{"id":3264,"date":"2024-09-23T13:22:20","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T13:22:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/?p=371"},"modified":"2025-03-20T14:08:56","modified_gmt":"2025-03-20T14:08:56","slug":"sms-marketing-with-shortened-links-how-it-works","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/sms-marketing-with-shortened-links-how-it-works\/","title":{"rendered":"SMS Marketing with Shortened Links: How it Works"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">SMS marketing remains a powerhouse tactic for modern businesses. With the number of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oberlo.com\/statistics\/how-many-people-have-smartphones#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20the%20number%20of,a%204.9%20percent%20annual%20increase.\">smartphone users worldwide<\/a> estimated at 6.6 billion in 2022 and 85% of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/internet\/fact-sheet\/mobile\/\">Americans owning a smartphone<\/a> in 2021, conditions have never been better for text message-based strategies.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Better still, people have proven far more likely to open a marketing SMS than an equivalent email message. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.crazyegg.com\/blog\/sms-marketing-program\/\">SMS open rates<\/a> can be as high as 98% depending on the campaign, while email ranges closer to 20%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">That said, there are challenges to creating SMS campaigns with impact. For one thing, the lack of visual branding elements can make text messages hard to trust. For another, costs based on character limits act as penalties to marketers who struggle to keep things short.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Enter link shortening: the practice of creating short and memorable links to longer destination URLs. Modern URL shorteners allow you to brand, monitor, and shorten links to give them a better chance of being clicked in a legitimate marketing text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">This article will cover the ins and outs of SMS marketing with shortened links. We\u2019ll prove why link shortening is important to SMS marketing campaigns, how it can save money and boost results, and how you can put it into practice yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:26px\"><strong>Why Perform <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">SMS Marketing<\/mark>?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">SMS offers marketers unique opportunities to get in touch with their target audiences in a quick and direct way, with messages sent practically to the palm of the receiver\u2019s hand.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">SMS marketing messages also offer interested consumers a chance to easily and quickly respond to a call to action (CTA) in the message: they could reply to the SMS directly, or follow an embedded URL in the message using their smartphone&#8217;s browser.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">This quickly shifts viewers to a sales or conversion funnel. From a text message, they jump to your sales pages, lead magnets, quote calculators, or other marketing devices you\u2019ve crafted.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">You can even combo together email and SMS marketing to create promotions and follow-up campaigns that can reinforce each other and shore up each medium&#8217;s weaknesses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video autoplay loop muted src=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/animation-cell-phone-color-spreading.mp4\" playsinline><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:26px\"><strong>The <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">Challenges <\/mark>of SMS Marketing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">The biggest challenge in SMS marketing is coming up with a short and punchy message that still manages to convince the reader to take an action like clicking through or sending a reply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Any marketer working today will tell you that trust is hard to earn, especially now that the general public is aware of spam and phishing practices. Text messages can\u2019t just be engaging and informative: they also have to carry the authority of the real brand behind them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Likewise, brevity is important given the character limits involved in SMS marketing and the small size of smartphone screens. Nobody wants to deal with a wall of text \u2014 and you certainly wouldn\u2019t want to pay to send them out to tens of thousands of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Finally, it can be hard to track the results of your text marketing campaigns by default. Unless you\u2019re creating a specific landing page for each of your SMS campaigns or pushing the character limit with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluleadz.com\/blog\/what-are-utm-tags-and-how-to-use-them\">UTM-tagged links<\/a>, you\u2019ll be hard-pressed to know which of your texts are getting results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:26px\">The Solution: Shorten Links with <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">TinyURL<\/mark><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">URL shorteners like TinyURL are a useful part of your SMS and MMS marketing toolkit.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">We&#8217;ve written at length about how shortened URLs are more attractive and more memorable than lengthy links packed with UTM strings and other character spam. They\u2019re easier on the eyes, which in turn makes them easier to understand and trust.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">When they\u2019re branded, they can even bring some of the positive associations your audiences have had with your business and help set good expectations for clicking through to any attached links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Beyond this, shortened links can also help make your SMS marketing more cost effective by reducing the message length and accompanying costs from the telco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Using <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">Link Shorteners<\/mark> in SMS Marketing&nbsp;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Like any marketing tool, there are a few best practices that come with using URL shorteners in your SMS marketing. To give you a better idea of what it\u2019d be like to work with one, have a look at our following tips:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video autoplay loop muted src=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/animation-scissors-trimming-text-message-length.mp4\" playsinline><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">1. Brand your links<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Many