The summer break has started or will start for most professional team sports championships in Europe. A slow period in club activity, but which can still allow you to develop your database.
1) Subscriptions
Fans want to know about new rates, new benefits, etc. Some clubs communicate as early as the day after the last match, but most wait a few days or even weeks before communicating about the new offers.
You can take advantage of the period between the end of the championship and the start of the subscription campaign to collect data by creating a landing page or contact form. In the latter, you can ask for surname, first name, date of birth, telephone number, previous year's status (subscriber or not), the stand for which they would like information, whether they would like a family or student subscription, etc.
This data will enable you to enrich your existing data, as well as providing you with a new segment to address when you launch your campaign.
2) New jersey / New collection
It's also one of the highlights of the summer break: the release of new jerseys, and even new collections of merchandising products (depending on the responsiveness of manufacturers...).
Although some clubs also unveil their new jerseys at the end of the previous season, most of them do so in June or July, outside any match-playing period. A landing page or a form with first name, surname and e-mail address can be particularly effective in collecting contacts from fans interested in these new products.
3) New season calendar
The publication of the calendar of fixtures for the coming season is eagerly awaited by fans. For those most interested, clubs can send the calendar directly by email, via a dedicated form. With this form, it may also be possible to request the most awaited match of the season (derby, reception of the champion, etc.), just to make the form a little more fun.
4) Fan surveys
The summer break can also be a good time to take a step back and ask fans about their vision of the club. This can be on a variety of subjects, such as the stadium experience, the club's communication on the web and social networks, the development of infrastructure projects, and so on.
The benefits of this type of survey are twofold: they enable us to better understand fans' expectations (and to try to meet them) and, of course, to collect new data.
5) OTT platforms
Although championships generally kick off in August, or even September, clubs play preparatory matches soon after training resumes. These matches can be marketed to TV channels, but this mainly concerns the big soccer clubs and national channels. If this is not the case, they can be broadcasted by the organizing club (and visitor, in agreement with the organizing club) on an OTT platform.
By broadcasting these matches on Youtube, Facebook or Twitch, clubs can develop their audiences on these networks, but will not capture any data. On the other hand, by using an OTT platform, clubs will be able to track the identities of fans watching the game, and even develop a new source of revenue by offering a full program throughout the season (youth and women's matches, long video formats, etc.).
6) Competitions
Competitions are a particularly relevant and effective way of acquiring new contacts in your database and enriching the knowledge of existing contacts.
Competitions can be daily, weekly or one-shot. Simple forms or dedicated applications can be used. Games on social platforms (such as "Comment to participate" or "Retweet to play") can increase the fan base on social networks, but not the size of the database, even though specialized platforms are developing solutions to do just that.
By setting up a simple contest with a signed jersey as the prize, you can collect contact info during the registration but also ask for the favorite player.
The winner will receive the jersey of the player he chose, and you can then start to communicate in a personalised way.
7) Newsletter
Finally, the newsletter remains a relevant acquisition channel, even during the summer break. It can, however, be promoted in a slightly different way, for example, through transfer alerts.
