Curators spend months planning exhibits, administrators work overtime applying for grants, and docents put in hours rehearsing tours. Museums and other cultural institutions need a marketing channel that helps all that hard work pay off.
If you have a small staff and a limited budget, short message service (SMS) is a low-cost channel that can help you reach a wide audience. Open rates for text messages are consistently high, and the channel has become a mainstream part of how organizations of all sizes communicate with their customers.
This SMS marketing guide for museums covers what to send and when, how to build your list, and how to know what to send next as part of the marketing strategy you already run.
Why is SMS important for a museum marketing strategy?
In a world where messages vie for people’s attention via email, paid ads, and social media platforms, SMS works particularly well. Open rates are high, and most messages get read shortly after arriving. Texts also arrive on a device that is usually within arm's reach, and SMS messages require no internet connection for delivery.
Because subscribers have to opt in first, the list consists of people who already want to hear from you. Texting is also a cost-effective way to keep in touch with your audience, since it doesn't require the design and production costs of print or the media spend of digital advertising.
How cultural institutions put SMS to work
Text messages are multipurpose and can support all stages of a customer journey, from new visitors to loyal members. Whether your goal is to boost ticket sales, increase memberships, drive engagement, or all of the above, SMS can improve the customer experience.
Driving revenue
Many museums operate on tight budgets, and maximizing revenue is vital to delivering quality programming to as many people as possible. Short messages prompt recipients to act right away, before they lose interest.
Ticket sales and admissions
A direct link to a ticketing page with a specific reason to buy now converts browsers into buyers. Limited capacity, a closing date, or a discounted evening slot gives patrons the extra push they need to make a booking.
Membership signups and renewals
Renewal reminders sent via SMS can support membership signups and recover lapsed members who missed your email in a crowded inbox. Keep reminders friendly and renewals easy with a simple, straightforward call to action (CTA), since timely texts can also strengthen customer loyalty.
Fundraising
Year-end appeals and campaign updates work well in text form, especially when paired with a short video on your website. Keep the ask to a single sentence and give a specific number. Donors who give by text tend to give again, which makes the channel worth building well before you need it.
Gift shop and merch sales
New promotions, exhibition merchandise, and member discount codes give museum visitors a reason to stop by the gift shop or make a purchase online after they’ve left. You can also follow up on purchases, asking for feedback or encouraging customers to share photos of their merch on social media to create user-generated content.
Announcing programs and exhibits
Your programming calendar helps guide your SMS strategy. These announcements give subscribers a reason to open your text and follow up with a ticket reservation.
Exhibition openings
Announce upcoming exhibitions to subscribers before the press release goes out. Offering early access can build excitement around upcoming exhibitions and gives your most engaged audience a reason to stay subscribed.
Events, lectures, and workshops
Even engaged patrons who get excited about events in your season schedule may need an extra nudge to sign up. Good programs depend on solid attendance, and sending a reminder a week in advance helps people commit to the artist lecture they wanted to attend.
Member presales and early access
Your loyal members are among your museum’s best assets. Sending presale announcements via text is a valuable membership benefit that helps encourage renewals.
Last chance reminders
The final 2 weeks of a show produce a rush for tickets at most museums. A well-timed closing reminder can help people book their spot with a simple click.
Supporting visitors
Once someone has a ticket, texting is a great way to provide important information, improve the customer experience, and enhance their visit. Timely text reminders can reduce missed appointments and help support attendance for timed entry or booked programs. You can also use geofencing to send location-based prompts during a visit.
Ticket confirmations
Confirmation texts reduce no-shows and cut down on front-desk questions. A message sent when tickets are booked and another sent the day before the reservation keep the information at patrons’ fingertips.
Day-of logistics
Parking, entrance location, bag policy, and exhibition hours can all fit in a single message sent the morning of a visit.
Self-guided tours and audio guides
A text link to your audio guide removes the friction of an app download and improves the visitor experience for casual visitors who would otherwise skip it.
Educational content
Short facts about an object, a link to a curator interview, or a reading list sent after a visit keeps your brand present between trips and helps boost engagement with occasional visitors.
6 steps to effective museum SMS marketing campaigns
Getting started with SMS takes less setup than most channels, and you don’t need a whole Marketing team. Follow these steps to build your list, create effective messages, and plan your schedule to support your strategy.
Step #1: Build a subscriber list
Make sure that every subscriber on your list has opted in to ensure you have an audience that wants to hear from you. It’s OK to start small. A few hundred engaged subscribers is better than a few thousand people who haven't asked to receive messages. Be clear about what type of messages you’ll send and how often people can expect to hear from you.
Once your SMS strategy is in place, there are several ways to grow your list.
Ask for phone numbers onsite
Train front-desk and gift shop staff to ask visitors to sign up at the ticket or information desk, when enthusiasm is highest.
Use QR codes
Place QR codes on exhibition signage, membership brochures, and table tents in the cafe. This leverages existing assets to help build your list at no extra cost.
Include signup forms online
Add a field to your website footer, your event registration page, and all landing pages for upcoming exhibitions, then cross-promote the list through social media channels. Reducing friction at these signup points turns interest into list registrations, especially when you also include clear contact details on the page or in linked social profiles.
