Website reliance will kill your sports business.

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.  There's a technology shift in play as one generation of 'surfers' continue to search while the younger generation finds and connects with brands.

If your website exists to mainly provide product details and static information, how many clicks and keystrokes does it take just to find your phone number, address or email address? Now add more keystrokes just to make a connection by phone or email. By comparison, your phone number in your own mobile app will take about 2-3 taps to locate and connect with you.

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. 

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. 

The illustration below shows how you can effectively communicate with your customers and your market beyond a website.  Notice how social media networks are at the hub of all the other media.

Stick Business is for Player Performance Professionals who want to discover new information, products and services to develop and operate their business.  Stick Business is published by Hockey Science & Technology.

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SILVER STICK FINALS - High profile tournament weak on digital presence

To win the Silver Stick has eluded many teams and many players over their years of playing minor hockey.  Just getting to the Finals is a feat on its own as teams need to win a regional qualifying Silver Stick tournament to get there.  Minor hockey teams will travel hours away from their hometown to participate in a qualifier…or two.  Players shed tears when they get eliminated.

The tournament prides itself on "Citizenship and International Goodwill through Hockey".  It has roots dating back to 1958 with the original Silver Stick residing in the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Newmarket, Ontario has been the host town of the Silver Stick Minor Finals for the past 28 years.  Teams from across Ontario and the United States converge in this hockey town hub.  Home to Jet Ice, The Heritage Stick Co, the Hurricanes Jr. A team,  local hockey retailers and skill development training centres, many OHL draft picks, NCAA scholars and renowned Connor McDavid.  The tournament website and program does not make it clear where the teams come from though.  Is that Rochester NY or MI?  Is that Birmingham AL or MI?  Kind of difficult for the citizens to engage the guests without knowing where they are from.

With the games being played at several venues across town, parents taxiing their other children to their own organized activities and fans spread between work hours and commuting, game scores and highlights were difficult to obtain.

The organizers did not update the website regularly with scores nor did they show what teams will be playing in the championship games.  The championship team names with scores were updated a day later.  Even going to the site now, you would not be able to easily identify the champion as the games are not labelled championship final, semi or quarter final.   The site powered by Pointstreak lacked an RSS feed.  Represented hockey associations, accredited media and even the tournament could not automatically post scores on their social networks without this vital website feature.

The tournaments use of Twitter for the second year in a row was an epic failure.  Many game scores took hours to post, some posts omitted the division and only provided the team name with score, the Minor Peewee AA final was posted as the A final and the Minor Peewee A final did not get posted.  Tournament sponsors had little exposure in the posts over the four days.

The games lacked that buzz that you could even generate at house league games.  There was no music during stoppages in play and public address announcements about sponsors or vendors selling their wares was absent.

Digital media is an integral part in the daily life of a hockey parent, player, coach and fan.  They are spending more time on their mobile device than desktops and even television.  That's why digital presence is important to a brand's success.

Here's how you can use digital media to update coaches, engage the fans, promote your sponsors and raise the image of your tournament.

1. Post game scores on your website within 15 minutes of the game completion.
2. Provide an RSS feed on your website to link to your Twitter account and other social media automation apps. 
3. Mention your sponsors in several social media posts throughout the duration of the tournament.
4. Students need volunteer hours.  Approach local high schools for students to be tournament ambassadors by taking pictures and video or posting real time scoring updates.  Automate the process with wi-fi enabled devices to post onto mobile first apps Instagram or Vine.  Use Dropbox or iCloud Photo Sharing to allow each student to send pictures to a common folder for a central co-ordinator to post onto social media.
5. Watermark your images for sharing with your own tournament logo and sponsors logo.
6. Use hashtags to allow others to easily find updates and shared content.
7. Use the Arena PA app to play music, announce scoring and penalties and play sponsors' recorded audio ads over the arena sound system.
8. Profile the tournament and provide short bios on participating teams in a Podcast.
9. Publish a digital version of your program because the one given out to players is still at the bottom of their hockey bag.

The history, value, meaning and trivia in your tournament can be hidden or become lost through traditional communication.  Put some lustre on your tournament.