February 2010

Sports Executives Association and Your Sports Career

by Lewis Howes|February 26th, 2010

The best way to take your game to the next level in sports is to train and compete with the top athletes in the world.

The best way to advance your sports career is to work with and be mentored by the top sports executives in the world.

Simple as that.

Watch below to hear my take on this at Wimbledon Park in London while I was there last month during my London Sports Networker Event.

What other ways can help you take your sports career to the next level? Feel free to include your thoughts in the comments below, or add them to the Sports Business Survey.

About Lewis Howes

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Should teams look beyond Facebook & Twitter?

by Ash Read|February 25th, 2010

We’re now starting to see more and more teams getting involved with social media. This is great, but I think it’s time they start to look beyond only utilizing the major platforms (Twitter, YouTube, Facebook) and really start to embrace more emerging and niche platforms (Ustream, Tumblr, Flickr).

Every platform offers something different and therefore appeals to different types of people. Facebook and Twitter are (currently) more popular than others and should demand more time and resources, but surely the fans that use these emerging platforms deserve some love too? And surely there is value in these platforms for teams?

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About Ash Read

Ash is the co-founder of FundSport.com a grassroots sports community providing sports clubs and athletes from around the world with professional, easy-to-understand advice and articles on all aspects of grassroots sport including sponsorship, fundraising, the Internet, social media, club management, PR and marketing. As well as being passionate about the development of grassroots sport Ash also has a keen involvement in the sports social media industry. You can follow Ash on Twitter at @ashread14

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Life After Football: What comes next?

by Michelle Hill|February 24th, 2010

toniluca Super Bowl XLIV is a mere memory now. Faint echoes of “Who Dat” ring in our ears. We’ve seen a Brees blow through and we’ve seen the burning Bush. For fans, the season is over and we’re wondering what to do on Sunday afternoons. We could relive the season by watching games of our favorite teams on DVD but it just doesn’t hold the same magic. We could spend our days anticipating the draft or go on a hot wing fast in defiance of another season ending. We could turn our attention to other sports but football is football.

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About Michelle Hill

Michelle Hill, the Strong Copy Quarterback for Winning Proof, is a sports and fitness copywriter. My mission is to help pro athletes, coaches, and sports agents increase their success score in their entrepreneurial endeavors with my writing expertise and creative turn of mind.I write website content, client letters, media pitch letters, sponsorship proposals, and brochures for sports-related companies. www.winningproof.com

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Reputation Management: Athletes Facing Controversy

by Lewis Howes|February 23rd, 2010

(This is a guest article by Wesley Mallette)

Athletes in trouble. We see it every day in the news and find ourselves wondering aloud, “Wow. Did they really just say/do that?”

The vast majority of athletes will face a crisis of some proportion during their career or post-career. How they handle it is everything, and who manages them through it plays a major factor in the outcome, hence the need for true strategic communications professionals (i.e., seasoned PR people) on their team of advisors.

Too many athletes rely on less than qualified “handlers” to counsel them through the eye of the storm of controversy. They are foolish enough to follow the non-expert advice of, “We can handle this. Here’s what we’ll say/won’t say and this is what we’ll do. This will blow over.” Their reactions and responses will range from avoidance, vehement denial, finger pointing, and… the answer that is really not an option, “No comment.” Bad advice or no advice, we’ve seen it all too often and athletes are left wishing they could do it over again. Ask Tiger. Ask Roger Clemens. Ask Gilbert Arenas. Take your pick. There are hundreds of case studies in what NOT to do.

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About Lewis Howes

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Tips on Apologizing for Salespeople

by Bill Guertin|February 22nd, 2010

LexnGer Tiger Woods delivering his 13-minute speech was finally what hundreds of millions of people were waiting to hear. “I know I have bitterly disappointed all of you,” said Woods. “I have made you question who I am and how I could have done all the things I did. I am embarrassed I have put you in this position. For all that I have done, I am deeply sorry. I have a lot to atone for.”

Tiger screwed up, and he finally was doing what anyone who screws up badly should do; take ownership for your mistakes, and let people know what you plan to do to fix them.

As responsible salespeople, we can learn from Tiger’s example. On occasion, we’re going to screw up an order, type in a wrong seat number, forget some paperwork, or fail to follow up with a phone call we promised to make. Rather than run and hide, the sooner we can recognize our mess-up, the better off everyone will be.

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About Bill Guertin

Bill Guertin is CEO (Chief Enthusiasm Officer) of The 800-Pound Gorilla, a dynamic sales training and consulting company whose list of blue-chip clients includes the ticket sales departments of dozens of teams from the NBA, NFL, NHL, Major League Baseball, and Major League Soccer. He is the author of the Gold Medal-award-winning book Reality Sells, and The 800-Pound Gorilla of Sales: How to Dominate Your Market. Subscribe to his Sports Ticket Sales Newsletter at www.The800PoundGorilla.com, or follow Bill on Twitter at www.twitter.com/800poundgorilla.

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Tiger Woods Press Conference: Do You Believe Him?

by Sam Taggart|February 19th, 2010

tiger woods statement Over the past 48 hours, the Internet has been buzzing because of the announcement of Tiger Woods’ first public appearance since his infamous November 27th accident. All of the major sports, news, and entertainment publications have written about it. Yesterday #tigershouldsay was trending on Twitter (e.g. #tigershouldsay blame it on Nike, they told me to just do it), and this morning, “Tiger Woods” was a trending topic.