Step #2: Segment your audience
Not everyone on your list needs the same message. Segmentation—splitting your SMS subscriber list into targeted groups—lets you send messages only to the people who want to hear them.
Members, donors, and volunteers
Patrons who are committed to a membership, have donated to your fundraising appeals, or have given their time are your most invested audience. They should receive presales announcements, campaign updates, and invitations rather than general promotions.
Families, students, and school groups
Engaging young audiences early helps build committed, lifelong museumgoers. Local families respond to weekend programming, free admission days, and school-break activities. Sending student discount codes via text is also a great way to nurture these audiences.
Local residents and out-of-town visitors
Local community members are a different audience from tourists, and the 2 groups need different messages. Locals respond better to programming and events, while travelers need exhibition hours, ticket availability, and additional details about planning a trip. Segmentation also helps tailor messages for prospective visitors who need practical information before they commit.
Step #3: Build a messaging calendar
A content calendar helps you plan your SMS send schedule and keeps every message timely. It also ensures that you’re texting patrons on a regular schedule without overloading them with messages.
Tie messages to your exhibition schedule
Think ahead to exhibition opening, midpoint, and closing dates. Planning your SMS calendar will keep your staff from scrambling at the last minute to remind patrons to book tickets in the last days of a show’s run.
Plan around school breaks and peak visit days
Family programming messages perform best in the days leading up to a school break. If you’re promoting a weekend event, make sure to send the message on Thursday or Friday, not Saturday morning when weekend activities are already underway.
Step #4: Write effective text messages
Good SMS copy sounds personal, friendly, and not like an advertisement. Your brand voice still matters, but since text messages land on personal devices, make sure you write them clearly and thoughtfully.
Make the offer early
Put the reason to act in the first few words. Many people read only the notification preview on their lock screen. Make it clear what your message is about right away so recipients don't have to click once to read and again to act.
Use a single call to action
Don’t include more than a single CTA in your message. Whether you want recipients to book tickets to a new exhibit or grab a last-minute seat for a film screening, each message should focus on the single action you want your audience to take.
Identify your organization and include opt-out instructions
Lead with your museum name so people know who is texting and close with clear opt-out language, which is both a legal requirement and a sign that your organization is thoughtful and trustworthy with users’ data and preferences.
Step #5: Coordinate SMS with your other marketing channels
Text works best as part of a coordinated digital marketing effort across your communication channels and can reinforce what your other channels are already doing.
Cross-promote with social media and digital ads
Your SMS list doesn't grow in a vacuum. Social media platforms are a great place to recruit new subscribers and keep your museum visible between visits. Instagram is particularly well suited to this, since a strong visual post can deliver the SMS opt-in CTA more effectively than a text link on its own.
Treat the relationship as two-way. Reply to comments, repost visitor content, and pay attention to what performs well on social, then use that as a signal for what your text messages should lead with, too.
Use SMS to complement email
Email marketing is best for in-depth content, images, and long-form storytelling, while SMS works better with short updates and time-sensitive messages. Send the exhibition essay by email and the last-chance reminder by text.
Sync subscriber lists with your CRM and ticketing systems
Connected systems let you avoid messaging people who have already booked tickets and focus instead on your highest-priority groups. If your museum already runs on a nonprofit CRM or ticketing platform, a marketing platform such as Mailchimp often integrates directly with your existing systems, making coordination easy.
Step #6: Measure SMS effectiveness
SMS reporting is simpler than other digital channels, making it easier to see accurate results. Track a small set of numbers consistently and you'll spot problems before they cost you subscribers.
Pay attention to key metrics
Click-through rate, conversion rate, revenue per message, and opt-out rate tell you most of what you need. A rising opt-out rate is the clearest signal that you are sending too often and losing subscribers. Most SMS platforms have an easy-to-use dashboard that lets you see which campaigns performed best and where subscribers dropped off.
Use A/B testing for send times and text content
An A/B test lets you compare 2 different versions of a text message to see which gets more clicks or purchases. For example, you might test a link-first format against a context-first format or compare a message sent in the evening to another sent the next morning.
Small differences in timing can produce large differences in results, and using the testing tools built into your SMS platform lets you see what works best for your audience and optimize accordingly.
More SMS museum marketing ideas
Museums aren’t just about driving ticket sales or optimizing return on investment. They should be places where audiences are educated, inspired, and delighted. Level up your SMS marketing to give patrons something interesting, enjoyable, or unexpected, so they look forward to hearing from you and coming back to visit in person.
Gallery scavenger hunts
The day before a reservation that includes children’s tickets, send a link to an online gallery scavenger hunt. A set of clues leads visitors from each object to the next using their mobile devices, with a small prize at the front desk for anyone who finishes. Families spend longer in the building and stay engaged with your collection.
Object of the week
Although longer forms like email or social media are often better for image-heavy messages, a single featured image, along with a sentence or two, can be an important component of a campaign to spark interest in a new exhibition, a permanent collection, or an upcoming event. For an art museum, even highlighting a single work can connect the message directly to the collection. Make sure to include a link to purchase tickets or for more information.
Polls and audience votes
Let subscribers vote on which work returns from storage, which film screens next month, or what the Education team should program for spring. Giving your audience a voice is a fun way to boost engagement and bring them in to see the results of their vote in person.