#19 The Ballketing Letter
Fitness trends for 2021, the role of 5g in sport, video lead generation tools & tactics, marketing ideas from Broadway, basketball economics w/ Sue Bird and the basics of digital marketing & more!
Hey there, Ballketers.
This has been a week with fantastic content across so many topics! Everything from fitness trends for the year ahead, to webinars with top sport executives from the NBA or the MLS and amazing articles that will help you improve your business at many levels. But as usual, our top 3 pieces for this week would be:
We have recently discovered the “Everyone Hates Marketers” podcast and we have listened to many great episodes so far. This week, we bring you a conversation from a top marketer sharing ideas he implemented marketing Broadway shows. We are big fans of transferring ideas & skills from other industries and this is a prime example of that. Enjoy!
This week we bring you many updates and trends from the fitness industry from players like eMarketer, Club Solutions or the Fitness Founders Podcast; some of them are quite insightful and give a good idea of where it is headed. In fact, many of the topics and ideas tie in with our blog post on “At-home” fitness so feel free to read that as well.
If you are new to digital marketing concepts, Andy Crestodina from Orbit Media shares a very detailed article on how to take the initial steps to implement and fix possible errors you may be incurring in. What we liked most about his approach was his suggestion to start from the bottom of the funnel, rather than the top. This makes perfect sense since a bad purchase or even post purchase experience will ruin everything you have worked on to get to that point.
Let´s get down to business.
Podcasts
The future of technology in fitness, strategy and tips for small fitness business owners
In this interesting episode of The Fitness Founders Podcast Brian O´Rourke, an expert on how technology shapes the fitness industry, gives some details on how and why players of the size of Apple, Facebook or Amazon are looking to enter the health space and gain more access to their customers and maximize LTV. They also discuss strategy, how small fitness business owners can find opportunities after the impact of Covid 19 and take advantage of the change it has had in customer habits.
Fitness trends for 2021
In this virtual round table organized by Club Solutions magazine, the panelists (gym operators from North America) discuss measures they have taken to try an attempt the comeback from Covid-19 successfully. Particularly relevant was their opinion on the role of and how to compete with emerging fitness brands including Peloton or Apple Fitness +.
Sue Bird talks Basketball Economics, practice mentality, the difference between male & female sport, and much more
This episode of "People I mostly admire" has it all. Women´s basketball legend, Sue Bird, describes her practice mentality, talks basketball economics, her approach to negotiation the WNBA´s collective bargaining agreement and how she interprets the difference in pay between female & male athletes.
For those of you interested in the sport industry, this will probably give you new lenses to approach and understand some of those topics.
Increasing LTV with Marketing School
As you know, we cannot speak enough about the importance of Lifetime Value for your sport or fitness business. We covered this in our blog and now we bring this very "short and sweet" episode from Marketing School discussing 5 ways in which you can try to increase LTV for your business.
We particularly are of the same opinion as the hosts of the podcast when they discuss the benefit of ecosystems for maximizing customer retention in the long term.
Ideas from marketing on Broadway for your sport or fitness business
In many occasions it makes sense to look at other industries to gather new ideas which you can apply to your business. While this can be true in many areas (sales, operations, supply chain, etc.) we bring you an episode from the "Everyone Hates Marketers Podcast" which we believe can be of great help for your marketing actions.
You will learn, among many other things:
Why "simpler" is better
The value of combining your Unique Selling Proposition with something that’s never been done before
Why getting into trouble may be a sign you are about to do something right
Facing the fear of being wrong
Why you should avoid repeating yourself
Give it a try! We are sure you will find this one as valuable as we did.
Webinars
A conversation about 5G and the future of business
We had the opportunity to attend a virtual session that covered how 5g will transform the business of sport. In particular, Christine Romans (CNN) interviews Steve Hellmuth, EVP of Media Operations & Technology for the NBA about the specific impact of 5g for the NBA. You can access the webinar through this link but if you prefer a summary, the main ideas or ways in which it could be applied we took out from the conversation were the following:
For the moment, the main focus is to take advantage of how 5g can enable, thanks to its low latency, synchronized views of games in real time with people in other locations. Sometimes, current WIFI speed connections are not the same across different cities, regions or countries and you may be chatting with a friend about a particular game but there may be a 10 second difference between what you both are actually witnessing. 5g solves this issue and it would make it seem as if you were watching the game in the same living room.
Gambling: The idea in mind is to have layovers of potential bets synced with video of live games. That way, "real time" betting is taken to a new level.
Augmented Reality (AR), which would enable broadcasters to show real time statistics, players tracking and other data "on top" of the actual image.
Virtual reality (VR) on the other hand is still a work in progress for sport, so it will take longer for it develop to its full potential.
