Ron Goch
The Telios Group
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Protected: Mariner’s Make Fan Guide Available Online
April 6th 2009
Protected: Successful Use of Fan Testimonials
March 30th 2009
Protected: Black History Month Celebrations
February 16th 2009
Valentine’s Day Sports Promotions
February 2nd 2009
Here are three Valentine’s Day promotions from baseball, basketball and hockey teams that sports teams could consider:
New York Islanders – “Puck Surprise” – http://tinyurl.com/ax8w6w
Toledo Mud Hen’s – “Muddy Grams” – http://tinyurl.com/aquhvz
Washington Wizards – “Valentine’s Day Special” – http://tinyurl.com/yv22kj
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Offer Happy Hour
October 6th 2008
I recently picked up dinner to go while on a business trip, and a sticker stuck to the bag stated: “Happy Hour – ½ price drinks and slushies every day 2-4 pm.”
This is a terrific idea for restaurants since most are typically slow between 2 and 4 pm.
Sports teams could offer a similar promotion on selected week-day games that typically may be less attended games than weekend games with a special ticket offer.
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Protected: Offer Sam’s Club Member Days
August 11th 2008
Display Team Decal and Save on Parking
July 21st 2008
A sports team offered a clever way to increase its logo’s presence throughout the community by offering a complimentary logo window decal at its ticket office to all fans.
To encourage fans to place the window decal on their cars and trucks, the sports team offered fans $1 off parking each time they entered the parking garage with a window decal on their vehicle. (more…)
Invest in a Great Mascot
March 17th 2008
Not all sports teams see the value of investing in a great mascot, but those teams that do make the investment benefit in many ways.
A mascot traditionally is a part of the in-game entertainment, but those teams that engage a mascot in every phase of its business benefit the most.
Whether it’s a timeout skit, a community appearance, engaging fans in the upper deck, assisting with closing a corporate partnership, entertaining season ticket holders, performing at a birthday party, or simply mascot bloopers, mascots can entertain, generate revenue, extend your brand messaging, and create excellent visibility and awareness for a sports organization.
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Veeck’s 12 Sports Marketing Commandments
July 16th 2007
Here are Bill Veeck’s 12 sports marketing commandments:
1. Take your work very seriously. Go for broke and give it your all.
2. Never ever take yourself seriously.
3. Find yourself an alter ego and bond with him for the rest of your professional life.
4. Surround yourself with similarly dedicated soul mates, free spirits of whom you can ask why and why not. And who can ask the same thing of you.
5. In your hiring be color blind, gender blind, age and experience-blind. You never work for Bill Veeck, you work with him. (more…)
Memphis Motorsports Park Marketing Video
July 2nd 2007
If you have not put together a marketing video like the Memphis Motorsports Park marketing video, you may want to check out its Video and determine how you could create one and feature online and use your presentations.
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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Cross-Promote With Other Sports
June 18th 2007
While scanning through the TV stations during a Florida trip last week, I came across a news station reporting a cross-promotion between the Orlando Magic and the Pepsi 400, a Nextel Cup race that will be hosted July 7 at the Daytona International Speedway.
The promotion, a game of H-O-R-S-E between Magic guard J.J. Redick and veteran Nextel Cup driver Jeff Burton, is a great example of opportunities sports teams have to work together in an effort to promote one another and generate media coverage. (more…)
Coolest Sticker on the Planet
June 15th 2007
Our kids received a Ron Jon Surf Shop sticker when they visited the Cocoa Beach shop and this is what the back of the sticker states:
“Congratulations! You are now the proud owner of a Ron Jon Sticker. The coolest and most recognized sticker on the planet. The Ron Jon Sticker won’t make your car get better gas mileage but it will say something about who you are and how you live your life. So stick it on. Enjoy it! You’ve made the passage to the World’s Most Famous Surf Shop! Be sure to honk and give a friendly wave the next time you see someone with a Ron Jon Sticker on their car, RV, moped, motorcycle or riding lawnmower!” (more…)
$1 Hot Dogs a Big Hit
April 27th 2007
A sports team couldn’t entice me to come to a baseball game for a hot dog, but my kids are a different story.
