reach larger percentage of audience, establish and build strong relationship with the customers, at the same time, increase sales.

Why you should consider WhatsApp marketing for your business 

The most popular messaging platform in the world right now is  WhatsApp. Its audience has grown up to 2 billion active users as at 2020 according to Statistica, and still growing. This app is very key as a marketing channel for businesses that want to connect with audience in developing countries. For instance, Emarketer reported there are 340 million monthly Whatsapp users in India and 100 million in Brazil. In the US, at least once in a month, 68 million Americans access WhatsApp.  

Fortunately, if you want to effectively stay in touch with your customers, you can bank on WhatsApp. Because, more than half of Whatsapp users check the app daily according to Statistica. More so, text message has 98% open rate. This virtually ensure customers see your offer. Averagely, WhatsApp user check the app 23 times a day according to 99firms.

Moreover, customer favorite communication channel is online messaging Apps. They prefer and trust brands that they can chat with on a messaging app. Over 53% say they prefer buying from companies they can reach via chat.

Benefits of WhatsApp marketing

1.  Little cost of marketing

Once you have internet, download and install the app, you can start. Simple! It is an absolutely inexpensive marketing tool and channel for businesses with limited budget for promotion. This make it enticing for small businesses. The chance of your message getting read is very high, because average user check WhatsApp 20-23 times a day.

2. Enhanced relationship with customers

A report from Facebook-business-news reveal that over 55% of prospects feel more connected with a brand that uses messaging app. This make WhatsApp a silver bullet for businesses struggling with sales strategy, thereby helping them in building a excellent customer relationship. Minimal cost is required to maintain such customer connections which help brands cut expenditure in the area of customer retention. This is cheaper compare to acquiring new customers.

In addition, message personalization for customers become easy with WhatsApp. For instance, “welcome message”, “birthday congratulation message”, “special offer message”, “follow up message” can now be easily  personalized. This approach enhances customer engagement and customer-brand relationship. Over 70% of customers only engage with personalized marketing messages according to Smarterhq.

3. Better conversion rate

Sometimes, first means of contact with customer or manner of approach  is crucial to the success of a sale process. While prospects may be inaccessible via email or social media, phone-calling them directly may be a turn off. 

This is where WhatsApp become handy. Because 40% of customers do respond to WhatsApp messages according to Telemediaonline. This made building connecting with prospect effortless. The percentage of response can even be higher with the right strategy.  Also, conversion rate can increase by 112.6% with messaging after initial contact. Hence, messaging app improve conversion rate for business.

4. Higher sales

Adding a whatsapp line to your website boost customer trust. This consequently result to more lead generation which is the goal of every sale person. With the right WhatsApp marketing strategy,  your sale would experience exponential growth. So, embracing messaging app alone instill confidence in prospects because they feel more optimistic about purchasing from you. So your business should consider WhatsApp marketing as a stand-alone sales channel because customers used to have the vibe of buying in the future via messaging app.

In conclusion WhatsApp marketing improve sale, conversion rate, and allow you to build excellent relationship with customers. Last but not the least, it is highly cost-effective.

You can use this Whatsapp tips and strategy to sell and earn income even if you do not have an existing product.

WhatsApp marketing strategy best practice

The backbone of every sales success is the strategy adopted. Because, this is where you plan and figure out what will work, what will not work and solution. In this section we will be diving deep into practically proven WhatsApp strategies that can give you massive success in your sales endeavor.

1. You must know your target audience

Targeting the right audience can be a turning point for in your sales life cycle. Because all your marketing effort would be fully utilized which would definitely result to a massive success. There are different approaches when determining targeted audience. Customer profile creation (sometimes known as customer avatar) is a perfect approach. I will be dropping an article on “how to create your customer avatar” in my next post…so stay tune.

However, another proven method is adopting a framework where you ask yourself the following basic and fundamental questions:

– why would people use my product?

