How Small Businesses Can Win Big During the Big Game with SMS Marketing
Making gains during the end of football season is sound strategy for many businesses. Here’s how text marketing can help you feel like a winner on game day and beyond.
We’re a few short weeks away from the Big Game, where up to 100 million Americans and over 800 million people worldwide will tune in to watch two titanic teams lock horns, Rihanna dazzle the halftime show, and of course, the best afternoon of advertising you’ll see all year.
According to an August 2021 survey 43% of those in the U.S. watching the Big Game said they tuned in just to watch the commercials. With businesses expected to pony up roughly $7 million for a 30-second spot this year, advertising and marketing surrounding the big game is big business. But marketing during the Super Bowl isn’t just for the Apple’s and Coca-Cola’s of the world. Here’s how small businesses can take advantage of the football season capstone to drive sales and score new customers.
Boosting Game Day Ad Performance
Here are my top three reasons why we can expect SMS marketing adoption rates to continue to soar from this year on.
Help Customers Prep
If you’re in an industry like restaurants or home maintenance you definitely want to extend deals before game day on things like catering specials or an extra pool cleaning. Plan ahead and think of what will make the event easier and more enjoyable for your contacts. You can also help your audience get prepared by texting tips, reminders, or quick facts.
Here are more ways that your brand can use text message marketing to help its customers prep for the the Big Game:
- Create a poll to determine a specialty menu item
- Offer discounts for new customers
- Drum up excitement with football trivia
- Don't forget to follow-up later with a reminder text
Inspire Brand Engagement
Nurturing more engagement during the end of football season is both art and science, creative and comedic, just make sure your messaging is timely and on point. Every text is an opportunity to forge a closer connection to your contacts and strengthen the loyalty of your most die-hard supporters.
To inspire brand engagement through your football-inspired SMS marketing, consider implementing the following tips this year:
- Start a mobile loyalty program
- Create a poll: Who will win?
- Personalize your texts
- Offer exclusive promotions
Create Interactive Experiences
People come together for the Big Game — to cook, to eat, to play, and to watch. In other words, the Super Bowl is interactive, and so should your game day-related ads. Leverage customer list growth tools and incorporate an SMS Keyword — like NACHOS or TOPIARY — into your marketing to promote your brand’s product or service and grow your contact list for future campaigns.
Here are some hot football-related keywords that will offer your customers a more engaging experience with your brand during the big day:
- SCORE
- WINNERS
- GAMETIME
- COMMERCIALS
- HALFTIME
- MVP
- GAMEDAY
- TOUCHDOWN
- QUARTERBACK
- HUDDLE
Offer QR Codes
QR Codes are like icebergs. Just below the surface of a QR code lives a world of promotional opportunities. Quickly and easily share assets like URLs to your marketing websites or landing pages, viral social media content, or textable numbers. If your business has a mobile app, you can also gate those behind QR codes, linking new customers directly to the Apple App Store or Google Play to download.
A QR code is a low friction way to easily share information with customers or contacts with only a smartphone required — just show, scan, and click.
Here are a few more ways businesses of all sizes achieve text marketing success using QR codes:
- Grow loyalty programs
- Share event invites
- Showcase new products
- Streamline returns
Big events like the Big Game are a perfect opportunity to look at your business and think of what it has to offer to meet the moment. Remember to make your offers and messages succinct and relevant and the Big Game can be a winner for you and your business every year.
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