An Evaluation of Digital Marketing Pertaining to Birmingham City Football Club - Appraising the Application of CRM, AI and SEM as Potential ...
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An Evaluation of Digital Marketing Pertaining to
Birmingham City Football Club
Appraising the Application of CRM, AI and SEM as Potential
Digital Approaches
-
Rosanna Embley and Sem Visser
December 2021
UD7004 – Digital marketing for Football
An Evaluation of Digital Marketing
Pertaining to Birmingham City Football
Club: Appraising the Application of CRM, AI
and SEM as Potential Digital Approaches
Executive summary
• The purpose of this report is to evaluate the potential applications of digital marketing
techniques for Birmingham City Football Club (BCFC) with a focus on customer
relationship management (CRM), artificial intelligence (AI), and search engine marketing
(SEM).
• CRM as a whole is investigated in relation to the sports industry, a fan relationship
management (FRM) framework is applied to identify BCFC’s areas of development, and
the spotlight is ultimately put on the application of chatbots to enhance CRM through
improved personalization and more engagement.
• The application of AI for football clubs is then evaluated with dynamic pricing at its
center. The potential high cost and more negative sides of AI are also briefly explored.
• Eventually SEM is explored with a focus on the two main techniques: search engine
optimization (SEO) and paid per click (PPC). The advantages of these inbound
marketing techniques are addressed and examples of how this could help BCFC are
provided.
• Finally, recommendations regarding the application of these techniques and important
financial considerations are presented. The report ends with a conclusion.
Table of Contents
1. Introduction ............................................................................................................... 4
2. Customer relationship management (CRM) .......................................................... 5
3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) .......................................................................................... 8
4. Search Engine Marketing (SEM) ........................................................................... 10
5. Recommendations .................................................................................................. 13
6. Conclusion ............................................................................................................... 14
References ...................................................................................................................... 15
Appendices ..................................................................................................................... 19
Appendix A: Key concepts to understand ranking processes and improve the SERP
position .................................................................................................................................... 19
Appendix B: SEO explained as an ongoing process ......................................................... 20
Appendix C: Birmingham FC investment in SEO compared to competition .................. 21
Appendix D: Email content BCFC based subscriber access ............................................ 22
Appendix E: Application of the fan relation management framework (FRM) for BCFC . 24
Table of Figures
Figure 1 CRM initiative implementation (Adamson, et al., 2005) ............................... 5
Figure 2 Fan relationship management (FRM) framework.......................................... 6
Figure 3 Modified customer engagement cycle using chatbots (Ramaul, 2021) ..... 7
Figure 4 communications mix for traffic building ...................................................... 10
Figure 5 Birmingham FC website store ....................................................................... 12
Figure 6 Google result for search word 'football club merchandise' ...................... 12
Figure 7 stages involved in search engine listing ..................................................... 19
Figure 8 SEO as an on-going process ......................................................................... 20
Figure 9 Leading websites of professional football clubs in the English
Championship with highest SEO visibility 2019 (Statista, 2019) ............................. 21
Figure 10 Example emai BCFCl .................................................................................... 22
Figure 11 Example email BCFC .................................................................................... 23
1. Introduction This report aims to evaluate relevant digital marketing techniques for Birmingham City FC (BCFC). BCFC is a football club playing in the Championship with many domestic and international supporters clubs (Birmingham City FC website, 2021). A previous attempt by the club to globalise and gain on the Chinese football market has failed, matches are attended by a core group of local fans (May, 2019). Football lags behind other industries in implementing customer relationship management (CRM) because most clubs take fan loyalty for granted, however, recent research highlights different fan segments that are not loyal to just one team (Adamson, et al., 2005). For this reason, CRM will be inspected. Also, the report delves into the emerging artificial intelligence (AI) technology that can provide a more personalised customer experience (Ramaul, 2021) and offer immersive viewer experiences to fans at home (Peel, 2020). Furthermore, the emergence of the Internet has disrupted global markets and changed customers’ buying behaviours (Bezhovski, 2015). Searching behaviour became a buyer’s first step (Ranga & Ranga, 2014), and due to growth, the online marketplace has become more competitive (Yang, 2007). This causes difficulties for online shops to direct traffic to their sites. This also applied for the BCFC-webstore which is why search engine marketing (SEM) is evaluated.
