How to reach sports fans beyond the stadium

With the opening of Lucas Oil Stadium just weeks away, advertisers are eagerly awaiting the chance to reach Colts fans in the team's new home. According to a recent post on Sports Marketing 2.0, though, online might be a better place to spend ad dollars targeted at sports fans:

There are 7.5 million Colts favorite team fans online and over 20% spend 20+ hours online each week!

[...]

[W]hen you consider that 68.7% of the US Population are NFL fans, and only 32 cities have NFL teams, it makes you realize that targeting stadiums and regions around stadiums fall way short of reaching the majority of NFL TEAM fans.

The upshot of all this is that team Web sites are the only way to reach MOST of the favorite team fan bases, yet most sponsors are totally focused on the stadium and the region around it.

While I agree with Pat's premise, I think in-stadium advertising has additional benefits when it can be seen on TV. Dasher boards, scoreboard signage, and other ads can give your brand some air time during the game, when fans eyes are focused on the screen. In-stadium advertising can be expensive, though, so just make sure you're buying as a marketer, not as a fan.

More great stuff from Toxel.com

Toxel.com digs up another round of great ad ideas in this post. Another reminder that advertising that's fun, daring, and a little different works a lot better than the same ol' same ol'.

The single best way to improve your media relations skills

If you want better relationships with reporters and editors, listen to what Adweek’s Brian Morrissey had to say in this interview with The Bad Pitch Blog:

Recognize that media organizations are shrinking while PR is growing. The ratio of PR people to reporters is probably like 75:1....

What it means for PR people is your job is harder. The best PR people I know simply connect me with people that can help me. They know what I cover, what I don’t and how their clients do and do not fit. That means a lot more work before the email and the call. It also means knowing when to get out of the way.

The goal is to be viewed as a resource, not a PR person. And the first step is knowing the difference between those two designations.

Build trust by saying "I don't know"

Saying "I don't know is hard." Everyone wants to have all the answers, and no one wants to look dumb. But you can't know it all, and it's much, much smarter to admit that you don't. Why? When you say "I don't know," you build credibility. Being willing to admit what you don't know implies that when you do have an answer, you're confident that you know what you're talking about. It also builds trust, because the person you're speaking with knows it's O.K. to say "I don't know," too.

Of course, you can do better than "I don't know." You can say "I don't know, but I'll find out." Or "I don't know, but I know someone who does." Or "I don't know, and that's outside my area of expertise." But sometimes a simple "I don't know" is enough. You don't have to solve every problem.

The key is authentically saying "I don't know" often enough, but not too often. Say it too infrequently, and you'll be known as a know it all. Say it too much, and you'll be known for not knowing anything.

So how often should you say "I don't know"? The honest answer is, I don't know. You're going to have to figure that one out on your own.

Two great presentations from The Secret Diary of a Bonafide Marketing Genius

How do you become a bonafide marketing genius? You create great, irreverent, comprehensive presentations like “What the F**K is Social Media?”

| View | Upload your own

And what else do bonafide marketing geniuses do? Every now and then, they share great, irreverent, comprehensive presentations from other marketing geniuses, like Paul Isakson's "What's Next in Marketing & Advertising?"

| View | Upload your own

Hat tip: PR Squared

Two great reminders of what works

What's the best way to market your product? First, have a product that's worth talking about. So sayeth Pixar's John Lasseter in the Los Angeles Times...:

"Quality is the best business plan of all."

And Sir Richard Branson in this month's GQ, speaking about the key to getting consumers to go green:

“It’s up to business to come up with the inventions that enable people to still enjoy a good lifestyle. I’m just finishing converting Necker Island, an island I own in the Caribbean. It’ll be 100 percent carbon-neutral. The cost of putting in windmills will be paid back in four and a half years. And after that, we’ll have free fuel going forward for the next fifty years. Going green shouldn’t cost you.”

Creating a product that markets itself is difficult, of course, but it's still easier than putting out a crappy product and trying to fool people into thinking it's great.

