How to Use WhatsApp to Market Your Small Business
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You are leaving money on the table with the way you market your business on WhatsApp! And you’ve not still realized that WhatsApp can be your business’ cow cash to get massive sales. Check out the following statistics.
72% of consumers are more likely to engage with marketing messages on WhatsApp that are personalized. The same source also states that 85% of consumers express interest in receiving timely and proactive communications from brands via WhatsApp.
Convinced? Good. Now, let’s examine what WhatsApp marketing is, 6 WhatsApp Business Account features to take advantage of, and 5 Tips to apply when using WhatsApp to market your business.
What is WhatsApp Marketing?
WhatsApp marketing involves advertising and selling on WhatsApp through creating promotional and educative content, building brand trust, and driving sales through one-on-one chats with customers.
WhatsApp has 2 million active users worldwide with more than 100 billion messages sent on the platform every day! Ranking as the most used mobile messenger in the world!
It is cheap to use and allows you to give a personalized experience to every customer. Now, let’s examine 6 WhatsApp Business Account Features you should take advantage of to grow your business.
Related: Following up with customers: 7 Ways to do It Well
6 WhatsApp Business Account Features to take advantage of
Aside from the WhatsApp messaging app, there’s the WhatsApp Business Account created for business owners, with exciting features to take advantage of to grow your business. It’s available for downloads on App Playstore and Google Play store.
Now, here are 6 features on the WhatsApp Business account you should start using immediately to drive sales for your business.
1. Automated responses
With WhatsApp chatbots, you can keep your business always active, even when offline. These chatbots help you send pre-made automated responses to some frequently asked questions, ensuring customers get responses to their questions even when you are offline.
These responses are useful for when you are not available during business hours, when you will be unavailable for an extended period, during the holiday, or when receiving a high influx of messages, say during a sale, etc.
Here’s an example for a food brand: “Hello. Welcome to Delish Chops, where we satisfy your sweet tooth! We are unavailable at the moment, however, you can look through our catalogue to see a list of our products and choose what you would like to buy. Talk soon.”
You should read: How to Get More Customers for Your Business
2. Catalog
The catalog is one of the most useful WhatsApp business features that every serious business owner must take advanatge of on WhatsApp. It can be likened to the product shelf in a physical store, where products are displayed. However, it allows you to add prices, product descriptions, the link to order, the product code (if you have one), and a picture of the product.
Beyond adding individual products, it also allows you to group related products in a collection. For example, as a baker, aside from adding individual cakes as items, you can group all the types of cakes you make in a collection. You can also hide an item that is currently not in stock, till when it is available.
You can also see how many times your profile and catalog has been viewed, helping you measure engagement.
3. Shopping cart
The shopping cart is another feature that creates an exciting shopping experience. Simply enable the “Add to cart” feature within your catalog and the rest is seamless and will be handled by the customers to place their orders.
This is similar to how shopping is done in physical stores where you get all you want into your shopping cart, then take them to the checkout counter to pay.
Related: 10 Customer Service Tips to Impress Your Customers
4. Contact and message labels
Another fascinating feature of WhatsApp Business you shouldn’t sleep on is the contact and message label feature. With this, you can organize your inbound messages and contacts into various categories and assign them labels. For example, you can have a label for new customers, customer feedback, customer complaints, new orders, etc.
You can create up to 20 labels and assign different colour themes to each, to differentiate them. Watch this video from WhatsApp to get a sense of how this works.
5. Broadcast lists
Broadcast lists enable you to send messages to a large number of people at the same time. This is helpful when you need to send broadcast messages to customers such as announcing a price increase, an upcoming discount sale, introducing a new product, etc.
However, the message should be well personalized that customers can’t think it’s a broadcast. Also, ensure you don’t always use it to avoid repelling people who see you beyond a business and consider you a personal contact. Broadcast lists should also be cleaned regularly to remove individuals who are not interested in getting those messages.
6. WhatsApp stories
With WhatsApp stories, you can suck more juice from WhatsApp Business to your advantage. Your WhatsApp story is similar to that of IG and Facebook stories, however, the content for your WhatsApp story should be more personalized.
To get the best from WhatsApp stories, don’t be always salesy. Instead, tell personal stories about your day-to-day experience, show behind-the-scenes of your business, and just have fun with it.
5 Tips to apply when using WhatsApp to market your business
Here are 5 key tips to help you win with WhatsApp marketing.
1. Create a strong bio description for your profile
A strong bio description detailing what your business is about, what you sell, and what sets you apart is key to selling on WhatsApp. Doing this will help customers get a sense of what you do immediately, without having to ask.
2. Personalize communication with customers
Next, your communication with customers should be as personalized as possible. Even with broadcast messages, ensure the messages are personalized and seem like they are being sent to just one person. It can make all the difference in the world!
3. Use your WhatsApp story feature strategically
Ever seen individuals with bead-like WhatsApp statuses, where they post multiple product pictures and go? Well, what about people who talk about their business, personal life, and other things, and also post about their business? Which do you like between both? The second one, right? That is the power of strategic posting.
Because WhatsApp is sorta a personalized platform, people do not only want to see you talk about your business as they also want to see other aspects of your life.
Now, does this mean that you should entertain people with every bits and details of your life? No. It simply means that you should have a mix of entertaining content, educative content, salesy content, etc.
Posting personal pictures, talking about something that happened during the day, etc. can serve as a form of entertainment to draw people to your brand. You can also talk about your likes, dislikes, a movie you watched, etc.
4. Create quality promotional content
Ensure you create quality content that promote your business . Post high-quality videos and product pictures. If need be, learn product photography, video editing, and graphic designing to elevate your visuals.
5. Add the link to your Business WhatsApp account on all other social media accounts
Lastly, add the link to your WhatsApp Business account on your other social media accounts. This will redirect your audience from other platforms to WhatsApp, where you can nurture them as long-life customers with personalized communication.
Getting the most out of WhatsApp to grow your Business
Using WhatsApp as a marketing channel goes beyond posting product pictures on your status and raving about why people should buy from you. To get better results with WhatsApp marketing, you must move from the “come and buy what I am selling” mindset to the “this is how I can help you” mindset.
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Want to solve a niggling business problem or need help with a business-related issue? Send an email to hello@triift.africa or visit our website, and we’ll be more than glad to help you.
