#46 The Ballketing Letter
Sponsoring Olympic athletes, company culture as a catalyst for growth, price before product design, digital creation vs transformation, Nike´s first 1000 customers, conversion marketing funnel & more!
Hey there, Ballketers.
Welcome to issue #46! A number that reminds us of another great champion that precisely yesterday made public his decision to retire from the sport…
This week, as we approach the end of the Tokyo 2020 Games we wanted to share a framework to sponsor Olympic athletes. We also bring you a special section on “culture” and how the most successful companies used it as a catalyst for growth and more amazing content that will help your sport or fitness organization reach the next level.
Finally, we have published a new blog post which will help you design a content strategy framework using Rogue Fitness as an example.
Our “Resource Center" in Notion has been updated with this week´s content and a few additional pieces that did not make it to the newsletter. We already have 300 resources uploaded! So we are sure there is something in there for you to learn from…
Let´s get down to business!
An awesome quote shared by Brad Pedersen on Dan Martell´s Growth Stacking Show. The quote is actually from Ray Croc but be sure to check out the episode if you need inspiration to become a better leader, better business person and overall, a better human.
"In life you are going to pay one of two prices: You either pay the price of discipline or the price of regret."
Ray Croc
A framework for sponsorship partnership with Olympic athletes
As we face the final days of these atypical Tokyo 2020 games and look forward to what the future will bring to the Olympic movement from all angles, some brands face the challenge of maintaining momentum of their sponsorship partnerships with Olympic athletes after the competition is over. This is undoubtedly apparent when you analyze the Google Trends chart for Michael Phelps, arguably one of the greatest Olympic athletes ever.
Notice the peaks in the chart match the dates of the Olympics that Phelps competed in. Being able to frame an agreement correctly from the beginning could help overcome some of these challenges.
So, in this week´s brief, we share a framework to decide and activate an agreement with any sport property based on 6 pillars:
Objectives & budget: These may seem obvious elements, but businesses should think about what the goal is they are looking to achieve. Ultimately, everything should end up driving revenue in some form or another but there are many angles to consider such as "brand awareness" based initiatives or a more “performance” driven approach. Or, perhaps, it is a way to enter a new market or reposition the brand in some way.
And then, what is the budget that will be allocated to the partnership? How much will you be willing to invest to achieve that goal? This also should consider the expected ROI and perhaps, more importantly, the "pressure" to generate that return.
Put another way, sponsorship deals generate return over the long term, so if you need immediate returns, perhaps this is not the type of action your marketing plan needs.
Target: Brands then need to understand the target they want to engage with. This could mean deciding around factors such as:
Demographics (age group, market, etc.)
Type of customer (new vs existing ones or B2B vs B2C)
Behaviors that define them (Identify if they are loyal buyers, socially conscious, digitally savvy, early adopters, concerns, and so on).
The more detailed of a description you can reach, the better and in that sense, our recommendation is to focus on behaviors to really create meaningful segments of the market. Keep in mind it is better to target a very defined segment to ensure higher degrees of relevance and association even if this means going after a reduced volume of the market. Focus on quality rather than quantity..
Alignment in Values: When deciding about sponsoring an athlete or property, a firm should look to its brand values and ensure there is alignment between both sides. A partnership based solely on financial incentives will not sustain itself. For instance, if the value you want to enhance is "excellence," which athlete or what organization best represents it?
Messaging and language are also key components of your strategy and we believe it should be framed within the conversation around values at a more strategic level. In this sense, a fantastic point that was made in this episode of Sports Pro Media is that the message should NOT be about the brand itself and the products they offer; it should focus more on the games, the athletes, the Olympic values, etc. The customers will resonate more with this and ultimately find the association towards your brand.
In our opinion, brands should also be empathetic about how the partnership is going to benefit the other party and how can it place them in a better position than the one they are today. Ideally, you should look for win-win scenario across several realms, not just “money”...
Projected evolution of the athlete´s profile: Given that Olympic athletes only have such a worldwide exposure every four years, brands would do well in understanding where the athlete is now and what they hope the future will bring them on a professional and personal level. For example, are they worried about a "post career" transition? Are they expecting changes in their personal lives such as parenting? Are they aspiring to more accomplishments? To expand their " personal brand"? This should give hints toward the long term activation of the partnership, meaning, how can the brand be a companion in the athlete´s journey?
Causes & Purpose: In today´s day & age, a sponsorship agreement needs to have a high degree of purpose embedded into it. Customers, especially younger audiences, want to associate themselves to brands that transcend the realms of their business and have ties to some sustainable initiative, that look to create a greater good. So, what cause will your brand support? Climate change? Diversity and equality?
Again, there needs to be alignment between the brand promise, the cause and the athlete or sport property.
Activation: When thinking about partnership activation there are two elements to consider:
The tactical approach which includes several decisions such as:
Product marketing: Will you launch a new product line to support the partnership? Is it a particular version of an existing product? Will there be continuity around that product? You could even apply this to "intangible" services…
Marketing communications: What social platforms will you choose? Will you rely on media coverage? Events? Will you carry out a YouTube or Twitch series? A podcast mini series? Will you have the athlete visit several podcasts? A webinar?
Ultimately, these decisions will depend on the target market you have chosen to go after, again to make sure you meet them where they are. And, as we said before, language and tone of voice will be a critical difference-maker. It is not looking for opportunities to talk “wonders” about the brand but how it supports the Olympic values and creates positive impact.