– what value would they derive if they buy the product?

– which result would they achieve if the buy the product?

Interviewing 5-10 of your current customers who recently purchase the product is very instrumental here.  Avoid guess work. Speculation would not help. instead, explore your audience. Also a survey can be conducted on social media by adding data from Google analytics, CRM, Google ads, Facebook, etc so as to garner prospect view of your product. With these tools, you will be able to identify demographic and geographic attributes of your typical prospects.  

2. You define your goals

First and foremost, your marketing objectives need to be defined before setting the ball rolling. this is to keep you focus, so as to filter out every irrelevant. Thereby you can channel your effort on the meaningful. This can be achieved by revising your sales funnel in order to identify the weak spot.

Your WhatsApp marketing strategy must align with your goal. This can be known by enlisting KPIs that will serve as indicators when your goals are met

For instance, let’s say your business suffers customer retention challenge, you can send out promotional offers via WhatsApp messages. Here, your KPI would be the response rate, clicks and engagement.

3. Define your brand persona          

A set of traits, attitudes, and values your brand exhibit is called brand persona. People prefer communicating with one another; individual like communicating with fellow individuals not anonymous business. So, to be successful in your WhatsApp marketing strategy, you must map out a brand persona which include your style of familiarized communication that make people feel connected like they are being individually attended to. e.g, instead of company’s name as a signature, use a person’s name. Also figure out your unique personality, what your brand stand for. Make them your identity.

4. Get WhatsApp for Business App

WhatsApp recently launched WhatsApp for Business, a purposefully designed application for entrepreneur. Some of the useful features of this stand-alone app are:

-catalogue: Similar to product shelves in stores, for display of products on the app

-Business profile: This provide customers with your essential information like business description, address, website, email address, etc.

-Labels: For proper arrangement of your conversation with clients. For instance, you can label your current sales funnel stage with a customer for easy follow up

– Quick and automated replies:  Greetings and away messages; staying in touch with customers made easy even when you are not currently online to chat with them

-Statistics: You can track statuses of your messages; read, sent, delivered and received.

5. Form your contact list

A contact list is required in order to have a comprehensive customer support channel. One of the method to building a contact list is placing a subscription button or optin-form on your website as a lead magnet. This button would have under it a link to your WhatsApp. Check an example here. You can also gather contacts via a method explained in this webinar.

6. Define your communication style

You should take advantages of the impressive open rate of WhatsApp messages. And One of the success determinant factor in whatsapp marketing is having relevant and quality contents. Once you are notorious for poor content, sales will suffer.

So, you can start by figuring out your topic and  messages you want to deliver. Do not let promotional messages be your sole content. Instead, entertain and educate your audience first. Let your communication be brief and interesting because people do not often have time to read long messages. People check messages on the go.

In addition, Put your message frequency in check. Avoid bombarding your audience with messages as they will get annoyed and may turn another brand. Common practice is to send 5-8 messages weekly as a rule of thumb.

7. Deliver quality customer service

Messaging apps are now commonly used to provide customers support. This communication channel is found 50% better by customers in terms of advice and care, where 59% believe they get faster response. This is why WhatsApp marketing can be banked on.

Brand can provide real-time support and get instant queries with WhatsApp. This feature is key because 28% of customers do expect to get support within an hour while 18% expect instant support.

Meeting up with this expectation can be demanding but WhatsApp made it more achievable. Employing and feeding a chatbot to respond to typical question and answer is all what is needed. According to Inespco, 30% cut on customer support cost is achieved with this approach.

In conclusion, WhatsApp marketing strategy involve knowing your target audience, defining your goal, defining your brand persona, getting WhatsApp for Business App, building your contact list, forming your communication style, and delivering quality customer service. In the next section, we will be looking at WhatsApp marketing tips.

WhatsApp marketing tips

1. Leverage group chat

2. WhatsApp status

3. Broadcast list

4. Use the product catalog