A one-stop shop repository for marketing best practices for 68 arenas, 61 theaters and 13 stadiums within the SMG network may sound like an impossibly large undertaking, but thanks to Jim McCue, SVP, SMG, and John Bolton, vice president, SMG, it’s now a reality. The resource library for sports and entertainment marketing is housed in SMG’s intranet site and is regularly updated by four regional directors of Marketing.
“It’s best practices, sample venue marketing plans, sample sales plans, press releases, social media plans, public relations plans, media buying contacts, logos and we even have the Venues Today editorial calendar there,” said McCue.
For the creation of a dedicated web-based intranet marketing support services site, McCue and Bolton earned the 2015 Venues Today Hall of Headlines award for Operations.
“If you look at the number of facilities we have within SMG, one of our greatest strengths is the people we have out in the field and our corporate office, so being able to find an easy way to share that information on a regular basis is a result of the network that we have,” said Bolton. “It’s really taking advantage of that big network. No matter if you’re just starting out or a seasoned director, everyone has access to this and is able to pull the documents they might need to become better at their jobs.”
This portal debuted earlier this year at SMG’s Marketing Summit after transitioning from an FTP site. All the materials are searchable by keyword and names of specific acts and organized into different categories, such as press releases, venue newsletters, show promotions and more.
“We always say all the markets are local at SMG, and there’s no one size that fits all,” said McCue, “but you can start with some successful programs and building blocks and customize it for your market.”
Mitzi Evans, director of Sales and Marketing at Save Mart Center, Fresno, Calif., is one of the regional directors tasked with adding to the site. They upload each promotion along with the building and marketing director that ran it. Evans said now marketers consider it a pat on the back if their campaigns are uploaded.
“We love this thing, I can’t even tell you,” said Evans. “SMG has so many venues, and one of the toughest things is that promotions and marketing are intangibles. All the tours route through at least a handful of our buildings, and we were trying to get some commonality instead of each individual building reinventing the wheel every time.”
It is also a useful tool for marketers who are new to SMG. They are able to explore press release styles and other forms that they may be unfamiliar with.
“It’s the landing place for event marketing promotion and meeting planning, and also for the SMG way of life,” said Evans.
It is a helpful tool for the corporate office as well, since it contains every building’s logo as well as their tenant logos and photos. Presentations from speakers at the marketing summits and other SMG events will be housed on the site as well. For a building celebrating an anniversary, going through a name change or putting together a grand opening, the resource library acts as a great starting place, such as for the SMG-managed U.S. Bank Stadium, which will be opening soon in Minneapolis.
“We’re incorporating what we’ve learned, what we’ve done and what we’ve used in opening those other buildings from a marketing perspective to be customized and made unique for an NFL building,” said McCue.
New materials are constantly being added and it is especially helpful for last-minute campaigns during busy times.
“It’s sort of like the core and all our buildings are rotating around it, feeding into it and pulling ideas out of it,” said Evans. “I’ll see stuff on there and think, why didn’t I think of that?”