SMS marketing has been a popular tactic used in the sports industry since 2011. Fans are kept informed about the latest scores, stats, and other information by text messages from these teams thanks to SMS marketing strategies. 

The Chicago Fire, a major league soccer team, began using SMS in the same year to communicate more directly with their fans and to better engage potential fans as well. In addition to text marketing methods such as in-arena games and surveys, announcements, special deals, and text-to-win promotions, the soccer team is currently experimenting with mobile marketing techniques. Their analysis and application of the data will allow them to learn more about what fans want and how much interaction they are comfortable with. According to the feedback that these clubs have received so far, fans appear to enjoy the opportunity to participate in their favorite sports organizations on an individual basis.

As a result of this type of communication, fans have reported feeling more connected to their teams, as well as a younger, more technologically savvy public becoming more engaged in games. Mobile advertising increased by 50% during the 2012 London Olympics, as businesses recognized the immense power of the spectacle as an attention-grabber that could convert attendees into phone numbers on lists.

Through SMS, sports teams can engage fans in a variety of ways, including contests and giveaways, among other things. Everyone enjoys receiving freebies, and sports fans are no different. Everyone wants a football autographed by Tom Brady or a baseball autographed by Mike Trout, and it’s hard to find someone who doesn’t. That is one of SMS’s main advantages.

Professional Sports is an interesting industry for marketing because teams have a devoted fan base that is extremely loyal and is heavily influenced by location. As a result, once a fan has decided on a team, they will rarely switch allegiances in the future. Quality marketing does not go unnoticed because it can help turn occasional season-ticket holders who only watch a few games per season into yearly subscribers. Additionally, local teams could be the difference between attracting new fans and losing them to global brands such as Manchester United or the New England Patriots.

Why SMS Marketing is So Effective?

• It’s a Chance to Think Outside the Box: Fans nowadays get bombarded with messages. Investing in SMS marketing is the best way to stand out from the sea of emails. Get creative with your messaging. Because text messages are limited in length, you must choose your words carefully. Try improving your text-marketing campaigns or using witty language to engage your fans.
• Improves other marketing channels: Thanks to digital marketing, you can communicate with your fans in multiple ways. Combined, these channels can help build a marketing communication system that increases fan engagement. For example, email and SMS marketing inform. Text messages are ideal for conveying time-sensitive or urgent information, whereas emails are ideal for conveying detailed data.
• Best Engagement: While email is one of the most effective marketing channels, it can take time to see results. Emails can sit in a fan’s inbox for days before being opened. SMS marketing open rates are around 82.1% versus 24% for email marketing. Texting is a hard pill to swallow, but it works.
• Mobile-friendly: Many marketing departments struggle with mobile-friendly social and email campaigns. How a campaign appears on a mobile device can make or break a new fan.
• Quick delivery: We all recognize the value of a positive customer experience. SMS marketing is one way to provide this. Fans expect quick responses and instant gratification, and SMS marketing is a great way to deliver. Your message is sent instantly and engages the fan within minutes. The best part is that an opt-in feature ensures that everyone who wants to receive a message can.
• Watch Clicks: You can track how many times your links are clicked using text marketing. This data can be used to track the performance of your marketing campaigns in real-time. You can track your link performance to see which texts have the best click-through rates. Consider modifying texts that contain low-click-through-rate links.

Here are just a few examples of how the sports industry can use SMS marketing to its advantage:

Promotions for sporting events and ticket sales

Promotions are frequently used by sports teams to boost ticket sales and bring in new viewers. For a chance to win Super Bowl tickets, the New England Patriots could run an opt-in SMS campaign in their stadium programs. Fans of football are sure to take notice of this message, and the opt-in feature allows marketers to keep in touch with their customers and cultivate a sense of community among them. Their opt-in database grows faster and larger as they run more ticket promotions and contests. Sports marketers can use this data to determine which promotions are most effective and what level of engagement fans are willing to commit, which has a direct impact on ticket sales.

