Fantasy Sports & Raving Fans | Tampa Marketing & Media Consulting

Engage existing customers?they will reward you for the experience and will feel rewarded themselves!

Traditionally the fan buying experience began shortly before the inception of a given season, peaked at the height of the team/individual performance and fell off as the season ended. Franchise owners, retailers, restaurants, bars, media outlets all waited patiently for their share of the customer?s expenditure to make its way into their pockets.? However, with the boom of fantasy sports over the last two decades, there has been a revolution in the volume and frequency with which customers/fans interact with the brands they are loyal to.

In his book ?Fantasyland: A Season on Baseball?s Lunatic Fringe,? Sam Walker describes how initial versions of Rotisserie (Fantasy) baseball were developed in the early 1960s by Bill Gamson, a research associate at the Harvard School of Public Health.

According to NFLPlayers.com, the first fantasy football league was formed in 1963 by Oakland Raiders co-owner Bill Winkenbach, Oakland Tribune sportswriter Scotty Sterling and editor George Ross, and Bill Tunnell, a member of the Raiders? public relations office. It was named The Greater Oakland Professional Pigskin Prognosticators League.

Fast forward to today:

-?????? More than 29 million people over the age of 12 participate in fantasy sports leagues which include baseball, football, hockey, basketball, golf, soccer, NASCAR.

-?????? Consumers spend $800 million directly on fantasy sports products

-?????? Fantasy Fans generate an additional $3 billion worth of media products related to the hobby (such as DirecTV?s NFL Sunday Ticket and XM Radio?s coverage of all MLB baseball games).

-?????? 12% of Americans attended a MLB baseball game per year (whereas 60% of fantasy sport players attended at least once)

-?????? 9% attended a NFL football game (47% of fantasy players)

-?????? 8% attended a NBA basketball game (28% of fantasy players)

-?????? 4% of Americans attended a NHL Hockey game (27% of fantasy sport players)

These are customers who are more engaged, more passionate and more likely to spend money!

The good news is ? your business can apply the same model!

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There are 3 key success drivers in this model:

Ownership

People get emotionally engaged with something they feel they have a vested interest in. By creating ?fantasy ownership? the fantasy league concept has provided fans a chance to feel like they have some ?skin in the game?. This yields a more proactive and involved fan base. With each decision they make and each action they take, it is far more calculated and emotionally charged. Fans have been screaming themselves horse for decades and decades cheering their teams on. They have uttered countless criticisms when franchise ownership and/or coaching staff make unpopular decisions. For the first time in the history of professional athletics, the customer feels like their voice is more powerful than ever before.

Customer surveys are a great way to hear what your customers want. Maybe it?s a process, product, or service revision or improvement. However, to help create a feeling of ?ownership? you will need to highlight when a customer?s insight is being implemented.? Via company website, newsletter, in-store signage, or advertising campaigns are all ?stages? where customers can feel like their voices are being validated and they are receiving credit for their contribution.

Community

?Birds of a feather?? Fantasy leagues have flourished on international platforms like ESPN, Fox Sports and Yahoo!? By providing an additional sub-community for fans, the frequency of customer to customer conversation increase. The more your customers are talking about your brand to one another the more readily it becomes top-of-mind. They essentially become your sales force, convincing themselves and their co-horts with every high-five, victory text message, or ?expert insight? blog post that your brand is worth dedicating attention and loyalty too!

Social media sites have given companies a turnkey solution for creating online communities where customers can talk about your business? products, service and overall experience. But don?t let the fun stop there! Your company?s home URL, newsletter, trade-shows, networking events, community events and even on-site at your facility are all options for places where your customers can gain a sense of community as they share their common experiences (and love) for your organization.

Reward

With almost $4B a year in financial impact, it may seem like it is the franchises, venues and media outlets that are getting rewarded. However, this is a two-way street if ever one existed! Remember the three key questions of customer satisfaction:

1) How much do your customers spend?

2) How often do they return to spend it?

3) Do they tell others about their experience and urge them to become customers too?

All data shows that fanstasy league players outperform their non-fantasy counterparts in every one of these categories. It is worth noting, that the leagues, franchises, and venues themselves have not added any additional incentive to the mix!

Simply put, the fantasy league experience of Ownership & Community has resulted in customers who are happier, more loyal and more rewarding clients for the leagues, teams and venues they call their own. Create opportunities for your customers to have a voice that is heard, a platform to express their happiness with others and a system for all of it to be well executed and you too will see your profitability goals go from Fantasy to Reality!

Source: http://www.donerightmarketingmedia.com/fantasy-sports-raving-fans/

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