How do we fill our 16,000 seat Paladin stadium? Which Home Schedule is more appealing?

[Roundball]

FU does not do a good job of marketing its product. We used to have billboards around Greenville, tv ads etc. I went to Shelby yesterday and tight there on hwy 74 a large ad for Gardner-Webb football. Of course schools like Gardner-Webb have lots more money than FU and can afford ads etc, a baseball team, etc. where FU cannot.

Gardner-Webb must not have a good marketing department. I’ve seen those billboards in the past. Their average attendance proves they are wasting money with billboards. Very few teams use that type of marketing. Do you ever see billboards for Clemson or S. Carolina sports? Sports marketing is done with the product on the field, and social media. Anything else is a complete waste of money.

[gman84]

FU does not do a good job of marketing its product. We used to have billboards around Greenville, tv ads etc. I went to Shelby yesterday and tight there on hwy 74 a large ad for Gardner-Webb football. Of course schools like Gardner-Webb have lots more money than FU and can afford ads etc, a baseball team, etc. where FU cannot.

Please tell us how you would market the program. Since you have identified FU's marketing as a problem, what is your solution?

[apaladin]

Roundball, please tell me how social media helps. I never see anything from other schools? At least billboards, tv ads, radio ads would be seen heard by others instead of us fiehards,

[Roundball]

Roundball, please tell me how social media helps. I never see anything from other schools? At least billboards, tv ads, radio ads would be seen heard by others instead of us fiehards,

Ask the companies that spend millions marketing on social media. Ask the social media outlets that make millions from those companies. Heck, I’m 63 years old and see more ads there than anywhere else. I also purchase goods or services from ads on social media. Fewer people watch tv and even fewer people listen to radio. Those days are all but gone.

[apaladin]

Roundball, please tell me how social media helps. I never see anything from other schools? At least billboards, tv ads, radio ads would be seen heard by others instead of us fiehards,

Ask the companies that spend millions marketing on social media. Ask the social media outlets that make millions from those companies. Heck, I’m 63 years old and see more ads there than anywhere else. I also purchase goods or services from ads on social media. Fewer people watch tv and even fewer people listen to radio. Those days are all but gone.

Yes but that is totally different and seen by people whether they want to or not. Advertisers do pay big bucks because their ads get seen nationwide. Certainly not the case for Furman or other teams. I am sure no one in Greenvilke sees anything on social media about Furman unless they want to.

[The Jackal]

Roundball, please tell me how social media helps. I never see anything from other schools? At least billboards, tv ads, radio ads would be seen heard by others instead of us fiehards,

Ask the companies that spend millions marketing on social media. Ask the social media outlets that make millions from those companies. Heck, I’m 63 years old and see more ads there than anywhere else. I also purchase goods or services from ads on social media. Fewer people watch tv and even fewer people listen to radio. Those days are all but gone.

Yes but that is totally different and seen by people whether they want to or not. Advertisers do pay big bucks because their ads get seen nationwide. Certainly not the case for Furman or other teams. I am sure no one in Greenvilke sees anything on social media about Furman unless they want to.

I have no personal knowledge, but I would almost bet my last nickel Furman isn't concerned with billboards for advertising. If we are in a billboard war with Gardner Webb, we've already lost.

[JohnKX512]

I am starting a company that sells t-shirts.

These t-shirts have an awesome slogan, purple and white, just saying something random like "I AM TUFFP".

I want to market these to kids, I ask 3 Furman football players to wear these shirts and every post on instagram and twitter is $500.

I sell shirts, I use the money to advertise more while employing some young student athletes image and likeness, while also advertising for the school they are playing for.

Marketing 2021

[Furmanoid]

Nobody knows who our players are, so a maybe better plan would be to get the “popular kids” (influencers) from area high schools to post pictures where they appear to be having a great time at a Furman game. Then FOMO kicks in and we get a swarm of cool kid wannabes at our games.

Or maybe aim a little older and have Junior League types posting pics showing the whole family having a blast at Paladin Stadium.

Are we doing this stuff?

[DoomedDin1127]

Just throwing it out there, 93.3 airs Furman advertisements for people to buy both football and basketball tickets. I don’t know how successful it’ll be for this coming season but it’s nice to hear an effort made.

[FUBeAR]

As long as we think of a Furman Football game as a Football game, our attendance will languish, despite the best & sincere efforts of all involved. Winning multiple national championships would tick it up a couple of k.

We have to reset our thinking & think of Fall Saturdays at Furman as Family Event Saturdays, whether that family is 4 college age roommates, a couple & 2-10 kids, or a couple of empty nesters, perhaps with 3-4 Grandkids (or not). The entire campus needs to coordinate activities that will appeal to these various ‘Families’ in such an inviting & compelling way that they PLAN to make Furman their DESTINATION for the day. The Football Game is the nexus of this Family Event Saturday & each other coordinated activity event needs to be tied into the Football game.

