We hope you enjoy our blog posts - they demonstrate the way we think and work.
Use your Database to Improve your Digital Advertising ROI
It’s really easy when you’re busy at work, to forget about how you can improve the outcome of your task if you had access to something that’s sitting on someone else’s desk. We often work in silos, with our heads down, and do the things we’ve always done in the way we’ve always done them. This is a common and natural outcome specifically for businesses that were created BD as opposed to AD (that’s before data and after data. Some people might think it should be before digital and after digital, but for me, you don’t do digital without data.)...
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YES you can use an opt-out instead of an opt-in!
Those of you who know me, will also know that I’ve been on a bit of a crusade to dispel the many GDPR myths that are out there (you should email your database to ask them to opt-in, you have to ask for a third party opt-in to send your sponsor messages, you must get profiling consent to email in segments….the list goes on…..). But the reason for my soap box moment right now is not to contradict a message but to deliver one. As loudly as I possibly can. For some reason – and I don’t know what it...
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How to measure the success within email marketing
In any business, or indeed area of business, it is always important to strive to improve. Email marketing is no different; but how do you begin to measure the success of your email campaigns and what key metrics should you look at? Whilst this may depend on the purpose of your email; engagement, revenue, awareness or one of many others, there are some key metrics you should always look at. Most email marketing platforms allow you to monitor, track, and analyse your campaign results. We believe some of the most important metrics include; open rate, click through rate, click to...
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Data Breach Fine of £183 mn for BA – what does it mean for #SportsBiz?
Many of you will have woken this morning to see the story of British Airway’s giant £183 million fine from the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for a data breach. No, it wasn’t because they sent emails to customers who hadn’t opted-in (although I’m not making light of that matter), nor did they use wording on their forms that wasn’t clear enough (again, something we should be paying attention to). It was because they had the data of 240K customers stolen last year – contact details and more importantly, credit card details – and while the thieves were the ones who...
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Four Challenges and Four Opportunities for CRM in Sports
Excerpt from Winning with Data – CRM and Analytics for the Business of Sports. The sports marketing industry has been around for many years. While the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics holds claim to being the first US event to generate broadcasting fees, the to-the-death arena fights of ancient Rome could also be considered a foundation to what’s now a multi-billion-dollar global business. Regardless of whether you believe the catalyst was our first formalised approach to commercialising an event, or wealthy aristocrats sponsoring gladiators, why has CRM become so important to the sports world that it now deserves its own book?...
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Delivering Sponsor Value
More Value for Sponsors = More Sales/Higher Fees Add real value to your sponsorship rights with a simple change to the way you include their brand in your email campaigns. Those of you who know me, will be aware I “cut my teeth” in the sports industry selling sponsorship. This went on for another 25 years. And those who have attended one of my workshops will have heard me say “if I’d known then what I know now, I’d have earned a lot more in commission.” After the laughter’s died down (yes my workshops are fun), I caveat that comment...
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HELP! I can’t get my opt-ins into my database. A post to help Mailchimp users/developers.
Winners is a tech-neutral consultant – and by that we mean we’ll either help clients understand how to get more from their existing stack or help them identify the right tech for their current state and desired future state. However when it comes to email marketing, if a client has no experience whatsoever with using contact data, we recommend Mailchimp. The reasons are it’s very easy to use, its relatively cost-effective, and there’s no fixed term contract so you can cut your teeth on it but then move if/when your progress dictates it. Another reason is there’s a huge amount...
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Shortlisted for the Yahoo! Sports Technology Awards
I was thrilled to learn last week that Winners had been shortlisted for the Yahoo! Sports Technology Awards 2019 for our work on UEFA GROW’s IT Maturity Matrix (if you haven’t yet heard of UEFA GROW you can read more here). You’ll be able to read more about the matrix once the shortlisted projects are published but one key component of it is the use of Tableau for data visualisation – the term coined for the presentation of data in a pictorial or graphical format. With Tableau, or indeed any software of its ilk, you can build interactive dashboards that...
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And the award for great customer service goes to…….Schuh
Happy New Year to you – I hope you’ve had a great start to 2019. My professional new year began on January 2nd when I wrote this post based on an experience I had a week before Christmas. I’ve actually been keen to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) ever since then but festive cheer, food and merriment got in the way. The reason I was so intent to get this out is because some weeks ago I read another of Paul Greenberg’s excellent ZDnet articles, Best Buy, the worst buy: Lessons from the field and online, and if you'll read on...
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Can you recover your lost email opt-ins?
Seven months on and I continue to hear of #sportsbiz rights owners who were unfortunately advised to send an “opt in” email as a result of the GDPR. These advisors (who were also working in the non-sports industry as the multiple “opt in” emails I received demonstrate) have clearly missed the point of having an opt-in in the first place – if you have to email someone to ask them to opt-in, then you didn’t have the right to email them in the first place. In case anyone reading this still believes you can email someone asking them to opt-in...
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