2. Customer relationship management (CRM) The football industry is potentially a sector in which CRM would work well (Adamson, et al., 2005). The essence of CRM is understanding customers to improve loyalty and long-term profitability (Chen & Popovich, 2003; Stringfellow, et al., 2004). Successful implementation of CRM activities rests on the cross-functional integration of processes, people, operations and marketing capabilities, figure 1 below provides a perspective of the extensive scope (Adamson, et al., 2005). Figure 1 CRM initiative implementation (Adamson, et al., 2005) Classic CRM models need to be adapted to match the unique characteristics of sport like supporter loyalty and segmentation, therefore, (Adamson, et al., 2005) developed the fan relationship management (FRM) framework (Figure 2 below).
Figure 2 Fan relationship management (FRM) framework Having applied the FRM-framework to BCFC, identified areas of development are formulating a clear CRM-strategy, improving social media usage as a tool for engagement, segmentation and targeting of fans (Appendix E includes the FRM- analysis which expands on this). Customer retention is an important result of CRM which depends on customer loyalty and this can be enhanced by personalisation (Arab, et al., 2010). Appendix D looks more in depth at some of BCFC’s current CRM practices, and impersonalised email messages can be considered a limitation. As a solution to improve personalisation, AI- driven chatbots can be used as they provide quick automated personalised communication resulting in engagement with customers, in contrast to traditional mediums like email, they also aid in the value creation process (Ramaul, 2021). The CRM performance is affected by engagement through interactions with instant messaging (Marino & Presti, 2018). Thus, AI chatbots are useful for BCFC to improve
CRM as they ensure connection, interaction and satisfaction which are important
aspects of customer engagement (Ramaul, 2021).
Figure 3 Modified customer engagement cycle using chatbots (Ramaul, 2021)
By utilising chatbots, BCFC could enhance their CRM strategy to build stronger
relationships with their customers through the acquisition of knowledge regarding their
needs and wants (Ado, et al., 2015). (Ramaul, 2021) highlights a modified engagement
cycle which clearly points out the chatbot role (see Figure 3). Chatbot driven by AI
processes can help strengthen the relationship between club and customer through the
timely provision of accurate customer support, which indicates a dedication to improving
the customer experience.
3. Artificial Intelligence (AI) Artificial Intelligence, which can be best understood using (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2019) definition: “a system’s ability to correctly interpret external data, to learn from such data, and to use those learnings to achieve specific goals and tasks through flexible adaptation”, is a contemporary business trend that’s usage can be applied to the football industry, with our focus on marketing activities. The scope for the application of AI within the football industry as a whole is extensive. While football as an industry has historically been slow to welcome technology (Kidd, 2019), insights derived from AI processes can help the growth of the sport across a multitude of avenues. Liverpool Football Club can be heralded as an organisation that have integrated AI and human intelligence in recent years and seen upturns in both their sporting and financial performance (Lichtenthaler, 2020). AI can assist in the following areas, with other opportunities yet to be fully explored: • Player recruitment/transfers • Pricing and ticketing strategy • CRM & fan engagement • Refereeing • In-game decision making, predictions, and analysis One particular exploration of AI includes its usage in dynamic pricing setting, and how this might be applied in football. Dynamic pricing, as described by (Kotler, et al., 2016)
is the concept of flexibly setting pricing based on current market demand as well as capacity utilisation. AI can be used to set dynamic ticket prices well in advance through the creation of databases collating information about variables such as fixture popularity and previous attendance patterns (Rathi, et al., 2020). (Rietveld, 2020) discusses a dynamic pricing pilot with Dutch club Vitesse Arnhem in collaboration with Convious, whose AI capabilities allowed them to set individualistic prices for fans based on factors such as willingness to pay, in a bid to drive attendance figures. Insights can be derived from AI captured data such as time of the season, fixture importance/popularity, team’s form, as well as customer’s previous purchasing habits, to set dynamic prices. The pilot experiment generated positive feedback, with 52% of ticket purchasers stating they were swayed to buy a ticket based on the personal offer they could take up. It should be noted that there are potential limitations with AI methods. A clear problem for a club like Birmingham City, who operate in the Championship on a relatively low budget compared to Premier League clubs (Ajadi, et al., 2021), is the high cost that these applications would require. Furthermore, AI cannot replicate a human’s ability to be creative and think innovatively, which is necessary, particularly in a marketing context (Keshav, et al., 2020).
4. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
To build more traffic, SEM can be applied, which is a form of Internet marketing that
includes the promotion of websites by increasing visibility in search engine result pages
(SERP) through optimisation and advertising (Ranga & Ranga, 2014). It is part of the
communications mix for traffic building to websites (Figure 1) and the most important
digital marketing channel for customer acquisition, (Chaffey & Smith, 2017) (e.g. Google
(Dwyer, 2016)) but BCFC is not using yet using it (Statista, 2019) (Appendix C).
Figure 4 communications mix for traffic building
(Chaffey & Smith, 2017) confirm that the main challenge of SEM is gaining visibility and
highlight two techniques:
1. Search engine optimisation (SEO): the practice of optimising web pages to
improve their ranking in SERP which are known as organic results because they
reflect relevancy to searchers, marketers often turn to SEO specialised firms toexecute these activities (Xing & Lin, 2006). Understanding the ranking processes
for marketers to boost the SERP position compared to competitors (Chaffey &
Smith, 2017) (see Appendix A). SEO for sport websites can be improved by
defining goals, finding keywords, using content marketing, and leveraging social
media (Schäferhoff, 2017). Appendix B expands on the SEO-process.
2. Paid per click (PPC): PPC allows advertiser to bid on specific keywords or
phrases so that their advertisements are shown in the SERP alongside organic
search engine results (Boughton, 2005).
Both are inbound marketing methods (Kim, 2019), which is a strategy that attracts
prospects to a website, convert them to leads, and ultimately to brand promoters; this
differs from interruptive marketing which is pushed to users (e.g. emails) (Bezhovski,
2015). Benefits of this are that a direct and long-term relationship is created, buyer
persona profiles produced, and it enables a content strategy based on keywords
identified with SEO. Its complexity can be considered a disadvantage (Patrutiu-Baltes,
2016).Applying these techniques can increase the visibility of the site and web store (see
figure below) through higher Google ranking on specific search words like ‘football club
merchandise’.
Figure 5 Birmingham FC website store
The current SERP for ‘football club merchandise’ only finds other clubs’ web stores (e.g.
Watford FC) (Figure 5).
Figure 6 Google result for search word 'football club merchandise'BCFC can best simultaneously apply SEO and PPC as they complement each other which improves SERP outcomes (Dod, 2020). Collaboration between SEO and PPC is critical to encourage engagement (Dod, 2020; DiNardi, 2021), a holistic approach allows the SEO team use keyword data from PPC to make optimisation decisions (Lincoln, 2018). These benefits could potentially increase traffic to the retail web shop which can increase sales, but competition for the keywords will be fierce (Shewan, 2021). 5. Recommendations The following proposed recommendations would require significant investment from BCFC, and it should be taken into consideration that the current financial state of the club means that the implementation of these techniques would likely be deemed a risk (Dick, 2021). Thus, it is important to highlight the potential ROI and additional opportunities these strategies and methods could lead to. Regardless of many football clubs considering supporter loyalty a given, BCFC should invest in CRM strategies because this can improve loyalty and long-term profitability (Chen & Popovich, 2003; Stringfellow, et al., 2004). Given the identified areas of development through the FRM-framework, applying AI-powered chatbots on social network sites and club website is recommended. This will improve CRM because of an increase in engagement (Ramaul, 2021), and strengthened relationships with fans (Ado, et al., 2015). Furthermore, the club should explore AI-methods to set ticket pricing, thus maximising revenues for popular matches and increasing attendances on less-desirable matchdays (Rietveld, 2020). And, hiring a specialised firm to execute SEM techniques such as SEO and PPC should be considered by BCFC (Xing & Lin, 2006). Especially
since web searching behaviour is becoming the norm and the BCFC web shop is not immediately visible when searching on Google. Improvements can be made by defining clear goals, finding keywords, using content marketing, and leveraging social media (Schäferhoff, 2017). This can increase website traffic and potentially sales (Chaffey & Smith, 2017). 6. Conclusion A combination of the three evaluated digital marketing techniques would be a beneficial in addition for football clubs such as BCFC. The evidence suggests that BCFC’s current digital marketing practices result in impersonalised advertisements and interactions. Higher levels of personalisation could be realised by enhancing CRM methods, which can be done by applying AI-powered chatbots on the website and social network site accounts. AI can also be used to optimise profitability by applying dynamic pricing strategies. Finally, SEM can help BCFC to achieve more digital visibility in search engines through SEO and PPC which will impact web store traffic and potentially increase online sales. However, digitally transforming the club’s marketing efforts may pose financial risks, and these relatively new inventions are largely unproven, particularly in the football industry. At the same time, the potential ROI development which might be worth the initial offset should be considered.
