Levar Fisher is a retired NFL player for the Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints. He now travels the country as a motivational speaker for youth, business, churches, and sports venues. While working with Levar and his wife Jacinta as their copywriter, I have observed how beautifully supportive they are of each other and how…
The Minnesota Vikings PR Soap Opera
The Minnesota Vikings are grateful for two things this week: Wade Phillips, who became the former Dallas Cowboys’ coach when owner Jerry Jones pulled the plug on his tenure, Monday. Vikings’ quarterback Brett Favre’s career performance of 466 yards and a fourth-quarter comeback to beat the Arizona Cardinals, Sunday. The former is what bumped the…
Three Keys to Increasing Sponsorship ROI
(This is a guest post by Rana Akkaya) Sports sponsorship and event hospitality is a great platform to build business-impacting relationships through shared out-of-office experiences. Companies need to be confident that the dollars invested in sponsorships are being spent effectively and that every asset received is being maximized. As a result, Sponsorship ROI (Return of…
Top 4 Ways to Utilize Social Media to Grow Your Fan Base
Over the past four weeks I’ve been writing a short series of articles taking a look at how social media can be utilized to grow a sports team’s fan base, regardless of whether the team already has a large following or is starting from the grassroots level. You can find the posts in this series below….
The Overtime Post – The Biggest Loser
Welcome to the second week of the Overtime Post, where we take a light and sarcastic look at the week’s posts and other sports and business news around the world. Other than my Vancouver Canucks who have won six in a row (and I suppose I have to give the San Fransciso Giants a little…
Connect with Tribes Instead of Crowds
(This is a guest post by Andrew Collins) Listening to current marketing principles today, it can be easy to become distracted in the multitude of social media channels and forget where the real value lies. One basic principle we’ve seen promoted and often adopted is ‘crowd sourcing’ or ‘marketing to crowds’ when in fact the…
Playing Golf Without A Membership
(This is a guest post by Debra Miller) Golfers use approximately $800 million in golf balls every year. We all know how expensive the game of golf can be, let alone a golf membership at an exclusive country club. However, there is a way to play at famous private courses without mortgaging your house or…
Demise of the Dallas Cowboys
What’s wrong with the Dallas Cowboys? Why can’t a team with extraordinarily talented players get it together? Maybe several reasons pop into your head but I simply want to give my perspective since I’m a lifelong, die-hard Cowboys fan. Never mind what you’re thinking…I take a lot of guff when I mention ‘America’s Team’ but…
Playing Within Facebook’s Rules
(This is a guest post by Joseph Yi) While there are plenty of articles that discuss the advantages of running a promotion on Facebook, what few mention are the difficulties in actually getting a promotion that falls within Facebook’s promotions guidelines launched. In what can only be described as ambiguous and unclear, Facebook’s Promotions Guidelines…
David Barton-Ginger on All Blacks Rugby and Social Media
I recently had the pleasure of interviewing David Barton-Ginger, online social media manager for the New Zealand All Blacks Rugby team. Since we are based in the U.S, it was interesting to see what sports teams are doing all the way down in New Zealand. For those of you who don’t follow rugby, the All…
The Overtime Post
Recently, when we talked to you how we can improve Sports Networker, a lot of you gave us (essentially) one word: more!
Now, we have been bringing you posts Monday through Friday, give or take a sick day ever since our inception. This is about to change.
Welcome to The Overtime Post, where each weekend I will give you a casual highlight of our week’s posts, along with some of the hottest news in social media and sports business. The posts will be more fun and relaxed, as most of us have traded in our weekday suits for sports jerseys and foam fingers anyway.
Think of it as a weekly Sportscenter – something you can read between downs or during timeouts. I know a lot of you have a lot of trick-or-treating to do, so without further ado, this week’s posts:
LeBron James Shares New Image Through Nike Ad
Before you read further, watch Nike’s latest commercial, “Rise,” featuring LeBron James.
The Background
Since most of you already know the story, I’ll make this as quick as I can. Feel free to skip through if you know the background. The last four or five months have been interesting for the King. After seven years in Cleveland and no championship rings, LeBron James decided it was time to leave.
