We have recently conducted a little research project for a client who is interested in the intersection of sports, marketing and new/social media. What we`ve learned should be useful for any brand and/or (sports) marketer.

8 Lessons to Learn:

1. Build Communities: Don`t just think of your product/ service/ campaign as stand-alone solution. Think of it as a part of a bigger community. Pull users/customers into a group of like minded people. Let them relate to each other.
2. Create Dynamic Content: Today it`s not enough to develop a long term marketing campaign and put it out there. Marketing has become a real-time activity and needs to consider trends and sentiments – at least if you want to be relevant and stand out.
3. Spark And Fuel Conversations: Every brand needs to move from broadcasting to conversation mode. Once you`ve launched your campaign – you have to be around and interact. Your content should be the starting point of conversations, then take it further.
4. Co-Create/ Co-Curate: You are not alone. Open the stage and tap into the abundance of great content coming from fans and customers. It sets you apart from the rest of advertisers and makes you a more credible voice in your industry/ nice.
5. Dare More: No brand will ever win by only applying proven concepts and content formats. Make sure to allocate a small fraction of your budgets to new and more risky stuff. Give it a try!
6. Connect the dots: Marketers tend to forget to look around and see the potential that exists around our brands/ products. If we open our eyes we will see that there are a lot of opportunities for partnership and cross-promotions. Marketers just have break down barriers and connect their activities more.
7. Think Global. Act Local: Sounds familiar, right?! It`s not enough to run one global campaign. Especially in markets like China, Russia, India with very “different” cultures and local social networks and online services – brands have to make sure that they act more local. One campaign does not fit all. Make sure to develop a truly international strategy which considers regional differences.
8. Always Measure: No matter what you do – measure it. One of the biggest opportunities for marketers today is that we can measure almost everything. There is a tremendous amount of data to track and observe. It`s also very helpful to compare yourself to other players and to make improvements based on certain KPIs (e.g. why not measuring your online influence (Klout Score) vs. ompetitor’ s).

You can find more facts and figures here: