Today I want us to do something different. Instead of talking about the future of women’s sports, I want us to dream about it, together. And not a future in the next coming 5 years, but rather, a future that happens in a mere 14 months, at the end of nex year.

"It’s December 15, 2025. We’re here, watching a sold-out stadium filled with thousands of passionate fans, all draped in the vibrant colors of their favorite women's sports team. This isn’t a dream—it’s the future of women's sports, and it's happening right now. The stands are packed, and excitement is radiating through the air. Everyone is on the edge of their seats, anticipation building as the game kicks off. But there’s something deeper at play here than just the action on the field—something that has transformed women’s sports forever. And it all comes down to one thing: data."

"Today, every single one of those fans has been a part of a carefully crafted experience. The club didn’t just sell tickets and hope for the best—they used data to get to know their fans, to understand what they love, and to make sure this experience is unforgettable. And that’s why, game after game, season after season, these same fans keep coming back. Women's sports have always had the heart, the passion, the talent. Now, they’re proving to the world they can deliver the profits too."

"Let’s break it down. When we talk about 'harnessing data,' we’re not just talking about numbers. We’re talking about deep insights into who these fans are, what makes them tick, and how clubs can connect with them in meaningful ways. With data segmentation, women’s sports clubs can categorize their fans based on behaviors, preferences, and spending habits. It’s like having a crystal ball that tells you exactly who’s most likely to buy tickets for the next big match, or who’s going to jump at the chance to snag exclusive merchandise."

"And then, there’s gamification. Look around this stadium—it’s not just a place to watch sports; it’s a playground for fans. Before today’s match, thousands of fans played a score prediction game on their phones, eagerly inputting their guesses and earning points. Not only did it build anticipation, but the club now has something even more valuable—the fans’ contact details, and insights into their behavior. Data like this turns casual spectators into die-hard supporters who come back, time and again. Fans feel like they're part of something bigger, and they’re more likely to engage in the future."

"Now, let’s talk about the numbers that prove just how powerful this transformation has been. Research shows that women's sports fans have a higher purchase intent compared to their male counterparts. In fact, a Nielsen study found that 84% of women’s sports fans are more likely to purchase a product because it sponsors women’s sports, compared to 68% of general sports fans. This isn’t just about loyalty—it’s about a fanbase that is willing to spend, and spend big, to support the teams and brands they love.

And it doesn’t stop there. Women’s sports fans are more engaged online, too. Clubs that have embraced data are seeing exponential growth in social media interactions, website traffic, and digital engagement. Fans are staying connected year-round, not just during the season."

"Fast forward to next season. Picture this—those same fans, now back in their seats, eagerly awaiting the kickoff of another unforgettable game. They’re not just here because of loyalty; they’re here because the club knows them. They receive personalized offers, exclusive content, and VIP experiences tailored specifically to their preferences. The club uses data to make sure every touchpoint, from the moment they purchase their ticket to the moment they leave the stadium, is seamless and unforgettable.

And the beauty of it all? This is just the beginning. Women's sports are proving that with the right tools, they can compete on every level—bringing in...

Today, we’re talking about something that’s absolutely essential – understanding the emotional connection with fans and how using data in a more personal way can drive not just engagement, but lasting loyalty and growth and how you are going to learn about all of this and more at the Data ‘Talks’ Revenue Conference.

Being in a sold-out sports event is an overwhelming sensory and emotional experience. From the moment you step into the stadium, there’s an electric energy in the air that feels almost tangible. The hum of thousands of conversations, the constant buzz of excitement, and the occasional roar of a chant rising from the crowd wash over you as you find your seat. You can feel the anticipation building, almost like static electricity, as fans from all corners of the stadium unite in their passion for the game.

At times, the crowd falls into a tense silence, but even then, there’s a crackling energy that hovers in the air, as if everyone is holding their breath, waiting for the next moment to explode.

"When dealing with people, remember you are not dealing with creatures of logic, but with creatures of emotion." These are the wise words of Dale Carnegie. This sentiment cuts right to the heart of why personalising your fan engagement strategies is so important. Fans, especially in sports, don’t just make decisions based on logic or pure reasoning. They are driven by emotion – the thrill of victory, the pain of defeat, the pride in their team, the connection with their favourite players. In sports, emotions run deep, and that’s what makes this industry so unique.

Nudge theory, developed by behavioural economist Richard Thaler, tells us that people can be "nudged" into making certain decisions or behaviours through subtle changes in how choices are presented. And it’s not about making people do something; it’s about gently guiding them, often by tapping into their emotional triggers.

Think about it this way: if you want fans to attend more matches, buy more merchandise, or sign up for exclusive memberships, you need to nudge them toward those actions. You do that by making it emotionally compelling and easy for them – not just telling them logically why it’s a good idea. This is where data comes in, and it’s more crucial now than ever.

With the right data – and I mean personal data – you can understand what really motivates your fans. You’re not just treating them as one large group of people who love football or rugby; you’re treating each fan as an individual with unique preferences, passions, and emotional drivers.

This is where sports organisations can truly elevate their strategy. By using a Customer Data Platform (CDP) like Data Talks, clubs can bring together all the fan data in one place. This allows them to not just track who’s attending games or buying merchandise, but also to understand what resonates with individual fans: their favourite players, the games they never miss, or even the emotional moments they care about most.

When you have that data, you can personalise your communications, offers, and experiences. Instead of sending a generic email about the next home game, you send a personalised message to a fan who always attends derby matches, reminding them of how important their support is for that specific game. It’s a subtle nudge, but it works – because you’ve tapped into their emotions.

And why is this even more important in sports than in other industries?

Well, sports fandom is inherently emotional. Unlike other businesses where customers might be more logical in their choices, sports fans are loyal, often for life. They identify with the clubs they support, emotionally investing in every win, every loss, every season. This gives sports organisations a unique advantage – but it also means you need to be more thoughtful about how you engage them. You can’t rely on rational messaging...

We’re thrilled to welcome Kirsty Burrows, Head of the Safe Sport Unit at the International Olympics Committee, to today’s episode. Kirsty’s impressive credentials include serving as the IOC Lead Safeguarding Officer at Games-time, Academic Director of the IOC Certificate: Safeguarding Officer in Sport, member of the Council of Europe’s Pool of Experts in Safe Sport, and author of the IOC Safeguarding Toolkit (2017).

In this insightful conversation with Lorraine Moalosi, Kirsty discusses the importance of embedding safeguarding into an organization’s DNA rather than viewing it as an abstract concept. She also addresses the challenges faced by international organizations in enforcing safeguarding measures globally and offers practical advice for sports organizations aiming to integrate safeguarding into their culture and operations.

This special episode highlights the essential role of safeguarding in sports and reminds us of the people behind the extraordinary achievements at the Olympics.

We are continuing with our “10 components you need to include in your sports marketing strategy today” series and today’s focus is on leveraging your social media platforms. This is the 6th component we are discussing so if you have missed the first 5, make sure to listen to those too.

According to Nielsen, 47% of people who watch sports on TV or via digital platforms simultaneously watch other live content. Among these different multi-screen viewing activities, social media engagement makes up 32% of this total number. And this number is even higher for Gen Z, where social media stands for 46% of their viewing activities. So it then goes without saying: making social media a part of your sports marketing strategy should be a given. By being present and playing an active role in your supporters’ favorite social media platforms, you are able to:

1. Open a window into the lives of your supporters and understand their specific needs, preferences, and behaviors.
2. Maximize fan engagement by interacting with them on social media, for instance via accounts that belong to your club or athletes.
3. Leverage the social media data you have collected about your supporters to find and create new monetization opportunities.

However, there is a huge mistake that most sports organizations make when it comes to social media. From small clubs to big ones such as FC Barcelona, this mistake is indeed a common one. Many sports organizations actually make the mistake of not converting their followers into contacts in their database. Let’s take FC Barcelona as an example. Out of more than 350 million social media followers, Barcelona only had less than 3 million contacts.

Not converting your social media followers to contacts in your database can limit your sponsorship value and the effectiveness of your communications. So you won’t be able to segment or target effectively, personalization becomes near impossible if you don’t understand your fans. And you can’t understand your fans if they are not even in your contact database.

So how can you make sure that you increase your social media followers while simultaneously growing your contact database? Remember we said that content is king? That’s what you need to leverage to grow your social media followers and contact database. However, it is crucial that you direct your social media followers to one of your own platforms. Here are a few examples of such content:

1. Giveaways where your supporters have to sign-up and leave their contact information
2. Another amazing way you can grow your contact database is to run competitions
3. Promote gated content on your social media. This will require fans to once again, sign-up in order to access the content
4. Subscriptions are another fantastic way of gaining more followers while growing your contact database. Do you have a newsletter or a blog? Are you maybe a bigger organization with a digital newsroom or do you offer regular public relations communications? Then why not create a subscription call to action? Something along the lines of, “subscribe to our newsletter and never miss a thing we do ever again”.
5. Give discounts and vouchers - Everyone loves discounts and vouchers, especially nowadays where “entertainment” is becoming more expensive and sports tickets are becoming more and more expensive. So why not offer your followers discount codes if they sign up for something on your website or any other platforms you own?

In summation, leveraging social media is crucial for every sports organization’s growth.

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Meet Soleen Al-Zou'bi

Head of Women’s Football & Assistant Technical Director at Jordan Football Association and Co-founder and president of Finaa Organization - a non-profit organization that empowers girls and women through football. Soleen is also a Women’s Football Committee member and Youth Panel member at the Asian Football Confederation (AFC). 

We sat down with Soleen to discuss:

1. The importance of following your passion
2. The growth of women's football in Jordan
3. The future of football 
4. 
   

You can connect with Soleen on LinkedIn and if you would like to join Soleen and other fantastic women in sports in a community specially made for advancing women's sports, you can do by joining our community so you never miss a thing. 

Today we are focusing on why you should prioritize Over the top streaming (OTT) platform as part of your sports marketing strategy. This is the 5th component out of the ten that we will be deep diving into as part of our “10 components you need to include in your sports marketing strategy today”. If you missed the first five, be sure to listen to those as well.

Unlike traditional TV, an OTT platform allows sports organizations to offer streaming content to their supporters via their preferred devices, such as mobile phones or tablets. According to Nielsen’s 2022 global sports marketing report, “as connected devices gain momentum as the great amplifier of content, access to content continues to expand, with 40.7% of global fans now opting to stream live sports events through digital platforms.” This simply means that the usage of OTT will only keep on growing.

OTT is a compelling component to include in your sports marketing strategy especially if you are:

1. A women’s sports organization - We have often spoken about the lack of visibility for women in sports here on this blog. Thanks to the advent of digital platforms such as social media and over-the-top (OTT) streaming platforms, women's sports were estimated to gain a 96% increase in visibility. Here are a few examples: The UEFA, YouTube, and DAZN deal that aimed to "bring fans all over the world closer to the action than ever before". Eleven securing global rights for the Thai women's league and working with the Football Association of Thailand "to champion the competition to fans across the region and globally". Somyot Poompanmoung, president of the Football Association of Thailand was quoted saying:  “We’re excited to work with Eleven on a new chapter for Thai women’s football, and this agreement will give fans unprecedented access to the Thai Women’s League domestically, across South East Asia, and worldwide. Over the next three years, we have a great opportunity to increase the visibility of the women’s game, including the ability to engage new fans via a free-to-watch game every matchday.” OTT is a perfect example of how technology can become an important way of making innovation inclusive. It solves the real issue of the lack of visibility of women's sports.
2. A smaller sports organization with great ambition but not necessarily great resources such as high negotiating power with TV stations.

The benefits of using an OTT platform are many, but to name a few, using OTT can help sports organizations:

1. reach a younger and wealthier audience – generation Z
2. target your audience with hyper-personalized content and ads – and if you own the platform, you will also gain better data
3. Retarget your supporters – OTT is a great channel to use for retargeting your supporters with ads that are relevant to them.

So if you want to create a sports marketing strategy that is successful and sustainable, as well as leverage your marketing campaigns and deliver hyper-personalized supporter experiences, then you should make your OTT platform a priority.

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An increasing number of supporters expect to receive some form of content during the off-season. Moreover, with the rapid increase in content creation and consumption across different platforms and channels, the demand for additional sports content has also grown. According to Nielsen’s 2022 global sports marketing report: “the demand for content related to a live event (match announcements, highlights, recap videos, etc.) is almost as high as it is for digitally delivered events themselves.” 

That’s why this episode of the podcast is dedicated to delving deeper into the fourth component of our “10 components you need to include in your sports marketing” series. And this component is - Content is King.

The interest in sports content (both related to and not related to live sports events) is becoming more important, especially among the younger generation. This is a crucial piece of information since the same generation, Generation Z, also is the biggest global consumer cohort – with a spending power of a whopping $140 million in the US alone.

Examples of content that sports organizations can leverage to get their highest fan engagement to date, include:

• Videos centered around pre-game events, post-game events, and some behind-the-scenes footage in practice, for example
• Video on Demand content that can be delivered specially to individual supporters upon request. You can do this through both traditional television broadcasting and over-the-top streaming platforms
• Another type of content that sports organizations can leverage is content generated by the supporters themselves. This content is usually created and shared via social media, with TikTok and Twitch having the highest usage rate gains in comparison to other platforms between April 2020 – August 2021.
• Fantasy sports games are another fantastic way in which sports organizations from leagues to clubs, can use content to engage fans. Fantasy sports allow a fan to act as the owner of a team and give them the power to cut (drop), sign (draft), and trade the players of their choosing. Where points and standings are given based on an athlete's true performance in games.

There are different types of content that you can really leverage to increase fan engagement to the highest it has ever been in your sports organization. Some other types include sports scores, statistics, game summaries, sports news, photographs, video and audio files and or podcasts, and other similar sports-related information and services, in text, multimedia, or any other format.

As you can see, there is a mountain of opportunities for content creation that sports organizations can leverage and monetize.

But how can you achieve this in a way that guarantees results beyond your expectations?

By collecting relevant data about your supporters, using a Sports Customer Data Platform so you can uncover the necessary insights about your supporters in order to understand the type of content your supporters want and the channels and/or platforms they would prefer to interact with your content. Once you have uncovered these insights, you will be able to deliver hyper-personalized content to your fans from the same platform, the sports CDP.

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Meet August Berg an academy coach at BP FC here in Sweden. He is also a sports CDP advisor here at Data Talks with a passion for helping sports organizations engage with their fans better than ever before.

We sat down with August to discuss:

1. the importance of academy football
2. the challenges academy football face
3. changes needed to make academy football the best it can be
4. and of course, we discussed August's journey in academy football and why it was important for him to get involved in the business side of sports by working at Data Talks as a sports CDP advisor.

About Data Talks:

Data Talks helps you to create a world-class supporter experience, based on your data. With their leading-edge Customer Data Platform (CDP), you can build personalized fan engagement by collecting, analyzing, and acting on your data. First, you collect supporter data from scattered sources, such as websites, email, social media, apps, ads, plus more, into one place. Then you get a 360° profile view where you can discover valuable insights. Last but not least, you act on your insights using automated campaigns to create an outstanding supporter experience!

