Want to make a major splash with your marketing campaign? Think more minor.
I’ve always been a proponent of studying the marketing, promotion, and branding of businesses beyond your own immediate sphere of influence for a few reasons.
First, whether you know it or not, your customers are comparing you to way more than just your closest competitors. That money they’re giving you could be spent in many other ways, some of which are, at best, tangentially connected to what you do.
Second, it’s a great way to borrow creative ideas or concepts you might not have thought of otherwise.
One of the best places to see low-budget, high-impact ideas come to life is in and around Minor League Baseball. I’ve talked about minor league baseball before because it’s something that nearly everyone in any field of business can learn from… and something that almost everyone is within driving distance to experience live.
I might get some heat for this statement, but minor-league baseball teams almost always out-market their major-league counterparts.
MLB teams benefit from their name. Tourists or out-of-town fans flock to ballparks to mark it off a bucket list or celebrate major occasions with friends and loved ones. And while some families buy season tickets or attend weekly games, at an average per-game cost of $266 for a family of four, MLB teams often model their marketing around hundreds of thousands of different fans coming fewer times per season than the same fans coming to lots of games.
Minor league teams think differently. Sure, they have smaller stadiums to fill, but they also have much smaller budgets. So they get creative. They mix things up. They make customers think, “What a fun night! Let’s come back next week.” They know that it’s easier to get the same customer to come back again than it is to attract a brand new customer… and that if a current customer invites their friends to a game, that’s going to convert at a much higher rate than an ad on social media. Sound familiar? 🙂
Here are four areas where minor league marketing teams consistently knock it out of the park. Steal these strategies and tell me which ones turn into home runs for your business. ⚾
Think about what you’re really selling
Minor league baseball parks know they’re not competing with major league teams for dollars… and not just because they aren’t in the same markets. Yes, it’s about baseball — but more than that, it’s about fun. It’s about finding an affordable outing for the entire family, or a cute date night activity.
Stadiums these days have elaborate playgrounds, beer gardens, and even splash pads to draw in attendees. Whether or not baseball is your favorite sport, you will be entertained and have a blast at the ballpark.
Don’t worry, I’m not advising you to turn your business into a playground. Think about what you’re really selling. Who are you competing with, both in terms of money and attention? Align your marketing campaigns around that underlying promise and make it easier for customers to say “yes.”
Don’t be afraid to embrace your quirks
When Huntsville, AL, was launching its first minor league team, they could have simply called themselves the Huntsville Raccoons <yawn>. Instead, after enlisting ideas from the community, they dubbed the team the Rocket City Trash Pandas.
They introduced what has been widely hailed as one of the best logos in sports: Sprocket, an adorable raccoon (AKA Trash Panda) in a trash can rocketship. Not only does the logo pay homage to the community (Huntsville is home to several aerospace and enginering companies, plus the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, one of the best museums in America!), it also helped the team sell a lot of merch. Like, a LOT. How much? More than $4 million before the team had ever played their first game… and it keeps flying off the shelves!
While not every team can compete with something like Trash Pandas, most have fun alternate identities they’ll play a few games as each year. Our Nashville Sounds sometimes become the Nashville Hot Chickens. It’s a a fun nod to their mascot Booster the Rooster and one of the city’s famous dishes.
Hickory, NC’s Crawdads become the “Hickory Dickory Docks.” Maybe you can’t change your entire brand name. What can you do — either with a tagline or alternate logo or even just fun marketing copy — to set yourself apart from the crowd? Elevate your campaigns by leaning further into your uniqueness, and I bet you’ll see your ROI soar.
Give everyone a turn in the spotlight
When you’re at the ballpark, there will be plenty of chances to find your 15 minutes of fame. From audience shots (kiss cams! dance cams! muscle cams! filter cams!) and special fan messages on the jumbotron to roaming trivia contests and T-shirt tosses, anyone can feel like a star at a minor league baseball game. There are clubs for kids and clubs for grandmas! If you go to one game, you’ll walk away with countless free ways to recognize and honor your loyal customers.
Case in point: Here’s a cute clip of my six-year-old being interviewed for a local TV news station when we went to a game on Mother’s Day.
Are you giving your customers a chance to shine like the stars they are? From user-generated content to store signage, challenge yourself to find one new way to incorporate them into your brand storytelling.
Create affinity groups
One of the easiest and cheapest ways to bring your customers together is to create interest-based affinity groups. Minor league baseball teams really knock this out of the park. For instance, our Nashville Sounds have a Girl Scouts night, Harry Potter night, and First Responders night coming up.
If a minor league baseball team doesn’t have a hobby group or affinity group for you, peep their schedule and you’re sure to find special nights that appeal to you. Star Wars nights? Check. Unicorn nights? Obviously. Caturday? Duh. Heck, one team even had a Public Domain Night where attendees were gifted jerseys featuring Steamboat Willie and King Kong set to a backdrop of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, because… why not? Again, these themed nights don’t have to cost anything, and they lead to tons of fun social posts from the fans.
Affinity groups help you learn more about your customers and build a community of like-minded, loyal supporters. With tons of exciting events on the calendar, minor league teams encourage fans to come back and bring their friends – new and old.
We’re living in the era of experience. “Good enough” is no longer good enough — and that goes for everything. By taking inspiration from minor league baseball, you can discover innovative, budget-friendly strategies to captivate your audience and drive loyalty. Whether it’s by studying the broader market, embracing your unique quirks, shining a spotlight on your customers, or creating affinity groups, these approaches can transform your marketing efforts. So, step up to the plate, implement these tactics, and watch as you hit a home run with your next campaign.
Please tell me: Who’s your favorite minor league baseball team and why?
