If you haven’t been able to tell by now, we can find marketing lessons in just about anything. From the NBA Bubble to the TV show “The Office,” we’re in a constant state of learning at DMA. One pop culture movement that isn’t too difficult to pull out marketing lessons from is “Fantasy Football.” 

Fantasy Football may be one of the most iconic PR and marketing moves of our time. In case you aren’t familiar with the game, Fantasy Football allows you to be the general manager of an NFL team. You get to draft players and call the shots all season long. The genius behind Fantasy Football is that fans of football and non-fans alike can enjoy the game. People who would never care about professional football are suddenly watching every game and cheering for players they my have otherwise never heard of. There are several lessons we can learn from Fantasy Football, but we’ve pulled out a few specifically for fresh produce marketers.

3 things marketers can learn from fantasy football 

1. Be Cohesive

When you’ve put on your general manager cap to draft your Fantasy Football team, you make sure everything will work together. Drafting the best quarterback in the league won’t be enough. You’ll also need to make sure you have a running back or wide receiver to pick up some points. You want to make sure you pick a great defense to stop the other team from scoring. Every player you draft should work toward one cohesive plan. 

The same should go for our marketing efforts. Just because you have a killer social media strategy, doesn’t mean you should only rely on that to connect with consumers. Your social media strategy should align with the brand’s overall direction and goals. Public relations and creative design should be working toward the same goal and strategy to make your marketing efforts more cohesive. At DMA, we’ve seen incredible marketing success from promotions and marketing strategies when all units are working together. 

2. Be Attentive 

While creating a March Madness bracket is one of my favorite things to do each year, the reality is, you choose your bracket and then you have to sit back and watch the buzzer beaters and upsets without any control. The exciting part about Fantasy Football is that drafting your team is only the start. Each week you’re making decisions, pulling starters, anything it takes for your team to come out on top. To be a successful Fantasy Football GM you have to be paying attention daily to your own team and your upcoming opponent, or else you could potentially start a player who is on the injured list and score zero points. 

Fortunately for fresh produce marketers, our reality is much more like Fantasy Football than it is March Madness. We have the ability to adapt and adjust our strategy to better meet our goals – we just have to be attentive. For example, if you’re running a promotion with the goal of increasing blog subscribers, you need to be checking daily on the status of your goal. If you’re well on your way to meeting your goal, great! If it looks like you won’t make it, you have the chance to strategize different tactics for getting there. But, if you only check your analytics on the end-date of the promotion, it’s too late. Being attentive to our goals is the key for ensuring success. 

3. Be Goal Oriented 

All the great Fantasy Football GMs have an end goal – to win the championship. In most fan leagues there is a prize for winning, and often a silly consequence for losing. Every decision, whether it’s starting player A over player B or choosing the best defense to match the opponent’s offense, is made with the end-goal in mind. 

While it’s easy for fresh produce marketers to get caught up in our day-to-day to-do list, it’s important to stay focused on the end goal. At DMA, we’re conscious about changing our mindset from “I have to” to “I get to.” When we consider the end-goal, it’s no longer I “have” to do this task, it’s I “get” to do this task because it will help us meet our goal. 

We could go on and on, but you get the point. As fresh produce marketers, we can learn applicable lessons from just about anything around us. Being cohesive, attentive and goal oriented are three characteristics that will set our companies and brands up for success. 

If you’re in need of marketing inspiration or assistance meeting your marketing goals, give us a call. We’d love to connect!

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