If you’re looking for a way to increase sales and improve overall brand awareness, prominent sports figures are attractive options. Their athletic prowess gives them instant credibility to any product, particularly anything related to those geared towards athletes. With that being said, their celebrity alone will influence fans to want to be like them and be associated with the same products or services. Your business would most likely benefit from this association, and this is true whether it’s a big name or not and for pretty much any type of product, service, or business. 

Increased Sales

While the actual influence celebrity athletes have regarding advertising is a matter of debate, a Harvard University professor and Barclays Capital conducted a study that indicated sales growth compared to their previous numbers and overall placement in the market as well. The study showed an average increase of around 4%, with more considerable gains from those with higher status. Fans of a particular team or specific athlete will be more inclined to purchase a product or use a service endorsed by them. 

Increased Awareness 

One key aspect of growing your brand is making people aware of your brand. Attaching a local or national athlete quickly raises awareness for anyone who’s a fan of that individual or the team for which they play. Once people are aware of your brand’s products or services, they would be more likely to purchase from you. A potential customer’s favorable feelings towards the celebrity athlete can and often will translate to your company. Aaron Rodger's State Farm commercials and Brett Favre's Wrangler commercials are just a couple of examples. 

Social media promotion by an athlete can increase that awareness even more. According to Opendorse, athletes on social media drive 4.8 times the engagement of media accounts, 3.6 times the engagement of league accounts, 2.4 times the engagement of team accounts, and 2.1 times the engagement of influencer accounts. It just goes to show how associating your brand with an athlete can push awareness and engagement through the roof. 

Utilize Local Celebrity Athletes

Keep it local, and consider using a celebrity athlete from your home team. A small business that uses a local athlete of any profile brings much-wanted attention and awareness to your brand and business. For example, in Green Bay or anywhere in the state of Wisconsin, having any member of the Green Bay Packers at your event or endorsing your product will generate interest and get more eyes on you. Sticking to someone who is known and admired or associated with a known and admired team, locally and with your target market, pays huge dividends. 

Ways to Include Celebrity Athletes

Once you’ve decided to utilize a celebrity athlete to help market your product or service, you need to know how to utilize a celebrity athlete. There are various ways to do so, and whichever way you choose will depend on what’s the best fit for your business and your products or services. The first way would be to have them endorse your brand. An endorsement could be digital, radio, print, television, etc., advertising depending on where you’re most likely to find your target market. 

If you have an event coming up, having a celebrity appearance will bring more attention and most likely increase attendance. You can add an autograph signing session as part of your event or even have the signing be the event that you’re hosting. Either way, associating the celebrity athlete with your brand is the key. You can also sponsor a celebrity athlete to do a motivational speech for a local school or organization. Approaching your relationship this way gives the double whammy of giving back to the community as well as associating you with the athlete.

Mayfield Sports Marketing is a leading sports marketing agency and speaker bureau. Whether your company is small or large, our team can search our network of current and retired celebrity athletes available based on appearance fees, team, location, or sport. With access to hundreds of athletes available for corporate appearances, keynote or motivational speeches, and product endorsements, we work within your budget to match your goals with an athlete’s appearance.

By working with the player directly, player agent, marketing agency, and more, Mayfield Sports Marketing has negotiated deals for numerous current and retired sports figures for speaking engagements, VIP Meet & Greets, autograph signings, product endorsement deals, and media opportunities.

 

 

Disclaimer:

Mayfield Sports Marketing acts only as an athlete broker for corporate events, private events, and speaking engagements. Mayfield Sports Marketing does not claim or represent itself as the athlete’s agent, speakers bureau, manager, publicist, assistant, PR firm, or management company. Mayfield Sports Marketing is a full-service player and athlete booking agency representing organizations and groups seeking to hire athletes for motivational speakers, athletes for private corporate events, athlete endorsements, personal athlete appearances, spokesperson campaigns, and autograph sessions.

Since the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic, much of what we do today has gone virtual. Whether it is working from home, meetings, ordering food and supplies, viewing webinars, etc. many things we used to do in person are now done virtually. With social distancing, quarantines, and safer at home measures one cannot simply host events like conventions. However, like most other things you can do this virtually as well, and doing so can provide many of the same benefits as does an in-person convention. And like many other things that have gone virtual, even after the pandemic is over, are virtual conventions the wave of the future?  They may indeed be so here are some of the hows, whys, benefits, and pitfalls of doing a virtual convention.  

How Do You Host a Virtual Convention?

First thing you should probably do is set up your virtual conference website. Depending on which platform(s) you ultimately use (discussed below) this could merely be a registration form on your current website. This is a good way to get people registered and provide a survey so you can get to know your attendees a bit better. This form should include attendee contact information, demographics, employment, or whatever pertinent information you need.  Also on this form should be convention information such as speakers, schedule, and your social media links.  

Now choose the platform you wish to use that offers the features and capabilities you need.  Some popular examples include Zoom, BlueJeans Events, EasyWebinar, WebinarJam, and GoToWebinar.  

How Do Others 'Attend' a Virtual Convention? 

This part is relatively simple and will be handled by the platform you choose to host your virtual convention on.  Your attendees will be given a link to the event and will simply login in order to participate.  For security and logistical reasons, make sure to add a waiting room in order to verify the attendees, as well as muting them upon entrance so there is no background noise.  Offer a way to “raise their hands” so that they can be unmuted to contribute or ask questions. Either of these will be available in the settings of the platform you choose. Most platforms either offer or integrate with various chat clients so you can engage with the attendees in real-time.  

What Are The Benefits to Having a Virtual Convention? 

