Using Text Message Marketing for Events

October 5, 2018 Posted by Pocketstop in Text Message Marketing - M360 Social Share

You have this major event coming up, and you’ve gone out of your way to make sure it doesn’t fail. You want to reach out to as many people as possible. Could text message marketing be the answer to promote your event? Did you know that research indicates that the best way to get people’s attention is by text message? Indeed, because in a single day the average American uses 4 hours staring at their smartphone, and about 25% of that time is spent text messaging. Many businesses are exploiting the power of text message marketing to boost their customer relationships, keeping them well informed.

If you thought your social media pages and emails were effective in reaching a vast number of people, try text messaging. Given that mobile devices have now become an integral part of the society, you can guarantee that when you send a text message, it will be received. In fact, 98% of text message recipients get to open and read them. Unlike emails, these messages having such a high open rate are also mostly read within 90 seconds after they were received. Consider too that the use of PCs has reduced considerably over the years and people are now using handheld devices to check their emails and visit their social media platforms. For these reasons, text messaging becomes a handy way of reaching out to corporate’s target audiences.

Many businesses know that a successful event, whether it’s a festival, concert, conference, or any other type of event, they all require aggressive marketing before the event. The excitement can be felt when the turn-out to the event matches or exceeds the expectations, and this makes it all the more memorable and enhances your corporate image.

Why You Should Use Text Messaging to Promote Your Events

One reason why text message marketing is exceedingly effective is that it is suited to B2B and B2C audiences. It can be utilized by businesses to reach their consumers and also by companies for internal communications. Noteworthy too, SMS marketing is superbly versatile and adaptable as it can be used for a wide range of communications in almost any industry where reaching a considerable target audience is essential. Furthermore, 64% of consumers regard communicating via SMS in a positive light, and 90% of business leads would instead receive a text message than a phone call.

Likewise, because of its brief nature, a text message can be expertly crafted to include a call to action that guides the recipient into taking the next sequential step.

How to Use Text Message Marketing for Events

There are several ways through which text messaging can be put to use in promoting a corporate event. Let’s consider some of those ways below:

• Integrate your email marketing with SMS. You can target your email subscribers and others as well by converting the email contents into a text message and sending this to your mobile subscribers.
• Send event reminders. You can use a text message marketing software to schedule texts and send them to subscribers when the event date draws near. Doing this will put them up to date on the event venue, dates, activities, and schedule.
• Create urgency for a fast-approaching event. As the event draws near, a text message to subscribers will effectively drive them to a last minute booking or purchase of tickets leading to an increased number of attendees who would not have bought the tickets otherwise.
• Distribute exclusive offers. If there are offers on tickets, accommodation or purchases during an event, you can let your prospective customers know through text.
• Direct traffic to social media and web pages. Most current handheld devices receive text messages with links using URL shorteners. The URLs can be links to things like images (flyers) or documents (for the itinerary and requirements). You should also include a link to your social media and web pages in the text.
• Offer referral marketing discounts. To grow your subscriber list, you can offer discounts to everyone who introduces a new subscriber to your text messaging service and attends the event.
• Reservation Confirmation. You can send a small reminder to your subscribers confirming their reservations. Many appreciate this small gesture as they have the details they require close at hand for when they will need to use them.
• Staff Motivation. For any event to be a success, the team behind the scenes has to do a perfect job. Two way chat text messaging can be used to regularly remind the staff on what they should be tackling and motivating them on the crucial role they play in ensuring everything works out according to plan.

How Will You Benefit From Using Text Message Marketing

• Instant results: Subscribers will more likely respond to a text message than to an email. They, therefore, tend to be more engaged and 29% of those recipients will click on that link.
• Fast and cost-effective: With your opt-in contact list, you can send out invitations, reminders, updates and offers to hundreds of people within seconds. It costs very little to send out these text messages in bulk compared to other mediums.
• Creates customer loyalty: Regularly informing your subscribers of upcoming events, offers or opportunities makes them feel valued, and this creates a positive relationship bringing your customer back time and again. Better yet, they can recommend their friends and have them join your subscriber list as well.
• Higher ticket sales rate: When your business is experiencing a low, you can send personalized text messages in bulk to your subscribers offering them a discount or a sale. Approaching them this way will call them to action.
• Maximize attendance: How much do you want your subscribers to attend this event? If you are aiming at having the highest possible number of attendees, all you need to do is hit that send button and remind thousands that that event they’ve been waiting for is just around the corner.

Work Smart and Reach Your Target Audience Hustle-Free

If you’ve been looking for that medium that will effectively cut across all demographics, then you’ve just found it. Despite the large online presence, social media sites are not cut out to effectively engage a customer on a personal level, and still, a considerable number of people never check out the advertisements posted online. It is a proven fact that text messaging is the most efficient, cost-effective way of reaching all prospective subscribers in real time. You tend to get faster results, increasing business while improving customer service at the same time. A text message will not reach just a small group of people concentrated in a particular area or only a specific age group; it reaches virtually everyone. That is the beauty of it all. From a business perspective, you’ve got nothing to lose and a lot to gain from text message marketing.

All the above statistics reported in 2018, clearly indicate that text message marketing is essential as a viable alternative to other marketing methods that are being offered in the current business environment. During the many years we have been providing text message marketing solutions to businesses, our client’s text campaigns have worked wonders for them by driving customer traffic and becoming a turnkey solutions for events. The bottom line? If you want your customer’s attention, you need to be texting them.

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