Copyright: mblach / 123RF Stock Photo

Today I’m going to show you how Catron Holland boosted attendance at on-base events for the troops and families that live on the Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. Simply by switching from an email to text announcement system, she was able to get more opens, more RSVPs, and ultimately more attendance.

As the marketing/publicity assistant & social media director of the 87th Force Support Squadron, Catron is responsible for coordinating and advertising programs. Despite her best efforts, Catron found that people simply were not reading event information when she promoted them through email. So not only did Catron frustratingly spend hours organizing an event that ultimately only a handful of people showed up for, but people on the base also weren’t aware or taking advantage of the wonderful events available to them. With Trumpia, Catron was able to launch a winning text alert strategy, resulting in much larger attendance for each event.

Step 1) Sign up with Trumpia

First, Catron signed up with Trumpia, the leading mobile messaging cloud-based software, and was immediately given a shared short code. This enables her to send up to 200 messages per second.

Step 2) Set up Keywords

Next, Catron created different mobile keywords for each program type such as concerts, BBQs, and movie nights. Whenever someone texted one of her keywords to her short code, they were automatically entered into the distribution group associated with that keyword. This way, service-members on the base and their families could opt-in to receive alerts for only the types of events they were interested in.

Step 3) Send Event Notices

Catron then sent invitations for events via text messages. With Trumpia’s automation, she was able to automatically target invites based on the keyword used to opt-in or other information collected from subscriber behaviors.  

Step 4) Send Reminders

As the events drew closer, Catron sent text reminders to make sure it was fresh in the troops and their families’ minds.

It didn’t take long for Catron to start seeing results. For one of the very first events she advertised through her new texting program, a whopping 25% of the audience attended because they received a text message alert for it. That’s because texting has a 98 percent read rate, meaning she could have peace of mind knowing her messages were being read.

And that’s all it took. With these four simple steps, Catron went from ignored emails to a winning attendance strategy by switching to texting. Are there other things you’ve tried that boosted attendance at one of your events? Leave a comment below, or share Catron’s story on social media.

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