One of the greatest benefits of a virtual convention, besides possibly being the only way to have conventions during the pandemic, is cost. With far lower overhead costs, you can reduce the price to attend your convention thereby increasing the potential number of attendees.  In addition to the lower ticket price, people from all over the world can attend without having to incur travel expenses of their own. A virtual convention also makes it easier to get speakers as they do not have to travel themselves and commit as much time to their appearance. You could even use a pre-taped video presentation if that is what is preferable to yourself and the speaker.  Also, the recording of the virtual convention becomes a product in and of itself that you could sell or use as a marketing tool.  

What Are The Disadvantages?

One downside to the virtual convention is that the networking opportunities suffer a bit. You cannot meet up in person and make a connection like you can at a physical conference.  This can be mitigated by offering breakout sessions where all participants are on the screen and communicating with each other or even a simple chat room where attendees can engage in group or individual discussions.  Distractions can be more prevalent when attending a virtual convention due to the fact they are most likely at home where a myriad of things could vie for their attention.  With so many ways on the various platforms to engage and include the attendees in discussions, and activities and having interesting content and speakers will help alleviate this as well.  

With numerous partnerships with athletes, company peers, and speakers across the country, contact Mayfield Sports Marketing and ask about speakers such as Desmond Howard, Nick Saban, Jerry Kramer, Charles Woodson, and Brett Favre, Mayfield Sports Marketing can connect you with the perfect individual for your virtual convention. 

Mayfield Sports Marketing is a leading sports marketing agency and speaker bureau. Whether your company is small or large, our team can search our network of current and retired celebrity athletes available based on appearance fees, team, location, or sport. With access to hundreds of athletes available for corporate appearances, keynote or motivational speeches, and product endorsements, we work within your budget to match your goals with an athlete’s appearance.

By working with the player directly, player agent, marketing agency, and more, Mayfield Sports Marketing has negotiated deals for numerous current and retired sports figures for speaking engagements, VIP Meet & Greets, autograph signings, product endorsement deals, and media opportunities.

 

Disclaimer:

Mayfield Sports Marketing acts only as an athlete broker for corporate events, private events, and speaking engagements. Mayfield Sports Marketing does not claim or represent itself as the athlete’s agent, speakers bureau, manager, publicist, assistant, PR firm, or management company. Mayfield Sports Marketing is a full-service player and athlete booking agency representing organizations and groups seeking to hire athletes for motivational speakers, athletes for private corporate events, athlete endorsements, personal athlete appearances, spokesperson campaigns, and autograph sessions.

Celebrity autographs have been sought by sports fans since pretty much the dawn of professional sports. Over the years, this has evolved into a big business, including certified signed memorabilia. It’s no longer just kids waiting outside after a game or a chance meetup in public. Recently, the sports memorabilia industry has hit a boom period so let’s look at why that might be and how this can benefit your memorabilia business. 

Recent Boom of Celebrity Autographs

With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, people’s spending habits changed. Bars, restaurants, movie theaters, etc., all took a hit financially. Some people may have had disposable income that no longer had a destination. As a result, other businesses thrived during the pandemic. Sports memorabilia, specifically autographed sports memorabilia, is one of those industries that hit a boom. 

What to Expect from an Autograph Session

You would either buy a ticket or line up to have your item signed or purchase an item to have signed in normal times. Sometimes only one or the other, although at times both were acceptable. Things have evolved a bit with social distancing, and so many of these have moved to virtual events. This can often be done very similarly, just an online meet in which the athlete signs your item while in a virtual conference with you, and the item is shipped to you. The types of items can vary from pictures, mini-helmets, footballs/baseballs/basketballs (depending on the athlete’s sport), jerseys, t-shirts, and so on. 

During in-person events, you often have an option to purchase something on-site or bring a personal item from home. The neat thing about bringing a personal item with you to the signing is that sometimes it can spark a conversation about the item if it has a special meaning or a cool story behind it, adding a little something extra to the experience. Also, in-person events will often allow selfies to be taken with the player, which, in essence, becomes like an autograph in and of itself. 

Partner with Mayfield Sports Marketing

If you are in the sports memorabilia industry yourself and are interested in doing your own autograph session, Mayfield Sports Marketing can help! For several years now, MSM has contracted athletes for big and small businesses both locally and nationally. 

Some of the athletes we have contracted include:

We have had the pleasure of working with numerous clients such as Radtke Sports, FanDuel, Oakley, Citgo, Cousins Subs, ESPN, Kohler Companies, Waukesha SportCards, Legends of the Field, E5 Sports, Jeff’s Sports, and Great Sports, among others. Contact us today to get a quote, get your autograph session planned, and see how it can help your business! 

Mayfield Sports Marketing is a leading sports marketing agency and speaker bureau. Whether your company is small or large, our team can search our network of current and retired celebrity athletes available based on appearance fees, team, location, or sport. With access to hundreds of athletes available for corporate appearances, keynote or motivational speeches, and product endorsements, we work within your budget to match your goals with an athlete’s appearance.

By working with the player directly, player agent, marketing agency, and more, Mayfield Sports Marketing has negotiated deals for numerous current and retired sports figures for speaking engagements, VIP Meet & Greets, autograph signings, product endorsement deals, and media opportunities.

 

Disclaimer:

Mayfield Sports Marketing acts only as an athlete broker for corporate events, private events, and speaking engagements. Mayfield Sports Marketing does not claim or represent itself as the athlete’s agent, speakers bureau, manager, publicist, assistant, PR firm, or management company. Mayfield Sports Marketing is a full-service player and athlete booking agency representing organizations and groups seeking to hire athletes for motivational speakers, athletes for private corporate events, athlete endorsements, personal athlete appearances, spokesperson campaigns, and autograph sessions.

 

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