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We are living in the fastest-changing communications technology landscape than ever before. New software and applications are sprouting up like mushrooms. Think about it, fifty years ago, the majority of people did not have email addresses. But nowadays it’s virtually impossible to conduct any kind of process in your sports organization without an email.

Less than twenty years ago Facebook didn’t exist. But now it has been downloaded by at least 5 billion people. That is more than 60% of the world's population. Humanity has become more technological. So, “if you can’t beat them, join them”, right?

This is where working data-driven comes into play. Whether you are a league, federation, or club, a men’s team or women’s team, no matter the region of the world you find yourself in, working data-driven is key to the success of your organization.

One of the biggest challenges to working data-driven that sports organizations face is having data stored in many different sources. For example, your merchandise stats would be on one platform while your ticketing data would be on another. This is a huge issue because:

1. It takes a lot of effort and time to make sense out of your data let alone derive any kind of useful insights from it
2. You can’t share this data easily with the rest of the team, especially those from other departments as you would have to individually access each source to do. Once again, quite consuming and laborious.
3. It’s had to make innovative and proactive decisions about the future of your organization if you can’t really get the full picture from all your data since it’s scattered all over many sources.

So the most important step towards working data-driven is ensuring that you get a reliable single source of truth that can show you actionable insights from your supporter behavior. And this reliable single source of truth is a sports CDP. If you have already done your research and know the impressive results you can get with a CDP, today we want to give you practical tips on how to ensure that your entire organization has a data-driven culture. If you are not quite at this stage yet, don’t worry, we have you covered. We have many resources on our website to help you catch up to speed, find link in the description below.

If you want to ensure that your entire sports organization has a data-driven approach to everything, here are some practical tips:

1. Start at the top - Top management needs to understand the importance of working data-driven and then embrace this fully. They need to lead by example and set that expectation of working data-driven.
2. Communicate why you’re going data-driven with the rest of your team - Making changes and adopting a “because management decided so” approach does not work. Instead, you have to communicate your vision with your team.
3. Improve data transparency - You simply cannot preach a culture that is unattainable. This is a strong CDP use case because a CDP keeps data organized, unified, updated, and stored in one place. Moreover, the CDP can be integrated with other systems such as your ticketing system, and Customer Relationship Management system (CRM). And this data can be shared easily with other departments and the rest of the team.
4. Measure the before and after - It’s one thing to tell people that something works and it’s entirely another to show them.
5. Applaud your team - Embracing change can be very difficult. So if your team has done incredibly well in implementing all the changes, you have to encourage them by celebrating them.

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We are continuing our “10 components to include in your marketing strategy series”. Today we are looking at component number 2, personalization. We will briefly discuss what personalization is, and why it’s important that you include it in your marketing strategy. But first, a couple of statistics:

• 91% of consumers say they are more likely to shop with brands that provide offers and recommendations that are relevant to them.
• 71% of consumers feel frustrated when a shopping experience is impersonal - so for a sports organization such shopping experiences including buying tickets and merchandise for example. If that experience is impersonal, 71% of your supporters will be frustrated.

So then the question becomes since consumers are adamant about getting relevant and personal experiences, how can your sports organization ensure that they do this for their fans?

That’s where personalization comes in. Personalization is the process of tailoring a service or a product to accommodate the specific needs, wants and preferences of individual supporters and/or groups of supporters. This process is crucial because it helps deliver the right message to the right supporter at the right time and through the right channel. Therefore ensuring that all your communications with your supporters are relevant and indeed personal.

Just as the statistics we began with suggest, personalization is important because it increases supporter satisfaction which is more likely to lead to an increase in their loyalty and engagement with your organization. Which ultimately leads to higher revenue. Happy fans happy days.

We have helped one of our customers, AIK, generate 6 figures with one campaign within 2 weeks targeting only 2% of their supporter base. Do you know what the secret was? Personalization. Because our customer’s communications with their supporters were relevant and personal, their supporters engaged overwhelmingly with the campaign.

In order for you to do this right, that is, continually create and deliver world-class supporter experiences that are personalized, you need a sports customer data platform. That’s what our customer built their campaign with. With the sports CDP, you can cover all your bases from beginning to end. How, well, let’s break down personalization - getting the right message to the right supporter at the right time and through the right channel.

• To get the message you are sending to your supporters right, you need to first understand them. A CDP provides you with a 360-degree supporter view that helps you understand your supporters in and out. This 360-degree supporter is only fully possible with the CDP and no other software.
• Secondly, just because you have a message does not mean that message is appropriate for everyone. A CDP will help you understand which message to send to which supporters.
• Thirdly, timing is everything. Could you imagine sending your supporter an email asking them to buy a season ticket when they have just purchased one? Your organization would come across as pushy. A CDP will help you know when to send your communications so you can always get the timing right.
• And finally, some supporters prefer buying tickets online while others prefer buying offline. A CDP will help you figure out the right channel to reach your supporters through.

That is what we mean when we say, get the right message to the right supporter at the right time and through the right channel - the very definition of personalization. And just like our customer AIK understood, the sports CDP is your best friend if producing results beyond your wildest expectations through personalization is what you want.

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Meet Lucy Mills

From working with the FC Barcelona Foundation and Impact Youth Foundation Ghana to being a member of the Board of Directors at Lewes Football Club, UK, and a  Contributor to the International Working Group on Women and Sport, and co-founding READY - a community of industry professionals coming together to learn about innovation, technology, and Web 3.0, Lucy Mills is indeed leaving her mark in the sports industry and contributing to the betterment of sports for all.

Because Lucy is so multi-faceted and has contributed to the sports industry through such varied projects, we could not fit everything into this podcast. So we limited our scope to focus on:

1. her work with the F.C Barcelona Foundation 
2. how she is contributing to sports as a member of various boards across different countries
3. how sports organizations can contribute to equality within the sports industry
4. why she has dedicated so much of her time and efforts to serving the sports industry

Don't forget to connect with Lucy on LinkedIn and direct whatever questions you might have for her to her. She is always keen to connect with more people.

This is something that our customer AIK have seen incredible results from when they generated 6 figures during one marketing campaign. So how did they do this? 

Well, as I mentioned, the first step was implementing a CDP. Once they had their data in the CDP and understood a bit more about their supporters, they created what we call segments - that is, groups of supporters that share one or more characteristics and attributes that you identify through the segmentation process. AIK actually only decided to target a segment of their supporters which accounted for only 2% of their entire supporter database. Next, they sent them personalized communications via email urging them to buy season tickets. But they didn’t just stop there, for those who didn’t buy the tickets, AIK sent them a follow-up personalized email reminding them to buy the tickets. Essentially, retargeting them ensuring that their supporters did not miss out on the opportunity to buy season tickets.

Adopting a supporter-centric approach means putting your supporters at the center of everything you do. Whether it’s your pricing, or communications, let your supporters be at the heart of it. Once your supporters see how much you value them, their likelihood of sticking by you, through thick and thin, is much higher. So in a nutshell, the benefits of adopting a supporter-centric approach include increased loyalty from your supporters and higher revenue.

But how can you adopt a supporter-centric approach in a way that you are guaranteed to reap unparalleled results? The answer is of course by using a sports customer data platform. The CDP works by collecting your supporter data from various sources, both online and offline, and then unifying it and cleaning it to remove any duplicate data - thus giving you a complete and unified 360-degree view of your CDP. Thereafter, you can analyze this data to identify patterns in your supporters' behavior such as purchasing behavior and we behavior. The CDP does not just stop there though, it will then help you to act on this data.

