Let’s get right to it. But before we begin, we must first see that we are all part of the marketing of the planet’s oldest and biggest game… it is a great opportunity for marketing. Wrestling is a sellable product, a worldwide entertainment item, and we could induce the coalescence of our worldwide audience from the ground up.
We do not need to re-invent the wheel. We simply have to appear at other sports and also see that these amusement components are always and continuously utilized to make “pomp and circumstance” and air. In the 21st century, audiences have an array of choices thanks to ideas in web development and social media. How can we make them come out and watch us on a Thursday night or Saturday day?
Here are components I think we will need to climb from local to global wrestling events:
1. Play upbeat songs and have fun!
Get the media arts children as well as the audio section included. The more children who take possession of the creation of this wrestling event will be in attendance together with the friends and loved ones. Partner up with all the teachers and create the audio section feel desired.
Not merely this make the wrestling instructor slash coach feel great about the value that they bring, but ensure that the children in the group, as well as the DJ booth, understand just how much you love them. I have seen DJ’s play tv theme songs, commercial jingles as well as the Jeopardy game show music throughout blood time. I have noticed a pop band from the stands shout “Who?” Every time the announcer stated the title of an opposing group’s wrestler…that the announcer would replicate the title, the tuba could earn a sad sound along with the group and pupils would say dismissively, “oh”.
2. Do outreach for your alumni and construct a continuing capsule and booster club.
Return through the documents, track down people. Set your supervisors and mat-mates at work. Obtain the computer club/department at college to aid with database administration. Let your alumni understand what a fantastic set of wrestlers you have got coming and up and the way they really must come out and watch the game against XYZ. “It is likely to be a terrific match!”
If you do not have a fantastic set yet, then speak about one wrestler in particular. “We are young and inexperienced, but these kids actually work hard and we have got this particular person who is very unique. You have got to come out and see this man!” Whatever you may utilize to market alumni and the youth pro wrestling community on the reason why they ought to come out and watch the game.
Continue upgrading the database, keep upgrading your alumni and maintain inviting them to get involved in everything you have happening, as it is”something special.”
3. Get the game online, local radio and all types of social networking. (Look in the Cornell wrestling site on Facebook to get a fantastic example.)
Finally, as bandwidth and data rates rise, the web and mobile platforms are now as powerful as TV. Already you are able to create “stations” through YouTube and Flowrestling and that is something we as a wrestling community must push the envelope on.
Meanwhile, you may discover that the local tv station or cable supplier has some capability they are not using. Believe me, right now, they’re more receptive to some pitch compared to any other time in their history they see the writing on the wall also. Live sports is the 1 thing which keeps these tv stations relevant to the mass. Therefore do a pitching on them based on the way you’re able to deliver exciting games with fantastic production values, it is worth a shot.
Utilize these platforms to provide folks a reason to care. I call it the “Oprahfication” of advertising. Tell people what is important and what is a fantastic human-interest narrative. Dig to the lifestyles of your athletes and should the audience care about those wrestlers. Why will the 149-pound match function as the featured game tonight that everyone MUST see?
Ensure every individual walking through the doorway has a program within their palms boosting the “Oprahfication” individual interest. Get your supervisors posting the games and highlights (set to music) on Flowrestling, Facebook, and YouTube. Incidentally, these apps in the doorway are a terrific way to accumulate some advertising revenue for your regional wrestling team and higher school program.
4. If you are not getting fantastic news coverage in the local area — you write the narrative and submit it.
Get a few of your supervisors working together with the English section and anyone interested in journalism and photography to craft the narrative to your local paper. Budgets nowadays are tight and often the local newspaper does not wish to pay to send out someone or they do not put much effort into it.
Make it very simple for them and publish the guide and images so that they are not needed to perform some work. You are going to receive more press and greater coverage. Should they shorten what you have filed, make sure that the complete post, video, and pictures are visible on the team website design.
And if you’re lucky enough to have the press to help you, be certain that they are catered to and fawned over which contains new bloggers and media. The more focus and recognition that you provide the regional media, the more probable it is they will reciprocate.
5. Ensure you’ve got a team site… a very good one.
Here is the window which you’re revealing the entire world — what would you really want it to say about your schedule and about wrestling? Again, involve the student body and keep it current. Use it as a promotional tool and include routine updates… your upgrades would be the beginning of the marketing of your next “event”. Make sure someone in your “team” (meaning supervisors and mat mates) is sending out positive tweets concerning the app via twitter — always. Ensure you’ve got a Facebook Twitter and Google+ social networking existence and keep reaching out to your foundation. If you do make a website, hire professionals to craft the website design or make sure you employ the help of someone who knows what they’re doing.
Your social networking efforts and your staff site have to be guided toward another like a perpetual loop. Promotion can be simplified in three stages, you’ve got the pre-promotion where you are attempting to rally everyone to the case, then you’ve got the occasion itself with all of the pomp and after that, you’ve got the post-event.
6. If your college has a mascot, be sure they are there for your games.
Get them performing audience interaction such as T-shirts tossed into the audience and other prizes. Be certain that the mascot has been goofy with all the coaches, wrestlers, cheerleaders along with the audience. If you do not have a mascot, make up one and be the only game in your school to own one. Get the mascot to direct the battle song or college cheer. If you do not have a fight song or cheer, then get one! Nowadays it may be rap or any modification of a pop tune, but who cares as long as it is relatively “blank” and it engages the audience.
There is more of course — but you have the gist, and you’re going to develop ideas of your own. Keep in mind, not every marketing and marketing campaign will operate, some will flop and that is to be expected. However, you can not quit, just keep putting out new campaigns and new promotions. Get a custom booking system to make the process easier for everyone.
The major idea is to advertise your staff and advertise our game. If up to the stage you have resisted technologies find a way to adopt it. We will need to create wrestling that the most tech and new media informed of sports worldwide. Do the above and I promise you are going to have more folks in your home matches… a whole lot more!
Imagine if we can find every wrestling team round the world and each high school and college coach from the U.S. to execute this formulation. How much can we develop our fan base?