Bauer taking a beating over "Grow the Game"

Bauer is getting a beating over their "Grow the Game" initiative and I'm sure they weighed the market perception of "grow the game and sell more product" vs. "do something to help the game" vs. "do nothing at all".  If their efforts do reach 1 million new participants by 2022, there will be many companies who will benefit too and not just Bauer.

In Canada, male hockey growth has stalled.  Why?  A number of factors have been presented from economic conditions that prevent families to either enter or continue the sport to the media coverage that hockey is "dangerous" (i.e. head injuries).  Those things can be addressed with a lower cost of participation and injury prevention.

Ironically, female hockey growth continues to increase.  70% over ten years since the 2000/01 season (based on Hockey Canada numbers).  Why?  And this is a group that struggles to find ice time!  I think it has to do with what the game has to offer the athlete and families plus there are more recognized female role models in the game from World, Olympic and CWHL teams.

There are pockets of successful affordable and fun participant models spread across Canada and the U.S. already. These come from private rink operators and a few local associations.  They just don't have the funds to bring this to the masses whereas a large hockey brand does.  In the end, everyone has a role in the integrity and development of the game.

Sponsored Updates

This will be helpful for hockey businesses wanting to connect with other businesses.  Linkedin has announced Sponsored Updates.  Ideal for building your brand, creating awareness for your product or service and doing content marketing.  Essentially, you pay (credit card) to get your post or update out to profiles that are not already following your Company Profile. 

You need a Company Profile and an advertising account to use this service.  Most profiles I visit do not have a proper company profile or have not linked their personal profile to the company they work for.  Our "How to Linkedin for Hockey" guide will help you with this.

Sponsored Updates is set to launch to the rest of us on July 27, 2013.

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Describe your business without using the word "website"

"I have a website that...", "Our website is almost ready", "visit our website", "I run a website".

I see this often in LinkedIn and Twitter profiles and when talking to my new clients.

Websites were commercialized over 20 years ago. They are still a multi-keystroke commodity that rely on search engines to be discovered.  There's more SEO companies on every "internet" street corner than there are Starbucks. 

Classics (Photo credit: Rob Ketcherside)

If your business is solely digitally present on a website, it's like saying 8 track and fax machines are still effective means of playing music and sending documents. That same generation of users has now gone mobile for content, services, music and file sharing. 

I can understand that if your business provides a digital service, a website could be needed but have you considered being a mobile-first company instead? Our own HockeyGPS service was a web service while the app was being developed. After one year of app service, we shut the web service down. Only 10% of the arena searches were done on the website. 

If your website is mainly for product and information, how many clicks and keystrokes does it take just to find your phone number, address or email address? Add more keystrokes just to make a connection by phone or email. By comparison, your phone number in your own app will take about 2-3 taps to locate and dial. 

Does your advertising and brochures only include yourcompany.com?  That's another indicator that you are behind on digital marketing.  Access to information through 'www' is slowly winding down.  Digital leaders are using touch, visual sensing, audio sensing and proximity sensing as ways for their market to access information via mobile apps. 

So stop promoting your company just using the word "website". If its a service (software or server driven), explain to people that you have an app that runs on multiple devices.  If your site is mainly content, start promoting across social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram), blogs, in digital magazine format (we use MagCloud) and of course on your own app.  While I have seen good company websites, I have seen even better content marketing from others.  Having a solid content marketing plan helps optimize those digital resources that are available to you and your brand. 

How to Twitter for Hockey

I see hockey companies and brands with their own Twitter account but they seem to stall after 10 tweets or don't follow others or post personal stories and opinions (nothing to do about the brand).

I put this guide together to help you get the most from Twitter (part of your digital marketing and content marketing plan).

Follow us: @HockeySciTech

How to Twitter for Hockey | HP MagCloud

How to LinkedIn for Hockey

Many of my Linkedin contacts own hockey companies but do little on Linkedin to promote them.  I put this guide together to help create a company profile on Linkedin.

Follow ours at:  http://www.linkedin.com/company/Hockey-science-&-technology

How to LinkedIn for Hockey | HP MagCloud

Content marketing

These two slides expand an area of digital marketing (applies to print too).  If you post on social media, blogs, website or send marketing emails, you are already doing content marketing.  However, if you don't have a well thought out plan behind this, you could be missing out on new opportunities in your business.

Content marketing

Digital marketing

We put this slide together to show the different platforms (levels) of digital marketing.  Basically, you can spin your wheels in email and websites only or reach your market on more popular fronts.

Digital marketing