3 clever ways to use SMS campaigns to scale your marketing ROI

Most venues text for confirmations only. Here are three campaigns that make SMS work harder.

SMS is the quickest campaign to set up and the easiest to underuse. Most venues send automated booking confirmations and reminders, then stop there. Here are three ways to make the same channel work harder.

1. Follow up on email

Email and SMS work best as a pair. The email carries the detail, the text carries the nudge. Three pairings you could run this month:

• Flash promotion. Email: "Don't miss our seasonal offers." SMS the next day: "Last chance, our offer ends tonight."

• Early-bird event bookings. Email: "Festive party bookings are now open." SMS: "Tables for the Christmas party are going quickly. Book early and save [x]%."

• Last-minute availability. Email: "Our pub quiz is back on Friday." SMS on the day: "A few spaces left for tonight's quiz. Can we count you in?"

2. Upsell before the visit

Set an SMS to fire the moment a table is booked and you reach guests while they are still planning their night. Use it to:

• Recommend: a new menu, limited plates, happy hour

• Promote food and drink packages they can add to the booking

• Keep the next step to one tap: reply, call or link

3. Ask for reviews while it's fresh

An automated post-visit text, sent while the evening is still fresh, with a direct link to your review page:

"Hey [name], how was your experience at [venue]? We'd love your feedback. Leave a review here: [link]. Thank you, [team]."

One tap is all it takes, and reviews that need three taps never get written. Point the link at your Google review page and the same text feeds your public rating.

All three campaigns run off the same guest data and the same SMS tools. Set them up once and they send themselves. Want to see what they would look like for your venue? Book a demo and we will run you through it.