Digital Engagement: Three Points For The Win

David Berney, CEO of Premier Browser, explains why cutting edge tech solutions can drive football clubs’ engagement with fans both at home and abroad – and open up new revenue streams in the process.

Even the biggest, most profitable businesses in the world would move mountains for the levels of engagement, passion and loyalty a football club garners from its fans.

What other businesses (clubs) could, for example, perform badly for weeks on-end yet have their millions of customers (fans) keep on consuming their product (tickets, merchandising and media subscriptions)? Or at the end of the financial year (season), having had a torrid time, be guaranteed that tens of thousands will renew their subscription (season ticket) regardless?

It won’t be news to anyone that football teams have tens – and even hundreds – of millions of fans across the world who bleed their club’s colours. But what might be news to people is the small number of touch points these giants of the sport genuinely have to engage with them. Sure, hardcore fans will go home and away up and down the UK week-in week-out, but what about the other 99% of fans, many of whom may spent a lifetime supporting a club but never have the opportunity, or financial means, to attend a game in person?

The digital space is where clubs need to be looking to do this, and though many have looked here over the years with platforms like club TV channels and language specific websites, the amount and quality of engagement achieved to date hasn’t been anywhere near the level it could be for these huge sporting brands.

To be effective, a football club’s digital strategy needs to ensure that it offers a win-win-win – a win for the three main stakeholders: the fans, the club itself, and club partners.

Fans want digital platforms that enable them to express their fandom, and get rewards from their club for doing so, whether that’s in content exclusive to them, tickets and merchandising they can get for free or at a discounted rate or support towards a club charity. That’s the case whether they are a fan who lives within a mile of the stadium or one that lives on the other side of the world.

For the club, digital platforms need to provide a better understanding of their fanbase, both at home and abroad, in the form of detailed data – not only who they are, but where they are and what they like. After all, that fan within a mile of the stadium will have a different relationship with the club than his or her counterpart living thousands of miles away.

Club sponsors – both current and potential – want ways to market their product to a targeted audience; clubs that can provide digital platforms that do this can offer super-charged digital sponsorship opportunities that bring better value and engagement.

Cutting edge digital solutions like the Everton Club browser are achieving this win-win-win already with unbelievably strong levels of engagement with their fanbases straight from launch.

Working with a number of high-profile football clubs, I have noticed an eagerness to bring together departments – merchandising, fan engagement, ticketing, partnerships and marketing to name a few – that are all working to reach the same goal: the success of the club and the maximum pleasure of the fans.

Our USP is that we can bring these areas of the business together with cutting edge digital solutions through which all key club stakeholders benefit.

Premier Browser creates web browser technology, designed for sports rights-holders to reward fans who shop, share and search online. It has a number of partnerships in sport, including with English Premier League clubs Everton Football Club and Manchester City Football Club, as well as online retailer Kitbag.