Event Promotion : Use SMS Marketing to Fill Empty Seats

Event promotion can be a mystifying activity. It happens more than you might think. You have unsold seats for even some of your best shows. You’ve advertised in all the usual ways, you’ve emailed your customer list, but still the seats sit empty. With the event date closing in, what else can you do? What remains to be tried? SMS messaging, that’s what.
Let’s turn the question around for a moment and look at an example of the person you’re trying to reach.
It’s a Friday night and a man just got off work. He’s looking for something exciting to do with his girlfriend. He starts searching on his mobile, maybe with an app or just Google. He finds a few possibilities, but nothing that seems quite right.
Just then, he gets a text message about seats available for a show that night. He replies to the number in the text message (via phone or a redirect to a website), purchases two tickets, and calls his girlfriend with the good news. He’s the hero of the night.
And your unsold seats are now filling up as others reply to the same text message sent out as part of your standard last minute marketing plan.
SMS marketing is a great, and fast, way to connect with existing customers. These are customers that have already purchased from you in the past, or signed up for notifications based on their interests. You may already be reaching out to them using email or print advertising, but neither is as targeted or timely as a text message.
Timing Is Everything
I’ll share an example from my own experience. I’m on a list for my local music hall. The other day I found an email from them for a “super date night package”. It was an amazing offer with tickets to a show, a late night romantic dinner and one night in a historic hotel. But by the time I read the email (I get lots of emails), the event had passed and the offer was no longer valid.
I wonder how many other people had the same experience, or never saw the email at all.
Email certainly is a key part of marketing, but SMS is a better alternative in some circumstances. And there are many different ways to use it for event promotion and marketing:
- Announce new events and VIP early ticket purchase dates
- Event updates in case of delays, changes, or added dates
- Offer chances to win tickets, backstage passes, or meet and greets with a reply code
- Send coupons or discount codes to your best customers
- And, of course, last minute pushes to sell seats for an event
SMS messages work well, because your audience is primed. They already like your events (since they’ve signed up on your list and gave you permission to text them) so they are your exact target market.
When used correctly (i.e. not over used), SMS messages are a great way to connect and keep customers engaged. Will SMS message marketing work for your events? We think so. Contact us today and we’ll answer your questions and help you get started.
Related Articles
How Entertainment Venues Can Use SMS Marketing
Whether it's a cinema, theatre or concert hall, your entertainment venue is missing a trick if it's not utilising SMS marketing to get those bums on seats. We take an in-depth look at how all kinds of entertainment venues can really make the most of SMS marketing.
SMS Marketing for Independent Art Galleries
What Can You Do with MMS Messaging?
Did you know you can send more than text in an SMS message? Well, technically it isn’t an SMS message if it isn’t text. Instead, the multimedia messaging service, or MMS for short, is an extension of the SMS core functionality. It allows you to send short videos (40 seconds or less), images or audio over mobile networks just like an SMS message.
What Your Customers Want From SMS Marketing
Mobile marketing offers an unprecedented access to your customers virtually any time, anywhere. This is particularly true for SMS marketing because it is “always on”. Customers don’t have to be surfing the web, or using an app to receive messages. Instead, they see the marketing messages right alongside ones from their friends and family.
The New York Times, Olympics, And SMS Messaging
The New York Times used the Olympics as an excuse to try a massive SMS experiment. They wanted reporter Sam Manchester to get personal with their thousands of readers using two-way SMS messaging. Read the blog to see if the experiment was a success or a failure.
Oops! What to do When You Send the Wrong Message
Sending a text message to the wrong person can be embarrassing. I've done it many times. Thankfully though, they were just simple messages like "be home soon" or "I'll tell you later". Innocuous, harmless and easily explained away. But what if you make a mistake with your business SMS messages?
Creative SMS Crowdfunding Campaigns for Independent Film Productions
No matter what the task is, any campaign can be boosted by SMS marketing. It's great for businesses and charities but could be especially utilised for the creative industry. From the largest scale (mainstream TV shows, Hollywood blockbusters) to low budget independents, there is an SMS campaign to fit all needs and perform a vital profile-boosting function.
Why SMS and Mass Participation Sports Events are Made for Each Other
Most major sports teams in the UK and US already know the power of SMS for engaging fans via scores, stats and other data. But the power of SMS can extend far beyond the world of the major leagues. SMS is ideal, not only for communicating with participants but to coordinate teams of volunteers across the event.
Boost Webinar Attendance with SMS Messaging
Webinars have become a standard form of lead generation marketing. The numbers vary by study, but generally agree that over 60% of marketers use webinars. One thing that's true for all of them is: not everyone that registers will attend. On average about 40-50% of registrants will actually show up. How can SMS help?
How SMS Messaging can Boost your Social Media Marketing
Is your social media struggling? Read this article to learn how businesses of every shape and size can use SMS messaging to drive social media engagement and generate revenue from increased brand exposure. Whether the goal is to support a one-off sales campaign or a long term drive to increase reach, SMS messaging offers an unparalleled opportunity to make your brand's voice heard in the increasingly noisy social media space.