How to get wrestling fans, part 3

How to get wrestling fans, pt 3

I started this I think Friday, and wanted to make a short series of this as we went along. If you follow my blogs on Blogspot, then you have not missed anything, this is indeed the third part of that series.

If you missed it, you might want to bounce there and find out about it. But in a nutshell, I am blogging on ways that local wrestling federations can bring more fans and thus revenue to their sport…although that word is debatable.

I heard that the owner of WWE wants to change the terminology of “sports entertainment” to just “entertainment”. Well, that’s his call with his wrestling, but on MY blog, I call it sports entertainment…because that’s what it is. It takes athletes to do what these guys do, and it is for entertainment.

Anyway, on my second blog on this issue, I talked about LOCATION, which is critical to a small wrestling federation. You see folks, not every wrestling group is like the big ones, where they can travel to Chicago this week, Pennsylvania the next week, North Carolina the next and so on. Many of the smaller ones have a small region, like a part of a state, some just have a single town or city. So location is important to establishing their business because it has to be a place where the fans can get to, but at the same time, the facility itself can’t be so high in rent that the tickets end up being $20 and a hot dog costing $2...without condiments!

So let’s talk about another element in getting wrestling fans…PROMOTION AND ADVERTISING.

This is HUGE when it comes to wrestling, and I think many times this is where most small wrestling federations lose a golden chance to rack up fans. I mean, think about it, when was the last time you went to a local wrestling show? How did you hear about it? If you’re like most people, it might be through word of mouth, or by some flyer stuck on the wall somewhere.

A few weeks ago I was told about a wrestling event in Robeson, NC. I was told that the event features some pretty unique names in the wrestling business, such as Terry Funk, CW Anderson and others. Now to ANY real wrestling fan, that is a ticket you don’t want to miss, if at all possible. I never got the chance to go because the distance was just not convenient and the ticket price was I think $25. I also heard Terry Funk didn’t make it, and instead Jake “The Snake” Roberts was there…

(many of you know the story of how some smaller wrestling federations don’t like Jake Roberts because he sometimes does not deliver on his performance, google on that and find out what I am talking about)

But my point is that the promotion and advertising was word of mouth. Now, that is fine to some of you, and to a lot of wrestling federations they rely on word of mouth, but be careful for what you wish for. Just as word of mouth can help your event, it can also hurt it as well. Just as somebody can say what might be good about your event, they can also say something bad. Advertising and promotions give you the chance to make your case as to why fans ought to come see your event.

It really is amazing how many people see advertising as a waste of money. You don’t see Coca-Cola crying about spending money on advertising. You don’t see McDonalds crying about spending money on advertising. It’s a part of your investment. If I was in charge of a wrestling federation, this would be a key part of bring in the fans.

The idea of advertising is to create the awareness of your product (wrestling) to the people in the area. If you are relying on a few pieces of paper stapled to some billboard or hoping that some of your fans tell others, you are shooting too low. The idea is to pack the house with fans, right? Then take an action to maximize your chances to pack that house.

For example, if I had a wrestling federation event coming up, I would first try to identify the electronic media sources of the town. That means radio stations and local television stations. This does not mean you can afford to advertise, it just means you need to find the info on it.

Lots of radio stations offer very cheap rates, and you can cut a spot (spoken by a guy who knows a bit about radio) very cheaply. Some stations offer rates as low as $5 a spot, or even less, if you know who to talk to. I don’t care how many flyers you put out, it won’t beat the numbers you can get from a few well placed radio spots. And heck, with the cost of printing, ink and gas to travel around town anyway, you might as well at least consider radio ads.

If I was running a wrestling federation, I’d tap into the thousands of people who listen to even small radio stations, and build a fan base from there. This is just one part of how advertising and promotions can work to build a wrestling fan base.

Let me give you an example:

I used to cut spots for local high school sports, so I know a lot about 30 second and 60 second spots. If you are going to use local radio to advertise, you need to make sure the listeners are well informed about your event, and to encourage them to act… not just to listen, but to act. I mean, it doesn’t matter if 10,000 people listened to your spot, if you didn’t give them a reason to come see you, then you still won’t fill the seats, right?

This means there is a difference in sharing info, and SELLING info. I mean, think about it, when you watch wrestling, and you see a guy take a punch, look to see if they SOLD the punch. What does that mean? That means they made it believable. One of the things didn’t like about wrestling is when the “star” stops selling punches. Two examples…Hulk Hogan and Undertaker. You punch them, and they act like they don’t feel it. That’s because they are not “selling” the move. This was one of the big problems a local wrestling federation had with Jake Roberts, and how he ruined their program.