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Appendices Appendix A: Key concepts to understand ranking processes and improve the SERP position Four key concepts to understand are: 1) Crawling (the activity of robots called spiders that are identifying relevant pages for indexing by retrieving a reference URL for later analysis), 2) Indexing (indexes are created so that the search engine can rapidly find relevant pages to the typed query), 3) Ranking (websites are ranked in the index so that the most relevant sites are visible in the SERP), and 4) Query request and result serving (searcher’s query is accepted, user location assessed via the IP address and the relevant sites are displayed based on the ranking). The figure below visualised these aspects. Figure 7 stages involved in search engine listing
Appendix B: SEO explained as an ongoing process SEO enables one to compare performances of different domains in search engines allowing for the identification of positive and negative changes (Krabec & Venegas, 2015). (Pohjanen, 2019) highlights that SEO is an ongoing process (see figure below). First, you must choose effective keywords, secondly, on-page elements like metatags, page content and site navigation must be made attractive to search engine spiders. Thirdly, the website must be in the search engine index by submitting URLs, the fourth step is link building, this means creating external and internal links. Figure 8 SEO as an on-going process
Appendix C: Birmingham FC investment in SEO compared to competition
Birmingham FC is not among the teams that invest much in SEO.
Figure 9 Leading websites of professional football clubs in the English Championship with highest SEO visibility 2019 (Statista, 2019)Appendix D: Email content BCFC based subscriber access
Over 25 emails from BCFC were looked at over the course of the opening 3 months of
the 21/22 season - these were the notable findings:
• Fans are not addressed directly by first name (not personalised)
• Emails are mass-marketing ads, with no personalisation to specific customer
(nothing based on what their website viewing history was, what they previously
purchased, or games they had attended).
• The communication of stand closures was done initially by email and were not
done well in advance of the season starting
• Season ticket holders were notified that they would be unable to attend matches
due to ongoing disruption with the stadium. Fans had to enter a ballot to see if
they could get tickets to certain games, and not in the seats they had season
tickets for. If you were successful in the raffle for tickets to Bournemouth (H), that
meant you couldn’t get a ticket for Stoke (H), and vice-versa.
• Fans are yet to receive refunds for those initial games that they were unable to
attend.
