How To Use Fan Experience Packages To Market Small, New Extreme Sports Events
For a new, small extreme sports event that has a tight budget, advertising can be a major challenge. Fan experience packages, however, are one tool that can effectively be used to market an event. If you're in charge of marketing a young extreme sports event, here are some ways you can leverage fan sports packages to get the word out about your event and grow its audiences.
Give Free Fan Experience Packages to Industry Leaders
Industry leaders have audiences that listen to what they say, and the key to reaching those audiences is to have the leaders talk about your event. While you could pay an industry leader to mention your event, you can likely get them to talk about it by giving them a free fans experience package instead of paying for a sponsored statement.
If you give industry leaders a truly great fan experience, they'll mention your event to others after it's over. As they talk about it, people's awareness of your audience will grow. This won't increase your event attendance this year, but it can help lay the foundation for a strong marketing campaign next year.
To identify industry leaders in your sport, think of people who have an audience that listens to what they say. Athletes are, of course, industry leaders -- but they're already competing at your event. Look for coaches, trainers, league presidents and volunteer leaders to give fan experiences to. Although these people might not have as much sway as the athletes competing in your event, they'll likely talk about meeting a top athlete or getting a tour of the facilities after they get home. Through them, you can build a grassroots-level excitement about your event.
Run a Social Media Contest for a Fan Experience
You can also get a lot of free advertising from regular fans, even if they don't have influence over people. Turn average fans into influencers by running a social media contest.
Offer a select number of free fan experience packages to the fans who get the most likes, tweets or shares about your event on social media. These fans might not be paying cash for the experience they're getting, but the advertising they provide will be worth more than what they would pay for the experience. After all, each person they get to like, tweet, or share your event sends a note about your event to their friends and acquaintances on social media.
When creating a social media contest, Social Media Examiner suggests creating a photo of the prize. Thankfully, this is easy when giving away a fan experience package. You just need a picture of any athletes fans will meet or areas they will tour.
Ask Fans Who Get Fan Experience Packages for Quotes
Testimonials from fans who get fan experience packages can be useful when developing marketing collateral in the future. Ask any fan who wins or purchases a fan experience package for a quote that you can use in both traditional ads and online. You may even want to ask them if you can take and use a picture of them.
Of course, fans have the right to refuse this request. If just a few are willing to give you a quote and picture, though, you should have some good lines and images to use in ads over the next year.
Make Digital Fan Experience Packages
Fan experience packages don't have to be only for fans attending your event. You can create a digital version that includes special content for fans who can't attend but want to watch online.
Digital fan experience packages can help your marketing efforts in two ways. First, you'll generate buzz about your event each time you release new content for fans to watch. Second, you can limit the online fan experience packages to people who provide their email address or other contact information. This information can help you stay in touch with your event's most ardent fans throughout the year.
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