Hot demand!Using Google Analytics I was able to categorize 56,000 keyword searches to the site from search engines as Google, Bing, Yahoo and others. What I found is that there is more interest in female swimmers than there is towards male counterparts. The obvious top searches were for Michael Phelps, his bulldog, and Ian Thorpe, but after that the overwhelming majority of searches were for women swimmers.
Ironically enough the searches for women were not necessarily for the top ranked women swimmers, rather they were generally searches for women who are something more than just a swimmer. For instance: Dara Torres and Amanda Beard ranked quite high but Olympian, NCAA champ, and actress, Rada Owen, was searched for even more than Amanda Beard.
So why is that?
For one Rada Owen is an actress, a writer and a coach. She was showcased as the lead swimmer in Swimming Faster Freestyle with David Marsh and had a McDonalds commercial running all through the Summer Olympics last year. (She was the elite swimmer girl with the infectious smile.)
Female Swimmers Underpaid:
If you are an American female swimmer and own a world record in a difficult event, on average you are making less than $100,000 with no health care benefits. Not bad money but you can count those American female swimmers with a WR on one hand.
There was one swimmer on the keyword that was red hot for more than a year but her agent utterly failed her. If you wanted to interview this phenom, the agent set a fee. Also, finding a photo of her was impossible since they were all copy-protected. I couldn't even talk about her because I had nothing to say for I had no information about her but rather just results. Occasionally there would be a post about her in the Washington Post but the lack of access made her seem aloof and consequently she is now practically invisible.
What her management team failed to realize is that a lack of sponsors was not her problem; It was obscurity. The solution to that is to simply give yourself away. That is to say get photos taken and send them all over creation. Especially to blogs like mine. tell your story when you accomplish something, draw a picture like that skier did in the "Go World" commercial and turn it into a computer desktop or wallpaper.
Author William Gibson once drew me a picture in a copy of his best selling novel for me and I became an immediate die-hard fan. The book was called Mona Lisa Overdrive. He did it after I told him he should become an art director since his work is so immersive. Form then on I bought all of his books and I quote him early and often. (He invented the word "cyberspace," and created a genre of science fiction called "cyberpunk." He also predicted a new technology called "augmented reality." Why do I know that, becasue I am a di-hard fan after receiving such a wonderful gift.)
Most professional swimmers have a fan base and their minimum goal should be to attain at least 1,000 die-hard fans. Just 1,000 fans! Take a moment and let that sink in. At least that is what the website, The Technium, figured out and they did the math. Even marketing genius, Seth Godin, points to this study:
The Technium:Now, Imagine if your fan-base was 5,000?
A True Fan is defined as someone who will purchase anything and everything you produce. They will drive 200 miles to see you sing. They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version. They have a Google Alert set for your name. They bookmark the eBay page where your out-of-print editions show up. They come to your openings. They have you sign their copies. They buy the t-shirt, and the mug, and the hat. They can't wait till you issue your next work. They are true fans.
Assume conservatively that your True Fans will each spend one day's wages per year in support of what you do. That "one-day-wage" is an average, because of course your truest fans will spend a lot more than that. Let's peg that per diem each True Fan spends at $100 per year. If you have 1,000 fans that sums up to $100,000 per year, which minus some modest expenses, is a living for most folks.
Female swimmers need to market themselves, their talents, their good looks and finally create some sort of innovative souvenir of their accomplishments to better facilitate the fan experience. It could be a workout log, photos of the event, or a season diary. Swimmers should not wait for a suit company or a shampoo company to do it for them.
Under appreciated
Frank DeFord says it better than I can.
Frank DeFord at NPR:
"... Have women's sports ever been so much in the news? Lindsey Vonn was ordained the very face of the Olympics. Danica Patrick's incursion into NASCAR has been all the vroom-vroom of motor sports. A bowler named Kelly Kulick whipped all the men in the Tournament of Champions. Serena Williams' victory at the Australian Open matched the headlines given to Roger Federer.
But notice something unique about this exceptional focus on women athletes?
