How to Use WhatsApp for Marketing: 10 Proven Strategies to Follow in 2024

Are you targeting WhatsApp to boost your business's growth and sales? If yes, then you're not alone in this race. According to the official WhatsApp website, over 50 million businesses use WhatsApp for their businesses.

WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app in the world, with over 2 billion active users. This huge audience has potential for businesses of all sizes. And the best part is that WhatsApp marketing is incredibly effective for any business.

If you're wondering how to crack this huge competition and ensure growth, don't worry. We'll give you complete guidelines to achieve your goals and accelerate sales.

In this article, we'll share 10 proven strategies on how to use WhatsApp for marketing. Whether you're just starting out or you're already using WhatsApp for marketing, these tips will help you get more results.

Let's begin with the basics.

Why Use WhatsApp for Marketing?

Today's businesses are continuously finding different angles for new and innovative ideas to reach their customers and build brand awareness. One tool that has emerged as a robust marketing medium is WhatsApp.

We know that it has over 2 billion users worldwide. Plus, it's getting popular due to its privacy, flawless messaging system, and range of features. Hence, if you're a B2B business, WhatsApp can be really ideal for you. It makes direct communication between the brand and consumers simple, easy, and quick.

What's more? Here are reasons why you should consider using this platform as a vital medium for marketing:

• Wide reach: It has a wide reach and can help you reach an extensive audience with your marketing messages.
• Personalized communication: You can communicate with your customers in a more personalized and direct way. That means you can help build stronger relationships and increase customer loyalty.
• High engagement: Messages delivered through WhatsApp have a high open rate and response rate.
• Cost-effective: Unlike other marketing platforms, WhatsApp is a cost-effective marketing tool. It's free to use and does not require any additional investments in advertising or marketing campaigns.
• Rich media support: WhatsApp supports different forms of rich media, including images, videos, and audio. For that, you can create more engaging and interactive marketing content.
• Group messaging: WhatsApp allows you to create groups and broadcast messages to multiple users at once, making it easy to reach a large audience with your marketing messages.

Also read: The Ultimate Paid Marketing Guide for Startups and SMEs

Difference between WhatsApp Business and Personal Accounts

If you're using a personal WhatsApp account and thinking of using it for your business, then you have to consider some facts. Plus, you're missing some extensive features and options that may be beneficial for your business.

However, it differs from account to account. Such as account type, visibility, online status, message-sending options, account details, and so on.

Therefore, you need to opt for a business account to unlock the advanced features and functions.

Here's a detailed comparison organized for you!

WhatsApp business accounts have diverse advantages over personal accounts. A specialized company profile, messaging options, message templates, and analytics and insights may help businesses communicate with consumers more professionally.

Plus, the company's APIs and integrations let businesses integrate with many third-party systems, making consumer interactions and company operations easier.

Get Started with 10 Proven WhatsApp Marketing Strategies

WhatsApp is not just a messaging app anymore; it's also a powerful tool for businesses to reach their customers. If you don't have aligned plans for your marketing drills, you're surely missing out on something big. No matter what you're marketing, a proper plan and hands-on execution are ideal for any business to grow and thrive.

It is not different for WhatsApp marketing. You have to know the proper channel, timing, structure, and goal to reach your milestone.

No worries; we have compiled 10 strategies that you can follow or align with your existing ones to get the desired outcomes.

01. Create a professional business profile

If you don't have a professional business account on WhatsApp, then please create one first. We all know that the first impression is the last. Once customers see your WhatsApp account, they always notice the company logo, URL, valid contact information, etc.

Therefore, creating a professional business profile is an important step in developing a successful WhatsApp marketing strategy. It can help you build credibility and make your business look more trustworthy to potential customers. Make sure to include the important business information mentioned above.

For example, if you're a restaurant owner, your profile could include your restaurant's name, logo, and location, as well as your phone number and email address.

02. Grow a subscriber list

Building a subscriber list on WhatsApp is a great way to keep your customers updated about your products or services. Yes, growing a subscriber list is a key component of a successful WhatsApp marketing strategy. By building a list of subscribers, you can reach your target audience more easily and effectively.

For instance, you can promote your WhatsApp number on your website, social media channels, and other marketing materials. Then you can ask customers to opt-in to your list by sending a message with a link or a QR code.

77% of consumers say they are more likely to buy from a brand they follow on social media over one they do not

Social Media Today

Once you have a subscriber list, you can use WhatsApp to send promotions, updates, and other relevant information directly to your subscribers. It's important to make sure that your messages are personalized and relevant to your subscribers' interests to keep them engaged with your brand.

Here's a screenshot of a WhatsApp business account with a link to a landing page where people can sign up to receive updates and special offers.

