How To Create The Ultimate Sports Marketing Playbook In 6 Steps – Forbes

Reed Bergman of Playbook, Inc, likes to tell a story about a famous sports broadcaster, when after leaving work one afternoon, was asked a College Basketball tournament question on Twitter about the Big 10 conference. The broadcaster, multi-tasking as usual, quickly responded, “I think the 10 teams will do… ”. Within seconds, his whole career was called into question given that he appeared not to know that there are 12 teams in the Big 10 not 10.

Bergman’s job is to help sports personalities and athletes create playbooks (blueprints for career goals). Part of that playbook advises his clients on how to avoid embarrassing situations and other parts involve connecting the sports star with brands. Bergman believes that every sports professional should have their own playbook in order to keep them out of trouble and to create more wealth building opportunities.

For me, I believe anyone involved in sports marketing (athlete, brand, agency, etc.) needs to re-examine their own playbooks, because the rules are being re-written and the playing field has changed.  Each party in a marketing campaign has new responsibilities and new challenges. In the digital age, the playing field is constantly changing, it might be a football field on day one, but a tennis court the next.

Whatever evolution you need to make has to be digital and creative in order for it to be interesting and catch the most people’s attention. In the past, customers valued and rewarded brands who would use athletes as pitchmen on TV, print ads or in-person appearances. That’s no longer the case – they now want experiences (through interactive campaigns) that demonstrate value and increasingly, people will want closer relationships with the brand to establish higher levels of trust.

To me, that means the playbook needs to change. A playbook that all parties involved must follow to have a successful outcome. An agile playbook that can be rewritten quickly to accommodate new circumstances.

Here are the steps to create that new marketing campaign playbook for brands, agencies and sports professionals:

Step 1: Create a sense of urgency around the objectives

This step may sound obvious, but I’ve seen too many companies, agencies and athletes skip this important step and pay for it later. Smart brands and agencies understand how to create urgency around their campaign objectives. Recognize that urgency is a mindset and not a process.

Here’s what we do at Evolve!:

1. Agree on objectives: Don’t just dictate to the athlete what the objectives are bring them into the process so that they understand what’s expected and when. We also like to ask for their input in case they have better ideas than we do.
2. Use an online project management tool: We recognize that most athletes and sports professionals are not going to use a project management system, but their managers and handlers will. Sports campaigns in the digital age need visibility by all parties, and we use Basecamp to facilitate it.
3. Create an outcome oriented atmosphere: Sure completing tasks are great, but ultimately results are what determines a successful from unsuccessful campaign. Get all parties focused on delivering results and allow some flexibility in the plan to allow that to happen.
4. Weekly check in meetings: These 1 hour or less meetings are designed to update the team and to assess whether the urgency within the team is there and that tasks are being done on time.
5. Track time and payments: Use a time tracking and invoice solution like Due.com to track the time spent on the campaign and the payments made. That way, you can more easily calculate the ROI for the campaign.

Step 2:  What is the campaign story?

You’ve heard about creating brand stories but did you realize each campaign needs a story as well? Yes, each campaign needs an overall story complete with twists and turns and unexpected endings. If you choose the story wisely, you’ll end up with a hit that captivates your intended audience and brings in revenue.

It’s important to mention that the campaign story must tie in the brand initiatives and create an emotional response from the brand’s audience (with Sports this step is easy). That means aligning the objectives in step 1 with the interests of the brand’s target markets. Dorie Clark’s book, Stand Out is a great resource to help individuals and companies do this and more.

For example, Burger King’s #WatchLikeAKing campaign they created a story around the plight of an office worker during March Madness. They also used sports influencer platform Thuzio to book 13 NCAA basketball legends with large followings to help with promoting the campaign on Twitter because they best matched their target audience. The campaign resonated so well, that they became the most mentioned corporate sponsor for last year’s series.

Step 3: Create a clear action plan

Once the objectives and story line are in place, it’s time to lay out all of the tasks on a calendar or project timeline. As I mentioned earlier, we use Basecamp for project management, but occasionally we’ll use this sports marketing campaign calendar template to run campaigns. We use both Basecamp and the campaign calendar to review the campaign each week during our meetings.

Each of the tasks must be clearly laid out with expected outcomes. All campaign team members, and especially the athlete or athlete’s representative, should have some system in place to remind them of when tasks are due. I’ve seen too many of the campaigns fall of the tracks because sports professionals missed a campaign deadline.

Step 4: Use the integrated marketing approach

Repurpose, repurpose, repurpose. If you’re not repurposing the campaign content across multiple channels you’re missing a huge opportunity. As an example, let’s say you’ve hired an athlete to create a series of skateboard videos related to a product you’re selling. You can also post snippets of those videos on Instagram and Vine, add video stills to Snapchat and create gifs (animated images) to share on Twitter and email (yes gifs work in email).

Moreover, if your campaign isn’t integrated across all relevant distribution channels (i.e. each traditional and social channels your target audience is using) you’re campaign is going to fall flat. Each channel should endeavor to link or support the other channels for maximum impact.

Important point, make sure there is always a relevant call to action that aligns with the campaign objectives.

Step 5: Generate and celebrate short term wins

Campaigns, especially expensive ones, can be stressful. There’s usually a lot at stake within the brand – reputations, high executive expectations, political capital that has been spent – so early wins are critical to reducing the stress and getting CFOs off the marketer’s backs.

Build in some no-brainer, early wins. For example, have the athlete run a contest on Twitter and Instagram where they sign their favorite tweets and images for an hour. The autographed content will then be mailed to the recipient once the recipient sends the brand their name, email address and physical address. Of course, the tweets and images tie into the campaign hashtag, but the athlete’s fans will be more than happy to oblige for a chance to get their favorite athlete’s autograph.

Step 6: Always be measuring