It seems like every sports fan in existence has a strong dislike for the off-season. When this time of year rolls around, there aren’t any games taking place, which leaves sports lovers missing the thrill of watching their team compete. The onset of the off-season also means that sports marketers will need to leverage all their resources to ensure that fans remain engaged.
Since there are fewer team-related events to post about, it can be challenging to maintain your audience’s interest during the off-season. However, fans are hankering for interactions with their teams, and you still have plenty of opportunities to create engaging content. Think outside the box, and consider implementing the tactics below for your best off-season yet.
1. Promote Interactive Experiences
Sports fans love a good competition, so why not appeal to their competitive spirit by hosting a few contests? Experiential marketing is transforming how sports teams connect with their fans by creating fully immersive experiences they’ll remember for a lifetime.
Consider releasing special contests for your email subscribers or social media followers, in which fans can enter to win team merchandise or virtual meet-and-greets with their favorite players. When fans feel directly engaged with their favorite teams, it strengthens the bond between teams and fans, taking the entire fandom to the next level.
2. Humanize Your Sports Team
As a sports marketer, another effective strategy to leverage is humanizing your team. The rise of social media means that fans are accustomed to having an inside look into the lives of celebrities and influencers, so they expect the same from their favorite athletes.
When fans can see a sneak peek behind the scenes, they develop a deeply personal connection with the sports teams that they support. Capitalize on the power of humanization by creating marketing content that showcases a specific athlete’s daily routine or exclusive athlete interviews that allow fans to get an up-close and personal look at the teams they love the most.
3. Keep Energy Up with Past Season Highlights
Younger generations of sports fans love to share content and discuss current events with their peers. For the most effective marketing campaigns, create content that is easy to share and compelling enough to spark interest or discussion.
Statista found that 45% of sports fans between the ages of 18 and 35 follow sports groups and athletes online. Furthermore, 35% of this age group regularly uses social media platforms to comment and share sports-related content. So don’t let your well run dry in the off-season! Keep tantalizing followers with content like top highlights from the previous season, so they can remember why they love your team so much.
Create Engaging Off-Season Campaigns with Factoreal
Sports fans may dread the off-season, but this time of year presents a unique opportunity for sports marketers to connect with fans in new, exciting ways. With the support of modern marketing automation software, you can boost fan engagement by collecting relevant data about your fans and creating personalized content that appeals to them.
Even when sports teams are taking a break, that doesn’t mean that your marketing team should do the same! Fortunately, marketing automation software like Factoreal can make it easy to communicate authentically with your audience on a regular basis. An omnichannel solution, Factoreal integrates with all of your marketing efforts, from email and social media to SMS.
Our all-in-one customer engagement platform enables you to take complete control of your marketing strategy from conception to execution. Plus, track success with all your metrics in one convenient place.
For marketing automation that will help you launch, analyze, and manage each marketing campaign, look no further. At Factoreal, we make marketing automation affordable and easy-to-use, so your brand can get the most out of every campaign.
