My church has participated in the Conway (AR) city-wide kickball league this summer. I have enjoyed watching my church play and cheering them on, and we have had a lot of fun and fellowship at the games. I have been to several of the games, and just for fun, I thought I would relate some of my observations to kickball.
If you aren’t familiar with kickball, it is played just like baseball only with a big rubber ball which the batter kicks. The league is co-ed meaning each team must have an equal number of ladies playing. The batting lineup has to rotate guy, gal, etc. You can have back-to-back ladies in the order, but not back-to-back guys.
The following are observations I made about kickball that relate to the world of marketing.
1. You have to do more than look good.
One of our fans mentioned, jokingly (I think), that the only thing matters is that you “look good going on the field and coming off the field.” In marketing, and business, looking good is not enough. All the snazzy designs and graphics and other means of “looking good” are pointless if you are marketing to the wrong niche. The key is to find the right message that matches your niche and then create the right, and great, look or logo, etc.
2. Everyone plays with the same ball
One night, the kickball was very warped! (O.K., more than once, but I digress) One of our fans lightheartedly complained about the ball being warped and the umpire wisely told him that “the ball is warped for both teams.” Right now, the economy is bad. The economy is bad for everybody. Now it’s more crucial than ever to have the right marketing message for you organization.
3. The goals are the same
The goal in kickball is to get the batter all the way around to home plate and score a run. The other team tries to get him or her out. It’s simple, and the goal is the same for everybody on the field. The same is true in business and with marketing. As a business, it is your goal to sell your product or your service, and marketing serves as a catalyst to get people in your store, etc. The goal for the customer is the same; to have a problem solved. You can be likeable, you can have the lowest prices, etc., but the question is are finding a way to solve a problem for your customer?