In the summer of 2002, the Dallas
Stars, Stanley Cup skaters just three seasons earlier, faced the long
off-season of a team that had failed to make the playoffs. The unacceptable
situation prompted them to enter a competitive free-agent market armed with two
potential difference-makers : a big salary budget and a targeted marketing
campaign. And when we say targeted, we mean really targeted. The campaign aimed
to influence three people.
Ancillary targets included the
wives and agents of Bill Guerin, Scott Young, and Philippe Boucher, but the campaign’s
main aim was to convince the players to play in Dallas. We took research about what each player
valued (family needs, a Stanley Cup, familiar former teammates, et al) and
molded it into a package that included a fully-menued DVD, a top-of-the-line
player for it, and a print piece. Custom-leather boxes delivered to their
houses preceded in-person visits and phone calls from team personnel. The
result : the Stars signed all three of their top targets and vaulted back into
a more preferred and familiar role as Cup contenders.
No, the Stars didn't win the Cup
that year. A freak injury to Guerin and a hot Jean-Sébastien Giguère helped
derail their season in the second round. And no, the micro-targeting campaign
was almost certainly not the most important factor in the signings, given the
sizes of the salaries in play. But post-signing feedback indicated that it did
help move the needle in the favor of the non-playoff team from football
country.
Now comes the promised insight
about how the previous three paragraphs could help sell baseball tickets.
Actually, micro-targeting can help sell any kind of tickets, but we specified
baseball because those reps currently have renewals they need to close ASAP.
Your database manager engages in a certain amount of micro-targeting. Your
website folks likely try to customize content as much as they can, too.
Software like Hubspot aims to automate content delivery based on prospects'
characteristics. If you're a sales rep, you should know about the communication
your prospects get through those channels. But the most important micro-targeter
is you.
As a sales rep, you know details
about prospects the best online marketers in the world would love to have : a
direct line to the customer plus intimate knowledge about what makes him or her
tick. And hopefully exactly the right things to say to keep them engaged with
the brand. Heck, you even know his or her name. So take advantage of your
advantages.
It starts the same way the Stars'
campaign did : with research. What do you know about your customers? Have you
been to every one of their LinkedIn pages? Do you know what their companies do
and how that industries are doing? Who do they take to games with them? And
perhaps most importantly, you need to find out where their passions lie. Game
tickets are an emotional purchase, not a rational one. Do they have a favorite
player? Odds are they've been a fan of the team longer than you have, so make
sure you know their favorite moments in team history as well they do. In fact,
know them better. If you share something with them they didn't know, it builds
your credibility and builds positive feelings about making that emotional
purchase you need them to make. Collect stories from long-time team employees,
broadcasters, or reporters.
Getting a handle on details,
stories, and hot buttons puts you in a position to deliver something else
online marketers love : targeted content marketing. It helps slide those
renewal prospects down the sales funnel.
Like with the Stars, sometimes
success still comes down to factors outside your control. People lose jobs or
move or have enough children that they can't go to 81 games a year any more.
But if you've handled up on your micro-targeting, you'll have set yourself up to
overcome anything this side of a hot goaltender.
Rush Olson has spent two decades
directing creative efforts for sports teams and broadcasters. He currently
creates ad campaigns and related creative projects for sports entities through
his company, Rush Olson Creative & Sports.
RushOlson.com
Linkedin.com/company/rush-olson-creative-&-sports
Facebook.com/RushOlsonCreativeandSports
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