Athletes Step Up to Help Haiti Earthquake Victims

by Gail Sideman | January 20th, 2010 | 2 Comments »

IFRC So many conversations of the last year, and certainly beyond, have focused on huge dollar figures that go along with professional sports and their high-paid, spoiled athletes.

During this past week, players from across the professional sports spectrum who are often portrayed as being little more than indulgent have shown quite the opposite personas. They have let their checkbooks act as their PR agents but most importantly, have proven that humanity comes first. The devastation of the 7.0 Earthquake that hit Haiti on January 12 was on the world’s minds and many who could afford to help, have done so.

Top 10 Sports/Social Media Trends of 2010

by Ryan Stephens | December 24th, 2009 | 3 Comments »

Jason Peck recently asked 16 sports industry thought leaders (a few of us who write here among them) to share their thoughts and predictions for sports and social media in 2010. The result was an awesome ebook full of some solid insights.

In this post I’d like to build off the foundation Jason (and the others) created and identify the top 10 trends to anticipate in 2010. My methodology was relatively simple. I read through the ebook a couple of times and took diligent notes on the reoccurring themes that emerged among the contributors’ predictions.

Here are the results:

1.) Transition to Social from Traditional – This is trend is happening everywhere, not just in sports. We’ll continue to see companies pull dollars out of traditional media and invest in growing their communities, engaging their fans, and providing unique experiences. This was never more evident than when Pepsi announced they were launching the Pepsi Refresh Project instead of buying Super Bowl spots this year.

4 Ways To Break Into Sports by Adding Value

by Lewis Howes | November 10th, 2009 | 8 Comments »

Here is the deal. I am getting a number of emails, phone calls, tweets, etc from people who are having problems in advancing their career or even getting getting a job in sports. It’s tough, I get it. However, relationships are the most powerful thing you can develop in the sports industry (or any industry for that matter).

Let me make this simple. Most of the time it does NOT matter how smart you are, talented you are, or how much experience you have. However, it does matter WHO you know, and more importantly WHO knows about what you have to offer. Think about it. We stay loyal to those we know, like, and trust… even if someone is better than another person at a certain skill. It is all about the RELATIONSHIPS!!!

You must add value to others. Period! Watch my quick video about 4 easy ways to add value to sports professionals to ensure you get a job in sports.

What do you think? Are there other ways you can add value to sports professionals and your network? Leave a comment below as I would love to see your ideas.

How Mark Cuban Became Owner of the Dallas Mavericks

by Lewis Howes | October 30th, 2009 | 1 Comment »

If you are a basketball lover then you have to know the name Mark Cuban. It is a name that resonates with the NBA as he is one of the most recognized franchise owners, someone who cares about the well being of his players and organization, an extremely dynamic individual, and all around great business man.

Although he has led the Dallas Mavericks to become a dominating team from one that was lacking before he was the owner, the deal almost did not come to fruition. He almost bought another professional sports team in a completely different sport. Watch this brief video from good friend Brian Cuban (brother of Mark) below to learn the behind the scenes scoop on what really went down.

What are your thoughts about this deal? Do you think Mark should have bought the other franchise, or do you think Dallas is lucky to have such a great owner? Be sure to follw both Mark and Brian on Twitter as they always have interesting things to say.

Top 100 Pieces of Advice for Sports Ticket Sales Reps

by Bill Guertin | October 21st, 2009 | 2 Comments »

1. Ask yourself, “Why do I want to be in sports ticket sales?” If it’s because you’ve always wanted to work for a sports team, consider that you may have wanted the job for the wrong reasons.

2. Be in love with success as much as you are in love with the job. Don’t take the job simply because you wanted to see your name next to the team logo on a business card.

3. Understand that you’ll have all kinds of people you’ll need to interact with effectively, including some that you wouldn’t want to necessarily hang out with. Look past your own personal bias, and treat everyone the same: Like Gold.

100 Reasons You’re Still Searching For Sponsors in Sports

by Kris Mathis | October 19th, 2009 | 3 Comments »

sponsor Things have to get better than this year right? The best part about 2009 is that it has re-focused both buyers and sellers on what really matters in sponsorship. Marketers are creating leaner, more effective sponsorship portfolios and properties (”sellers”) have been forced by the competitive environment to take an honest look at their sales practices and offerings. In the end, I’m convinced we’ll all come out better for it. Properties will sell better, sponsors will have more positive outcomes, and sponsorship as a practice will have more successful case studies. Until then…

100. You sold exposure, your prospect wanted relevance

99. Your property wasn’t “green” enough

98. Your team fixed a race

97. You didn’t prospect for multi-nationals

96. Your title left and so went their business partners

95. It competed with yours and took your sponsors

94. The sponsor decided to create their own property

93. You bought a certified measurement

92. The sponsor did their own certified measurement

91. New legislation ate it

90. You focused on your assets

How Athletes are Emotionally Abusing Children

by Lewis Howes | October 12th, 2009 | 2 Comments »

(This is another funny guest post by The Virtual Biographer™, Brad Williamson.)

