What I Learned About Marketing from Fantasy Football

As a Strategist, I have overseen numerous marketing campaigns. In my personal life, I have also overseen countless fantasy football teams. Between my time as a marketing strategist and a make-believe football coach, I have found many parallels between the roles.

I hope to share insights between my professional and personal experiences in this article.

1. Do Your Research
Like in the campaign planning stage, every offseason, you have to do your research on the personnel and strategy changes in the NFL. Players sign with new teams, new coaches with different schemes are installed, and a brand new batch of players enter the league through the NFL Draft. Showing up on draft day for your league blind to these changes will leave you at a significant disadvantage for the draft and the season.

fantasypros.com is a good place to start your research

When planning campaigns, be sure to do similar research on market trends, new platforms and functionality, and review data from previous campaigns to get a better idea of what your campaign strategy will look like.

A thoroughly researched campaign and fantasy football team lay the groundwork for future success.

2. Know Your Competition

Heading into your fantasy football draft, like setting up your campaign, it is critical to know your competition's tendencies. Are there certain players, positions, or teams that they favor? Do they have specific draft tendencies? Knowing your competition will help you succeed in your draft.

Like a fantasy football draft, knowing your competition in marketing is vital. Do they have strengths greater than yours that you must work against? What about unique value propositions that you must counter? Are they currently running promotions that might undercut your promoted goods or services?

Researching and having answers in both cases will help you succeed no matter what your competition might throw your way.

3. Optimize Throughout the Season

Like the conclusion of a fantasy football draft, your campaign's launch is just the beginning!

You cannot treat a marketing campaign as a set-it-and-forget tactic. You need to work throughout its run to get the most out of your budget, targeting, and creative. Reacting to performance data and letting it inform your optimizations is key to a well-performing campaign.

For example, are particular messages outperforming others? Pause your lower-performing ads and dedicate more of your budget to high-performing ones. Are repeat customers making more purchases than new customers? Put more budget behind your remarketing ad group.

Like the campaign’s launch, your fantasy football draft is half the battle of your season. It is your opportunity to build out your roster for the season. But what happens when one of your players gets injured? Or your star wide receiver gets suspended? Or you see a rookie who you believe has the potential for a breakout season.

Justin Jefferson’s injury last season threatened many fantasy football teams.

You must play the waivers and replace him with someone offering better value. In fantasy football, like in marketing, it is essential to continually look for opportunities to improve your team or campaign.

4. Keep Your Eye on the Prize

While working to improve your team or campaign throughout the season, it is essential to remember the bigger picture or prize.

It can be easy to get too focused on the data/optimizations and week-to-week matchups of a fantasy football season.

However, what you do in the short term should not have lasting impacts in the long term. For example, what if a particular audience gets inundated and annoyed with your ads because you are targeting them exclusively? What about when you reach the finite limits of your existing customers or remarketing audiences?

Like a marketing campaign in fantasy football, you need to make short-term decisions week-to-week, but you can’t let them impact your overall season. If a player gets injured in week 1 but could potentially return mid-season, is it worth dropping him for the short term if he won’t be available to you later when he returns? Or, how long do you stick with a struggling player simply because you invested significant draft capital in him?

When making in-season decisions or mid-campaign optimizations, remember to see the forest through the trees and keep your eyes on the ultimate prize: maximizing your return on campaigns and the championship in fantasy football!