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Many on this board have made statements that marketing is the answer to increasing attendance. Since I am sure at least some of you are in marketing and are familiar with the options and their costs, I want to challenge you. If you were in charge of SMU Football Attendance Marketing, what would you do and how much would it cost? In other words, can you spell out a specific plan with cost figures associated with each of the items? For example some have said we need to run a major TV ad campaign. Well if that were your suggestion how much would it cost to be effective?

I agree that the marketing efforts we have tried in the past (street light banners, billboards, yard signs, ticket giveaways) have not really worked and that we need to do something. Thing is, it is easy for me to say create a marketing department - but I do not know what they would do and how much it would cost to do it. So, some of you who are able to figure this out come to our aide and let us have the benefit of your wisdom.

Ticket giveaways.... and money to get this on local TV news and [locally] during the World Series:

http://vimeo.com/30406843

Bring back MM65 who in 2007 proclaimed all the money we were spending on advertising was a waste and that he would never follow the program again because it wasn't committed to winning.

First off, you have to decide who your target consumer is. IMO the target market that we need to be selling SMU to is all of the people that have relocated to Dallas from other states over the past few years. These people tend to be young-to-middle-aged, well-educated, middle-to-upper-income, and better yet, pretty far removed from their own college team. Many are from California...perhaps we need to get an In-and-Out concession stand.

Then, you determine if the product satisfies the needs of the target consumer. We are winning, but is that enough? Are these fans looking for a family-friendly environment, or something a little more raucous (i.e. beer being sold in the stadium)? IMO we've got a product that would satisfy the needs of the target consumer I spoke of above.

Then, determine if the prices are right for these consumers. Personally, I'd like to see us drop ticket prices but only by a couple of dollars. Many in our target market live in Plano/Frisco/Allen and so they are affected by the high gas prices. Dropping the ticket prices by a couple of dollars would make it more economically feasible for these fans to get to games.

Fourth, determine if the place we are selling the tickets is correct. Obviously, the SMU box office on gameday is a no-brainer, but should we get more inventive? SMUMustangs.com is a good outlet for selling tickets.

The next step is promotion. We already utilize personal selling (Operation Sellout), sales promotion ($40.33 for four games), and public relations, but our advertising has been extremely lax. A well-thought out advertising campaign designed to reach our target consumer is needed. Now...that's pretty much where my marketing knowledge ends, so I will defer to those on the board who are smarter than me to carry out this thought process and tell you exactly what sort of campaign will work and what it would cost.

telemarket the way GaTech did. Someone posted an article previously

I think there are some simple low or no cost marketing opportunities; a matter of being aware of what is happening in Dallas. Driving to the UCF game, you couldn't help but notice all of the Komen participants-why not something for them on the blvd and ticket package for participants. Make the Blvd more of a Dallas party, concessions, themes unrelated to football and performances.

Then let's spend some real money on focus groups. Organize one for those who are season ticket holders to see what it would take to increase the number of tickets they purchased, could their company be more involved, could their church be more involved, what can we do to improved the experience of those we have in the fold. Then a focus group of former ticket holders with pretty much the same theme. Next, a focus group on those who attend other sports events, what would it take to interest them in SMU. A focus group on those who are fans of college athletics, but not SMU fans. Would not be huge investment to undertake this study-and why not use Cox student?

Cardinal Puff wrote:and why not use Cox student?

because this could backfire horribly. bad marketing is a lot worse than no marketing. do you seriously want to turn this over to an undergrad?

2ndandlong wrote:

Cardinal Puff wrote:and why not use Cox student?

because this could backfire horribly. bad marketing is a lot worse than no marketing. do you seriously want to turn this over to an undergrad?

last I checked, there were grad students at Cox too

If you are going to undertake a marketing initiative, plan to go all in. I've participated in some major successes and some flops. The flops were all half-hearted attempts.

The best thing we can do is build our brand on the field right now. We're being discussed in a positive light in major news and sports organizations across the country right now. Let's get out of this operating deficit and then commit to a dedicated marketing plan.

No more focus groups please. That's the only bloody thing smu does consistently...form focus groups, committees, subcommittees, ad-hoc comm
ittees, etc.

ThadFilms wrote:Ticket giveaways.... and money to get this on local TV news and [locally] during the World Series:

http://vimeo.com/30406843

How much money is necessary to do this?

If you need marketing, it is time to throw this project at Cox and have it become part of an MBA project. Cox students prove their value and the athletic department saves some $$$. Why not use university resources and challenge the students? After all, this is what academic institutions should be doing to train students by putting their studies into solving real problems and finding real solutions. Everyone benefits by challenging the students to help solve university issues.

Grad student could write his/her own career ticket if they found a way to get people in the stadium

Cardinal Puff wrote:I think there are some simple low or no cost marketing opportunities; a matter of being aware of what is happening in Dallas. Driving to the UCF game, you couldn't help but notice all of the Komen participants-why not something for them on the blvd and ticket package for participants. Make the Blvd more of a Dallas party, concessions, themes unrelated to football and performances.

Then let's spend some real money on focus groups. Organize one for those who are season ticket holders to see what it would take to increase the number of tickets they purchased, could their company be more involved, could their church be more involved, what can we do to improved the experience of those we have in the fold. Then a focus group of former ticket holders with pretty much the same theme. Next, a focus group on those who attend other sports events, what would it take to interest them in SMU. A focus group on those who are fans of college athletics, but not SMU fans. Would not be huge investment to undertake this study-and why not use Cox student?

Assume you can hire a qualified student to plan and run the focus groups for a few hundred, what do you do with the results and how much will that cost. Also, what is the cost of the Blvd changes your suggesting?

PoconoPony wrote:If you need marketing, it is time to throw this project at Cox and have it become part of an MBA project. Cox students prove their value and the athletic department saves some $$$. Why not use university resources and challenge the students? After all, this is what academic institutions should be doing to train students by putting their studies into solving real problems and finding real solutions. Everyone benefits by challenging the students to help solve university issues.

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