The Super Bowl is a popular advertising opportunity for huge enterprises like Coca-Cola and Anheuser-Busch. A TV ad during the game may be out of most businesses’ budgets (a 30-second spot can cost upwards of $5 million), but smaller companies can also capitalize on the buzz around everyone’s favorite football game. Super Bowl texts, with the help of a business SMS platform and SMS templates, help you leverage the powerful draw of the Super Bowl to connect with your customers.
Why you should send Super Bowl texts
It’s not often that a single event can capture the attention of so many Americans at once – more than 115 million in 2023. Even if they’re not watching the game, people get caught up in the hype through parties and other social events. They may even tune in to see the halftime show, which allows you to connect with a huge potential audience of both football fans and those who don’t care.
Super Bowl season gives you a relatable, trendy theme to follow that humanizes your brand and allows you to engage with contacts more effectively. Since most people know about the Super Bowl, you have an easy path to creating a relevant and effective Super Bowl text template that you can send before, during, or after the game. Best of all, Super Bowl texts can be used in pretty much any industry, whether you own a sports equipment business or an automotive brand.
Need some inspiration? We’ve rounded up some common Super Bowl SMS templates that you can use for various industries and use cases, including SMS marketing initiatives, after-hours replies, and high-level sales follow-ups. Feel free to tweak the text message templates as you see fit—and don’t forget to have a ball.
Want to learn more about sending personalized texts at scale? Read our automated texting guide.
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Super Bowl text templates: SMS marketing texts
Many business products are relevant to the Super Bowl. However, it’s critical that any SMS marketing campaigns you decide to run provide value. You don’t want your customers to feel as though you are pushing your products on them during this exciting time of year; you want them to feel as though you are trying to help them have a top-notch experience. You can send these messages at any time, depending on the type of offer you’re making and your type of business.
Here are a few ways you can market your business during Super Bowl season.
Help them prepare
The hype for the Super Bowl always builds up until it’s time for the coin toss. As excitement grows and people prepare to host or attend parties, you have an opportunity to solve one of their problems for them – and earn business doing it.
Do you own a restaurant? Offer discounted catering for the Big Game. Do you have an electronics store? Provide TV rentals or special deals on upgrades to help them make the game even better. If you drive a taxi, you can remind people not to drive drunk and give them a deal on a taxi to or from their parties.
Unrelated businesses can also take advantage of the hype. Barbers can help guys get a fresh haircut for their parties, and florists can offer flower arrangements so football fans can apologize to their spouses for yelling at the TV.
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Offer event-specific deals
Before the game or as the game progresses, you can send marketing texts relating to the action that’s happening or just the events your contacts are likely attending. You can also tailor offers based on customer responses, like picking the winner, to offer exclusive promotions. For example, a convenience store might ask if you’ve run out of beer, or a pizza place could offer a discount on restocking your party food.
An important reminder: You may only send marketing texts to opted-in customers.
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Reward them afterwards
Just because the game’s over doesn’t mean you can’t still use it to connect with your leads and customers. Post-game offers that include details about plays during the game, the halftime show performance, or the winning team and MVP show that you’re engaged with their interests.
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Super Bowl text templates: after-hours replies
Any business can use the Super Bowl in their after-hours replies. Even if you just change your after-hours reply for a day, the timely message will show your customers that there are real people—not bots—working behind the scenes of their favorite businesses. A relatable after-hours reply can make your business seem more approachable and friendly.
Super Bowl after-hours replies might look like the following text message templates:
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Super Bowl text templates: alternative SMS offers
There are a lot of sports fans who enjoy the Super Bowl—and there are people who avoid it at all costs. Businesses that are usually packed should let customers know that they still have openings, giving their customers the chance to spend their time away from the game day excitement.
Super Bowl alternative SMS offers might look like one of these examples:
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How to send Super Bowl texts
Once you’ve decided on the type of Super Bowl texts you’re planning to send, it’s time to draft and schedule them. The easiest way to send them is through a business texting platform like Heymarket, which allows you to send personalized mass texts on your schedule to maximize engagement.
Here are a few tips on making the most of your Super Bowl SMS strategies:
Relate your texts to the game
The point of sending Super Bowl texts is to humanize your business and show that you’re not just a faceless entity – you’re real people who are in touch with the world. Even if you’re not a big football fan, you’re likely familiar with the culture of Super Bowl season and can theme your texts around it.
You can relate them to the teams, players, halftime performers, betting information, coin toss, final score, or anything else about the game. Or, reference the parties and activities that your customers are sure to be participating in on game day so that you can show how you can help improve their experience.
Personalize your texts
72% of consumers only interact with personalized texts. Even if you customize your texts with Super Bowl-related information, skipping personalization will hurt your engagement and results.
With the help of SMS templates, you can send all of your leads or customers personalized Super Bowl-related messages in a single click. After you press “send,” your business SMS platform will personalize each outgoing message with merge tokens that draw on customers’ custom fields.
Send texts at the right time
They say timing is everything – and when it comes to event-specific promotions and communications, the right delivery time can make or break a campaign.
Pre-game promotions should be sent with enough time for your contacts to reasonably act on them. For example, if you’re offering online purchases and shipping, your texts should be sent early enough that the item can be delivered before the game. If you’re a caterer, you should give at least 2-3 days of notice to allow for planning and preparation, while a restaurant can send Super Bowl texts a day before or the day of the event.
Taxis, food and drink deliveries, bars, clubs, and local sports apparel companies can advertise within a day or less because their services are immediate and locally accessible. They require less planning and can lead to impulsive purchases, making them especially effective for SMS marketing during the Super Bowl.
Kicking off your Super Bowl texts
The Super Bowl is one of the largest consumer-focused events each year, and every business has a chance to join in on the buzz. Text templates allow you to create personalized connections with customers right on their mobile phones.
Learn more about sending personalized texts at scale with our automated text messaging guide.
Want a step-by-step look at building text automations to expedite every area of your business? Read our ebook Automated Text Messaging: The Complete Guide.