In a nutshell, the sports CDP will help you adopt a supporter-centric approach by helping you to firstly, understand your supporters better so you can meet their needs, then secondly reach your supporters better when you segment your supporter data, thirdly, the CDP will help you communicate with your supporters better through personalization, fourthly it will also help you Increase your engagement rate with fans through retargeting, among other things.

So if you haven’t already, start adopting a supporter-centric approach to your marketing strategy today so you can enjoy higher levels of loyalty from your fans and indeed higher revenue too.

As we have previously discussed, strategy is important because it is your roadmap to achieving all your organizational goals and beyond. Today we will expand on this by giving you 10 key components to include in your marketing strategy.

1. Adopt a supporter-centric approach - this means putting your supporters at the center of everything you do. Whether it’s your pricing or communications, let your supporters be at the heart of it. Once your supporters see how much you value them, their likelihood of sticking by you, through thick and thin, is much higher.
2. Personalization is the second component to include in your marketing strategy This means delivering the right message to the right supporter at the right time and through the right channel. - Personalization is indeed another way of being supporter-centric. This will not only drive supporter loyalty but it will increase your revenue.
3. Third on the list is, working data-driven - how can you possibly be supporter-centric or deliver personalized messaging if you are not working data-driven? So consider this your first point of action before you proceed with anything else. We will include some resources in the description about how you can get started on working data drive.
4. Content is king - so this is yet another component to include in your marketing strategy. From content about live games or past games to supporter-generated content, supporters are hungry for more thanks to the hyper-digitalized world we live in. So, give your supporters what they want!
5. Next up, you have to prioritize OTT - traditional broadcasting and live matches are still great but OTT is another amazing opportunity. Especially for small sports organizations and underrepresented groups such as women in sports. OTT gives you back the power to reach your supporters and show them your games.
6. Number six, leverage your social media platforms - this one is great because by now the majority of sports organizations understand the importance of social media. You can reach your fans directly and interact with them without much delay. Hopefully, you are well on your way with this component.
7. Influencer marketing is another vital component to include in your marketing strategy. This has become crucial and can be evidenced in sports such as boxing. Influencer marketing is great because it helps you create excitement about your games while also offering a personal feel that younger fans often find easier to relate to.
8. Eight, you have to incorporate new sponsorship opportunities - “According to Nielsen’s 2021 Trust in Advertising Study, 81% of global respondents either completely or somewhat trust brand sponsorships at sporting events.” So embrace new partnership sponsorship opportunities such as Crypto/Blockchain/NFT, Automotive, and Insurance because the chances of a high return on investment are high.
9. This next component is one that you should approach with great care and consideration. Do your research first to ensure that you get it right. This component is, to make social justice a key component of your marketing strategy.There is a great opportunity for sports organizations to address social justice issues on their platforms. Issues such as diversity, equality and inclusion are very crucial to sports. Why not look around and see if there is any impact you can make in this area.
10. Last but certainly not least, You should prioritize women's sports - by making women in sports an essential part of your sports marketing strategy, you are at the same time ensuring that women’s sports receive more exposure – across your own channels and beyond. If you don’t know where to begin with this, why not collaborate with us on our initiative women in sports: beyond the hashtag? Find details in the description below.

Join Karen Ramirez, founder of Sporting Sheroes, on this DataTalk Sports CDP Crash Course Podcast episode as she previews the Paris 2024 Olympic & Paralympic Games.

Discover the exciting firsts and ongoing debates, from gender parity and family provisions for athletes to the inclusion of new sports like surfing and breakdancing. Learn about the significant changes in women’s sports, including improvements in uniforms and the introduction of prize money for Olympic Gold medalists in athletics.

Tune in for a comprehensive overview of the upcoming Games and how they're set to make history.

Meet Alba Pardo, co-founder of Women in Action Sports Network.

We sat down with Alba to talk about:

• being a woman in action sports
• all the exciting changes happening within the sports industry
• the importance of community building
• practical tips to help sports organizations to build strong and inclusive communities

Alba and the team over at Women in Action Sports Network have an Entrepreneurs Bootcamp happening in Spring 2023!  "In just 3 days, we’ll define your business vision, identify your ideal client or customer, build your strategic plan to create a thriving business that meets your lifestyle goals and honors what’s most important to you.

Whether you’ve been in business for years and need a revamp or whether you’re just starting out with your first iteration, you’ll walk away clear-headed, excited, and with the tools and community to accelerate your business immediately"

The question we are answering is, should you invest in a sports CDP if you have a limited budget? The answer straight away is a resounding yes. Although this might sound counterintuitive, it’s those with limited budgets that especially need a sports CDP. Why?

Because a sports CDP is going to help you:

1. Increase your income - so why would you choose to not invest in something that is going to help you reach your bottom line faster? These are all these ways you can increase your income with a CDP
   1. You can leverage your supporter data to boost your sponsorship value. And we all know that sponsorship is one of the biggest income generators for sports organizations. Using data insights from your sports CDP, you can find your supporters’ brand affinities and use these as proof of return on investment when approaching potential sponsors.
   2. Better segmentation and personalization will help you sell more tickets and merchandise. The biggest hurdle sports organizations face is continually filling out the stadium. And if you are a smaller club without a big name/brand behind you, it may be even harder for you to sell merchandise. With a CDP, however, you will get to do precise segmenting that will help you know who you are targeting with your tickets and then through personalization, you will be able to communicate with them effectively. You will therefore be able to generate more income by selling more tickets and merchandise and filling out the stadium at every given opportunity.
   3. Most sports organizations make the mistake of thinking, “our fans will buy tickets because they love us and they want to”, but the truth is, there are a lot of things competing with you for your supporters' attention. Instead of buying a ticket to one of your games, your supporters could be going to the museum, or cinema, streaming a movie, whatever the case. And just as much as you have a limited budget, they have a limited budget. But the CDP can help you with this. With a CDP, you can keep track of the supporters who have already bought tickets and those who haven’t so you can keep reminding them to purchase a ticket. When you make it easy for your supporters to buy tickets by sending them reminders with links to make the process easier, the chances of them actually engaging with you are much higher. And in this case, higher engagement can lead to higher income when more and more fans buy tickets.
   
   

So in a nutshell, having a limited budget is not an excuse to not buy a CDP rather, it’s all the more reason you should buy a CDP. So you can make more money.

In this episode, we will give you a concise guide on how you can win over Gen Z fans.

1. Focus on World-class fan experience in and outside the stadium -this is something that we touched open in our previous episode with Julia Roca Valverde. Instead of just the game, as was previously the norm, focus on the entertainment value as well. A sport that is doing this well over in the United States is boxing. Which is now one of the top three fastest-growing sports in the US. Boxing uses influencers as a marketing tool to generate buzz and excitement about the sport. This buzz is often felt both online and offline, both in stadium and outside of the stadium.
2. Prioritize your OTT platform - stop just relying on traditional broadcasting. OTT is where the magic happens too. Did you know that the Spanish football league LaLiga has streamed a whole match on TikTok? This generated 733,000 total viewers while the conventional broadcast on TV channel yielded an average audience of 678,000.
3. Take advantage of technology - we have come such a long way with technology it would be a shame if you did not use this to your advantage. Technologies such as NFTs, VR broadcasting, and virtual fan clubs increase entertainment and engagement value for fans, thus increasing loyalty.
4. Engage through social media and influencers - we mentioned TikTok earlier. Use social media to your advantage. Use it to listen in on what your fans want, what they are talking about, and so forth.

But remember, doing any of the above will only have limited results if you are not working data-driven and with software that has you covered in all areas. Areas such as deep insights on your fans' web behavior and purchase behavior. You won’t really know what your fans want and therefore cannot give whatever that is to them without a sports CDP.

