4 Marketing Lessons From Watching Hockey…

I have a confession to make: this past Friday, I watched an entire hockey game. *Gasp*!

If you don’t know me, this probably doesn’t sound like much of a confession. If you do know me, you know that I find hockey fairly unwatchable and I make a lot of fun of it (if you’re a hockey fan, don’t be offended. Remember, I make a lot of fun of a lot of things…)

But there I was, this past Friday, watching an entire game. It was game four of the Stanley Cup Finals (the championship series of the National Hockey League), and I was at a friend’s house. Neither my friend nor his wife were hockey fans, but we put the game on in the background while we were talking, and soon (especially in the third period (yes, hockey has only three periods; they eschew symmetry…)) we were paying attention to the game.

Of course, you should know that one of the reasons I was interested in this game is that the Philadelphia Flyers were playing. Even though I am not a hockey fan, I am a Philadelphia sports fan, so I wanted the Flyers to win.

The Flyers did go on to win, and I have to say (a bit ashamedly), I did enjoy watching the game. (Ok, it probably helped that the Flyers won. I tried to watch last night’s game five where the Flyers got shellacked, and I had no problem turning the game off early in the second period).

Does this mean I am now a hockey fan? No. No way. No. No no no no no no no no no no no no no. Not at all. No no no no no no no.

BUT, this experience did make me think about why I watched a game of a sport I don’t like, and what lessons we could take away from it. There are a few, and the fall into the realm of marketing. You could apply the lessons to any type of influence, but I am focusing on marketing a service or product.

Make it Important

This wasn’t a random hockey game in the middle of a long season. It wasn’t even an early or mid-round playoff game. Nope! This was the championship series. I wanted to see what happened because it was important.

When you are marketing your product or service, do you make it important? Do you tie it your customer’s immediate needs or burning desires? Do you solve a big problem or achieve something worth achieving? Make it important and people will pay attention to you.

Make it Relevant

If the Philadelphia Flyers weren’t in the game there is no way I would have even bothered to click over to see the score. But because I am from Philadelphia and support Philly sports team, the game was relevant to me.

In the same way, the more relevant you can make your offering to your market, the better response you will get. Are you speaking their language, solving their problems, addressing their needs? Make it relevant and people will feel connected to you, and believe that you understand their pain and can help them.

Of course, the best thing you can do is to make your offer important and relevant at the same time. Solve their biggest problem or help them fulfill their biggest dream and you will have customers for life.

Make it Urgent

During the hockey season, which I am guessing is around 80 games long, each game lacks a certain amount of urgency. If I don’t watch one, there are another 79 I could see. But there are only seven games in the championship series (max; it’s a best of seven series) and it only happens once a year. If I miss a regular game, I wait two or three days to see another. If I miss the championship, I wait a whole year. (This is also why later games become more interesting then early ones – and why I didn’t care all that much about games 1-3). I watched game four because it felt urgent.

What can you do to make your offering urgent? Can you add in special promotions, seasonal rates, or buy now bonuses? You can also approach it from the other side (and tie it into relevance). What are you customer’s urgently looking for? What do they need right now? What problem must they solve by a specific deadline? Create a sense of urgency, and people will be receptive to your offers.

Make it Interesting

Game four was an exciting game. It was close and competitive throughout, I was engaged from start to finish. As I mentioned above, game five was a bit of a shellacking. The Blackhawks went up by three goals in the first period, and I started watching something else. When I checked back in a little later, the Blackhawks were still up by three goals, and the score was 5-2. I turned the TV off and read a book. Game five bored me. Game four kept my attention because it was interesting.

In sports, neither team wants the game to be interesting; each team wants to dominate and win by as much as possible (unless, of course, you play youth soccer in Canada…). For you, when you are marketing your product, you want to keep everything as interesting as possible. This applies to your marketing materials as much as your offering.

Tell interesting stories in your marketing. Break up long text with bullets, headlines, and images. Use videos. Be funny. Don’t use heavy technical language (unless that’s what your target market finds to be interesting – and don’t kid yourself on this one!). Make your marketing interesting, and people will pay attention long enough to get sucked into your message.

If you had told me a few months ago that I would be sitting on a couch, watching an entire hockey game, I would have laughed my head off at you. And then mocked you. And then mocked hockey. And then mocked you and hockey simultaneously. But, when the right elements come together, and they did, it is possible to get people to do things they would not have believed they ever would. Bring those elements together in your business, and you can tap into some serious marketing mojo!

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Are you planning an event and looking for a great speaker to add humor and energy? Then visit Avish’s Motivational Humorist page now!
 

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By Avish Parashar. As the world's only Motivational Improviser, Avish uses techniques from the world of improv comedy to engage, entertain, and educate audiences on ideas around change, creativity, and motivation. Connect with Avish on Google+

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