The sports industry is huge, and possibly one of the most competitive industries in the world. Ranking in the top 15 mainstream activities in the economy, along with telecommunications and legal services – Sports is not one to be ignored! It is estimated that there are over 151,000 sports clubs in the UK, and whether a local or professional sports team, ensuring they are going mobile with their marketing this year is key. Sport fans are accessing their mobile phone’s more to heighten their sporting event experience due to its real time information it provide. In order to be more successful sporting organisations can implement text message marketing and take advantage of the mobile marketing methods.
Team/Club News
Both local and professional clubs can utilise text message marketing to keep both fans and players up to date with any team or club news. For professional teams, this could include new player signings or fixture announcements, and similarly, local organisations could announce upcoming games.
Charity Events
Many professional and local teams host charity events through the season to raise money for good causes. Events can be promoted through bulk text messages sent via our TextCampaign service, to both players and fans. Think about your call to action when sending your message. You can include a shortened URL link to a page on your site to either purchase tickets or to read further details about your fundraising campaign. If you want people to donate money then you include a link to this or utilise a short code and keyword. Read more on how to create a successful charitable campaign.
Ticket Sales
Many sporting areas such as football will run a number of live sporting events for people to watch.For professional clubs and some local clubs, tickets occasionally go on sale very early in the morning. Send a bulk SMS reminder to your team players and fans to let them know when tickets are on sale so they don’t miss out. For those who purchase a ticket, this is the time when you can collect their mobile number in order to let them know of further events.
Cancellations/Postponement
There are often when matches need to be postponed or cancelled, due to poor weather, fixture clashes or another reason. Ensure your database is kept up to date and let your players and fans know about sudden changes, the earlier, the better!
Weather Advice
For local teams, games may often be played in less than ideal pitch conditions. If the weather has been particularly bad, why not let spectators know the field is in a bad state so that they might need some wellies or other appropriate footwear, and perhaps an umbrella! People are more likely to attend to matches when they are given the correct advice – supplying real time information is something sporting fans are looking for.
Score Alerts/Commentary
Many fans will be keen to keep up to speed with the latest score results and commentary, especially if they’re unable to watch the match. Send score alerts or analysis for any key events throughout a game to keep fans up to date, though make sure if users decide to opt-out.Rest assured we offer a free opt-out service, for more information on marketing rules check out ICO.
Competitions
Throughout the season most sporting teams will both partake in various competitions. Keep fans up to date with any games their team have got through to including draw details, and use this as an opportunity to let them know when they can get their hands on tickets!
With the Euro’s 2016 on its way and other sporting events this year ensure mobile is fully implemented in your marketing and communication strategy! For more information on text-message marketing and how it could be used to benefit your sports club, contact us on 0845 122 1302 or email [email protected].