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Go on, admit it, you think texting or SMS (Short Message Service) is not for you. Your audiences don?t have mobile phones and even if they did they?d hate the idea of receiving anything as ?yoof? as a text message! Well that?s OK, but Adrian Phillips and Ruth Staple hope that the findings of a research project which took place in Plymouth last year might just change your mind.

Texting is a multi?faceted marketing tool. It?s great for ticketing ? sending last minute offers, for example. A promoter at last year?s Edinburgh Fringe used texting to shift remaining seats a couple of hours before curtain up. The first 10 people to show the text message at the Box Office could get in for half price. So successful were they that they had to limit the number of texts they sent due to over subscription. SMS is also a great information tool. You can use it to remind people that booking is due to open for a certain event, or that their Friends membership is due to expire. You can tell customers of a performance cancellation in five minutes instead of having the box office spend all day on the phones. You can even donate via text, as was done to great effect on last year?s Sports Relief Telethon on the BBC. The technology is there, ready to be used.

For over a year The Phone Room has been working with arts clients to explore these and other possibilities for SMS, both in terms of sales and audience development. The biggest and most successful project to date has been Txtm8 (Text Mate for those of you not fluent in text speak), co-ordinated by South West Arts Marketing (SWAM) and made possible by a DCMS New Audiences grant. By marketing a range of events to a range of people across the arts and leisure sector in Plymouth, Txtm8 aimed to test whether SMS technology could attract the ?floating voter? to the arts.

Despite the existence of several suitable databases, Txtm8 decided to build its own from scratch to ensure ownership of data, aiming to attract 300 members. Data was collected via coded cards distributed throughout the city, a full-page advert in 24/7, Plymouth?s lifestyle magazine for 18-25 year olds, and online registration. Priorities for the data collection included the ability to segment members by age and interest. Members indicated their interests from cinema, clubbing, comedy, dance, digital/visual arts, theatre, and live music. This allowed us to send targeted offers and encourage crossover between activities.

There isn?t really a particular ?type? who?ll respond to a text message. Over 80% of the UK?s population has a mobile phone and contrary to popular belief they?re not all still at school! It?s a myth that only the 18-25 target group will use an SMS service, as the results from the SWAM project demonstrate this. 801 members signed up for Txtm8. Since our promotion and marketing had been aimed specifically at 18-24 year olds we were delighted that 40% of those signing up were in this category. However, 16% were aged 25-34 and 13% were aged 35 plus - we even had to revise our database and add the 55 plus age category.

Over six months Txtm8 trialled promotional offers, discounted tickets, teaser campaigns, queue jumping and priority booking, with varying degrees of success. The reactivity of the technology also allowed Txtm8 to send an apology to an entire interest group late one evening when a promoter let us down. We were confident that the messages would be received and read by everyone, minimising any potential negative feeling.

The best results achieved were a 16% response rate to a targeted ?textback? offer whereby members had to text a response to receive a promotional offer. However, Txtm8 evaluation showed that, as with other marketing tools you can?t shift unwanted products using SMS ? French cinema failed to win any new customers. But it can turn intenders into attenders, and it can influence people?s last minute decisions. Many young people go out for an evening without a clear destination or activity in mind other than being with friends, and their choices can be influenced.

Txtm8 brought new audiences to all of the participating arts venues, albeit of varying sizes, and even turned some clubbers into first time attenders at an art-house cinema. More importantly by working across sector and building a trusted brand, Txtm8 enabled arts venues that weren?t even on individuals? personal leisure maps to break through their resistance to traditional arts marketing methods. Unexpectedly, over 50% of the database members were male, and they took up as many of the offers to arts venues as did female members. Could this be an effective way to market the arts to men of all ages?

Evaluation revealed that even people declaring the arts were ?not their bag? were still aware of the venues participating in the scheme, had read the text marketing messages, trusted them, and in some cases had even given the arts a try. Some members forwarded messages to friends who subsequently took up offers, and in some cases even saved the venue?s phone number to their mobile memory for future use. How many fliers inspire potential audience members to add a box office number to their address book?


For more details about the Txtm8 project contact Ruth Staple t: 0117 927 6936
or Adrian Phillips t: 01865 324000, who are happy to talk about the key findings from the project and the technology involved.

See the Txtm8 website at w: http://www.txtm8.info