Figure 10 Example emai BCFClFigure 11 Example email BCFC
Appendix E: Application of the fan relation management framework (FRM)
for BCFC
1) Strategic vision and leadership
- Board speaks of a ‘fan first philosophy’
(https://bcfc.com/media/32236/final_supporters_forum_minutes-2.pdf)
- Commitment not there from leadership – ground neglected, customers
neglected (see appendix D)
2) Fan Loyalty Strategy
- Membership – points for loyalty (Blues loyalty scheme in place)
- Season ticket holders – silver, platinum, bronze sections – (priority ticketing
for certain matches including away games)
3) Fan-centric approach
- Customer problems with stadium and match day experience have been put
forth to the club with no response
(https://almajir.net/2021/12/06/wheres-the-money-gone-st-andrews/)
4) Understanding fan needs
(https://bcfc.com/news/articles/2021/blues-welcome-supporters-clubs-back-to-st-
andrew-s/) – ‘Fan Forum’ held at the beginning of the season
5) Database marketing
- There is no evidence to suggest there is segmentation and targeting of
customers. No personalised communication with fans, no evidence of data
collection (knowledge of google analytics is required for Digital Marketing
Exec role (based on job description research, see Appendix F), so
presumption that some kind of data is being collected6) Appropriate technology
- Very limited communication one-to-one with fans over social media (twitter –
limited replies, see images below – following link takes you to ‘Twitter Table’
documenting clubs’ number of replies
(https://tables.theonlinerule.com/twitter-table/championship/)), digital ticketing
taken up by over 50% of fans (info from fans forum), ticketing queries are still
dealt with over the phoneAppendix F: BCFC Digital Marketing Assistant job description
Digital Marketing Assistant
Location: St Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium, Birmingham, B9
4RL
Salary: Competitive
Expires: 25/11/2021 23:59
Apply
Department: Brand & Marketing
Term: Permanent, Full Time
Location: St. Andrew's Trillion Trophy Stadium, Cattell Road, Birmingham, West Midlands, B9 4RL
Salary: Competitive
Application Closing Date: 29/06/2021 (Due to the urgency of filling this vacancy, suitable
candidates will be interviewed as and when they apply and the role will be closed as soon as a
suitable candidate has been sourced).
We are currently looking for a self driven and motivated Digital Marketing Executive to work with the
Digital Marketing Manager to enhance the Club’s marketing and digital strategy across all platforms,
developing creative campaigns that engage the fanbase, builds the Club’s reputation and maximises
commercial success.
JOB DESCRIPTION
CORE RESPONSIBILITIES
• Create and deliver marketing plans and campaigns for a wide range of
products, events and services.
• Write creative marketing copy for the website and all forms of marketing
materials.
• Lead on the day-to-day development of bcfc.com, uploading content and
reporting on analytics.
• Work closely with the Digital Marketing Manager to develop the Club’s
CRM database and activity.
• Build and schedule all email and SMS campaigns.
• Work closely with the Digital Marketing Manager to develop the Official
Club App.
• Build and schedule all push notifications.
• Providing monthly and weekly e-comms plans and publishing schedules
for content activities.
• Work closely with the Social Media Executive to enhance digital
marketing initiatives such as paid search and paid advertising
campaigns.
• Work closely with the commercial team to activate the Club’s partnership
deals.• Contribute innovative ideas for all marketing (online and offline) relevant
to the target audience.
• Contribute innovative ideas to increase the monetization of the Club’s
digital channels.
• Produce regular analytics and reports, analysing the success of
campaigns.
• Maintain administration for all print quotations and purchase orders.
• Act as the point contact in the absence of the Digital Marketing Manager.
• Ensure compliance with all the Policies and Procedures contained within
the Staff Handbook, paying particular regard to the Equality & Diversity,
Safeguarding and Health & Safety Policies and procedures at all times.
• Any other duties as deemed necessary by your Line Manager or Head of
Department.
PERSON SPECIFICATION
Qualifications
Essential Requirements
• Educated to at least degree level in a marketing or sport management
course (or similar) or qualified by suitable experience.
Desirable Requirements
• Digital Marketing qualification or further study 3D Drawing skills.
Skills and Abilities
Essential Requirements
• Must possess excellent written and verbal communication.
• Understanding of effective email communications.
• Able to think and write creatively.
• Able to work to tight deadlines and on multiple projects.
• Must possess excellent attention to detail.
• Knowledge of CRM.
• Knowledge of Google Analytics.
• Strong organisational skills.
• Excellent proof-reading skills.
Desirable Requirements
• Previous experience with CRM, email marketing, and marketing
planning.
• Previous experience using CMS.
• Previous experience working within a sporting environment preferably
within football.
Personal Requirements
Essential Requirements• Must adhere to confidentiality and data protection procedures at all
times.
• A confident and outgoing personality, self-motivation and positive
attitude.
• Imaginative, creative and customer focused.
• Hands on approach, and willingness to get ‘stuck in’.
Applicants must be eligible to live and work in the UK.
Only applicants that demonstrate within their application that they meet the above criteria will be
considered for the role.You can also read
