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So this happened. My three favorite players on NWSL’s Seattle Reign: Jess Fishlock, Hope Solo, and Kate Deines. I made a poster for fans of Seattle Reign to print off on their own and take to games to get signed or whatever. It is free and intended for personal use only. If I’m not making money off of this sure as hell the rest of you shouldn’t either.
One of the exciting things about the Internet is that anyone with a PC and a modem can publish whatever content they can create. … It allows material to be duplicated at low cost, no matter the size of the audience. The Internet also allows information to be distributed worldwide at basically zero marginal cost to the publisher. Opportunities are remarkable, and many companies are laying plans to create content for the Internet. Content is King, Bill Gates, 1/3/1996
If the sports fan is the target audience for the new women’s professional soccer league and the language they speak is the sports narrative then providing that content becomes paramount to any marketing plan. Bill Gates was correct when he declared “Content is King” and increasingly viewed the internet as a cost effective vehicle for publishing content to a limitless audience.
The DIY Approach
Establishing the narrative of women’s professional soccer will require a do-it-yourself approach in comparison to other pro sports, but the cost of generating quality content and deploying that content to a large audience is lower than ever.
Three immediate needs to achieving this are: 1) Identifying the team’s story 2) Planning how that story unfolds through the course of a season, and 3) Generating the content that supports that story in an organized fashion.
Cost will always be a factor, but if you spend money during the planning stages and for initial premium content the remaining work can be delegated.
Evaluate and Involve the Workforce: Players
College graduates have skills and the majority of pro soccer players have benefited from excellent educational opportunities. Players have responsibilities on the field and off when it comes to the physical side of their job and I would suggest part of the responsibilities off field should include being more involved with the promotion of their team, relationships with their city, and use of their education.
Evaluate everyone’s skills. Most players can handle basic social media like twitter, but with all of those degrees in play there has to be more talent available for use. Find players comfortable with writing, radio, podcasts, video, photography, language skills for outreach to large Spanish speaking and soccer loving audience, and even some of the office side of things. Make sure players are comfortable with what they are doing, but make sure they are all doing something. From the stars on down to the rookies.
Generate Content
When it comes to social media there are many inexpensive ways leaving a footprint, building relationships with fans, and adding to the narrative. It is important to not neglect even the smallest opportunities.
For example, the Charlotte Bobcats include twitter handles with their roster list. It’s a simple idea, but not every team does the obvious.
Social media has been included in past league incarnations to varying degrees of success. Being intentional with the narrative for the season, establishing a plan to tell that story, and executing it is something that can finally bring all of the pieces together. What also has improved is the scope of social media’s outreach. The sports conversation on twitter is huge. YouTube provides a free place to upload videos. iTunes and it’s competitors provides a place for audio. Tumblr and Instagram have their own fandom cultures primed and ready for content.
Identify types of content that can support the plan for the year. Content that promotes the personality of the team, documents the journey, provides educational material for youth teams, fun and spontaneous moments, or simply setting up a camera at a short-side scrimmage and let the game speak for itself. Invest in a small HD video camera, a tripod, and basic video editing tools to use when appropriate.
Make more of a professional investment with an initial “trailer” to launch the season and important videos like post-game interviews and the occasional specials.
These are a few examples that I thought worked well:
These are types of content. How different types fit or not into the season plan depends on what the marketing team decides during the early stages.
Seattle Sounders Women: Video Blog
Nothing like hours on a bus, airport, hotel, or at a post game victory meal to get players feeling creative. The team may be out of town for a week, but fans can be brought along for the ride.
Recently the sports community benefited from a Soccer Wire article by Joanna Lohman on marketing to the innovators. While it was preaching to the choir on some points, it definitely got the ball rolling on discussions concerning the new women’s pro soccer league that is kicking off spring of 2013.
The yet unnamed league is in the early stages and is developing largely behind closed doors at the moment. Meanwhile the rest of us looking in have had a lot of thoughts built up over the years. Many of us were there for one or both past leagues folding. No one wants a repeat of that, but what can be done to avoid a similar fate?
Lohman’s Innovators
Many of us read Lohman’s arguments supporting marketing to the innovators and the discussion that followed. Check that out if you haven’t yet or to brush up on the soccer superfan. I can see the appeal for both the players and superfans to reach out to each other. If just for sanity sake. As an athlete or as a superfan it has to be nice to know there are people out there who love the sport as much as you and express it in the same ways.
Marketing to the innovator isn’t a new idea outside of the sport. A number of industries rely heavily on a core fanbase of superfans to survive financially and creatively. The music industry is a big one. Recently Lady Gaga’s unique success was broken down to the fact she aimed primarily to the 1% of her most loyal superfans. That’s a viable option when your 1% is being factored from millions. She found the fans that spoke to her, drove her creativity, and a byproduct marketing to them is a product that appeals to millions.
What if your 1% equals 20-30 super loyal fans per team? Owners would rightfully point out that between the “butts in seats” need and sponsorship opportunities marketing to the superfan isn’t an option at the moment. They don’t carry the numbers and by their nature are so loyal they will come if you market to them or not.
Who Do You Target Then?
I argue that both the superfans and youth soccer (the latter being the target audience of the past two leagues) are the two groups that require the least amount of effort as far as marketing goes. In some ways both groups are the most predictable and the most frustrating. Continue reading