Let’s look back – ooooooooooh – 20 years ago when I was a fresh-faced nine year old cutie patootie…

I liked:

And most of all…

Nolan Ryan

That dude was my personal Jesus. On the mound at the old Arlington Stadium, he’d wind-up and knee himself in the nose one hundred times a night (damn, he had a high leg-kick!) in an effort to make my nine year old mind ooze with amazement. And at the end of each game – which inevitably produced some sort of record-breaking moment – I’d be left with a heart that was hungry for more of his heat; but, unfortunately, I had nowhere to turn for additional insight into the life of my favorite living legend. So instead of firing up a pubecent Prodigy Online, I’d reach for my “Nolan Ryan – Throwing Heat” book or my “Nolan Ryan – Feel The Heat” VHS. After all, that’s all I had to enjoy when I needed a ‘lil more of The Ryan Express in my life. Blogs weren’t born yet and Twitter was still a lame application awaiting its debut into the mindless mainstream.

Between starts, I needed me some more Nolan, but where was I to go to find my fix?

Today, there are digital ways for giddy kids, or giddy grown-ups, to gain additional insight into the lives of those they have man-love towards. Sure, there’s a googillion sports sites out there that deliver an incredible amount of insight about player’s performances, but none of them provide content about what fans really want: details into their days as a person who’s living the dream of being idolized as a sports star.

How can this be? How can we have an Internet that’s full of both brilliance and idiocy not have much Soulful content from public figures about the lives they lead? Sure, they’re busy being bad asses, but would it really be that much of a burden for them to reach out to their fans and fancy them with a little Web-love every once in a while?

I know that back in ‘89, if Nolan was on the Net, I’d gladly wait the ten minutes it would take to load a single page of his blog, because I was fanatical about the guy. Now, in ‘09, I can instantly load 73 tabs of individual athlete blogs and be in hero-heaven for hours on end, gaining insight into the lives I love to live vicariously through.

…Actually, scratch that. Because, now that I really think about it, I can’t do that AT ALL.

I’m not aware of any personal blogs by athletes that are worth following on a daily basis. And, in my personal opinion, that’s just pathetic and lazy. There are millions of nine year olds out there who so desperately want a role model in the world of sports to look up to, but, for some crazy reason I can’t begin to comprehend, they can’t be found on the Net, because taking fifteen minutes to satisfy an impressionable youngster’s hunger for insight into an idol’s life is just too much to ask from someone who plays a child’s game for only a few hours a night.

I’m sorry to sound so irritated by the lack of communication between athletes and their fans, but it just irks me that there are thousands of highly paid professional athletes out there who are only taking care of half the responsibilities they have as a potentially influential public figure.

Click here to stalk Brad Williamson on the Cyberscapes!

Like this article? Read Brad’s last article: Athlete Twitterers are Inconsiderate Social Media Amateurs

Does Sports Need Social Media?

by Lewis Howes | September 13th, 2009 | 19 Comments »

Yes or no? Does it depend on what sector of the sports industry we are talking about? Should we even care?

Whether it’s a sports teams using a Facebook fan page, professional athletes on Twitter, sports agencies trying to promote their brand from blogging, sports management programs looking to recruit new students, or other sports organizations looking to find ways to increase sales and drive profits…. do they fully understand social media and are they ready to include it in their game?

I have been pretty frustrated with the somewhat ignorance I continue to see with sports teams and leagues banning social media, sports agencies thinking social media is a waste of time, or even sports pr and marketing companies believing social media in sports should not be used, period.

WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!

The fans that watch your team on weekends, those students that want to learn about your sports management program, companies that need your marketing expertise or are looking to buy advertising are all online using some form of social media! Even top sports business experts like CNBC’s Sports Biz reporter Darren Rovell talks about the power of social media on his blog and is tweeting daily to get his message out there.

And yes, there are ways to get your message out there with little or no cost to help you achieve your goals within the sports industry. If you need a more in depth marketing strategy just ask top social media sports professionals Amy Martin, AJ Vaynerchuk, Jason Peck or Ryan Stephens as they can easily help any sports organization figure out how to achieve their goals and what action to take to reach them.

I am just tired of hearing that the sports industry still doesn’t have a forward thinking mindset when it comes to using social media and it is really frustrating me (and you don’t want to see my football playing aggression come out in my blog, or it may get ugly!). My goal is to start providing more articles that help give the information the sports industry needs to start taking action with using social media so they can start to see the same successes other industries are gaining from it.

Are you as upset as I am and ready to strap on the helment, lace up your pads and kick some butt? If so, leave a comment with your thoughts on which sports organizations are and are not using social media correctly. What are they doing right, what are they doing wrong, and what can they do to make it better? Ready…. Set-Hut!