Hat tip: Lou Harry's A&E on IBJ.com (yes, again)

Side Project

I've started a second blog called "Play One More For My Radio Sweetheart," where I'll focus on another one my favorite things--great music. Well, at least what I consider great music. One song a day, with a little commentary. Stop by and stay, if you like what you hear--but don't forget to come back here, too.

What not to say in your voicemail greeting

Another thing about voicemail: if your greeting says "your call is important to me," change it. Now. The message you may wish to send is that you'll give careful attention to every message you receive. What the caller thinks, however, is that if everyone's call is important to you, no one's call is important to you.

Insipried by the the great book by Laura Penny, Your Call is Important to Us: The Truth About Bullshit.

Broadcast TV audience median age hits the big 5-0

There's a reason Andy Rooney is still on TV.

A recent study cited by Variety.com puts the average age of a "live broadcast" TV viewer at 50--higher than ever before. One reason, the story says, is that younger audiences are gravitating toward other media:

"The median ages of the broadcast networks keep rising, as traditional television is no longer necessarily the first screen for the younger set," [says the study's author Steve] Sternberg...

Rooney's CBS is the grayest of the lot, but the other major networks aren't exactly spring chickens:

For the just-completed 2007-08 TV season, CBS was oldest in live viewing with a median age of 54. ABC clocked in at 50, followed by NBC (49), [and] Fox (44).

What does this mean for advertisers? First and foremost, of course, pay attention to the specific demographics for individual shows. Also, if TV is part of your media plan, and you're targeting a younger audience, cable deserves a much closer look.

Hat tip: Lou Harry's A & E on IBJ.com

TechCrunch says "VoiceMail is dead"; SBB says "maybe not"

The influential blog TechCrunch declared today that voice mail is "dead." The reason? Well, there are several, but it boils down to this:

- No one likes leaving messages and even fewer people like receiving them

- Voicemail is "outside of our typical workflow" (i.e. it requires a seperate "inbox" and isn't integrated with our computers)

- Reading an e-mail or text message is faster than listening to a voice mail

- If the point of a phone call is immediacy--as compared to e-mail, which is asynchronous--then leaving a voicemail becomes somewhat pointless

Now I'd be among the first to celebrate the desmise of the telephone. I screen calls at home, at work, and on my cell phone, and I pick up only when it's a client, a co-worker or someone whose call I'm expecting. If it were up to me, every conversation would happen over e-mail or IM, or face-to-face. Not everyone, however, is so opposed to the phone, and e-mail has problems of its own. That means rumors of voicemail's death are greatly exaggerated.

However, if the celebratory tone in the comments to the TechCrunch post tell us anything, it's this: there's a lot of room for improvement with the messages we leave. People don't seem opposed to voicemail, itself, that is--but they are opposed to bad voicemail messages.

So how do you make your voicemail messages better, and more likely to elicit a response? Start with a few simple rules:

- If you're calling someone you know, all he needs is your name, a very, very brief reason you're calling (enough to have anything he needs in front of him when he calls back), and the best place to reach you.

- If you're calling someone you don't know, you have about 10 seconds (maybe less) to convince the recipient that they should listen to your message. Tell them the one most compelling reason they should care, leave contact information, and be done.

- Say your phone number s l o w l y. It will help to read it off a business card so you go through it a little more methodically.

- Offer your e-mail address instead if your subject can be discussed over e-mail. That way the recipient has a choice, and may be more likely to respond.

- Don't give too many details about your availability. Instead, include the one best day and time to return your call. No one can process "I'll be in the office Monday after 2, Tuesday between 3 and 5, all day Wed., and from 8 - 10 and 1:30 - 5 on Friday." "Please call me Wednesday--I'll be in the office all day" works just as well.

- Consider whether your message would be better as e-mail. It may be that you can't encapsulate what you need to say in writing. Or maybe you know there will be follow-up questions that you can answer right away. But if you're only calling because it's more convenient for you, think about whether that's truly the best way to communicate.

Remember, it's all about getting the person on the other end to respond. Say exactly what the recipient needs to know, and nothing more, and you might just get a call back. Say too much, or give the wrong information, however, and you might just help prove TechCrunch right.