How to Use the Upcoming Big Game For Marketing Without a Big Budget

Cole Dunlop
January 26, 2016

Update: We were informed using the official name of the football game being played on February 7th is prohibited unless stating facts about it, so the article now uses the terms “the game” and “big game”.

Each year businesses large and small prepare for the biggest football game of the year, the Super Bowl. Along with the athletes, marketers have lots to prepare for. Many marketing opportunities come with this game, whether you’re putting together a $4 million commercial or preparing a $100 Facebook Ads campaign there are conversions to be made. Fear not small budget advertisers, just because you don’t have massive advertising budget doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage of the holiday for marketing.

Each of the following can help drive traffic and increase engagement by using the event.

Create an Offer That Aligns With the Big Game

Take advantage of the the game as an excuse to offer discounts, release new promo codes, and/or create an exclusive offer for existing customers. You can even create a landing page to host a promotion or football game-themed giveaway to collect new leads and increase website traffic.

Timing for this type of offer can make or break it. Wait until after the two teams have been decided for the big game and the excitement really begins. Have marketing materials such as graphics and content ready weeks prior so once the final games have been played and the teams are announced you can take advantage of the hype and release a biggame-sized offer.

Making bets on social media may be frowned upon coming from a business. Instead, create a friendly poll listing who will be playing and of course the “I don’t care, I’m here for the burgers” option. If creating a poll is too complex, tweet the question. Ask on social media who your fans and customers think is going to win and engage in the conversation.

If you have a Facebook Advertising budget, split up some of your Promoted Posts budget to include a post/poll like this. It won’t necessarily drive traffic to a website, nor increase sales, but it will increase exposure as engagement grows rapidly on a topic like the winning team.

Write a Blog Post About the Game

You may be thinking, “my business sells bath products, how can I relate that to the game and write a blog post?” Well, after playing a mighty big game, and hosting a big Super Bowl party, a cleansing shower using top of the line bath products, like yours, is mandatory. Find unique ways to relate your business and industry to the Super Bowl. Get creative, without stretching too far, and develop a blog post full of Super Bowl keywords (“full” in a legal, and non-annoying manner).

Send Email Newsletters Leading Up to the Game

Do you send bi-monthly or monthly email newsletters? Make the theme of your regular email newsletter about the game. Include the big game promotion, contest, and the blog post to relate everything to the the big day, as well as share content that has already been created. Leading up to the game, share the current stats from the social media poll to get people excited and engaged about the poll, as well as invite new subscribers to make their vote.

Design an Infographic Using Previous Game Stats

Dig through statistics from the first ever big gam to the most recent to discover unique information worth sharing in an infographic. The infographic is great for sharing and can help bring traffic to your website if the infographic is hosted on a blog post. Cover different topics and stats such as:

What team has played in this game the most?
What team has won most?
Average views from the first game to 2015
Viewer demographics
Cities who have hosted the event the most

Even if you don’t have $4 million for a 30-second commercial during the the game, you can still create fun and exciting commercials to post online. Advertise a product or your business as you normally would in the video, but with giving it a “big game” edge. Humor has proven to do the best in big game commercials so make sure to include a funny angle to the short video and relate it to the big game. Share the video across social media, in blog posts, on YouTube, and even snippets on Snapchat.

If you’re doing social media right, you should be branding your graphics. Branding graphics doesn’t mean copy and paste logos all over each image, but it’s about creating a specific style with each graphic and image posted, something that followers can recognize you by.

Take this idea and add a twist by adding football graphics or using the colors of the teams on social media posts the week prior to the game. Get in the “Social” spirit and have fun with different football-themed graphics that relate to post content.

Use Facebook Advertising to Boost New Content

Facebook Advertising is a great way to promote your new big game blog post, football-themed graphics, and best of all the a game contest. With or without a large advertising budget, any business can still take advantage of this game using Facebook Ads. Marin Software data showed last year’s Super Bowl Sunday Facebook Ads had a 9% higher click-through rate than previous Sundays in January and a 415% increase of conversions. A majority of those conversions were on mobile, so make sure to include mobile as a part of the Facebook Ads campaign and run the ad during the game on Sunday.

Take the Game to Twitter

Have your phone in hand and be ready to follow the millions (yes, millions) of ball game tweets on February 7. Using the company’s Twitter handle respond to tweets about the game and join in on the conversation, the many conversations. Last year, there were 28.4 million tweets related to the Super Bowl, and we can expect that number to be even higher this year. When trying to keep up with the madness, keep in mind that you’re speaking as the company. Make sure to leave a good impression, use Twitter grammar, and be human when keeping up with the game.