SMS-based results and statistics

In today’s world of fantasy sports, fans are more involved than ever. SMS score updates and stats are an easy way to keep fans up to date with their favorite team and create a channel of communication that the fans learn to trust, allowing for future promotions or communication. Because fans are most interested in scores and stats, teams need to provide the information they want.

The team’s schedule

It’s not uncommon for sports seasons to be a complete mess, with teams making or missing the cut for dozens of different competitions. It’s not uncommon for a team to compete in up to four competitions at once, and many of these competitions require qualification, which means that the schedules of games will be rearranged during the season. SMS marketing can help alleviate fan anxiety by keeping them up to date on team schedules and announcements. Even if fans aren’t traveling to the game, this will have an impact on attendance, especially if they are. For sports teams, this means that they have a steady audience and revenue stream.

Merchandising

Merchandisers can notify customers about discounts and special offers by using databases that have been built through other campaigns. PSG’s purchase of Neymar from Barcelona earlier this year was an example of how this kind of promotion was used.” Replica shirts with new player’s names on them were in high demand at the PSG merchandise store, which was clogged up. This is the power of a little marketing.

Renewing Your Season Tickets

One of the advantages of SMS marketing is that it can be used for sending out season ticket renewal information. Information about prices and important dates can be included in the text campaign along with details about whether or not fans should commit for the following year (which could be done by allowing fans to reply with a yes or no). Uncommitted patrons who may be subject to a price increase or the loss of their seat can also receive reminders. Finally, season ticket holders who frequently attend games but do not have one may be tempted to purchase one if they receive a discount via SMS marketing.

Announcements

In the world of sports, SMS marketing is a great way to spread the word about upcoming events. If you don’t use social media, you’ll be the first to know about breaking news involving your favorite sports team thanks to this. In addition, this means that fans will receive breaking news directly from the club rather than a media outlet. Using SMS to notify fans when a player is signed or sold is one way that teams can use the technology. Fans could also get score updates from their favorite teams, which could be a big hit if the team is on the road. SMS could also be used by clubs to announce the opponents for cup draws, preseason schedule changes, and any other game-related alterations.

Conversational SMS for an Event

Conversing via text message is the next step in the evolution of business messaging via SMS. In addition to allowing fans to respond and have basic interaction, it also allows for some automation. It’s critical to include conversational SMS in your omnichannel strategy.

Multi-Channel Engagement with SMS

Prepare for the future by developing a smart way to compose messaging across all of your fan engagement channels. This will allow you to use the most effective mix of channels for messaging rather than blasting fans on every channel at the same time.

Transactional Notification via Email and SMS

It’s important to ensure that your fans are receiving critical updates on all of the channels they prefer. For maximum flexibility, send an SMS opt-in offer via email.

Upsell via email and text message

If you send out an email directing users to sign up for your text marketing program, you can quickly demonstrate how valuable it will be by sending them a personalized coupon via SMS, which is tied to a previous purchase they’ve made.

Conclusion

When it comes to promoting their teams, professional sports organizations typically do an excellent job, particularly through the use of social media. Bristol City’s goal GIFs and the Sacramento Kings Twitter page are two great examples. Many professional sports teams, on the other hand, ignore SMS marketing as a marketing channel. When sports teams use text messages to communicate with their fans, they can get their updates directly into the inboxes of their supporters. It’s safe to assume that the vast majority of your fans will see your message thanks to open rates of 98%. While 95 percent of UK homes had a mobile phone in 2018, only 73% of the population had a smartphone in 2018. As a result, there are a significant number of people who can be reached via SMS but not via other online channels, which provides teams with a great opportunity to target supporters who frequently miss out on team news. Sporting organizations can employ SMS marketing in a variety of ways:

The sports industry has found SMS marketing to be incredibly effective. Marketing via SMS is more cost-effective and efficient than traditional methods, and the widespread availability of SMS means that marketers can reach nearly every fan. Fans are more likely to stick around if they know what’s going on in the world around them. But SMS isn’t just used by sports organizations.