Marketing a specific player vs. marketing an entire team is an important distinction, and understanding the power of each is key. In the MLS, as in any business, there are essentially two types of customers: new and repeat. Everyone knows the name of the game is to get more new customers and turn them into repeats, however, the question is how to accomplish that. There are many different answers, but two simple strategies have already been mentioned above.

To get people ‘in the door’, or in the case of an MLS club, in the stadium, focus on marketing specific key, and more importantly popular, players. For example, David Beckham, Thierry Henry, etc. Beckham has perhaps brought more new fans to the parks in the past few years than any other player in the league. The big name players are a great marketing tool in this sense. The problem becomes, how do you turn a fan that goes to a game only to see David Beckham into a fan that goes to multiple games a season to see the LA Galaxy.

This is where marketing the club comes in. No repeat fan goes to the games specifically to see David Beckham, unless they are a 14 year old girl who’s parents can afford to send their daughter to every game so she can get a glimpse of Beckham when he takes his jersey off at the end of the game. A repeat fan goes to the games to see the team, and it’s these kinds of fans that the MLS needs more of. Effectively marketing the club is essential in accomplishing this goal. Teams have started to recognize this fact, one in particular, the Kansas City Wiards, who recently renamed the organization ‘Sporting KC’ in an effort to take the club in a direction modeled so well by FC Barcelona, and the mantra ‘mes que un club’.

It’s also important to note that part of keeping a solid repeat fan base, is not forgetting about them because you’re too busy trying to draw in new fans. Slighting your repeat fan base is a very big, and very costly mistake. Studies have shown that it’s five times more expensive to draw in new customers, than to keep your repeat customers happy – yet another motivation to convert your new fans to repeats. While you would not have a repeat fan base without first having new customers, it’s important to find a balance in your marketing efforts when targeting both groups.

Whether or not these are the marketing strategies teams choose to employ or not, the key understanding to take away is that it’s essential to know the difference between your new and repeat fans, having strategies for reaching both, and how to convert the new fans into repeats and an essential part of the club’s success.

Source: businessofsoccer.com

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