link shortening services offer a free tier that lets you shorten a link with a generic domain and a random link slug. While it may seem like a convenient and cost-effective way to go about things, it isn\u2019t meant for marketing purposes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">While it\u2019s fine to create default shortened links and send them to friends, links that aren&#8217;t branded look less trustworthy, and can be mistaken as spam or fraudulent messages by your recipients or their automated system filters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Then, depending on your jurisdiction, online privacy and digital marketing regulations such as the GDPR may require your links to be recognizable and connected to your business, hence the need for proprietary and branded links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Finally, generic links simply don&#8217;t have the same mental recall and stickiness that a properly branded shortened link can have for marketing purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">2. Customize your link slugs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Even when running a proprietary domain for shortened links, it&#8217;s still important to customize your link slugs for your marketing and promotional needs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">This makes it easier for a recipient to understand where the link goes. For example, example-brand.com\/abc123 offers less information than the more descriptive, example-brand.com\/special-offer.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">This also helps keep your links organized for your own marketing analytics efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">3. Don&#8217;t over-shorten your links<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">While the temptation is there to shorten your links and domains as much as possible to make the most out of the character constraints of SMS messaging, you should be careful not to destroy your branding in the process.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Keep your business name recognizable in your shortened link. For example, if your business name is Fine Point Paints, don&#8217;t over-simplify to fpp.com, try for something like finepoint.com or fppaints.com, or even finepointpaints.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\">4. Check local laws and regulations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Digital and online privacy regulations can vary from region to region, so it&#8217;s best to brush up on regulations around SMS marketing and the use of link shorteners.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-video\"><video autoplay loop muted src=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/animation-cell-phone-messages-genuine-verified.mp4\" playsinline><\/video><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Besides good practices in using proprietary and branded domains for shortened links, you should also check if local telecom providers have any code of conduct or public best practices guidelines to make sure your shortened links don&#8217;t inadvertently get your messages filtered out by automated systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:26px\"><strong>How can Tiny URL Help with your SMS Marketing?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">TinyURL&#8217;s link shortening platform can be an important tool in your SMS and MMS marketing arsenal, with our premium plans offering critical features such as customizable branded links and a streamlined real-time analytics and management dashboard for tracking the performance of your marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><em>An easy way to own a branded domain<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">TinyURL can handle all the work of creating and managing unique branded and proprietary domains for your shortened URLs that would be perfect for SMS and MMS marketing campaigns.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">You can even use multiple domains for each of your various promotions for even more flexibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">We give you the tools to search, purchase, and use domains to build custom shortened links and link slugs\u2014all without having to leave your TinyURL dashboard.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><em>Analyze and optimize your SMS marketing in real-time<\/em><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">TinyURL&#8217;s link management and analytics dashboard makes it easy to optimize and analyze the performance of your shortened links and their associated marketing campaigns. Our platform tracks the important metrics for each of your links, such as devices used to access the URL, locations, frequent access times, and more.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">Real-time performance and traffic data gives you up-to-date feedback and the ability to quickly set up and compare the results of A\/B testing and other optimizations in your promotional campaigns.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">You can track link performance individually, or bundle links together into groups to get a bigger picture view of your wider SMS and MMS marketing efforts over time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:50px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"font-size:26px\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">We hope we&#8217;ve illustrated some common link shortening pitfalls in SMS marketing, and how TinyURL can help you get the most bang for your buck with shortened URLs in SMS and MMS marketing.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:25px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p style=\"font-size:16px\">You can find more details about TinyURL&#8217;s features such as <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/app\/link-management\">link management<\/a> and our <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/app\/analytics\">built-in analytics<\/a> features on our website, and you can <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/app\/pricing\">sign up<\/a> for our paid plans to get started using our premium features for your marketing and promotional needs today!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When reaching new customers through SMS marketing, less is more. Shorter messages win big gains, which is why link shortening is a key component of a successful run.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,35],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-3264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing-channels-strategies","category-url-101","tag-sms-marketing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3264"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4228,"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3264\/revisions\/4228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}