03. Create and deliver compelling content

55% of consumers say they would be interested in receiving promotional messages on WhatsApp if they contained relevant or useful information

HubSpot

There is no alternative to creating great content. Whether you're producing it for a blog, social media, or video script, great content always grabs users' attention. Yes, it's not different for WhatsApp marketing.

If your content does not have the right pitch and attention-driving tone, surely users will not be interested in what you're saying. Plus, you have to keep it relevant for your users. Relevant messages such as important updates, special promotional messages, and behind-the-scenes content will keep your customers engaged.

Here are a few things that you can consider before crafting content for your WhatsApp marketing:

• Understand your audience: Try to know their interests and the type of content they prefer. Once you understand your audience, you can create content that is tailored to their needs.
• Creative content creation: It's good practice to try new things and experiment with out-of-the-box ideas. But remember not to overwhelm them with your approach.
• Be consistent: After you know how to craft creative things, it's time to deliver them on a regular basis. So that your audience knows when to expect it. This will help you stay top-of-mind and build anticipation for your next post.
• Use visuals: Visual content marketing is a great way to keep users engaged and interacting. For that, try to include images, videos, and other multimedia elements in your message.
• Tell your stories, not always sell: People love stories, so use them to your advantage. Storytelling can help you connect with your audience on a personal level and make your content more memorable.
• Be yourself. Let your personality shine through in your content. This will help you build relationships with your audience and make your content more relatable.

04. Personalize customer communication

Personalizing your messages can help you build stronger relationships with your customers. You can address customers by name and send them personalized offers based on their interests.

72% of consumers say they only engage with marketing messages that are personalized to their interests

SmarterHQ

Personalized customer communication is a great strategy for WhatsApp marketing, as it makes them feel valued, special, and important. When you personalize your communication, you show your customers that you care about them as individuals and that you are interested in their needs and wants.

Here are two personalized customer message templates for you.

1. The first image is for new users. After a user subscribes to your business, you can send a message, like in the first example. Here, you can just welcome the users to become your customers. After that, you can offer a discount or deal.
2. The second one is for those who are intending to leave your business. If you see the user is leaving items in their cart or hasn't visited your website in a while, you can use the template.

These two templates are different for two different customer groups. You can implement this formula with your users to engage them and make them delighted. However, here are some tips for personalizing customer communication on WhatsApp:

• Address the customer's name: Address the customer by name in your messages. It means that you are paying attention to them.
• Segment your audience: Divide your audience into different segments based on their interests, demographics, or purchase history.
• Use customer data: Use the data that you have collected about your customers, such as their purchase history, to personalize your messages. For example, you could recommend new products to customers based on their past purchases.
• Be responsive: Reply to customer messages promptly and thoughtfully. This shows that you care about your customers and that you are committed to providing them with a good experience.

05. Smartly use WhatsApp status for updates

Using WhatsApp status for updates is another effective strategy for WhatsApp marketing. WhatsApp status allows you to post photos, videos, and text updates that disappear after 24 hours. It can help to share quick updates and promotions with your subscribers to make them more personal and engaging than traditional marketing channels.

Here's an example of how you can use the WhatsApp status:

Now below are some tips for using WhatsApp status effectively:

1. Update it regularly: Consistency is key when it comes to using WhatsApp status for updates. Try to post updates regularly to keep your subscribers engaged and interested in your brand.
2. Use multimedia in content: WhatsApp status allows you to post photos and videos, so make sure to use these features to create visually appealing updates.
3. Keep it short and concise: WhatsApp status updates disappear after 24 hours, so make sure to keep your updates short and to the point.
4. Use relevant hashtags: Hashtags are a great way to get your WhatsApp status updates seen by more people. When you use relevant hashtags, your updates will show up in the search results for those hashtags.
5. Make it relevant: When posting updates on WhatsApp status, make sure to keep them relevant to your subscribers' interests.

06. Run contests and giveaways

Running contests and giveaways always creates hype among users to boost sales conversions. Businesses can award loyalty and entice attention to their services or products through discounts, contest entries, or even beta access to products.

These incentives often encourage customers to return in the future, along with these:

• Attract new customers
• Increase brand awareness
• Boost engagement
• Drive sales
• Generate lead

A case study by the food delivery app Zomato found that they were able to increase their order volume by 15% by running a giveaway on WhatsApp.

