NCAA Tournament Basketball Marketing: What we can learn from #14 Seed Montana

We continue our evaluation of this year's NCAA Tournament field, from a marketing point of view. We're in search of inspiration- things that all of us can take and apply into our worlds. And, for fans, of each team, that's a look into what makes you special.

Thus far, we've reviewed top seeded Kentucky, #2 West Virginia, #3 New Mexico, #4Wisconsin, #5 Temple, #6 Marquette, #7 Clemson, #8 Texas, #9 Wake Forest, #10 Missouri, #11 Washington, #12 Cornell, and #13 Wofford.

Now it starts to get really interesting: Let's check out #14 Montana.

East #14 Seed Montana (link here)

What's Inspiring About Montana Athletics Marketing?

1. Be a Grizzly

Montana borrows a page from what I loved in Oregon (Be A Duck, click here). They take the idea of "Recruits" and re-word this into a phrase that is action oriented and motivational. Become A Grizzly. That's motivational. And it's hyped right in their permanent navigation.

Now click in, and they take you to this page, funneling you right into the sport you play.

How could this be better? Well, I'd put this pretty simply. If you know a kid is interested in becoming a Grizzly basketball student-athlete, what information do you want to offer him? Right now it's only a form to fill out. So it's ok in that you are routing them appropriately but you're missing a chance to connect. I'd love to see a personal message from the program about what it means to be a Grizzly. Don't underestimate the power this page can have for your squad.

2. Follow the Grizzlies on Twitter

The Grizzlies borrowed a page from St John's (link here) and offered a mix of athletes and "official athletics" sites when you check them out on Twitter. But what I loved about Montana was they actually elevated these feeds into their site (see below). So click on the Grizzlies Twitter link and you'll see posts by the athletics team alongside student athlete Anthony Johnson (basketball) and Jace Palmer (football). Fantastic.

How could this be better? I think the role of the athletics site isn't just to bring these things to the surface (which Montana does, better than most I've come across), but rather to do it in a way that portrays a message. Kind of like a moderator in a panel at a conference you might go to. Elevate and steer the conversation. That said, wonderful stuff here!

3. Question of the Day

Facebook. Click into the Grizzlies Facebook page (here) and you'll find a pretty active world of 14,000+ fans. But what I liked was that they seemed to solve a problem that many of us face: what to do with Facebook? What the Grizzlies chose was to have a question of the day. As you can see below, sometimes it's as simple as what type of food your family has on Easter. The dialogues are consistent and you, the fan, are being interacted with every day.

How this could get better starts with the question I had upon seeing this one -- what's that have to do with the Grizzlies? Had they started by saying, "the Grizzlies met for an Easter meal at Coach's house today - here's a picture. What did you have to eat?" or "The Grizzlies gave back today - serving a meal at the Food Pantry. What did you do today?", then we would both have kept a connection to the program and felt engaged. That's where this needs to go -- connect consistently to the program in a way that's true to you.

That's it.

Come back tomorrow - 2 more squads in the East Region!

Andy