MLN Media Boot Camp

For General Managers:
	Surfing the Fan Phenomenon: Sports Social Search Engines Social search engines connect you quickly to real people really quickly. Where advertising is hit and miss, dropping the message on the motivated reader is worth its weight in gold. [Article]
	Putting On A Better Media Face: Things you can do to develop your league or club's public image. Did you know that your away players are as good a resource for selling tickets as your home team?[Article].
For Media Relations People:
	Writing the Great Gamer One sentence or a whole essay, you can write more effective game highlight press releases that improve your ability to sell tickets and help the member clubs in your league do the same. [Article]

In 2000, when Minor League News, our first publication, rolled out, there was no other national media interested in the minors and indy sports.

Today, we remain the four sport leader in the field, but there are a growing legion of national media outlets, great and small, in single and multiple sport coverage.

Television, internet broadcasting, podcasting, and more are part of the expanding attention that the minors receive.

Focus on your local market fishwrap and tube jockeys doesn't leverage the power of the growing national media. If you think that your league or sport's "official" media outlet is all that you need, look and see how they stack up in the real world with a more efficient and broad independent media.

Official sources are one outlet. You want to cast the broadest net, and get in close, regular contact with the fan base in your community. You also want to help other teams by promoting away players to drive ticket sales.

Many clubs are owned by entrepreneurs new to the sports business world, or, on the other extreme, so tradition-bound to another time that they have not modernized their communications to meet the 21st century.

So how do you cash in on it all?

Turning the Casual Fan

If you want to convert fans from the casual to the hardcore, you have to excite them. Players with regional and national draw bring in more fans, home or away. Learning how to capitalize on that drawing power can translate directly to your bottom line.

Challenges to Your Media Face

More than 59% of the minor league and independent clubs don't even list a media relations point of contact on their websites. For the clubs that actually budget for a dedicated media person, the staffer chosen is often new to the position, with little idea of how to even write a proper press release.

Out of the hundreds of releases we receive a day, at least 13-18% of the ones submitted don't include the final scores of the game in a game recap! Some, even large clubs, don't even put out game recaps.

Enter Boot Camp.

We can help you learn more about how to turn the power of the independent media on for your club, and, unlike seminars and trade shows full of high-dollar consultants, our advice is FREE.

It's in our self-interest to make you better communicators. We lose hundreds of man-hours a year to correcting press releases. Good content from the club level benefits all.

Let us help you!