Therefore, if you're not still implementing this strategy for your WhatsApp marketing, you're probably missing something big. Here are some contest and giveaway examples to take inspiration from:

• Photo contest. Ask your audience to submit photos of themselves using your products or services. The winner could receive a free product, a gift certificate, or another prize.
• Video contest. Ask your audience to submit videos of themselves talking about your brand or products. The winner could receive a free product, a gift certificate, or another prize.
• Quiz contest. Ask your audience questions about your brand, products, or industry. The winner could receive a free product, a gift certificate, or another prize.
• Refer-a-friend contest. Ask your customers to refer their friends to your business. For each friend who signs up, the customer could earn a discount, a free product, or another prize.
• Sweepstakes. Give away a prize to one lucky winner. To enter, people can simply reply to your WhatsApp status update, send you a WhatsApp message, or visit a landing page.

07. Leverage WhatsApp groups

Once you've created your preferred customer list, it's time to compile them under an umbrella. By creating a WhatsApp group or community, you can easily build a community around your brand. From discussing your product's features to upcoming updates and providing instant support, WhatsApp groups play a significant role.

A study by WhatsApp found that 60% of WhatsApp users say that they have joined a WhatsApp group for a business or brand.

WhatsApp groups allow you to communicate with multiple people at once and can be used to build communities around your brand. What's more?

• It helps you communicate directly with your target audience
• Sends targeted messages
• Solves individual issues
• Provide customer support when you're in a rush
• And a great place for direct promotion

In this case, you can tweak another thing for your customers. It's like segmenting users depending on their life cycle. Create different groups for different groups of customers. For example:

• VIP customers or premium users
• Loyalty program members
• Customers who have recently purchased a new product or service

08. Automation with WhatsApp's Business API

Another important thing that you need to consider is integrating the WhatsApp business API with your account. It automates your message to customers based on their actions or preferences.

Suppose your whole team is on vacation. But your customers are not, right? So when they reach out to your support box, they must expect to get instant replies. For that, automated text or messages can solve this matter quickly. Besides that, it will:

• Save time and resources
• Prioritize your customers' needs
• Provide a better customer experience
• Keep connected with the customers
• Increase customer engagement and happiness

Here's an example of what automated text looks like:

Related article: How to Offer Great Customer Service During the Holiday Rush

09. Analyze and measure results

You have applied all the strategies and generated leads and revenue, but you forgot to track the insights. So what will happen? You can't measure whether you're successful or not. That's why performance tracking is a vital part of any marketing strategy, especially if you're running a campaign.

Along with these, you can identify what is working well and what needs improvement or not. Overall, you'll see areas for improvement for your entire WhatsApp marketing campaign. Let's assume you have a low open rate. So after tracking your performance, you may moderate your strategy to improve your open rate.

To ease your task, you can utilize the WhatsApp Business API or third-party analytics tools to monitor your engagement and conversion rates.

If you're still not prioritizing it, here's a step that you can follow:

1. Set KPIs: Before you start your WhatsApp marketing campaign, make sure to set clear goals and objectives. This will help you measure your success and determine what metrics you should be tracking.
2. Track engagement: Use engagement metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and response rates to see how your subscribers are interacting with your messages.
3. Monitor conversions: Use conversion metrics such as sales, sign-ups, and downloads to check how your WhatsApp marketing efforts are impacting your business goals.
4. Test and optimize: Use A/B testing to test different messaging strategies and optimize your WhatsApp marketing campaigns based on the results.

10. Stay compliant with WhatsApp policies and guidelines

Last but not least, you need to stay compliant with WhatsApp policies and guidelines. It prevents your business account from being blocked from using the platform. WhatsApp has strict policies in place to ensure that users are not bombarded with unwanted messages and that their privacy is protected.

That's why you should also make sure you have the customers' consent before sending them messages. Apart from that, there are some other benefits to following the official WhatsApp business policies and guidelines. Here are some of them:

• Protect your business from being banned on WhatsApp
• Maintain a good reputation with your customers
• Avoid legal liability
• Increase your brand reputation
• Build trust and reliability

Here are some tips for staying compliant with WhatsApp policies:

1. Get permission from your subscribers before sending messages
2. Provide an option to opt-out
3. Avoid sending spammy or irrelevant messages
4. Be transparent about your data collection and usage practices
5. Protect user privacy

Also read: Growth Hacks To Evolve Your Startups Using Social Media

Explore Some WhatsApp Marketing Examples

If you're looking for inspiration to execute your next campaign within a limited budget and with high returns, here we have collected examples of successful campaigns from brands in different categories.

Let's begin!

01. Selfie Competition of S-Bahn Munich

S-Bahn is an urban-suburban rail system service provider for German-speaking countries. Their main goal is to communicate with commuters and encourage more people to use public transportation.

On their WhatsApp marketing campaign, they smartly used banners all over the station. The users had to take a selfie at their station and send it via WhatsApp. Also, they asked them to use the keyword “selfie“.

