But, the fact that the Liberty sent out two emails about access changes to the Garden because of the NBA draft that DIDN'T include the information that I would be barred from my usual entrance -- sent me back in time to drag up this August, '07 rant:
You want more on Using the Web to Support Women's Basketball 101, check here and Rethinking Basketball here.What a Season Subscriber Wants, Pt. 1
Email:
It's relatively straight forward, but not taken advantage of. Season subscribers should get weekly emails from their home team,(they can be in digest or daily form, like Yahoo sends out news) and they should be designed FOR THEM. Why? 'Cause it doesn't take much to make us feel respected. Really, it doesn't. What does a subscriber email include?
Game notes. Liberty used to send 'em out, they do'em for the press. How hard is it to send it out? You don't have to include the whole text -- just a teaser paragraph or two with a LINK to the NYLiberty website. [Year later add-on: they're happening]
Women's basketball related information: I'm not sure that MSG separates Garden events from W and Women's College basketball events. I get lots of invites to attend concerts I'm not interested and (actually) can't really afford. BUT, the Maggie Dixon Classic is coming up -- I should have gotten the press release right quick. Links? Patty is an RU grad. Suuueueee is an RU grad. Maybe they host a pre-game get together? USA Basketball is coming to town -- open practices at John Jay would have been cool. A bus down to Trenton would have been cool -- I would have paid for a good ticket, tossed in some money for the bus, and would have loved to have Spoon or Sue or Kym as my host.
Give Away Heads Up
Granted, they've gotten pretty pi$$poor at the Garden but, as a season subscriber, I should NOT have to show up "in time" to get something. AND, I should get it, no matter what my age... (i wanted the yo yo. *sniff*) There's a suite at the Garden --maybe subscribers get their stuff there? Or SOMEwhere..... The email can tell'em where, and remind'em what they're going to get. Oh, and it should include a link to the "We'd like to thank the underwriter of the NYLIberty yo yo... CLICK
It's *FILL IN THE BLANK* night
I keep showing up and the announcement is made that it's Kid's night.. or 70's night... and I had no idea. It was probably somewhere on the Liberty's home page, BUT that's not the point. I should get a "prep" email a week before. Heck, if they want to "Blue-w out the Garden" for Friday's game, they need to ask people to wear their Liberty Blue shirts.... or tell'em to show up in time to pick UP a Blue shirt...
Also, if it's NOT game night, or kids day, or Maddie day (and if you can find our original Maddie, could you please send him back? This new teenager Maddie gets on my nerves...) and is, for instance, Alzheimer Night with a raffle, we should get an email to that effect. With a link to CLICK.
News Links
Yeah, we kinda kicked you to the curb when you had your "email the papers to get them to cover the game" thang... BUT, if you've recovered, here's how to fix it. Your media people photocopy press-clippings for the press -- how about putting together a game story email with LINKS so we can CLICK. Get the word out when the team IS covered, and if we CLICK on the link, we tell the papers that we're interested. NYLiberty.com updates
If you add content to the Lib page, there should be an email with a LINK alerting us. This is important during the season, and ESSENTIAL during the off-season. If you're going to have players playing abroad, you need to send up stat updates on 'em. If they're coaching in the NCAA, ditto -- and if you're payin' them to blog, you NEED to tell your fans that their blog entries are up.... [Year later add on: It also supports people's interest in the W year 'round!]
NYLiberty Ad Libs/Bohemian Rhapsody
Ok, so sometimes they're cheesy, other times they're fab. All the video media you create should be up on the Lib site - and there should be an email sent out with a link... what, you don't think I'd forward the Bohemian Rhapsody link to every W fan I know?????? [Year later add on: AND, since most every team does stuff like this, why isn't there a page where they're all posted? And then a Vote Off at the end of the season?]
Subscriber Survey/Interest thangs
Yellowtail was the event sponsor last year...and there was some sort of meet and greet and debrief with one of the assistant coaches, but it's often done so last minute (and haphazardly) that I wonder about the turnout. Perhaps it's a general email at the beginning of the season saying, "Hey, we're planning 4 or 5 chalk talks for the season -- what are you interested in learning about? Defense? Picks? Breaking down tape? Officiating? The logistics of managing a game (scorers table, stats etc)? I'm sure you can think up other stuff... then you send out follow up invites... I'm sure people would LOVE to talk with Dee or Lisa about the challenges of reffing *sincere, yet lightly evil grin*
Targeted "Get out the Vote/Attendance" emails.
Cost is an issue... and getting people to come to games can be an issue... So, if you're a season subscriber, you should be able to get a discount for a group of five. Maybe one game is chosen as the "Be Our Guest" game. A "group" could be as little as five people. Mid range seats at half-price. And EVERY attendee should get, in return, an incentive to come back. What, you may ask? A buy one get one free coupon. It's about getting butts in the stands, and you get butts in the stands by taking advantage(in a good way) of those who already believe in the game. It's up to the Subscription Manager to CAREFULLY decide what's in a Subscriber email vs. a general Garden, NY LIberty fan email... BUT, at every other game or so, someone should be handing ut a "Sign up for NY Liberty Scoop" cards to fans entering the game -- a small usiness card with the site and an easy-sign up process.
This is women's basketball... the internet is its lifeblood. Hook up the IV, Donna
posted by Helen at 9:48 AM
