West Coast Conference Basketball Marketing: #4 Loyola Marymount

We'll keep moving through the West Coast Conference, looking at how programs are communicating to young athletes (or fans) from a digital point of view. Websites and digital marketing are the great equalizer -- a place where every program can share what they stand for. And I'd argue all of this is even more critical for the Mid Majors out there. Smart marketing can help build that connection that gets you the athlete you need.

Thus far our journey has shown us #8 St Mary's, #7 San Diego, #6 Gonzaga, and #5 San Francisco.

Let's go.

#4 Loyola Marymount

The Digital Scouting Report

Strengths: Fantastic job leveraging the tradition and history in the program.

Weaknesses: Need to take that energy and extend it to this year's team!

Full Scouting Report:
Hitting the Loyola Marymount home page, I was pretty hyped. How can you not hit the home page and recall the magical run Loyola had in 1990? And, guess what? We are greeted with a splash page that takes us through this experience. Now I'm not normally a fan of splash pages. They interrupt what a consumer is after in the first place, much like a virtual version of a sales person pulling you towards a store. But this one is a little different, as it also exists inside the LMU site. So, for that reason, let's explore it now.



This site, also accessible here, gives you a collection of videos around the 1990 LMU team that featured Coach Paul Westhead's crazy offense and a dominating Hank Gathers/Bo Kimble offense. Think about this - they scored over 100 points 28 times. That's crazy.




Videos cover the system, the team, overcoming the adversity of losing star Hank Gathers. Think about this story -- a team, underdog already, loses their star player and then goes on a run to the Elite 8? The videos here are captivating, and I have to admit I couldn't turn them off... but there is potential for more. What is the brand statement this reflects? How easy can you share these videos? Or tell your own version of that story? The story is one of the best, the videos are fantastic, but there's the opportunity to take something good here and make it great. Anyway, link in here.


OK, I moved into the LMU main site, here. You have to like the snapshots that rotate through the home page, simple but a nice touch.



I checked out the Fan Center menu, shown below, and noticed a recruiting area.


There's something cool and simple about adding an area that shows all the incoming recruits, across all sports, in one area. I like this. It's one of the areas that mixing sports can be powerful. Want to go to a school with a top baseball player coming in as well? It's gog potential for big time energy.



Quickly though, I noticed the Multimedia button on the right hand side of the page. I drilled in here...








iLMU is the interactive home of Loyola Marymount. You've got access to 360 degree tours of campus, along with the University's iTunes pages (shown below). As you'll see, there isn't much depth on athletics here but there is a great technological foundation to build upon.




Inside the Lions is pretty sweet (link here). It's a interview show between sophomore basketball player Jarred DuBois and players across all LMU programs. It's a cool concept, and it shows a different side of a basketball player. To me, it also signals that if you as a player have an interest in becoming a TV personality, LMU can help you get the experience you will need. New episodes air every couple weeks -- the only thing I'd ask for is a way to sign up for more.



LMU on Twitter takes us here, to the Athletics Twitter page. With just over 100 followers, they post updates of new articles on the athletics site and post game updates across all programs. It's a tough job, balancing all sports in a site like this, but I'd say they do an ok job if your interest is very broad in the University. (I want a deeper experience around key sports)



The LMU Facebook page (here) is one of the larger followings I've come across at the Mid-Major level, with close to 5,300 fans.



As you'll see in the image below, LMU does a couple things I love on Facebook. One, they add a picture with each link they share. So you get a diverse feeling of activity (visually) across multiple sports. Powerful. And two, they add their podcasts inside Facebook, as music files.




All they need now is a music player, like we saw on Illinois State (image below) to house all of these!



Finally, LMU offered up a Facebook page dedicated to the 89-90 dream team. (That's amazing stuff!) How can you not become a fan? Link here. Makes me wonder why a school like Indiana State wouldn't want to do this?




So, let's move on to the basketball home page.



LMU makes their yearbook available online, as a series of PDFs or browsable online.



There is a tout on the left-hand side of the page (shown below) for the 89-90 squad.



Clicking in takes you to the story, from which you can then hit the videos that started this journey.



What you won't find on the site is really any way to follow this year's squad. Help connect us to the squad! Head Coach Max Good is up, here.



He's not very active (and has only 12 followers) but he's pretty witty. Check this quote at the start of the season:

"Big game today against a high flying Boise St team. I promise no LeGarrette Blount incidents."

Ouch. But it's that kind of wit that could be merged with a great history to eliver an amazing experience online.

Who's going to win this thing? We're down to Pepperdine, Portland, and Santa Clara... Come back on Monday and we'll move into the top 3.