We sat down with Julia Roca Valverde - a world-renowned Event Manager & Ticketing Strategist.

She has worked extensively in Sports Management, Ticketing Strategy, Event Production, and Coordination with events such as the Davis Cup. She also founded The Spanish Ticketing Association and is a lecturer at the EU Business School for the MBA and BA programs of the EU Virtual Campus.

For our interview we discussed:

1. How to create fantastic events
2. How sports organizations should approach their ticketing strategies
3. Julia's experience as a woman in sports
4. Changes Julia would love to see in the sports industry

Julia has graciously offered to chat with anyone who messages here on LinkedIn so if you have any questions at all, make sure to connect with Julia. 

The two most commonly used marketing technologies today are a Customer Data Platform (CDP) and a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. Across countries, regions, and industries – most people understand the power of using these marketing tools. However, if we had a penny for every time someone mistook a CDP functionality for that of a CRM, we would have a billion dollars in the bank by now.

Main takeaway:

The difference between an organization powering all their marketing strategies with a CDP versus just using a CRM is way too vast. You cannot develop good relationships or manage your relationship with your supporters well (the primary purpose of a CRM) without first knowing who they are. Nor can you sustainability power your organization with only manual data collection. Well, not if you want to grow anyway.

Read the blog: The key differences between a CDP and CRM you need to know about today

Try the CDP Demo for free

"... when I identified all of those cases, I began my quest for a solution that could deliver this. And so today, here we are with Data Talks CDP, a CDP that has delivered beyond our expectations" Kevin - Business to Consumer Manager Västerås IK. 

There are many CDP vendors out there today. That’s because, across many different industries, everyone who is interested in future-proofing their organization while simultaneously maximizing revenue has realized that the solution to this is the CDP. Now just because someone knows how important a CDP is to any organization, does not mean that 1) if they claim to be a CDP vendor, they are legit. Additionally, even if a CDP vendor is legit, it does not necessarily mean that they know how to support you in using the CDP to optimize all results including fan engagement, ticket and merchandise sales, and sponsorship value, among other things. This is especially true if you are in the sports industry and want to implement a CDP. Word of advice, you should not just pick any odd CDP vendor.

Main takeaway: 

Due to unique insights gained from the experience of working extensively with sports organizations across different markets and countries the sports CDP vendor is able to give you best practices and use cases of the CDP in a way that produces results.

Try the Demo for FREE

Meet Robert Vilahamn

From founding Vilahamn Standard Soccer Academy in Uganda to being the Head Coach of BK Häcken, a team in the highest division of women’s football in Sweden, and being a Partner & CEO för Gignation, Robert's career spans many fields and industries. However, it is his passion for women’s sports and sports in general that has brought him to our Podcast.

Some key takeaways from our conversation include:

1. It's very important for the other 50% of the population, men, to be allies of women in sports
2. We should not compare women's football to men's football at all.
3. The language we use, such as, "hit like a girl", "kick like a girl" and "run like a girl" can have very detrimental effects. And as such, we should do away with such phrases and most importantly, such attitudes.

Listen to this episode to learn more from Robert's experience. 

Key takeaways:

1. It is important to have a contact database and not just followers
2. The larger your contact database, the more revenue you are likely to make, especially in the way of sponsorships.
3. You can grow your contact database by getting started with email marketing

Excerpt: Do you want to know how you can generate 6 figures from one campaign just like our customer AIK did? Then you have come to the right place. Because today we are going to be learning about how you can grow your contact database. We will look at one very powerful way you can grow your contact database today. Anyone can get started right away. Whether you are a small sports organization with limited resources or you are a world-famous sports club. Listen to the very end so you come away, one step closer to six figures for your own organization.

Growing your contact database has become increasingly important nowadays. In recent months, many of us in the sports industry read about how Barcelona lost out on a higher sponsorship deal with Spotify because, although they had about 300 million social media followers, they only had about 3 million contacts in their database. Which is about only 1% of their total followership. From just this case alone, we learn that:

1. It is important to have a contact database and not just followers
2. The larger your contact database, the more revenue you are likely to make, especially in the way of sponsorships.

Excerpt: One of the most crucial sports CDP use cases is getting data insights. These insights are important to the success of your organization. Using a sports CDP, to power this process of getting data insights will help you in two main ways: 1) It will help you gain intelligence that you can use to drive all your decision-making processes. Such intelligence includes a better understanding of your supporters. This is what we call active intelligence - the in-the-moment awareness about every aspect of your business, your sports organization in our case, from real-time data designed to trigger immediate insights and actions.

The second way that a sports CDP can give you insights is by giving you actionable data insights. These are specific and relevant insights that lead to actions that can increase efficiency, revenue, and profits. For example, having a better understanding of your campaign performance and your supporters' behavior in this context.

So, what are the organization-wide benefits of using data insights from a sports CDP? 

1. You can monetize your data for better revenue. You can do this by leveraging your contact database to negotiate higher sponsorship value for example. Thus effectively increasing your organization’s revenue. Using data insights from a sports CDP will tell you the brand affinities your supporters have so that you can approach the right potential sponsors right from the beginning. Thus improving efficiency in how you do sponsorship campaigns.
2. Increased upsells and cross-sells is another benefit of using data insights from a sports CDP. When you have your data in front of you and understand the buying behavior of your supporters, you can know which ones to target and retarget, for instance. This goes beyond trying to make the first sale but rather extends to knowing what each supporter wants from you. Through personalization, you can create messages that provide upselling and cross-selling opportunities.
3. On that note, using data insights from a sports CDP will help you with better product development. Products in sports? Yes! The experience you give your supporters at your matches, either online or offline is a product. The merchandise you sell, a product. The stories you tell about your organization online, that is a product. We know that you can wait to get reviews or wait till you see the sales of tickets or merchandise to see how well your products are performing but why be reactive when you can be proactive? We believe strongly that, better supporter experience means better business. And a sports CDP fully supports this. With it, you can do a data drill down to find out, who is buying, what are they buying, when are they buying and how? In this way, you can find new ways to optimize your supporter experience both online and offline.
4. Last but not least, you getting insights from a sports CDP will lead to faster and better decision-making across all departments. Remember the active intelligence and the actionable data insights that we spoke about at the beginning? Just having these alone is a benefit. So straight off the bat, having a sports CDP leaves you better off than other organizations that do not have one. Why? Because knowledge is power. And what you know or don’t know makes all the difference. With insights from a sports CDP, you are always ready for action because you always have specific and detailed information about everything that is going on, thus saving you time and money. You get to make better decisions, quicker.

Our next guest, MARIA CAICEDO CABRERA is the director of America de Cali official sports training school in Bogota. At just 25 years old, she has many qualifications under her belt including a bachelor's in psychology, a Master's degree in executive coaching, sports, and high-performance psychology, and an MBA! Having just recently relocated back to Colombia from Spain, Maria is ready to make an impact in her country, to use her own words.

Connect with Maria and keep the conversation going here

If you would like to find out more about what America FC and Maria's organization are up to, you can check them out below:

1. www.escuelamerica.com  
2. Instagram 
3. Facebook

Hello and welcome to "Sports CDP Crash Course," the podcast where we dive deep into the strategies and insights that can help sports organisations thrive by propelling them to the centre of fans’ hearts and actions so they can become a core part of their fans’ lives. 'm your host, Lorraine Moalosi, and today we’re talking about how to sell more season memberships during the summer.

1. Gamification

First up is gamification. People love games and challenges, and a CDP can help you tap into this enthusiasm by creating engaging gamified experiences. You can encourage first time membership signs up by using gamification to draw in new fans. Use score prediction games and wheel of fortune to entice them into not wanting to miss out on the action.