The local triple-A team – the Salt Lake Bees – offer $1 hot dogs every Wednesday game this season. It’s a great offer for fans as well as a sponsorship opportunity, and I discovered a sports team offering $1 hot dogs – even though I don’t eat hot dogs – could entice my kids to a game, who in turn would entice me to drive them to the game! (more…)
Cats Barnstorming the State
April 20th 2007
The University of Kentucky Athletics Department has put together a neat promotional campaign called Barnstorming the Cats that any athletics department or sports team in or near rural areas could duplicate.
Those college athletic departments and sports teams in cities and suburban areas could alter the Barnstorming the Cats promotional campaign to include roof tops, building walls and/or streets where teams can paint their school/team logo, slogan, website and/or other information.
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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Offer a Postcard Giveaway
February 8th 2007
Most of the hotels I stay in have a complimentary postcard available to take home or to use for sending a note home or to a friend.
It’s an inexpensive way to market and promote the hotel.
Why not do the same at one of your events, or offer the postcards at the ticket box office? A special ticket offer could be included on the backside of the postcard, so recipients could take advantage of the special ticket offer.
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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Honor and Bring Back Letter-winners
December 7th 2006
Penn State and other colleges have created a Lettermen’s Wall where all-time letter-winners from the schools will find their names etched in the wall. It’s a neat idea and tribute to the letter-winners and a great opportunity for fans to see during campus visits.
At Tennessee, touching the Wall of Fame has become a traditional for the football team during the Vol Walk before each home game. Additionally, Tennessee brings back letter-winners from each of the Vol’s sports for a reunion weekend during the football season.
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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Co-Op Advertising
November 17th 2006
I don’t believe sports teams, or businesses in general, do enough co-op advertising.
I recently picked up my dry cleaning and noticed a pizza coupon offer stapled to the dry cleaner’s receipt – a neat idea by both the cleaners and the pizza company.
The pizza business is in the same area near the dry cleaners, so my guess is the pizza business is likely taping a coupon from the dry cleaners on its pizza boxes. This is a great strategy for each of these businesses to reach people they normally would not be able to reach through traditional advertising, and the only cost for each business is the printing of the coupons.
Sports teams could execute the same strategy with its corporate partners, including dry cleaners and pizza companies.
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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Opening Week Strategy
November 14th 2006
There was a lot of marketing and promotions invested in the recent NBA and NHL “opening week” festivities versus the traditional “opening night.” It’s a great strategy to expand “opening night” to either an “opening weekend” or an “opening week.”
Traditionally, most sports teams have great attendances for opening night, and then suffer a significant drop-off in attendance for game two.
If more sports teams adopted an “opening weekend” or “opening week” strategy, and changed their strategic focus from one game to a weekend or week of games, teams would position themselves to improve their home attendance for multiple home games versus only its home opener.
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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Theatres Offer Over 30,000 Costumes
November 7th 2006
I noticed during the month of October leading up to Halloween theatres were offering costumes for rent. I thought this was a creative idea for leveraging its many costumes, but I had no idea theatres actually offer their costumes on a year-round basis.
CostumeRentals, a combined project of the Guthrie Theater and The Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, was established in 2002 and offers over 30,000 theatrical costumes to the public year-round.
Many sports teams have created similar year-round programs where they make their sports facilities available to general public to rent when the arena is not in use by the sports team. Additionally, many sports teams conduct year-round sports clinics in its facilities – prior to games, on non-game days, and even during the off-season.
Tying in tickets to clinics and facility rentals – whether conducted during the season or the off-season – is a great way to increase ticket sales and revenues.
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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Hawks Paint the Town Red
November 2nd 2006
The Atlanta Hawks recently went out of their way to Paint the Town Red. This is a neat promotion to tip of the 2006-07 season, and would be well worth the time and effort for other sports teams to execute.
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month
October 30th 2006
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and many sports teams and companies have stepped up to the plate to support breast cancer research.
