NCAA Basketball Marketing: What We Could Learn from #14 Sam Houston State

We're in search of inspiration- things that all of us can take and apply into our worlds. Then we will apply a "Plus One" method to make each inspiring thing even better. Thus far, we've looked at top seeded Duke, #2Villanova, #3 Baylor, #4 Purdue, #5 Texas A&M, #6 Notre Dame, #7Richmond, #8 California, #9 Lousiville, #10 Saint Mary's, #11 Old Dominion, #12 Utah State, and #13 Siena.

Let's go.

South Region #14 Seed Sam Houston State: What's Inspiring about Sam Houston State Athletics Marketing?

1. Bearkat Bytes

This is really fantastic. Linked here, you'll find the Bearkats blog, maintained by the coaching staff, from what I can tell. It's authentic and personal and just reading an entry makes me feel a lot more connected here. Here's an excerpt, from this week.

"There have been a lot of things going on in the world of Bearkat basketball... They have created a Facebook and Twitter page for the program, and we have also installed new recruiting software that I have wanted to do for some time now.... As far as the program is concerned, we have every returner enrolled in the first session of summer school."

You get the idea. It's nothing that every program couldn't do, but they are killing it. Fantastic.

Plus One: Just be consistent. That's all I can offer. The posts are fantastic but could be more addicting if we had a sense for what was coming, and when.

2. What Can We Do Better?

Love this. As you can see here (and below), Sam Houston State asks what they can do to improve the online experience. I am a believer that the best ideas come from your biggest fans and the act of making yourself vulnerable and asking for ideas is really a powerful one.

Plus One: Elevate this. Then hype it. The only downside on this is that it is kind of tucked into the bottom of the site. Draw some attention to it, then recognize those fans who have ideas. And extend that call for ideas to physical spaces (the arena!)

3. The Facility, in Pictures

Sam Houston State gives us a good look into the Bernard G Johnson Coliseum, here, and below. At first glance, it may come across as simply a collection of pictures. But look deeper. That's why you're here, right?

What is here is not just a collection of pictures, but a collection of stories. The scoreboard is signaled out, saying "A state-of-the-art scoreboard became a special feature at games at Johnson Coliseum starting in 2006-07." It's stories combined with pictures that are powerful and I'd love to see a lot more of this here.

Plus One: Give us a story of all the special features in the coliseum. The locker rooms, media rooms, weight room, and training rooms. And involve the athletes in that storytelling. I love this idea, and think the potential is very impactful.

What's next?

We'll be back Friday with a breakdown of #15 seed Robert Morris. It's getting close!

As always, you can follow along on Twitter - I'm @pawlow34.