You can design loyalty programs where fans earn points for attending games, purchasing merchandise, or engaging with your content on social media. These points can then be redeemed for rewards, such as discounts on season memberships or exclusive merchandise.

Imagine a fan competing to reach the top of the leaderboard by attending the most games or sharing the most content. This not only drives engagement but also fosters a sense of community and competition among fans, making them more likely to commit to a season membership to continue participating.

2. Having a Preference Centre

Next, let’s talk about having a preference centre. A CDP allows you to create a centralised hub where fans can manage their preferences. This means they can choose what type of content they want to receive and how they want to be contacted.

For example, some fans might prefer email updates, while others might want push notifications or SMS messages. By respecting these preferences and delivering content in their preferred format, you increase the chances of your messages being read and acted upon. This personalised approach can significantly boost the effectiveness of your membership campaigns.

3. Teasing Exclusive Offers

Our third use case is teasing exclusive offers. A CDP can help you identify your most engaged fans and offer them exclusive early-bird deals or sneak peeks at upcoming promotions. By segmenting your audience, you can create a sense of urgency and exclusivity.

Imagine sending a special offer to your top 10% of fans, giving them first access to new season memberships or exclusive events. This not only makes them feel valued but also encourages them to act quickly to secure their spot, driving early sales and creating buzz around your memberships.

There are many different KPIs in sports that you can create based on your organization's specific needs. But no matter what strategic goals you are trying to achieve, big or small, one thing is for certain: your KPIs need to be SMART. SMART is an acronym that stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. In other words, when formulating a KPI, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

• Is this KPI Specific enough? And you should be very detailed here by accounting for what exactly needs to be accomplished? Who’s responsible for it? And what steps need to be taken to achieve it?
• Next, Is this KPI Measurable? You can only measure what you quantify so make sure that your strategy has some form of measurability so you can know the success of it, by comparing the before and after numbers. Saying, I want to increase revenue, for example, is specific but by how much becomes the next question. Hence, the need for measurability.
• Thereafter, you have to ask yourself, Is this KPI Attainable? Having big dreams is important however when setting up your strategy and goals, you have to give yourself a reality check. With the current resources and team you have, can you realistically achieve the goal you have just set or the strategy you want to implement? If not, what do you need to have in place to make your strategy attainable?
• Another crucial consideration is, How relevant is your strategy or goal to your organization? This is the part where you get to really ask yourself why you are setting that specific goal, pun intended. Those who work data-driven can really justify themselves at this stage by looking at what their data says and pursuing something in that direction. Whereas, unfortunately, if you are not working data-driven, you will have to make guestimates, which aren’t reliable at all. So, as a first step, we recommend, working data-driven. Listen to episode 3 to learn more about working data-driven.
• Finally, you want to be clear about the time you allocate to your strategy, goal, or whatever project you are working on. So, you should as questions like, What is the Time-frame for achieving this goal? When will you start implementing your strategy, when will the strategy be finished? You and your team need to be on the same page when it comes to timing.
• 
  

Setting KPIs according to this framework will make it so much easier for you to assess the performance of your different strategies.

What would this look like in practice?

If we were to look at the example about increasing revenue, this is what a smart goal would look like:

Grow the monthly recurring revenue of the organization by 150,000 within Q1 of 2022. This will be accomplished by creating targeted limited-edition merchandise campaigns, which will begin running in January  2022, on three social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram and the organization’s website. Since most of the organization’s purchases happen online, creating a buzz through the limited-edition merchandise and pushing this online will ultimately increase sales, and will increase our monthly recurring revenue.

The KPI here will be the increase in revenue. This means that the KPIs you set will act as indicators of how well you are performing on that goal. For instance, it could tell you that you are generating only 30% of the sales target you had set from the get-go. Or, it could tell you that you sold 10% over your target goal. Whatever the case, your KPIs will let you know when things are going according to plan and when they aren't.

Excerpt: 

...is copying another organization’s strategy as good of an idea as some people often think?

Well, In the words of Aristotle, the human being is “the most imitative creature in the world, and learns at first by imitation”. And this is crucial because “it allows us to learn new things quickly and efficiently by watching those around us” (May Institute). So naturally, even in sports, we look to those who have years of success under their belts and try to replicate their recipe for success.

There is nothing inherently wrong with taking inspiration from someone else, this includes when you are trying to come up with a strategy. In fact, this is one of the most natural processes ever. However, I would like to draw your attention to the, “at first” part of Aristotle’s quote on imitation - we learn at first by imitation.

This part implies that imitation is only a short-term solution that can be used in the early stages of strategy development. The problem, however, arises when organizations try to copy each other and do exactly what the other is doing, simply because they see that it has worked for them. Not only that but using this as a long-term strategy as well. The main problem associated with this is:

Unpredictable and limited effectiveness: Copying is always unpredictable and limited because,

1. You do not have the full information on what led the organization you are taking inspiration from to decide to pursue that strategy in the first place,
2. One size does not fit all, meaning, what works for another club might not necessarily work for yours
3. No two organizations are the same so in essence, every sports organization needs to have a custom strategy that addresses its specific needs.
4. Fans have different reasons for supporting different clubs, so copying someone else’s strategy might negatively affect your fan engagement if your two clubs’ fans have different motivations.
5. 
   

So, in a nutshell, what we are saying is that smaller clubs should not just copy the strategies of bigger clubs. Nor should younger and less established sports organizations try to copy the strategies of older more established organizations. Women’s clubs should most definitely not just copy and paste men’s clubs' strategies.

But what should all these sports organizations do instead of merely copying each other’s marketing strategies?

All sports organizations should use data to power their marketing strategies. This might sound like a cumbersome process, but you too can get started today. You can start on your data collection journey.

We have written a very detailed blog post on data collection which covers topics such as:

• Why you should be collecting data
• Obstacles to data collection
• The benefits of collecting data
• Why a sports CDP is the best tool to use to collect data
• How to get started
• 
  

Make sure you read that, bookmark it and share it with your time and use it as a first step on your journey to having powerful and efficient strategies powered by real up-to-date data. And if you have missed out on our strategy series, listen to episodes 20 and 21 to catch up.

We sat down with the co-founder of Winners FDD - Fiona Green and discussed all things working data driven in the sports industry. So listen to this episode if you want to learn more about:

• Challenges and benefits of working data driven
• Implementing a successful data strategy
• Representation of women in sports and data industries
• Overcoming imposter syndrome 

Excerpt: we also want to give you something more concrete for you to refer to. So, we have listed a few resources below in the description box to help you with specific strategies. For example, a first party-data strategy - is for those who want to make collecting first-party data their priority. An omnichannel guide for those who want to give their supporters consistent and seamless experiences, both online and offline. We have also included Cult Branding’s overview of 52 Marketing strategies.

Going into specific use cases might help us all understand what a strategy looks like so why not dive right into that? We will underpin these use cases by using actual examples of what some of our customers were able to achieve by having a solid strategy. You can see these in more detail on our website www.datatalks.se.

Let’s first look at how AIK generated 6 figures during one marketing campaign - yes you heard right, 6 figures during one marketing campaign.

Every strategy begins with a goal so what was AIK’s goal? To get as many of their supporters as possible to buy a season ticket. What did they do?

1. They prioritized having a 360-degree view of each of their supporters by using a sports CDP.
2. And then they divided their supporters into three segments and began to send personalized emails to each supporter segment.

And what were the results? More than 600 000 Euros were generated from a campaign targeting only about 2% of their entire supporter database. And all of this was created in the space of 2 weeks.