These were the main ideas but if you want to know more about this topic, in addition to the full session we shared above, we actually have published articles on our blog discussing several ways in which 5g could make an impact on sport in the near future or the potential of artificial intelligence can have in the industry. Feel free to check them out!
The MLS & "brand clarity" in times of chaos
We also made time to attend a webinar organized by the Johan Cruyff Institute in which David Bruce, senior vice president of brand and integrated marketing at Major League Soccer (MLS), discussed some of the lessons, insights and the importance of brand purpose when facing these challenging times for sport organizations
What have they learned during a challenging 2020? Mr. Bruce listed the following the main things:
Listen and learn: Where is the sport fan in terms of concerns, expectations, etc.?
Read the room: Sport is not a bubble and sport brands need to identify how they can make positive impact during difficult times.
Brand, Brand, Brand: Brand purpose was the guiding light in decision making across all business areas
Innovation and creation while adopting an agile mentality are key for long term recovery of the business.
Everything in “Beta”: Speed needs to be above perfection. Then, sport fans will provide feedback on what works and what does not. Mr. Bruce then shared this interesting quote on this topic:
"Perfection is the enemy of good. If you need to be right before you move, you will never win" (Michael Ryan, CEO of World Health Organization)
Find your lane in culture: What is the role of your sport brand on culture? Can it help drive positive social change?
Ultimately, the goal of any sport organization should be to drive fan engagement. It is of upmost importance to keep connected to them, specially during times in which attendance to stadiums is banned and "touch points" are limited. The sport fan´s consumption funnel has changed and thus, the marketing processes around it to deliver the experience that maintains the emotional bonds between sport brands and fans.
All these lessons can be summarized in “MLS Unites,” which is one of the main actions the organization carried out during the lock down. The idea was to connect with fans through virtual content with a focus on:
Educating on "covid protocols"
Entertaining fans even from home
Adapting big events through eMLS (gaming)
Building new “moments” (people wanted ideas to do stuff at home such as training, skills, diets, recipes, etc.)
Finally, Mr. Bruce shared some details that might help shape the MLS of the future and that reinforce the idea that their is trust in the medium term future of the league:
New clubs will enter the league: Austin FC is the 27th MLS club
New stadiums are being built
The importance of counting with rising stars and established stars (players and coaches) for the value of the league
How the emergence of young players who played in MLS academies (such as Alphonso Davies or Weston McKennie) that end up becoming global stars is critical for awareness of the league at the global level.
Among the group of owners we can find pop culture stars such as David Beckham, Kevin Durant, Will Ferrel, James Harden or Matthew McConaughey.
Brand purpose: Fans will support those brand that strengthen their ties to social causes
Leverage the brand assets & the presence in culture
As you can see, this was an interesting view of where MLS is and where it is going. We will keep you posted with further relevant developments that may ultimately help you understand how the major sport organizations are shaping the industry.
Articles
Learn to create awesome landing pages for your marketing campaigns
Do you want to increase the conversion rate of potential customers you acquire through your marketing campaigns? Then, one of the things you will definitely need to work on is developing landing pages correctly. This is the reason why we bring you this awesome guide from Harry´s Marketing Examples with tips and examples on how to do so. The guide is divided in two sections:
Above the fold:
1/ Explain the value you provide (title)
2/ Explain how you'll create it (subtitle)
3/ Let the user visualize it (visual)
4/ Make it believable (social proof)
5/ Make taking the next step easy (Call To Action)
Below the fold:
6/ Make the value concrete (features and objections)
7/ Inspire action (social proof)
8/ Tie up loose ends (FAQ)
9/ Repeat your call to action (2nd Call To Action)
10/ Make yourself memorable (Founder's note)
For each one you will find details and examples in the article so make sure to check it out. The main lesson though, as expressed in the article:
Your landing page is your sales pitch. Never forget this. Examine each element and ask:
Would this help me sell if I met the customer in person?
If not, remove it. If you don't know go out and sell to customers in person.
Why do we procrastinate?
This falls outside our usual choice of "business" related content but we thought it would be a valuable read as it may help you become more productive. It covers a few of the reasons on why we usually procrastinate.
The interesting conclusion is that it is actually are mood rather than being too busy, or as just the author expresses it: Less confidence equals more avoidance.
Are you considering using "memes" in your content marketing?
Most of us, at some point, have shared or enjoyed a "meme" created out of a pop culture moment. Those of us in sport have surely seen the Michael Jordan meme from his Hall of Fame speech or the "You Da Real MVP" meme from Kevin Durant´s MVP acceptance speech:
While for people the use of memes is a widespread resource, some brands are still reluctant to embrace it within their content marketing strategy. In this article, eMarketer provides some brief guidelines to ponder when deciding if it is the right move for your brand with a particular focus on:
Target audience
Brand identity
Appropriateness
Cleveland Cavaliers looking to drive fan engagement with prediction app
The Cleveland Cavaliers have launched a feature within their app aimed at driving fan engagement during games. In particular, as reported on SportTechie, fans will be able to try to predict outcomes related to a given game (end result, points scored by a certain player, etc.).