The winner got a handsome prize, and they used the selfie banner in their official online magazine. After the campaign, the result was a boom!

They received 250+ selfies and huge publicity on social media.

02. “A Personal Shopper” Campaign from Flipkart

We all know the popular eCommerce platform, Flipkart. It's an Indian company that offers different products, from books to electronic items and so on.

This popular marketing platform also utilized WhatsApp for its campaign. They wanted to create excitement for their upcoming online sales. For that, they want to capture a large audience.

So what they did was automate a user-personalized chatbot to encourage people to shop. Also, they portrayed one of the biggest Bollywood stars, Amitabh Bachchan, in the banner photo.

Guess the result.

They managed to increase 3.5X more conversions, 7X more high-quality visitors, and $2.5 million USD in revenue.

03. Expert Campaign by Persil Kufua

Henkel Company manufactures Persil as a leading laundry detergent brand. They wanted to launch their brand, Persil, to motivate users to use their product and increase user engagement and brand identity.

So the campaign was to send 15-second videos of users talking about their best washing tips through WhatsApp. And they awarded the best tip-giver with Persil hampers.

This campaign went great, and they received significant responses from users. Plus, users felt that they were part of the brand.

04. “Don't Call Mom”: An interesting campaign by ADAC

ADAC is another company from Germany. It's an automobile company, and it provides roadside assistance to its members.

The company has more than 20 million customers. But the issue was with the youngsters. They didn't relate the whole thing to the general gap. To seize this audience, they planned a campaign on WhatsApp for those who hadn't gotten a car yet.

They named their campaign “Don't Call Mom, Call ADAC” on WhatsApp. They opened up a hotline for young people and welcomed them to ask any questions from ADAC. Also, they asked them to ask any kind of question that they hesitated to ask their parents.

For example, how to deal when I'm broken or how to care for a pet cat.

And the result was amazing.

During the 6-week campaign, ADAC earned 20 million impressions on its campaign video and 140,000 messages.

Related article: 10 Effective Ways to Increase Your Average Order Value

Popular WhatsApp Marketing Software and Tools

If you're willing to upgrade your WhatsApp marketing strategy, third-party software and tools can help you do that quickly. Along with the integrated analytical features and functions, these tools are popular and helpful and give the perfect insights about your campaign.

So let's check out some of the popular tools that you can get help from:

• WhatsAnalyzer is a free web-based WhatsApp analytics tool that provides different insights, including the most active users, the most popular days and times for sending messages, and the average number of messages sent.
• WhatsApp Chat Analyzer is another free WhatsApp analytics tool to analyze your WhatsApp chat history and generate reports on a variety of metrics, such as the most used words and phrases, the most active users, and so on.
• Wazzup is a paid WhatsApp analytics tool that offers a wide range of features, including tracking message delivery and read rates, analyzing customer behavior, and creating custom reports.
• ChatStats is another paid WhatsApp analytics tool that delivers a variety of insights, such as the most active users, the most popular days and times for sending messages, and the average number of messages sent and received per user.
• WhatsApp Business Analytics is a built-in analytics tool for WhatsApp business accounts. It provides insights into some key metrics, such as the number of messages sent, received, and read and the number of customers who have interacted with your business.

Considerations before using the WhatsApp marketing tools

Now you have decided to use any of these tools. So what next? Yes, you have guessed the right thing. You need to consider some important aspects before using any tools for your business.

• Pricing: How much are you willing to spend on a WhatsApp analytics tool? Some tools are free, while others require a paid subscription.
• Features: What features are important to you? Do you need a tool that can track message delivery and read rates? Analyze customer behavior. Create custom reports.
• Ease of use: How easy is the tool to use? Do you need a tool that is simple and straightforward, or do you need a tool with more advanced features?

Let's Recap the WhatsApp Marketing Tips

Now you know why WhatsApp marketing is important for business, the differences between personal and business accounts, and some popular examples and tools.

Here are 10 strategies at a glance for how to use WhatsApp for business marketing:

1. Create a business profile
2. Moderate your subscriber list
3. Focus on quality content creation
4. Utilize personalized customer communication
5. Smart use of WhatsApp status
6. Contests and giveaways
7. Use WhatsApp groups
8. Automate your business with WhatsApp API
9. Analyze and track performance
10. Be respectful of the WhatsApp guidelines and rules

There are 2 billion active users on WhatsApp. So if you're solely grabbing these users into your business, following smart approaches is important. Remember, don't overwhelm users with your boring content or approach. Maintain consistency and relevancy by using images and videos to engage users.

We hope you enjoyed reading this detailed guide. We tried our best to convey everything related to WhatsApp marketing. However, if you feel that we missed anything to add to our guide, do let us know in the comment section.

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