Now let’s look at how Västerås IK took its digital marketing journey to the next level!

We have often spoken about the importance of working data-driven and going digital. One sports organization that took our advice in its stride is indeed Västerås IK. Their goal was to simply be more data-driven and digital. And what did they do? They integrated their ticketing and merchandise providers in their sports CDP to get a 360-degree view of their supporters. And what have been the results? Västerås IK now understands each of their supporters better and are in a great position to send out hyper-personalized messages to them in order to increase ticket and merchandise sales and increase fan engagement. All of this in 3 months

Last but not least, let’s look at how IFK Göteborg boosted their revenue on their Christmas campaign and Black Friday Campaign.

So what was their goal? IFK Göteborg wanted to increase their transactions and revenue for the Christmas and Black Friday periods. So what did they do? After successfully integrating their merchandise suppliers into the CDP, they created two target segments and send them personalized emails. And the results were a ten-fold and 13-fold increase in revenue from the Christmas and Black Friday campaigns, respectively.

It’s worth noting that all these three organizations use a sports CDP to power their strategies. Anything other than a CDP leaves too much room for error since the results of whatever you do cannot be forecasted before you embark on your goal neither can they be effectively measured, and/or monitor during and after your campaigns.

The word strategy is a commonly used among sports organization but this word is often misunderstood. So in today's episode we dig into the meaning of strategy and then discuss why it's important to have a strategy in place.

Excerpt: 

So, what is strategy? The management study guide defines strategy as a “ A general direction set for the company, sports organization in our case, and its various components to achieve a desired state in the future.” Let’s break this down a little bit.

At its core, strategy simply means asking yourself what you want to achieve, when you want to achieve it and how you can achieve it. Let’s first look at the what  - what do you want to achieve. For most organizations the answer will be higher revenues, for example. But instead of leaving this “goal” vague like this, you want to get specific. For instance, an organization could say, we currently have a monthly recurring revenue of 200 000 and we would like to increase that to 300 000.

From being a professional football player and goalkeeper for the likes of Kungsbacka DFF and Paris St-Germain to being a community manager, and a co-founder, to graduating from the Football Business Academy in Switzerland and transitioning to Sponsoring and women’s business development side of things at Paris St-Germain. And now being director of Women’s football at N3XT SPORTS - Arianna Criscione has contributed a great deal to the sports industry.

We had the privilege of sitting down with Arianna and discussing women's football, changes in the industry, digitalization, and strategy, among other things. Listen to this episode to get practical advice on, not only how you can support women's football but also on what you can do to take your sports organization to the next level using strategy. N3XT Sports' report - Enabling women's football to disrupt the industry is also available to download.

If you would like to connect with Arianna, you can do so here 

Transcript

You often hear about collecting data but do you know what data you are meant to collect, why you are meant to collect it, where to collect it, and the best practices for collecting data? Today we are here to shed some much-needed light on all of this. 

First question: What is data? There are many different kinds of data one can collect but in today’s context, we are focusing on supporter data. Supporter data refers to information that relates to an identified or identifiable individual supporter.

Depending on where you get this data, it can either be classified as zero-party data, first-party, second-party or third party data. The difference in all of this is in who you collect this data from and how. For example, zero party data you get from direct interaction with a supporter for example. Think quizzes, surveys, and those sorts of interactions. First-party data gives you insights from the analytics and the web behavior of your supporters. Second-party data is another organization’s first-party data that they share with you. While third-party data is information collected by companies that don't have a direct relationship with supporters. First-party data is the data you should be aiming to collect.

Why should you collect supporter data in the first place?

Because then you can analyze this data and act on it. This is crucial for any organization, and sports organizations are not an exception. Collecting data allows you to work in a data-driven manner. This in turn helps you:

• Sell more tickets and merchandise by delivering hyper-personalized supporter experiences
• boost your sponsorship value by approaching sponsors which your supporters have a high affinity for
• Increase fan engagement and loyalty by delivering the right message to the right supporter at the right time and through the right Channel
• Basically, filling out the stadium at any given chance

It might seem counterintuitive to invest in a sports CDP when you have a small marketing budget. The most natural thing would seem to be tightening up your belt. However, we actually would advise against that because that would do more harm to your sports organization than good. Instead, we advise you to invest in a sports CDP because it will help you:

1. Sell more tickets and merchandise
2. Attract sponsors
3. Increase fan engagement
4. Fill the stadium at every given opportunity

Learn how you can maximize your marketing budget spend with a sports CDP today.

Did you know that fan engagement is much broader and more meaningful than just getting likes on your social media channels? That you can actually activate your fans so that they can create positive sentiment, thoughts, and connection with your sports organization on your behalf? Learn how you can increase fan engagement with a sports CDP. 

There are so many marketing trends out there and we know that it can be difficult to discern the facts from fakes. That's why we have been used our expertise in the field of sports marketing plus our experience in the industry and research to find bring you the five sports marketing trends you should follow today

Join host Lorraine Moalosi in an insightful conversation with Thomas Rypens, Direct-to-Consumer Director at Club Brugge. Discover how Thomas oversees fan engagement through ticketing, merchandising, and digital strategies, while leading Club Brugge's Customer Experience team.

Gain valuable insights into fan behaviour and the pivotal role of innovation in shaping the future of sports. Tune in for an engaging discussion that explores the evolving landscape of sports industry dynamics.

There are many fantastic opportunities available for women's sports today so listen to today's episode to discover a few that you should be taking advantage of today.

Excerpt: "Women’s organizations are notoriously understaffed, underutilized, and underfunded. The marketing push and funding that they get is no different either. So of course whatever marketing solutions they choose to invest in should maximize their budgeting spend by helping them:

1. Build for long term sustainable growth
2. Increase ticket and merchandise sales
3. Fill the stadium at every given opportunity
4. Negotiate better sponsorship and partnership deals
5. Grow a following and increase fan engagement
6. Turn supporters into advocates"

Women in sports: beyond the hashtag - a Data Talks initiative which aims to help improve the visibility of women in sports.

Are you a woman in sports?

Or do you know a woman in sports?

Then consider taking part in our initiative or sharing this initiative with a wonderful woman in sports that you may know.

Excerpt: "When you segment well, you benefit from a sharper focus on your supporters, better internal alignment, and more effective marketing plans, all of which contribute to stronger results. So think of segmentation as your building blocks to:

1. Selling more tickets and merchandise
2. Increasing fan engagement
3. Filling up your stadium at every single game
4. Building high-value partnerships and sponsorship deals, amongst other things"

In this episode, we teach you how to take the guesswork out of your segmentation because less guessing equals more accuracy which equals better results. And at the end of the day, results are what matters!

Happy International Women's Day to all women!

We see you, we hear you and we celebrate you.

This year's women's day theme is #breakthebias

So in this episode, we talk a little bit about what that means for the sports industry. But we don't just stop there. We also look at three amazing sports organizations that have been working hard to propel women's sports forward. This is a topic that we are passionate about.

Check out our women in sports initiative: Women in sports: Beyond the hashtag to see how you can get involved.

"This episode does not aim to oversimply the complexity of the issues faced by women in sports and women’s sports organizations but rather aims to discuss the most pressing issues that we have identified. These issues are readily solvable, that’s why we chose to focus on them."

We focus on:

Number 1: Lack of funding and support

Number 2: Limited media coverage

Number 3: Limited marketing spend

Data Talks has recently launched the Women in Sports: Beyond the Hashtag initiative which aims to increase visibility for women in sports and women's sports organizations. Read more about it here to see how we can help you (if you are a woman in sports). Alternatively, you could read more to see what steps you can take to help support us and our initiative for women in sports.

