By: Isabelle Madrid

Dear Faithful Readers,

Happy 1st Day of Christmas! I hope you are getting excited about the holiday season with cheer, presents, lights, and sweets, as we also cheer on the teams in the 2022 FIFA World Cup! For this week, we are back with an insightful “Selling it…” story about the Minor League Baseball Team, Round Rock Express in Austin, Texas. In this edition, we will cover how the Round Rock Express increased ticket sales by 43% in the 2022 summer season through their partnership with Awarity.

Keep reading to learn more about how targeting the right audience can make a big impact on ticket sales. Enjoy!

Warm Regards,

Melody Forstie
Marketing Coordinator
melody@sports-forum.com

DESCRIPTION:

As stadiums re-opened following the restrictions of the pandemic, one thing that loomed over organizations was how to get the fans back to their seats. Today, teams and organizations are focusing on bringing in new customers as well as finding ways to bring back the same fans that attended pre-pandemic. The Minor League Baseball team, the Round Rock Express, in Austin, Texas, executed this very well by partnering with Awarity. They were able to work together through Awarity’s CRM Connect Program to target former ticket buyers with tailored ads based on their ticket purchasing history. Andy Milovich, Chief Marketing Officer of Awarity, explained that “Awarity CRM Connect empowers our partners to advertise directly to target audiences pulled from their CRM, Ticket System, or E-newsletter Subscribers.  Our technology enables us to match an individual’s data points (phone number, email address, etc.) to their specific devices (phones, tablets, computers) and serve advertising directly to their devices. The ability to segment audiences with advertising creative that is specific to each target audience greatly improves the efficiency of the marketing investment and relevancy of the message.”

OBJECTIVE/PARTNERSHIPS:

The Round Rock Express were aiming to reach their past ticket buyers from 2019 and 2021 through Awarity’s targeted ads. Starting in June of 2022, Awarity and Round Rock Express partnered to create specific ads tailored to a buyer based on their purchasing history. The best way to decrease the return rate was to serve ads with specific messaging tailored to each audience. One of the great pleasures of baseball is being at the stadium. It has become popular over the years for baseball stadiums to bring in unique promotions via food options, drink specials, and themed game days. The Round Rock Express promoted a variety of weekly specials over the years including Kids Day, Fireworks Friday, Dollar Dogs, Thirsty Thursday, and dog-friendly games. They were looking forward to bringing the deals back along with an increase in fan attendance for these specialty game nights.

Through Awarity’s campaign targeting, every digital ad being placed on a customer’s device was intentional. Focusing on a buyer’s previous purchasing history increased the efficiency of the ads being placed. It can be inferred that someone who has previously attended a ‘Thirsty Thursday’ game, is more likely to return for the game day experience that’s tailored to their interests. With specialty game nights, Awarity was able to easily target and track ticket sales through its digital advertising campaigns.

The Round Rock Express was also able to learn more about their fan base and discover which game nights are most popular for a specific audience through Awarity’s program. Laura Fragoso, SVP of Marketing for Round Rock Express mentioned, “Anytime we’re able to learn more about our fans and understand how to reach them more effectively is super helpful. Minor League Baseball boasts an incredibly diverse fanbase that is motivated by a wide array of promotions. It is important that we meet the fans where they are.”

RESULTS:

Along with their own marketing and social media messaging, the Round Rock Express recognized the results quickly. Their most popular night, Friday Fireworks resulted in a 13% increase in account conversions while selling around 12,000 game tickets. From May through July of 2022, the Round Rock Express invested $9,750 with Awarity and had sales of $97,547. When comparing this to their 2021 sales in the same time period, the Express were able to reduce their investment by $3,200, while driving an additional $40,846 in trackable ticket sales, a 72% increase in ticket revenue!  From 2021 to 2022, they had a 43% increase in trackable ticket sales from their campaign with Awarity. Their retargeting campaigns and creative digital ads helped increase their attendance and revenue in 2022 for Round Rock Express.

LOOKING AHEAD:

“When looking at the track record of our numbers from 2021 – 2022 when working with Awarity, it is clear that we intend to continue to utilize the CRM Connect Program and what they offer,” commented Laura Fragoso. The Round Rock Express and its marketing team are looking forward to being more creative with their ads and having specific branding for their different promotional nights at the ballpark. As a marketer, Laura Fragoso discusses that it is important to trust your partner.  She was able to develop trust with Awarity because of the incredible transparency delivered in the reporting dashboard.  The success of the campaign exceeded their goals for retargeting past ticket buyers at the start of the season. Not only are the Round Rock Express bringing their loyal fans back to the stadium, but they have also found new ways to understand what exactly brings them back and how to deliver an even greater fan experience. To learn more about Awarity’s CRM Connect program please visit www.awarity.com or contact Andy Milovich at andy@awarity.com.

About the National Sports Forum

The National Sports Forum is one of the largest annual cross-gathering in North America of the top executives from leagues, teams, agencies, and properties in the sports industry, who come together and share ideas and best practices on Marketing, Business Development, Ticket Sales, Sponsorship, and Diversity & Inclusion. Join us at our 2o23 NSF on February 26-28th in Los Angeles, CA! Visit www.sports-forum.com for more information.

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