While at dinner last night with mobile developer Elijah R. Young and professional wrestler Navy, I was asked how I would market a professional wrestler who was making a fresh start. What a question right? I enjoy wrasslin’ and recognize the impact Jim McMahon had on the business, but I had never thought about marketing the sport or an individual wrestler. I gave him a quality answer (which is below), but it got my wheels turning on how I’d market other unique professionals. Yep, I have a blog series on my hands.
How would I market a wrestler?
Wrestling is all about plot and storytelling. First thing to nail down is the story of the person and his or her character. We’d also need to create the connection between the person’s real life story and their character’s story. Wrestling fans appreciate the convergence of transparency and fantasy. Deep down, the wrestler’s true life story is the base for their brand’s development.
The hub. Since I’m a digital and visual guy, I instantly thought of having a custom YouTube channel as a hub. You can’t go wrong with populating content in the world’s second largest search engine. YouTube is flooded with wrestling clips from the WWE, TNA and backyard indies. My wrestling client would definitely get his or her share. Elijah chimed in and mentioned how video blogging would be an easy and powerful thing to do for the client as well… which brings up the importance of having a quality website/blog (personal hub) for the client.
I’m not an SEO expert but I can hold my own. I’d call on my buddies at Everspark Interactive for some longtail keyword research and link building. There are bound to be other up and coming wrestlers on the web who would consider swapping links and partnering on content. As for the keywords, I’d consider optimizing the site and blog posts around keywords like, “best independent wrestler” or “YouTube wrestling sensation”.
Social channels. It comes back to visual. Focusing on still images… my marketing strategy for my wrestling client would lean heavily on Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook (since Facebook is becoming highly visual these days). Most wrestlers have great in-shape bodies. If you’re dude, it only makes sense to build up your female following by showing off your goods by pinning it on Pinterest right? The Instagram account should capture images from the wrestler’s everyday life… the healthy food they eat, photos of family and kids, training shots and more.
That’s about it. Well, I have more but umm… Why not hire me and see my ideas in action? 🙂