This is a continuation of the previous episode. We answer some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Customer Data Platforms (CDP) to help you make informed decisions. So listen to this episode to get answers to those burning questions.

Today we answer some Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about Customer Data Platforms (CDP) to help you make informed decisions. So listen to this episode to get answers to those burning questions.

So we have presented you with many irrefutable reasons why you should invest in a Customer Data Platform (CDP) and you can clearly see the invaluable benefits you will reap from using a CDP. Now what? The next step is really to get started so you can see the benefit of this first hand. So listen to this episode to get actionable insight on how to get started with the Data Talks sports CDP today.

How can you use a Customer Data Platform (CDP) to meet and exceed your departmental and organizational goals? Listen to today's episode to find out more on invaluable CDP use cases.

The only way sports organizations can navigate the challenges we discussed in Episode 1 while simultaneously leveraging the digital opportunities available, as discussed in Episode 2 is for them to be data-driven. Listen to today's podcast to find out more on why EVERY sports organization should be data-driven.

Hello and welcome to "Sports CDP Crash Course," the podcast where we dive deep into the strategies and insights that can help sports organisations thrive by propelling them to the centre of fans’ hearts and actions so they can become a core part of their fans’ lives. 'm your host, Lorraine Moalosi, and today we’re talking about a crucial topic for ticketing managers and marketing managers: how to sell more season tickets during the summer. Whether you're part of a federation, a league, or a club, these five concrete examples will help you boost your season ticket sales and ensure packed stands when the new season kicks off. Btw we have also created a cheat sheet that sports organisations can use to sell out tickets no matter where they find themselves in the sports’ annual cycle. If you would like to receive this, make sure you contact me and I will send it over to you.

Without further ado, let’s dive into the first strategy for selling out season tickets this summer:

1. Personalised Email Campaigns

First up, personalised email campaigns. For this, it is important that all your data is collected from your various sources and merged in one place, to give a comprehensive and complete understanding of each fan and their consumption and purchase behaviour, amongst other things. This means you can send highly targeted emails based on individual preferences, past purchases, and engagement history.

Imagine being able to segment your audience and tailor your messages. You could send a special offer to a fan who hasn't renewed their season ticket yet, highlighting the games they are most likely to be interested in based on their past attendance. Or, you could send a ‘thank you’ message to loyal season ticket holders, perhaps offering them an exclusive discount for referring a friend. The personal touch not only improves open rates but also drives conversion.

You don’t have to stop it emails though, you can do this via SMS, Viber and WhatsApp too.

2. Dynamic Pricing Strategies

Next, let’s talk about dynamic pricing strategies. You can analyse purchasing behaviour and demand patterns to adjust your pricing strategy in real time. For example, if you notice a surge in interest for certain matches or seat locations, you can dynamically adjust prices to maximise revenue.

Additionally, you can identify which segments of your audience are more price-sensitive and might be incentivised by early bird specials or bundle deals. This kind of flexibility ensures that you’re not leaving money on the table while also keeping your fans engaged and happy.

3. Enhanced Social Media Targeting

Our third use case is enhanced social media targeting. Did you know that you can integrate the Data Talks Sports CDP with social media platforms such as Meta and Google Ads to sharpen your targeting precision? By integrating your CDP with social media platforms, you can create lookalike audiences based on your most loyal season ticket holders. This means you can run highly effective ad campaigns that reach potential new fans who share characteristics with your current ones.

Imagine being able to target ads specifically to fans who follow similar sports, live in the same area, or have shown interest in similar events. This precise targeting can significantly increase the likelihood of converting these new prospects into season ticket holders.

4. In-App Personalisation

Fourth on the list is in-app personalisation. If your organisation has a mobile app, integrating it with your CDP can take fan engagement to the next level. You can provide personalised content and offers based on the user’s behaviour and preferences.

For example, if a fan frequently checks scores or watches highlights...

The sports industry, just like many other industries, has been experiencing many changes due to rapid hyper-digitalization. Of course with this comes many challenges. Listen to this podcast to find out more about the challenges sports organizations are facing in today's hyper-digitalized environment.

In this episode, we dive into the fascinating world of sports, business, and gender equality with Fanny Almersson, a passionate researcher and PhD student at the Stockholm School of Economics. Fanny shares her personal journey—from playing football as a young athlete to her current role studying the inner workings of successful women’s clubs in the Nordics.

Discover how sports shaped Fanny’s character, teaching her teamwork, resilience, and the value of hard work. Hear about her inspiring mission to create more opportunities for girls in sports and ensure they benefit from the same transformative experiences she did. Join us for an enlightening conversation celebrating the power of sports, research, and equality. Whether you’re a sports enthusiast, a business aficionado, or simply curious about the impact of gender inclusivity, this episode is a must-listen!

Hello and welcome to yet another exciting episode of the “Sports CDP Crash Course”, I’m your host, Lorraine Moalosi, thank you for joining me. Whenever I interview people I usually start off with an ice-breaker so I thought that this time I would start with a joke since I am riding solo. Here goes nothing and everything, Did you hear about the football team that couldn't get a stadium Wi-Fi signal? Turns out, they needed better "reception"!

Speaking of better reception - today we are discussing how to convert social media followers into known contacts. This is the most effective way of making sure that stadiums are always filled out at every game so that the team playing on the field can have the best reception ever while the team off the pitch continues to create sustainable revenue for the sports organisation in question. Whether you're part of a league, club, or federation, turning those likes and follows into tangible data can significantly enhance your marketing efforts and fan engagement. So, let's get started.

Our first strategy is to offer exclusive content. Fans crave unique, behind-the-scenes access to their favourite teams and athletes. By providing exclusive content like training sessions, player interviews, or early announcements, you can encourage fans to register with their email addresses to gain access. Promote these offers across your social media channels to capture the interest of your followers. One of our customers has been capitalising on their OTT platform to ensure that fans who cannot attend games for any reason can still be part of the action by purchasing a season pass or a single match ticket.

Next, consider running contests and giveaways. These are incredibly effective at drawing in fans who love the thrill of potentially winning something. You might offer signed merchandise, free match tickets, or VIP experiences. To enter, fans simply need to sign up with their contact details. Promoting these contests on social media ensures you reach a broad audience and turn that excitement into valuable data. Another one of our customers used an advent calendar to introduce its fans to club sponsors and allow fans to win something or receive something at a very exciting and crucial time - Christmas.

Now, let’s talk about gamification, one of the most engaging methods to convert followers. By incorporating game-like elements into fan interactions, you can significantly boost engagement. For example, you might create a fantasy league where fans can build their own teams, predict match outcomes, or participate in weekly challenges. To join, fans need to register with their contact details. This approach not only gathers data but also keeps fans deeply engaged and coming back for more. It’s very important to highlight the fact that converting social media followers into known contacts is not something to be done as a one-off thing but rather this should be done continuously. Gamification is one of the most exciting ways to do this without exhausting your supporters. We talk about this in-depth in our course for C-level executives, “The 4  Fundamentals of Selling Tickets and Merchandise”. Make sure to enroll to learn more. In the course, we give an example of a club who managed to get just under 12 000 followers to convert to known contacts through gamification in one single campaign. This is not something to miss so make sure you enroll.

Similarly, you can use quizzes and polls. These are great for sparking interaction while collecting contact information. Create quizzes on sports trivia, player stats, or upcoming fixtures, and require fans to submit their answers via a form. Polls on social media about favourite players, match predictions, or fan experiences can also help in gathering valuable insights and contact details. Another effective strategy is offering personalised experiences. Fans love to feel special, and providing opportunities for personalised interactions...