Employer branding: Will you use the sponsorship agreement to motivate employees?
The strategic elements to consider
Before the event: How will you create expectation prior to the competition? When will you start creating "noise" in advance?
During the event: Where are the opportunities to maximize exposure of the sport property?
After the event: One of the best examples of how brands can keep momentum and ensure long-lasting brand associations comes from how Puma leveraged its deals with Usain Bolt and Manchester City ahead of the Manchester derby. The legendary sprinter is an avid Manchester United fan and it was a perfect opportunity to "bring him back” to the customer´s mind without having to use "Olympic" related content. Define if there are other assets within your portfolio that you could leverage.
And with this, we get to the end of our framework. Did we miss anything? Let us know what you think and if you want us to cover a specific example using this framework to go into further detail in upcoming issues.
Lessons on company culture, the catalyst for scaling up your business
Over the last few years, you probably have heard a lot about "Heat Culture" referring to how team culture is at the heart of the Miami Heat´s success.
The truth is that culture is the catalyst behind the growth of most successful companies. It is what will enable your strategy to be implemented, to shift in case it is needed and to attract / retain top talent. It simply cannot be overlooked. Check out these podcasts; they are masterclasses on embracing culture:
Marc Randolph provides a series of "golden nuggets" on leadership & culture to an emerging business man. His focus really is about understanding people as much as possible.
Masters of Scale reruns an episode with lessons on culture from Netflix, in an episode that also includes analogies from the world of "sport." The lesson is to hire awesome people and let them take the brand places, not define the path for them.
The CMO Podcast hosts Gail Tifford, from WW (formerly Weight Watchers) and they discuss how culture was a big reason why the brand was able to manage the pandemic successfully or even approach a rebranding strategy....
The team at Refine Labs tackle a different topic this time but it is nonetheless a great episode in an interview that covers everything around managing talent, the role of culture in an organization and employer branding. The idea we liked most was that people, in a job role, essentially want to learn, grow & contribute to something greater than themselves. Is your sport or fitness brand providing these 3 elements?
Focus on "Digital Creation" and not on "Digital Transformation"
Awesome episode of "Lochhead on Marketing" sharing why businesses should not focus on "digital transformation" but rather on "digital creation." The "Digital Natives" are a group of consumers that have grown up being digital, they have not had to adopt new technologies, so it makes sense to adapt to their reality when looking to create digital experiences for them.
Pricing as key component of your product design strategy
Pricing should be considered as a critical element of any product design strategy and in this awesome episode of Starting Greatness they even argue that "Price comes before product."
There are typically a few errors that business owners should avoid when pricing their products such as focusing too much on adding features, under-pricing, or worries that a new product will impact negatively on the performance of an existing product.
Don´t worry about testing your prices or even asking customers for their willingness to pay and design around price and product.
A view into the Paris 2024 Olympics
Given that we touched upon the future of the Olympics in the brief, we thought this episode on Sports Pro Media´s podcast with the CEO of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games could be interest. Tune in to see what they are learning from Tokyo and some initiatives they have in mind.
How Lululemon seeks to drive innovation
Interesting conversation on the Sports Tech Feed about how Lululemon thinks about innovation. The main ideas we liked from this conversation were:
Always try to keep things simple, understand what problem the technology is looking to solve, how it fits into your product and build from there.
Sometimes, innovations fail because either the business was not ready for it or the market was not ready for it. You need to hit the sweet spot between the two.
Rethinking your marketing strategy in a world without retargeting
With the megatrend around privacy that all big tech companies are embracing (Google, Apple, etc.) marketers need to go back to the traditional marketing playbook to dig out tactics that will help them acquire customers.
In this magnificent episode of the Social Media Examiner podcast, they share 4 ideas which can be of great help:
The commercials type model
The billboard model
The coupon model
The model for businesses with long sales cycles
So, if you were a brick & mortar gym that relied on flyers, don´t put them away just yet!
How Nike achieved its first 1000 customers
The First1000 newsletter goes into detail on how Nike achieved its first 1000 customers. Check it out as it might even inspire you; even the largest players in the game had humble beginnings.
In the case of Nike (Blue Ribbon in its origins), it all started with a distribution agreement between Phil Knight & Onitsuka Tiger to sell the Japanese brand in the United States West Coast. And look at where both brands stand today...
Personalization: The next frontier for video marketing
As personalization has become an established feature of emails, newsletters, etc. it seems it will be the next frontier for video marketing. Learn what you need to do thanks to this article in CMI.
Enter the Conversion Marketing Funnel
This approach to conversion marketing was simply awesome. Convert Flow shares a super detailed post that goes into detail when describing the conversion marketing funnel and how to implement it. The essence of it is that not all users who land on your page are in the same phase of the customer journey. Therefore, you should make efforts to tailor their experience on your website to their current stage.
Check it out as even has an example of a fitness brand putting this into practice!
Embracing technology to thrive in a post pandemic world
McKinsey shares this insightful article describing its research around companies that have fully embraced technology as a catalyst to thrive in a post pandemic world. This leads to changes in the business model, in talent management and in market dynamics.
The below chart summarizes how leaders think of tech within the context of the market:
And that does it for #46! We hope you found it useful and that you learned something new to apply in your sport or fitness business. If you have any feedback, let us know so we can keep making this newsletter better.
And, if you believe somebody else can enjoy The Ballketing Letter, don´t hesitate to share it with them so we can grow the community together.
Keep safe.