Finding new ways to cultivate, engage and retain fans for a 50-year-standing brand is a tall order when you consider challenges like generation gaps, constantly-changing technology and finding new ways to create more experiential value for customers. Shawn Tilger, Executive Vice President and COO of the Philadelphia Flyers and Joe Heller, Philadelphia Flyers Vice President of Marketing, face these questions daily and leverage these 4 best practices to navigate the climate of this $1.6 trillion industry.
Give Fans More Value in a Ticket Purchase
It is no secret that the fan experience is the most critical part of sales. If your customer does not see enough value in their purchase, they won’t make one. The Flyers teamed up with Pennsylvania brewing company, Yuengling, to create the ultimate fan package and grow ticket sales. If fans bought tickets within a specific time frame, they walked away with exclusive t-shirts, drink cups and other prizes – not to mention a free 24-ounce beer – creating a more memorable and value-driven experience. This promotion saw sales of more than $10K in a considerably slower time of year.
Capitalize on All the Content
Being a fan is so much more than attending games and dawning the jersey of a favorite player. Today’s fans want to know everything about their teams and modern technology makes it super-easy to capitalize on this growing demand. Whether it’s a podcast interview with a coach or a Facebook Live with players, beyond-the-game content helps keep fans engaged before, during and after a season as well as opens the door to new sponsorship opportunities.
Keep Your Marketing Flexible
When working with a long-standing brand such as the Flyers, your target audience spans across generations – each having their own preferred way of digesting information. Make sure you’re considering all platforms available when developing large-scale campaigns, so your messaging is clear whether a fan is reading about it in the Sunday paper or scrolling through Twitter. It’s also important to create smaller, focused campaigns, driving traffic from one platform to another. This could be a radio spot that promotes an Instagram contest or a newspaper ad asking readers to check out a special Facebook Live. The more ways you’re engaging fans, the more you increase brand recognition.
Out-of-the-Box Fan Cultivation
It’s one thing to find new ways to keep die-hard fans coming back game after game, but generating new fans is a whole other ball game (see what we did there). One of the larger challenges Shawn and Joe face is taking steps to cultivating new and future Flyers Fans. They do so by going beyond focusing on the action on the ice, creating more experiential opportunities to build a relationship for a larger demographic of fans including events like the Flyers Carnival, school assembly programs, military welcome-home events, fan appreciation tours with players appearances and reaching beyond the status quo with events like Hockey for Her – a special event that speaks to female fans.
Are you looking for more ways to keep your sport marketing game on point? Let’s talk and see if a degree in sport business is right for you.