Who is your favorite team?
For me, I’ve been a fan of the NY Mets throughout my adult life.
But, quick, what’s yours?
Now that you have your team in your head, let me ask you…does your team have a direct positive relationship with you?
In thinking about the Mets, I realized that they don’t.
I used to get the occasional birthday email that notified me that I would get a discount on tickets for my birthday when the tickets went on sale, but that is about the extent of the relationship that we have at this point.
So when I went to the Mets’ website, I wasn’t necessarily surprised to see that there wasn’t a prominent display for an email newsletter or anything that would allow me to signify that the Mets can and should communicate with me regularly.
To be sure it wasn’t just a one-off, that the Mets were the only ones not paying attention…I took a quick look at some of my other local or favorite teams and none of them had that level of communication either.
Now, flip the coin.
Over the last year, I’ve had the chance to travel to the UK on 3 different occasions. And, during my visits, I’ve picked up a favorite Premier League side, Tottenham Hotspur FC.
And, I’ve noticed that since I signed up for their newsletter about a year ago, they consistently stay in touch with me and we have a positive and direct relationship.
I get updates on the squad, training videos, sale offers, stories.
The only thing I wish they would do better is engage with their fans on Twitter and social media a little more, but in this instance, that’s semantics.
Becuase in this case, the team has opened a door to a relationship with me.
This is important because as competition for our attention becomes more and more fierce, gaining that attention is more difficult.
You can argue that people have social media. But in most cases, social media is a one-way street, a vanity thing that is great for showing big numbers but not great for a relationship.
You could say that people don’t read emails: that’s sometimes true and sometimes not true.
Having the direct relationship with your customers doesn’t mean it is easy or that you can spam them. It does mean that you have to earn the deepening of a relationship.
This post likely deserves a much deeper dive, but I think the key point for me is that when it comes to my limited attention: I always open the emails from Tottenham, but I never even have a chance to open ones from the Mets. And, I have probably spent $300 on merchandise in the past few months due to that relationship…if, not more.
My question to you is do you have a direct and positive relationship with your fans, customers, and prospects? Or, are you just doing vanity?