In a prime time ESPN event called The Decision, LeBron announced to the world that he would be “taking [his] talents to South Beach” to play for the Miami Heat. Cavs fans were furious, their hometown hero (LBJ is from Akron, Ohio) was leaving them, having never delivered the championship he promised.
Basketball fans from all over were upset as well, mainly with how LeBron decided to handle the announcement. Even though the money raised during the show was then donated to the Boys & Girls Club of America, most thought it was a pretentious and selfish way to announce his decision.
Throughout the offseason, LeBron has come under a lot of fire. He’s been called out for quitting on his team in the playoffs, for leaving Cleveland, for The Decision. Dan Gilbert, the Cavs’ owner, publicized a nasty letter about LeBron.
Recently, LBJ came out and said he thought that all of the backlash from The Decision was partially a race issue, and that if he were of a different skin color, none of this would have been a big deal. Also, in the past few weeks, LeBron has retweeted several hateful and derogatory tweets, examples of messages he says he receives every day.
In the end, LeBron’s image has changed from a beloved NBA superstar, a hometown hero, and possibly the one-day greatest basketball player of all time to the biggest villain in the league (yes, above Kobe, he’s going to get booed everywhere he goes), a selfish superstar who betrayed his city for more money (smaller contract, bigger endorsements), more fame, and an easier championship ring.
Who Ya NOT Gonna Call?
Pro football offensive line players know which opposing team defensive guard will clobber them with a vengeance on every play. They know the dirty players with intentions of delivering late hits or even career-ending blows.
Pro players also know who their ‘go-to’ people are – the ones who have their back. The teammate who will defend them with everything they’ve got. The coach who guides, instructs, and corrects. The family member who is at every game, cheering them on.
Entrepreneurs, much like pro players, know who their “go-to” people are; the friends who will give us a verbal shot-in-the arm. We gravitate to people who share our extreme need for continual motivation. It’s important to know who to call for guidance, instruction, and correction along our path to success.
What’s even more important is who we DON’T call in times of discouragement, distress, or failure.
We’re all familiar with the famous question in the Ghostbusters movie…”Who Ya Gonna Call?” I propose to ask the question differently…Who Ya NOT Gonna Call?
L.A. Sports Networker Event
After successful networking events in New York and London, we’re headed to the City of Angels – Los Angeles! However, this event will be run a little differently than the ones in the past. As space is limited, it will be an intimate event capped at 50 sports executives in the L.A. area. Also, part of this event will be filmed during a live online web reality show.
If you want to be part of this limited-space event, fill out your information below and I’ll email you with more details about the time and venue for this event. It will either be in the evening of Nov 10 or 11 and I’ll email you soon if you qualify. Hope to see you there!
10 Tips to Help You Land Your First Sports Job
1. Network, Network, Network
Have you heard the adage “it’s not what you know, it’s who you know?” Well, in sports, it’s more like “who knows you” or “who is familiar with your work”. The key to getting your first job (or any job) is networking. You need to get out there in front of the decision makers who have the power to hire you, whether that’s the head of the sales department, box office or the general manager.
Attending networking functions is a great idea. Most teams and leagues either run their own career fair or attend sports related fairs every year. For example, job seekers interested in a career in Minor League Baseball should attend the annual PBEO Conference (the same “Winter Meetings” where players are traded and the Rule V draft are held ever year) and network with as many people as possible.
Take Online Connections Offline
This is part of a short blog series where we take a look at how social media can be utilized to grow a sports team’s fan base, regardless of whether the team already has a large following or is starting from the grassroots level. You can see the other posts here.
The first three posts of this series have covered listening, content and community. This week I’m going to focus on the importance of taking online connections offline.
Keep It Consistent
Offline conversation about brands is still what prompts us to search for more online. If you want to build awareness and grow your fan base, you need to get out into the community offline as well as online.
Your message should be consistent across all platforms and all types of media, whether it’s online or offline. Make sure that if people see your team online they’ll recognise your brand offline and vice versa. Online and offline marketing should be part of one strategy and both should be kept in mind at all times.