A proven model

Newspapers find significant revenue success with football promotions

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For more than 16 years, Marty Carry, currently vice president, advertising at The Springfield (Ill.) State Journal-Register, been running pro football contests at various newspapers. This plan has worked in three states for all sizes of weeklies and dailies. Over that period of time, this program has averaged about $70K in revenue per year. Even at the State Journal-Register, the smallest daily Carry has worked at, the paper generated $100K with football in 2012.

Follow this step-by-step model in order to achieve success with your football program.

The Marty Carry Model: An Overview
These five steps comprise the core of the Marty Carry Model:

  1. Integrate print and online promotion.
  2. Secure multiple sponsors.
  3. Give your sponsors VIP treatment.
  4. Promote the contest heavily.
  5. Keep it fun for your readers, your sponsors and your staff.

Read on for a deep dive into each step of the Marty Carry Model.

Integrate Print and Online Promotion
One of the most important features of the Marty Carry Model is the combination of print and online promotion. Create a centerspread ad for your contest that goes in the Sports section each week, and partner with the newsroom for relevant pro football content. The State Journal-Register was able to grow to a four-page pullout every Friday for 23 weeks.

Secure Multiple Sponsors
While there is value in exclusive sponsorships, media companies can maximize their sponsorship revenue by opening up their pro football contest to multiple advertisers. It is not unusual to have as many as 30 contest sponsors and this strategy is what enabled these papers to drive more than $100K in revenue with a single football contest. Successful football contests represent a great opportunity to bring new sponsors into the fold and to create relationships that can be built on for years to come.

Give Your Sponsors VIP Treatment
Positioning your sponsors as "VIP Pickers" can add tremendous promotional value. The picks of VIP Pickers are published each week in a highly visible area of the contest page, as well as in an equally prominent place in print, along with a photo and credential with their business information. Giving your sponsors VIP treatment brings them to life for your audience, as contest users will want to compare their picks and scores to those of the VIPs.

Creating some competition amongst your sponsors also is a great idea. The promotional package for the contest includes added value from one free pick-up in the newspaper any day during the season. The competition comes from the fact that the sponsor making the best picks each week is awarded an additional free pick-up. At the end of the season, the sponsor who picked the best for the season gets a free full-page ad in the paper. While the extra promotion is certainly valuable to sponsors, they will be in it for the glory as well.

Promote Your Contest Heavily
The pro football season is 23 weeks long, and your promotional campaign should last through the length of it. Include a 2×4 box in the center of the newspaper each day, but get the word out in other ways as well, such as partnering with local radio stations. The stations love the opportunity to put a face to the names of their personalities, and constant promotion in the newspaper for 23 weeks is a great opportunity to do just that. In turn, the on-air promotion creates more awareness of the contest, keeps it top-of-mind, and adds even more value for the contest sponsors.

Keep It Fun
Make sure to have fun with your contest, and keep it fun for your sales team and consumers too. When preparing for the contest, engage your sales staff. Break your sales staff into two to four teams that compete to sell sponsorships; offer monetary awards to really spur the competition.

Once the contest is running, offer your consumers incentives to engage with the contest as well. The best way to do this is by offering weekly local prizes. There is a perception that national prizes are hard to win, so local prizes generate more excitement and engagement because users feel like they have a real chance. For even more incentive, print the names of the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners in the paper each week. When deciding which prizes to offer, remember that you can't lose with food and entertainment.

While some of the best practices above are specific to football, keep in mind the fact that the Marty Carry Model is adaptable to fit other media types and other contests, such as auto racing and college basketball. Once the football season is over, your sponsors will still be looking to engage with consumers in new and exciting ways.

Matt Coen is the president and co-founder of Second Street, a leading provider of private-label online promotions platforms and partner success services for media companies based in St. Louis, Mo. He can be reached at (314) 880-4902 or matt@secondstreet.com.

Coen, football, Springfield
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