Marketing to Women Is Not A Publicity Stunt
Am I wrong to assume that, within the field of marketing in general and even in professional sports – we are all grown-ups? When I read about this “Ball-less Baseball” ladies night event, I had to wonder. Maybe minor league sports is all and only about one-night stands/news bytes? But, what this team’s management did could serve as a worst practice case study of turning marketing to women into a publicity stunt. By committing to their female fans for the longer term, on the other hand, they would’ve hit the ball out of the park.
A few points:
1) Ball-less Baseball, innuendo or fact, is akin to bathroom humor. Instead of being an open invitation, it feels exclusionary. Rather than feeling fun, it makes anyone who hears about it think, “huh?” This approach may well be a guy’s fantasy of how to connect with women, including the wink and a nudge. Even the women who had been attending the games prior to this “clever” promotion, would likely find this a huge disconnect.
2) There’s no lasting public or community relations success that goes along with the event’s women-only through the fifth inning angle. Once you get beyond the disconnect of the name of the event, very few women would find this pleasing or special treatment worth the bother. I suspect a lot of female fans attend in the first place because it is fun to sit in the stands cheering with their husband, brother or kids anyway.
3) Don’t call it a “celebration of femininity and independence” (as the Hudson Valley Renegades minor league team did), if it isn’t anything of the sort – and any woman or man could see that. Were any female fans surveyed before they developed this promotion?
The list of problems with the approach could go on, but instead I’ll offer up ways this team might truly invest in their women’s market:
- Serve up the finest possible in beer and food concessions.
- Make at least some of the seats a bit more comfortable, even if the ticket price needs to be a tad higher.
- Next time the facilities are upgraded, add in a few more women’s room stalls.
- Go the extra mile with your environmental and socially aware steps – recycling, groundskeeping, cause marketing, cleaning products, food/drink offerings etc.
In all the cases mentioned above, the beauty is also that you get points from female fans just for being aware and taking steps toward such suggestions (so re-think the way you tell your story to fans on that front as well). Furthermore, take a look at those ideas again and you will see that most guys would not mind at all if you took such steps (including the one about the women’s room stalls – because it is a drag to wait for someone to get through those sports event lines!).
Those of you who have been reading my work for all these years know that I am not one to subscribe to the idea that a team, or brand, must have fancy “women’s only” events, promos or initiatives to serve its core female audience. Additionally, though what I’ve mention in this post are all worthwhile suggestions (if I do say so myself), marketers will really only learn the truth about how to serve women better by talking with their existing fans or on-the-fence prospects. No “ifs,” “ands” or fastballs.
So treat your fans well and think beyond mere pubicity stunts. You’ll have much less chance of striking out and may even go into extra innings.
