With the season already underway, Euros fever has well and truly begun - is football coming home in 2024?

The hype surrounding the Euros brings with it an abundance of smart marketing opportunities, and this isn’t limited just to businesses associated directly with the football celebrations. Events like this that occur on a global scale bring people together, not just in person but remotely too.

How much of the digital marketing and advertising world currently is made up of football updates, predictions, and opinions? It’s a huge talking point, and a lot of this chatter will be taking place online and via text - so why not make the most of it?

How can all brands benefit?

It’s all about finding an angle that works. Could you link the stress of match day with commiseration shopping or the half-time food and drink rush with a takeaway solution? No matter what your line of business, there’s plenty of opportunity to relate your products or services to this global event - and SMS is the fastest, loudest way to do it.

Interact with your SMS subscribers by collecting opinion polls or circulating predictions with SMS surveys, this could be a great way to get a two-way conversation flowing with your customers.

Here’s an example of how you could kick things off:

“Are you watching the England match tonight? Text us your prediction now. Reply ‘ENGLAND’ or ‘DENMARK’ and we’ll share your predictions at half-time.”

Now for the technical part. By taking a deep dive into the open and response rates from this campaign you can segment your SMS subscribers into different categories. Those who are into football, and those who are indifferent. Information like this about your customers’ interests is always valuable for creating ultra-targeted campaigns in the future and even for personalising offers and incentives.

With a 98% open rate, SMS is the best channel for connecting with your customers and a well-timed and well-thought-out bulk SMS send could be all it takes to win some more business off the back of this peak football season.

SMS marketing ideas for sports and celebrations-related brands

There will be many businesses that can directly benefit from an event like the Euros. However, it can be hard to stand out from the rest of the crowd. Customers will be looking to make the most of the occasion. People up and down the country will be cracking open a cold beer and gathering around the screen, so this is your chance to maximise your revenue.

Here are just some of the industries that could directly benefit:

• Hospitality
• Travel
• Beverage retailers
• Food retailers
• Sports brands

Hospitality

The hospitality industry includes hotels, bars, and restaurants. All may see an increase in business during the Euros, but they may also see a drop-off as football fans decide to stay home to watch the matches. SMS marketing could be a valuable ally for encouraging fans to order in or head their local to watch the match with more atmosphere and beers on draft.

Why not use SMS marketing to reach your customers and tempt them to soak up some footy-themed action?

Here’s some ideas to pull in punters and engage with subscribers:

• Show live matches - Let customers know that you will be showing the match at your venue so they don't need to miss out if they visit. Tell them what else you have going on at the same time (craft beer, food, football merch, discounts).
• Offer takeaway - For those who are home watchers, let them know they can pick up all their favourite food and drinks from you - or maybe you’ll deliver to their doorstep. Perfect for a Euros viewing party.
• Take pity on non-football fans - Send SMS special offers to those who are not interested in the game. They may appreciate the chance to escape from the football hype!
• Sound voucher codes and discounts - to entice people to your venue during the footy season.
• Or even for explaining the offside rule
  

It’s important to remember that SMS is not all marketing. Transactional messages have transformed the hospitality industry. Many hotels, restaurants, and bars use non-promotional SMS messages to streamline the booking process and reduce no-shows. An online booking triggers the send of an automated SMS to confirm and acknowledge the appointment. Typically, this text confirmation includes the date and time of the booking and the option to cancel or reschedule. Appointments and reservations can then be migrated to the recipient's mobile calendar.

Major events often mean a dramatic increase in bookings. Extra bookings mean extra staff will be needed and the chance of no-shows could be higher. SMS reminders, to keep in touch with customers will enable you to send reminders, send booking-related updates, and location information. Customers can also be offered a chance to text to cancel in advance.

Transport

Airline companies and their customers benefit greatly from SMS transactional messages during major events such as the Euros.The increase in travel puts pressure on airports and SMS is a powerful tool for sending out flight status updates, or long security queue warnings. Having such efficiency is not only a point for customer service, but also for airline staff. Automating SMS can do plenty of the heavy lifting and save resources amongst stretched staff to keep things running smoothly.

With the recent French air strikes causing delays and cancellations, many airlines have turned to SMS as their solution for keeping customers up to date, and reducing some of the manual admin tasks associated with this.

Retail, food, and beverage outlets

Many retailers trade in supplies that complement the Euros season. Customers will feel inspired to buy sportswear, merchandise, sports equipment, food - the list is endless. With the summer sales dropping too, it’s definitely an important time to be strengthening your customer engagement strategy.

Competition is fierce, so it’s all about being original and hitting the mark with your target audience. Some ways that you can do that are by 1) making the SMS opt-in process as hassle-free as possible; 2) reusing strategies that worked in your previous SMS campaigns; and 3) being creative with your copywriting. There is no better-placed marketing channel than SMS to alert your customers of new offers, incentives, or stock. With segmentation, you can select only the relevant customers to send your Euros-related SMS messages.

Here are some ideas on how to keep your customers engaged:

• Voucher codes
• Special SMS coupons
• Matchday offers
• Good-humoured football texts with funny gifs, images, or memes
• Free delivery

Betting agencies

Betting agencies can win big with SMS marketing and transactional SMS. A good way to promote a campaign surrounding major events is to create a themed SMS Series. Kick things off by sending your SMS subscribers a "Welcome to the Euros” text. From here you can tell your subscribers how they can expect to benefit from being a subscriber during the up-and-coming season. Let them know that it pays to keep opting in to receive messages from you.

Other great uses for gambling SMS are:

• Betting confirmations,
• Live result updates
• Payout confirmations
• Latest odds
• Text-to-bet

Time to start scoring with SMS marketing?

If you haven’t already, it’s high time to start thinking of every feel-good international event as a chance to connect with your target audience. Especially when it comes to hugely popular tournaments such as the Euros, there’s a host of opportunities to find a niche angle for your brand and win some business from the growing football hype.

Even if your business has no involvement in anything football-related, there are still text conversations to be had with your subscribers, that could kickstart a two-way conversation and boost engagement rates. Whether you love it or loathe it, sports brings people together and gets them talking.

If you’re keen to find more interesting things to talk about with your customers, check out our 2024 marketing calendar.