Introductory Thoughts...

www.LondonFA.com

When I was first appointed as Marketing & Communications Officer for the London Football Association I was given a free-reign to tackle the Marketing issues and tasks that needed to be done.

This was most definitely daunting, as I had never had so much freedom given to me before. It was great, because I could tailor it to match me and my personality, however, it was also a lot of pressure put on my tiny shoulders; but as always, I love a challenge.

The first thing that I noticed was that I needed to get organised - and quickly.

There is no point in dilly-dallying when it comes to Marketing. In other words, ‘you snooze – you lose’, and rightly so. Gone are the days where it took weeks, or even months, to reach a company’s target audiences. Now it is done with a click of a button.

Marketing is now available for anyone and for anything - at anytime - this is a scary thought. If an individual can market themselves, then they can achieve celebrity like status, all by clicking a few buttons and posting some images or videos onto a website. This is seen with the dramatic rise to fame of a certain Justin Beiber. "While searching for videos of a different singer, Scooter Braun, a former marketing executive of So So Def, clicked on one of Bieber’s 2007 videos by accident. Impressed, Braun tracked down the theater Bieber was performing in, located Bieber’s school."

This shows how easy it is today to be spotted. That is the fantastic effect of self-marketing for the individual. It is the same within most industry’s, not just the music or sporting ones. Today many company’s are addopting these techniques in order to communicate on their audiences level and make sure they are easily found by them.

This change is great, as it has eradicated the elitest attitudes of marketers of the past, to a more free and democratic way of advertising and Marketing within todays society.Marketing has a much bigger role to play today, than it did yesterday. Instead of a two-way marketing strategy, as was the norm a few years ago, with companies targeting and using only either print media and using the same strategy within their online presence; they now have a much more multi-dimentional way of reaching the consumers of their advertising. Good marketers tend to embrace this fully and adopt a more broader and wider Strategy.

Ever Changing World...

You may have noticed - but nothing stays the same, and that is the same in the Marketing world.

Many contributing factors add to the changes within the social, and therefore, the Marketing worlds. One major contributing factor is the technicological age that we now find ourselves in. The old practices of Marketing have been made virtually redunadant with the introduction of new technologies, such as; social media, websites, RSS Feeds - the list is becoming endless in regards to the amount of tools now available to Marketers.

This is fantastic, as it has opened up so many doors for Marketers to be able to reach the people they are targeting. However, this is where a new problem arises - where one issue is solved - another one is created and put in it’s place. What Marketers now battle with are the ways, and the best way, to use these new tools. 

Another seperate area where the world is changing is with the economic situation. Today companies find themselves scrimping and saving at any opportunity and one area they see as expendable or available for cutbacks - is Marketing.

So, long gone are the days where Marketing Budgets range in the millions and individual projects are in the 10’s of thousands. Today it seems nonsensical to spend these vast sums on idealistic marketing programs that has a vast and very untargeted audience base, these are not needed. Instead a much more refined and thoughtful marketing program will have a bigger reach and, therefore, a much wider and well-rounded approach.

From the Old and in with the New...

David Meerman Scott’s key message in his book "The New Rules of Marketing & PR" talks about the clear divide between the two practices of marketing - old and new. What he mentions is that the new practices have overtaken the old ways of Marketing. There are certain aspects to which I agree with in his book; as I mentioned previously, the world is forever changing, which means that we, as Marketers are forever having to adapt ourselves, our practices and therefore our strategies alongside this.

However, I don’t fully agree with what he is saying. There is no way that we can move forward without knowing entirely where we have come from.

David mentions that, "Organisations that understand the new rules of Marketing and PR develop relationships directly with consumers like you and me." This is true, by applying the new rules, you are providing a new and fresh approach towards the way that you engage with your intended audience.

Say I have a news story about a recent event that I held. I will adopt all of the new strategies, including; website, social media, links, blogs, etc, but I will not ignore the old and traditional approaches that have worked for so long, i.e. I will still send out a press release to my press contacts and I will still engage with the media, as well as with my target audience. Only then can you have a well rounded approach to your marketing practices.

David is right when he implies that the new practices are more relevant within today’s society, but in order to understand where we are going, we first have to understand where we have come from.　

Marketing Psychologies...

Before you start doing any form of Marketing activity sit down grab a Tea or Coffee and think about the type of person who you are trying to engage with. This is crucial to any and all Marketing programs and inicitatives - and the good Marketers do this frequently, and do it well.

You do not have to be a Psychology Lecturer/Professor to understand that if you can get into the minds of a group of people then you can tailor what you offer to meet their needs. It’s a win-win situation.

This is not static either - peoples views and opinoins change with the information that they are presented with, so well-informed and constructed content, either on your website or social networking sites will engage with them positively and have an impact on their individual decision making processes.

A fantastic use of this can be seen on the content driven site of Umbro. What it cleverly does is it gets into the mind of its target audience. There are no sales pitches or demands made of the reader. It is an interactive experience, with music playing in the background and videos of, not only athletes, but also celebrities wearing and talking about their products. At the top of the page the three headings are Shop Online, The Blog and About Umbro, making the navigation of the site simple and easy to use. Umbro’s social media is splashed all over their homepage, allowing potential customers to see how active they are being. However, they would not be able to act in an engaging way if they did not already have some preconceived notion about what it is that their consumers are wanting from them.

There is a need within Marketing to not only understand the mind of a consumer, someone who might be interested in what you have to offer, but also the mind-set of the athletes and participants of the sports that you are Marketing. In order to be successful with this you need to make sure that the knowledge that you have for this sport is top-notch and is regulary monitored and updated. This will provide a more approachable manner, therefore, your content will be considered more engaging.

All of these practices are really good at reaching the audience it is intended for. Now it’s your turn to put these into practice within your Marketing strategies/programs.

Until the next time Marketers - Happy Marketing...