Maybe that’s hard to do…and maybe 12 or 1 PM Kickoffs (LOVED by Players & Coaches) aren’t the best strategy to support this kind of holistic effort.

We have “The Furman Advantage” down cold. Perhaps we need to build “The Furman REAL External Engagement” (FREE, get it? I got a million of ‘em)…and demonstrate true value to people before we ask them to pay us for something they have presently shown no proclivity to value.

I think Sam Wyche once told me, “FUBeAR, we gotta get ‘em inside the store before we can get them to buy anything. Now go sweep that sidewalk again & straighten up all those Bike Coaches Shorts on those tables we have out there!”

Maybe our ‘dirty sidewalks’ are turning people away & we don’t have enough ‘colorful Coaching Shorts’ to attract them…before we even get a chance to get ‘em into Paladin Storedium

https://furmanpaladins.com/news/2021/8 ... plans.aspx

AWESOME!

Now…
1) Nail the execution
2) Liberally share & publicize the ‘results’ to all target market ‘eyeballs’
3) Use 2), word-of-mouth, and even more pre-event pub to create FOMO in that target market
4) Give it time to build & continue to invest in the success
5) Tweak, add, and try new things w/o throwing out the toddler with the tub water
6) WIN Football games (we can make this #1, if desired)

[Roundball]

Maybe this helps with attendance. https://furmanpaladins.com/news/2021/8/ ... plans.aspx

[Sad Din]

cant say they aint tryn"

[AstroDin]

I'll admit I've not had the desire and heart to jump into this conversation — but why not.

As a young fresh Ad Man — our team had the opportunity to work with the Marketing team back in 89, creating the Furman Best of Times work.

We did a series of ads with people going about normal life stiff; cutting the grass, laying by the pool, wearing a Furman football helmet. We did billboards, a little tv, and heavy radio too.

I had started the year before '88' working with the marketing team - designing the Gold and Sterling football poster.

Things were very different back then. Furman won a national championship in 88, there was even a parade in downtown Gville for the champs. Also, with a modest budget, we could stand out in the crowd.

I gave up on traditional marketing years ago (billboards, television, radio, print) for the last 15 years my discipline is community initiatives and word of mouth marketing—yes that's a marketing discipline, and I know of two books you can read - if interested (hint hint).

My take FuBear listed the best plan.

There is a book (The Experience Economy) this book is my bible for creating customer experiences.
People want experiences today - not just stuff.
Step one create a great experience and put a quality product on the field.
Step two build community relations and public relations - this is low-hanging fruit stuff.
Step three I would look at targeted ad buys on Facebook, YouTube, etc.
Step four incentives for families with kids to experience a game and have a tailored experience.
Step five incentives for football fans that moved into the area (not interested in CU/USC) and have a tailored experience.

HERE IS THE PROBLEM (with all of our armchair marketing acumen)

All of your marketing tactics should be stress-tested - what I mean by that is you should create your marketing plan from qualitative and quantitive research. Large scale regional surveys, face-to-face intercepts, and places like a Drive baseball game. Done right this is a 50K to 100K investment before you start any tactic.

I believe we're in good hands.
Mr. Covington gets it.
AD Donnely gets it.
I don' know Mr. Osborne but I believe he gets it.
I like what they've done in elevating the gameday experience, this will take baby steps.

add-on thinking - we also might have to face the reality that for Furman expecting a 12,000 to 16,000 attendance game isn't a reality. It's just a different world today — we all have a lot going on in our lives, plus every game is streamable.

Playing a game like the A&T game is our best shot at creating some buzz interest and bringing in a large visiting crowd.

[apaladin]

I have a story for step #5. My wife worked with a guy, actually her boss at one time. They were from Pittsburgh originally and moved to Greenville (even though he worked in Spartanburg). from Columbia for his job We became friends with them and invited them to a football game and they became season ticket holders and attended for several years. They also attended many basketball games. Unfortunately he retired this year and they moved to Florida but they will still follow the Paladins. I have since been able to replace their season tickets with a lifelong Greenville couple. So it can happen, sometmes all it takes is asking someone.

[Affirm]

I have a story for #5. My wife worked with a guy, actually her boss at one time. They were from Pittsburgh originally and moved to Greenville (even though he worked in Spartanburg). from Columbia for his job We became friends with them and invited them to a football game and they became season ticket holders and attended for several years. They also attended many basketball games. Unfortunately he retired this year and they moved to Florida but they will still follow the Paladins. I have since been able to replace their season tickets with a lifelong Greenville couple. So it can happen, sometmes all it takes is asking someone.

Kudos and blessings to you!