All of them are in individual sports. Although more and more American schoolgirls grow up playing team games, those sports just don't attract commensurate attention at any level. With women's team sports, there is still a glass grandstand. ..."
[Link]
His solution is what I am suggesting for a pro-league. For women to be seen, heard, appreciated and PAID, men have to be invited to contribute to their coffers and appreciate their talents.
I have to rush this post but I had so much more to say. For now please don't think I am the genius that thought these ideas up - Mostly I learned these concepts from, Seth Godin, Frank DeFord, and the marketing and PR people I have worked with.
Above is Chloe Sutton, coached by Nadadores head coach, Bill Rose. She could be the crossover phenom swimming needs. I bet she has 1,000 fans all ready?
10 comments:
Tony -- Who was the swimmer whose agent failed her? Would you be legally liable if you named her? I'm not a lawyer, but I don't think so, you're just expressing an opinion, which is what bloggers do. (You got my curiosity up.)
I am too chicken to say.
Hey Tony:
It pains me to say swimming is just really so bush league in so many areas. As you pointed out in your other post, NBC has done so many features on the winter sports technology, drag reducing clothing..etc. These winter sport athletes really seem to attract sponsors.
All of this while swimming rewinds back to somewhere in the 1990's, and the herd mentality seems really happy about it!!
My readers are so much smarter than I am.
When I was driving home this morning after dropping somebody off, I was thinking that winter technology today such as skis, snowboards and luge sleds has to be significantly more evolved than the 1990s.
Linday Vonn using male skis is a making a statement that male skis ride differently due to technology advances and tuning.
Swimming on the other hand is 1/2-a-century behind. It was just that brief window in 2008-2009 that swimming was exciting and globalized.
Now I fer that swimmers will be picking and choosing their meets or meets that they can for surely win since speed and WRs don't matter but the win column will.
My readers are so much smarter than I am.
When I was driving home this morning after dropping somebody off, I was thinking that winter technology today such as skis, snowboards and luge sleds has to be significantly more evolved than the 1990s.
Linday Vonn using male skis is a making a statement that male skis ride differently due to technology advances and tuning.
Swimming on the other hand is 1/2-a-century behind. It was just that brief window in 2008-2009 that swimming was exciting and globalized.
Now I fer that swimmers will be picking and choosing their meets or meets that they can for surely win since speed and WRs don't matter but the win column will.
I think any sports person should be paid according to how much money they bring in. If they're not bringing that much money they should be paid less. If they're bringing in a lot of money and interest they should be paid more, regardless of gender! I know it's not always the case though...
ROI is important hence, I feel athletes need to create crowds and crowds worth of fans and market to them directly.
I'm with you John Craig in wondering who Tony thinks has been let down by her agent. My best guess, since I've nowhere near the same understanding Tony has of our sport's current marketing practices, is that from Tony's hints the possible field can be narrowed down to Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin, and Katie Hoff - the three female swimmers most in the spotlight before and during the Beijing Games. Since then Dara Torres has been on several national television shows and commercials, published a successful book, and is the public face for a couple of high profile national associations. Can't be her. Natalie Coughlin may have been less 'successful' at getting her image out but she too has been working on several projects since Beijing, including a stint on "Dancing with the Stars". All while getting married at the same time to boot. So I don't think Tony can be writing about her either. That leaves Katie Hoff who has, admittedly, dropped off the scope. On the other hand she didn't meet the huge pre-Olympic expectations placed upon her and, like everyone else, she's had to deal with the shadow cast by Michael Phelps. Regardless, with Dara and Natalie ruled out that makes Katie Hoff my guess. Close Tony?
It is not Katie Hoff; Katie Hoff is way on the radar! She just placed 2nd to Chloe Sutton.
Send me private emails if you want to guess.
I'm really surprised Scott thinks it could be Torres, Hoff or Coughlin, three swimmers who actually market themselves and are accessible to fans - they are on Twitter, go on shows, etc. I think it's Kate Ziegler.
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