Atlantic 10 Conference Basketball Marketing: What We Can Learn from #6 Richmond

There's something (or things) that every program does a fantastic job of that we can learn from. In anything you do, if you can find the good in what someone does and do more of that and then avoid what you find to be less effective, you'll end up in a better place.

Thus far our journey through the Atlantic 10 has shown us #14 St Joseph's, #13 La Salle, #12 Saint Louis, #11 Fordham, #10 U Mass, #9 Temple, #8 Duquesne, and #7 St Bonaventure.

Let's keep moving.

#6 Richmond

What the program is known for? 1991. What a game - 15th seeded Richmond took down #2 Syracuse in one of the biggest upsets in NCAA Tournament history. The Spiders have been to 7 tourneys, with their last appearance being in 2004.

Why are they 6th? Richmond gives you access to the program. You've got Coach Moody on Twitter, a DEEP YouTube channel, and access to stories in the media. I think that packaging all of this through a consistent, daily voice - be it a blog or the site structure - could organize things and focus us in on the access that is here.

What inspired me about Richmond? (link here)


1. A deep presence on YouTube


Richmond goes deep on YouTube. As you can see by clicking here, they allow you to subscribe to the Basketball Playlist within the Athletics YouTube channel. Solid. Then when you click into that playlist, you see a world of 70 videos that include press conferences, highlights, and interviews. Great stuff.

What would be even better would be if they could take this content and pump it into their website. As you can see in the image below (or here), Wichita State does just that. By doing this, you get more eyeballs to subscribe to your YouTube Playlist and also liven up the basketball athletics site.



2. A virtual tour of the Spiders Locker Room
Most NCAA D-1 teams have nice locker rooms and players lounges. But hardly anyone does what Richmond does here. They give you a nice 360 degree video tour of where the squad gets ready for games. It's well shot and powerful. And I like the subtle inclusion of their NCAA appearances. Solid.

How could this get better? Why not have a coach or player give us this tour. Tell us what makes it a special place, and how much time you spend there. Use this as a chance to both show recruits your facility and connect with them along the way.


3. Easy Access to National Coverage of the Spiders



As you can see in the image above, Richmond elevates their USA Today and SI feature stories to the main image on the basketball site, adding easy links to read the full articles. Smart. Never assume people have read these pieces. And this shows me a program that is proud of the accomplishments and is appreciating what they have this year. Nice.

As you'll note in the image below, the Information Center to the right of that main image also gives access to stories in the press about Head Coach Mooney. Ironically, the CBS Story was from 2005... Which isn't a bad thing at all. But what they do need here is more context. Tell us what we're going to see, rather than simply "CBS Sportsline Story."


This coverage is all great and should be archived together on the site. 3years from now it would be powerful to see all of the exposure that a 4-year letter winner would get. Show recruits that while your stage isn't as well known as some of the big schools, you're building quite a deep experience at Richmond.

That's it.

Come back tomorrow as we move to the top 5!