But in advertising it applies to. For example, which wrestling ad would you pay more attention to:

Spot #1: Coming this Thursday night to the Williams Assembly Building, it’s MWW (Mighty Wrestling World). Come see local wrestlers battle it out for the MWW Championship title. Tickets are only $10, and kids under 5 get in for free. Call us at 555-5555 and reserve your tickets now. That’s MWW wrestling at the Williams Assembly Building, this Thursday night. Be there.

Spot #2: Mighty Wrestling World is coming to YOUR area this Thursday night! Come see high-flying, drop-kicking old-school wrestling at it’s best at Williams Assembly Building! If you’ve ever wanted to see wrestling live and in person, this is your chance to enjoy great local wrestling talent! And tickets are only $10! Kids under 5 get in for free! Come see some great wrestling entertainment as the stars fight it out for the MWW Championship Title!. Call 555-5555 today and get your tickets NOW, before they are sold out! It’s MWW, Mighty Wrestling World!

Now I made that name up (yeah, kinda corny) but you get the idea. If you are going to advertise, you can’t just tell folks the info. You have to excite them to action, you want that phone ringing off the hook of people demanding tickets. The point of advertising is more than just telling people that you have a wrestling event, it’s INVITING them to come see it.

Now, promotion goes a step further in that it allows you to use your talent to help promote the event. In wrestling, it helps a lot to use the talent you have to help push your wrestling event. This can also work in your favor to help create local favorites even in small towns.

Remember folks, local wrestling federations can’t afford to employ the big names like AJ Styles, John Cena, Cactus Jack or Triple H. They just can’t, and if by any miracle they could acquire those kinda talents for one night, it would cost the fans an arm and a leg just to see them. So we have to think on a smaller scale, and build a fan base from what we have.

Let’s say I actually DO run MWW, and I have a face wrestler (a good guy) and a heel (bad guy) that I want to promote. Let’s call the face “Cory Saint” and the heel “Vengeance”. We might have been in business for a couple of years, but most of the people may not know of them or my other wrestlers. They might have even heard that there’s some wrestling going on in town, but never came to see it. I need to push the envelope a bit to encourage them to come see my talent, and root for Cory Saint. I need to build a fan base and create interest in my wrestlers.

To do this, I may need to identify a local radio station and cut a few spots that actually feature my wrestlers. Whereas the advertising spots give info, I can use promotion to get the listeners familiar with my wrestlers by having their voice on the spots. For example:

Spot #1: Hi, I’m Cory Saint, one of the many great wrestlers of Mighty Wrestling World, and I’ll be here in town this Thursday night at Williams Assembly Building to defend my title against “Vengeance”. I want your support as I lock up with this guy, because he’s known to break the rules. You come out and support me, and I’ll give you a victory for all my fans. Tickets are only $10 and kids under 5 get in for free. There’ll be giveaways and plenty of action, so you might wanna call 555-5555 and get ticket reservations. So come on out and check us out, and root me on to victory and I defend the MMW title. That’s this Thursday at the Williams Assembly Building. Hope to see you there.

Now, that’s a nice clean spot, even though I know it still lacks time of event and physical location, but you get the idea. The purpose of this promotion is to get the listeners familiar with the good guy. It also invites the fans to come support him, and it also tells you that a world title match is one of the many things you can expect. There is a call for action and you’re already familiar with one of the wrestlers.

But I can also use the bad guy to promote the event as well…

Spot #2 I’ve been hearing stories of Cory Saint talking on the air about how he’s begging his fans to support him when he faces ME, Vengeance. Well, he’s gonna need all the help he can get! You can come out to the Williams Assembly Building this Thursday all you want, but it won’t help him one bit! That Mighty Wrestling World Title is as good as mine and I’ll take great pleasure to see every one of Cory Saint’s fans cry like a baby when I pin him to the mat! So go ahead, get your tickets or call for reservations. You can even bring your snot-nosed kids, they get in for free if they are under 5 years old! So come on out to Williams Assembly Building this Thursday night and watch me, Vengeance, take the world title. Ha, it’s already mine!

See, if we play off these two wrestlers, we are slowly building a fan base for people who have not even seen the event yet. If given enough time to run over a week or so, we would have already brought entertainment by our ads and promotions, while hopefully creating a fan base to fill the stands.

We’ll talk more about this as we keep the series going, check out my continuing wrestling blog on blogspot.com.