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 But by the time I read the email (I get lots of emails), the event had passed and the offer was no longer valid.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
Event Promotion : Use SMS Marketing to Fill Empty Seats
If you run paying events - music, drama, sport or even fine dining, training courses or workshops, you'll know the hardest seats to fill are the last few and they are also the most profitable if you can sell them. SMS is an immediate and compelling means of event promotion that can shift those last few places.
Why SMS is the Biggest Missed Opportunity for Marketing to Millennials
With the continued rise of different and more diverse technologies in the social and mobile web, it would be easy to dismiss the potential benefits of SMS marketing - and that’s exactly the reason you shouldn’t. An SMS is the unexpected visit of a familiar friend, and there’s one demographic that embraces an old trusted ally in this new, noisy digital world more than anyone else: the millennials.
8 Key Reasons SMS Marketing is So Effective
You might not have run an SMS marketing campaign yourself, but you are likely to have received some form of SMS communication from a business. Whether that's a commercial brand running a competition or a healthcare provider, such as your GP or dental practice, sending you an appointment reminder. If you have run an SMS marketing campaign before, you're likely to already be aware of the effectiveness of the platform for communicating with customers, but might need help justifying your use of SMS messaging to other people or departments in your business. Here, we've listed out the key reasons SMS marketing is so effective.
SMS Messaging in the Entertainment Industry
Used across numerous sectors, SMS messaging can be particularly rewarding in the entertainment and hospitality industries. With a combined revenue of over £140 billion, the entertainment and hospitality industries are thriving and their worth is expected to increase substantially in the near future. However, with many Britons having less disposable income to play with, businesses will be vying for custom more than ever. In order to attract new consumers and retain existing customers, companies will need to develop, enhance and refine their marketing techniques. SMS is one such proven technique.
5 Reasons You Want to Use SMS Messaging in Your Business
Are you looking to grow your business? Get more customers? Have larger profits? Of course you are. Isn't every business looking to improve, grow and generate more sales? More and more businesses are realising how SMS messaging can help them do all those things. But it's nice to have some facts to back up what most people seem to assume is true.
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.
Referral Marketing Through SMS Messaging
What is one almost guaranteed way of getting new customers? Ask for them. Really. Studies show that 83% of satisfied customers are willing to recommend a company, product or service to their family and friends. Here's how you can use SMS to simplify and improve your referral marketing.
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.
SMS Messaging for Artists and Performers
Independent artists and performers use many different methods to get people into their shows. Social media is a favourite, but SMS messaging can be even better. Learn how one performer used SMS messaging to sell out performances and how you can too.
Why SMS Marketing is Perfect for the Automotive Industry
Most car dealerships and garages already have almost everything in place to start an effective SMS marketing campaign. When customers go into a car garage to have a service or a MOT done, they almost always give the dealership their mobile phone number. The reason for this is simple: if a customer is bringing their car in to get checked and they don't want to wait around for any work to be carried out, they'll simply head into town or run a few errands, until the garage gives them a call on their mobile to let them know the work has been done. That means most garages will have a healthy amount of mobile numbers already in their database, but quite often a garage will overlook the potential that their database of contacts presents.