5 Opportunities to Reach Your Audience During Football Season
Ready, set, hut! Football season is here to help financial institutions get the maximum possible impact for their dollars by engaging their community during this months-long cultural phenomenon. Start engaging your audience throughout the football season as customers enjoy watching, commentating on, and consuming other media about football with these opportunities that arise during the season.
TV Spots
Live football games generate millions of viewers every season! NFL Monday Night Football events are great for reaching audience members in your designated service area by targeting local networks. NFL Monday Night Football games may not be the Super Bowl, but the average live audience size per game is growing year over year, averaging 14.18 million viewers in 2022. This captive audience tends to watch the entire live game, including the ads creating another unique advantage of advertising during this time. In addition, these games are not just watched on the living room TV but are also typically played in sports bars, restaurants, and broadcast live online or via streaming services.
Get Involved in the Game
Don’t worry; you don’t need to jump on the field to get involved in the game! For smaller financial institutions, getting involved in high school or college football through sponsorships or by working with local schools to set up a booth is a great way to engage with dedicated fans in your community. A few ideas for establishing your presence at the game include creating special swag items and giveaways. For swag items, it’s essential to be mindful of the school’s trademarks, but you can still use their colors and any nicknames or slogans used by the fan base. Giveaways are another excellent form of interaction at a game and an opportunity to create a lasting connection by asking students and parents to sign up for your email list or follow you on social media to enter. Additionally, sponsorships can help strengthen the bond between your bank or credit union and a local college or high school team by sponsoring their team, specific games, or half-time entertainment, ultimately demonstrating your dedication to their fans in the community.
Display Advertising
Switch up your traditional mobile banking ads by adding a little football-themed twist! Stand out from the crowd of financial ads in your local news publications and out-of-home advertising by adding football imagery and fun slogans. The primary purpose of these ads is to join in the fun of the season to grab attention while ultimately keeping your bank or credit union and services top of mind. Out-of-home advertising can attract game-goers on their way to a game, whether a billboard on the route to a stadium or a local transit ad. In addition, if you can secure a sponsorship with a local team, make sure you ask about opportunities for displaying ads in the stadium or any yearbooks and related print materials. Lastly, local news publications are a go-to for local high school and college news attracting local fans that can be drawn in by these special-themed ads.
Social Media
While we don’t recommend joining any heated team rivalries on social media, we recommend showing your team spirit to this engaged audience. The 2022 NFL Draft is a prime demonstration of this audience, reporting 21.7 million likes on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter content simply mentioning the NFL Draft in 2022. Whether you are rooting for your local high school, college, or a beloved NFL team, there are several ways to share your enthusiasm for the game. If a game day is coming up, encourage your staff to dress up in the team colors or jerseys and post it on social media to share the spirit with other football fans. Alternatively, announcing games and wishing a local high school or college team good luck is another excellent way to form bonds with these local organizations. For those looking to take their social media to the next level, football-themed contests provide further opportunities to engage fans with football trivia and prizes such as game tickets or team swag.
Sports Radio
Expand your reach during the season with radio ads on sports radio channels! These platforms often operate locally, making this ideal for reaching listeners in your bank or credit union’s targeted service area. This play-by-play audience is more engaged with and passionate about sports than TV viewers. It represents a unique segment of football fans, with sports radio networks such as Westwood One reporting as many as an additional 10 million listeners during the 2021 season from their NFL radio broadcasting. Creating themed ads that grab their attention while keeping your financial institution and offerings top of mind is essential in capturing this audience.
Looking to take advantage of these opportunities during football season? Strategis is a full-service marketing agency developing strategies proven to increase the (ROI) through a wide range of methods. Contact us today!