On a recent airlines flight, I heard Delta Air Lines announce over the public address how they’re selling pink lemonade on each of its October flights and donated the proceeds to breast cancer research.
The Utah Grizzlies hockey team aggressively promoted “Pink in the Rink,” where at last Saturday’s game – the team’s second regular-season game of the 2006-07 season – the arena ice was pink, the hockey players jerseys were pink, and the first 1,500 women through the door received pink T-shirts.
Additionally, the first 5,000 women at the game received tote bags compliments of the Shane Co; the pink players jerseys were auctioned off after the game with a percentage of the proceeds benefiting the Mary Kay Ash Charitable Foundation and the Huntsman Cancer Foundation.
Finally, the Grizzlies offered a post-game skate for all fans in attendance.
What could you do next October – or any time during the year – to support breast cancer awareness and research – by utilizing your sports team’s game assets?
There are many proven strategies sports teams have implemented over the years that have both served to assist non-profit organizations, as well as introduce the sports teams to a segment of fans who might not otherwise attend a game.
It’s well worth thinking about how you and your sports team could create multiple events that are beneficial for all involved – the non-profit organizations, your community, your fans, the players and coaches, and your organization.
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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Catalog Offers Halloween Sports Masks
September 18th 2006
Check out Fright Catalog for a variety of Halloween sports masks. Whether you distribute to selected fans to wear at your Halloween sporting event, or invest in the masks for your staff to wear during your Halloween sporting event, the masks could be a nice addition to your Halloween sporting event.
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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Boo at the Zoo
September 13th 2006
Many zoos around the country are hosting Boo in the Zoo to celebrate Halloween this year. What can you do with your sporting events in a similar fashion to attract fans to your athletic events on or near Halloween?
The Smithsonian National Zoological Park has created a Boo in the Zoo event and also promotes the opportunity for sponsorship of the event on its web site. This looks like a great event to entertain fans, increase ticket sales, as well as net a title or presenting sponsorship.
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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Mascots Have Become a Staple in Sports
September 5th 2006
Here’s an interesting article on how mascots have become a staple in sports today.
Check out the article and see if there’s an idea or two that assist you with how you’re utilizing your team mascot at sporting events and in the community.
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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Free Gas for Life
July 6th 2006
Shell is giving away free gasoline. Get this, for life!
With today’s gas prices I thought that might catch your attention. I know I was intrigued to read the story, Shell Gives Away Free Gas for Life. You can also read another blurb about Shell’s $30 million marketing campaign.
Could a similar campaign with a sport twist work with a “season tickets for life” promotion?
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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Taking Advantage of a Hot Market
July 4th 2006
Not only is the weather hot these summer days in Cincinnati, but so is the Bengals franchise.
I recently read the story How Suite the Summer and thought you may be interested to read how Cincinnati continues to take advantage of a hot market ever since its playoff run, and some of the creative strategies they’ve employed to sell tickets and generate revenues.
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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We Should All Give Free Balloons
July 3rd 2006
If you have kids and have enjoyed a lunch or dinner at a family restaurant, your kids have likely been asked, “Would you like a balloon?” and predictably your child has said “yes” with an ear-to-ear grin.
Well, I was recently in an electronics store with my wife and youngest daughter and as we were checking out, the gentleman behind the counter asked our daughter those five words that always make our kids smile: “Would you like a balloon?” Of course she said yes with her trademark grin.
It finally hit me. Our kids have been saying “yes” to those balloons for years, and I’m not sure why it didn’t register before, but for some reason this transaction hit me right between the eyes.
I turned to my wife, as the gentleman handed our daughter her “free” balloon with the electronic store’s name boldly printed on it, and said “Do you want a balloon? He should have just said, ‘Would you like to advertise our store for a day?’”
So, if you’d like to recruit some children to advertise for your sports team or showcase your logo around town for the cost of balloons, helium and string, there’s likely a whole lot of children who will respond as walking billboards just as my kids have for many years.
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Ron Goch, The Telios Group
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