How Close Are You to Your Fanbase?
Posted September 8, 2008
Though hiring and firing decisions are done by athletic directors, presidents or boards of trustees, many times the fans and boosters of a team wield just as much power. Barring exceptional circumstances, it is usually the grumblings of the fans that put the powers that be on alert that a coaching change might be necessary. This is because the fans and boosters are ultimately the consumers of the product (your team), and the providers of the product (the university) must keep them happy. Thus, it is important to ask, “how close are you to your fan base?”
Chances are, if you think about the total number of fans that root for your team, you have some sort of personal contact with a very low percentage of them. The reason for this is that you just don’t have enough time to meet with all of the fans, and the opportunities that you do have (spring booster speaking engagements and pep rallies) only give you a quick meeting with a limited number of fans. So what can be done?
One solution is to use email. With a small commitment on a coach’s part, it is easy to have personal interaction with almost an entire team’s fan base. With email, a weekly coach’s newsletter can be sent out from the coach personally to each fan in an entire fan base. This interaction gives the fans something extra straight from the coach and can increase support for the coach. The newsletter itself can consist of a weekly preview or recap of this or last week’s game – and in reality the coach doesn’t even have to write it, just send it. (Or, you can make it more personal for a greater effect on the fans.)
Getting the email addresses is easy. Already you have the entire faculty/staff and student email addresses at your fingertips. Getting the booster club members’ addresses would be just as easy. Finally, for all of the fans that don’t fall into one of those categories, tables can be put out in front of the first home game and manned by athletic department employees to get the remaining addresses.
Once you get the addresses, the rest is as easy as typing up the keys to next week’s game and hitting “send.” This will allow the fans to receive an email directly from the coach of their team in their personal email account. This will bring the team, and you, closer the students, the faculty and the fans.
Elon Coach Pete Lembo started a group email to fans when he was at Lehigh University. He says that this was very well received by the fans. Then, when he moved to Elon last year, he started his tenure with a group email to the entire faculty and staff to introduce himself. This quick gesture, he said, was really appreciated and eased his transition into the university.
On a final note, beyond bringing a coach closer to the fans, a group email could also be used as an outside revenue source. There are many local businesses that would be interested in advertising directly to fans of their local team with the coach as the spokesman. And unlike other advertising, such as TV commercials, the advertiser will almost certainly be seen in an email.
So whether the goal is to get closer to your fan base, to get an alternate source of revenue, or both, email is a quick and easy way to increase your exposure to the people that really count – the fans.
