4 Different CRM Strategies for Small Professional Sports Clubs

Hello everybody, it has been a while since I published my last two blogs on fan segmentation and a possible CRM framework for small professional sports clubs. Today, I would like to write about four different CRM strategies for small professional sports clubs in order to deliver an unique value proposition towards their fans.

First of all, CRM theory tells us that every CRM strategy must be connected to a respective segment. Let’s therefore recall the five different fan types I introduced in my first blog post. These are: the temporary fan, the local fan, the devoted fan, the fanatic fan and the dysfunctional fan.

Based on these different fan types I will now present four possible strategies.

The Fan Acquisition Strategy

A fan acquisition strategy is appropriate if a professional sports club has a small fan base and would like to increase it. This strategy can be based on two different orientations. The sports club could either deliver factual incentives (often monetary benefits) like discounts on ticket prices for first-time visitors or symbolic incentives. Examples for symbolic incentives are Roger Federer’s Match for Africa as well as charity football games. On these occasions, people who normally wouldn’t attend sports events identify themselves with the “purpose” of the events and will eventually buy a ticket. If this is managed properly by the clubs this could be the start of a fan relationship.

The Fan Retention Strategy

Since the temporary fan’s commitment to a sports object is time constrained and the local fan’s interest is limited by geographic boundaries, the goal of a fan retention strategy is to turn these “restricted” fan groups into either devoted fans or fanatic fans. So it’s all about establishing emotional loyalty beyond time and place. Within the sports industry loyalty is assumed to be much greater than in other industries and this has led to the belief that support is “a given”. However, according to UK-based researchers Adamson, Jones and Tapp, there are an increasing number of publications which contest this view. In my eyes, the biggest challenge for small professional sports clubs lies in finding an appropriate fan retention strategy, which establishes emotional loyalty beyond sporting success.

The Fan Recovery Strategy

A fan recovery strategy should be considered if there is a negative event and a resulted danger that a certain fans won’t be a fans anymore. As an example sports clubs could react with factual compensation or persuasion incentives (discounts, improved services) and symbolic stimulation or persuasion incentives (apology, warranties). It is important that actions are executed in due course in order to lessen the impact of negative experiences.

The Fan Termination Strategy

This strategy is especially recommended for dysfunctional fans. Professional sports clubs which would like to retain their image in the case of undesirable fan behaviour like hooliganism or vandalism, should look into the possibility of an active relationship termination.

To clarify…

Right now you might think that the above strategies are rather superficial and don’t deliver much operational insights. Trust me, I’m fully aware of this. However, I would like to clarify that in the coming weeks, I will provide you with these operational thoughts and actions. Stay tuned!

Like always: please feel free to reach out at any time if you have any comments or questions.

Sources
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