With fans not being able to attend games regularly, it is becoming difficult for sport organizations to engage with their fans. It will be interesting to see which of these initiatives catch on and succeed in the mission, but meanwhile, perhaps this gives you an idea to implement in your sport organization.
Vimeo looking to help your strategy for lead generation
Are you currently using video as part of your content marketing strategy? If not, you probably should given the huge potential it has to help you attract new customers for your business.
In that regard, Vimeo has just announced a series of partnerships and tools aimed at helping video creators with their lead generation strategy through the platform. In particular, these will include:
New & enhanced integrations with HubSpot, Mailchimp, and Constant Contact.
Additional tools that allow users to add whichever contact forms they choose to their videos and sync them with their email marketing platform.
...And here are 5 ideas to power up your "video lead generation" game
And if you need ideas on where to start, this article from CMI shares 5 ideas that will let you take your "video lead generation" efforts to a whole new level. These include:
Add an effective Call to Action
Add a video to landing pages
And do the same for emails / newsletters
Use videos as "introductory content" or "gated content" to explain your product or service to potential customers
Do not forget to leverage video SEO
Looking to test Facebook Messenger ads?
If you are looking for new channels to engage with your sport fans or consumers, then you might also be interested in trying Facebook Messenger ads.
If that is the case, make sure you read this article by AdEspresso (Hootsuite) in which they provide a great summary of why you should consider this channel, the type of Facebook Messenger ads that exists, how to set them up and even examples of businesses succeeding in the space.
Why a "Content Gap Analysis" can help you improve conversions
Prior to making a purchase decision, customers seek for content that will help them solve doubts, learn greater details about a product or service, etc. In that sense, you probably know that not all of your customers are in the same phase of the sales funnel (or customer journey). As such, you need to make sure that the content you put out is relevant to each customer and the stage they are in within the purchasing process.
The problem comes when you are missing out on topics that could be of great significance for your target audience. This is usually done through a "Content Analysis Gap" and this article from SEO Journal may be of great help. They cover a 4 step processes to carry out such analysis successfully which includes:
Mapping out the Buyer´s Journey
Conduct Market Research
Analyze the content of your web
Monitor the competition
You might pick up a few new ideas which can be of value for your sport or fitness organization.
Andy Crestodina and "Where to Start in Digital Marketing?"
This is an awesome article if you are wondering where to start with regards to your marketing efforts. Andy Crestodina shares the following chain of events, based on the idea that you should consider fixing items from your sales funnel in backwards motion.
Then, he goes into great detail (examples included) on how you can approach each element of the chain. We personally loved this article and even used it to fix a few things in our own website.
Talent Hack secures investment round for its software aimed at fitness professionals & personal trainers
Another company operating in the fitness technology space has been able to secure a round of investment. Talent Hack develops a software for personal trainers and fitness professionals called Spaces and it has been able to secure a $4.7 million round aimed at increasing their operation.
The fitness space is headed for even more technological disruption in the future and it is clear that major investment firms trust the industry to keep being relevant for many years to come...
eMarketer Trends Report: Digital Fitness to drive the convergence of content & commerce
Interesting article by eMarketer on key trends to consider for 2021 in which the consider Digital Fitness as a space that is here to stay, and not just be a "short term" solution for gyms while they have been closed down. Andrew Lipsman, eMarketer principal analyst at Insider Intelligence, has the following point of view:
“Digital fitness is an emerging megatrend, and not just because of the pandemic. The combination of increasingly sophisticated wearables, personalized health tracking, and integrated digital media experiences—all led by the most aspirational consumer brands—already pointed toward a reimagined consumer fitness landscape."
And, if you want more detail, check out our blog post on our impressions about the future of "At-Home fitness."
Embracing Augmented Reality (AR) to create awareness for your brand
Sport brands need to consider embracing new technologies within the core of their business to help them achieve their strategic objectives. This is the topic of this interesting Brandingmag article in which they covered ways to acquire new customers using Augmented Reality. In our blog also described the impact that AR could have in sport in the future, so feel free to check it out as well!
And that would be all for this week! We hope it was worth it and the content can help you manage your sport or fitness business more effectively. Please feel free to contact us if you have any suggestions, doubts or content you want to share. And most of all, thanks for reading until the end.
And, of course, if you know someone who would enjoy or benefiting from reading this newsletter please share it with them.
Keep safe.