Many have questioned the timing and format of Woods’ appearance. Tiger chose to make his statement during the middle of the WSG-Accenture (Accenture being a previous Woods sponsor) Match Play Championship. Further, he opened the appearance up to only a small group of family and friends, and several members of the media. Oh, and no questions.

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About Sam Taggart

Sam is a Creative Strategist for VaynerMedia, a social media agency based in New York City. Sam previously worked as an Account Executive for the New York Jets as well as the New Jersey Nets and spent time working with former NBA player Jalen Rose as well as NFL safety Kerry Rhodes. He now focuses on creative strategy across VaynerMedia's portfolio. You can follow Sam at http://twitter.com/gosam & visit VaynerMedia at http://www.vaynermedia.com.

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Sports Business Weekly Buzz

by Ben Sturner|February 19th, 2010

Time buy would move AVP to ESPN and ABC

By Terry Lefton & John Ourand

The AVP is close to finalizing a deal with ESPN, ending an association with NBC that dates to 1990.
As part of the time-buy agreement, ABC would carry four events, while ESPN2 will carry the rest of the AVP’s schedule, which has yet to be released.

(www.sportsbusinessjournal.com)

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About Ben Sturner

Ben Sturner is the Founder and CEO of Leverage Agency, one of the most respected, innovative, resourceful and ambitious sports and entertainment branding sponsorship agencies on Madison Avenue. Sturner has taken his multi-million dollar business from a small start-up in his New York City apartment to a premiere agency that has secured deals for clients including: Jimmy Kimmel Live, AVP Pro Beach Volleyball, KFC, Gillette, Progressive Insurance, Southwest Airlines, Reebok, Comcast, Anheuser Busch, Fremantle Media, Mark Burnett Productions and NBC’s Prime Time Celebrity Apprentice, Reveille, Radical Media, as well as other top-tier brands. Ben has been named NYC Entrepreneur of the month in TrueNYC.com and has been interviewed and featured on ESPN, NBC, CNBC, USA TODAY and WALL STREET JOURNAL as an expert in sports and entertainment sponsorship.

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Interview with Joe Fonzi, Sports Broadcaster

by Matt Crevin|February 19th, 2010

This week Matt Crevin from Voice of the Box interviews Joe Fonzi. Joe is one of the top sports broadcasters in the state of California. He shares how he broke into sports and broadcasting as well as provides details on his tips to success.

About Matt Crevin

If you are passionate about pursuing a career in the sports industry and want to discover how top level insiders got their start, connect with Matt today. Matt provides a unique look into the careers of many sports industry executives, revealing their success stories, advice and techniques you can put to use as part of your search strategy. Collaborate with Matt and start listening, learning, creating and executing your own action plan! Equipped with business background and sports insider’s knowledge, Matt is ready to share his passion and knowledge with you! He delivers to his individual clients a unique process and format which gives sports industry hopefuls a unique look into the numerous career opportunities available in the sports industry and more importantly how to position yourself to break in.

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Bad Timing in the PR World

by Gail Sideman|February 18th, 2010

<VIA LOUDSPEAKER> International Olympic Committee, Vancouver Organizing Olympic Committee and Tiger Woods, please report to the first-floor classroom for PR 101…

I really wish I could say that people who work in my industry do it right because we had the best and the brightest teachers. Somewhere along the way, however, some didn’t learn basic public relations, didn’t listen or are allowing a misguided leader to dictate actions instead of what could be a better strategy for relating to the public.

Woods’ agent, Mark Steinberg, announced that the world’s most popular golfer will make his first public appearance since November when he makes a statement to a “small group of friends, colleagues and close associates” and three pool reporters on Friday at 11 a.m., EST from the PGA Tour headquarters in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

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About Gail Sideman

Twenty years of public relations experience, including 10 in NCAA Division I sports information during which she received national awards for her work, have helped Gail Sideman emerge as a nationally-respected publicity professional in sports, social media and publishing. She is also a veteran support staffer of sports television crews for events that include the NFL, NBA, MLB, NCAA regular and postseason and others. You may learn more information about Sideman's business at www.publiside.com or follow her at www.twitter.com/PUBLISIDE and www.facebook.com/gail.sideman.

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How Athletes Can Build Their Personal Brand

by Lewis Howes|February 18th, 2010

It’s no surprise professional athletes are using social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and even Ustream everyday. Being an ex pro athlete myself (even on a smaller scale than the NFL) I loved connecting with my fans before and after games.

I had my regular group of fans that would come down by the field and say hi after every game. If I would have had Twitter back then, it would have given me a great opportunity to thank them online, and get them excited about the next game.

Although I didn’t know how important building a personal brand online was during my playing days, I definitely see the value of it now for helping me achieve a number of my professional goals.

Want to know why pro athletes should be building their personal brand online and how they should be doing it? Then make sure you check out this video where I interview Dan Schawbel of Personal Branding Blog to learn more.

What ways do you see pro athletes using social media the right way? How are some using it the wrong way? More importantly, how does it make you feel when you see a high profile athlete doing things “right” or “wrong” online?

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