Which NFC Team Is Your Marketing Medium?

Austin Walker Austin Walker
November 2, 2017   |   10 min read time

Now that the Astros have decided to wint their first World Series, it's time to focus on the second half of the football season.

At this point, your fantasy football team has either shown you it's going to get you into the playoffs, or you've basically given up.

Every team has suffered massive injuries that have either ended playoff hopes, made you run home and cry, or just look at next year.

But we're going to make it fun an put together a list of which NFC team your marketing medium is. Here goes:

 

NFC East

Dallas Cowboys - AdWords

America's team, right? The Cowboys used to be America's team, because they had the most teams in the NFL. However, now that the Green Bay Packers have more fans, it's tough for them to continue to have their most favorite slogan when attempted to squash any arguments.

So what marketing medium that currently has a great fan base, who believes it's literally the best thing ever, but it actually doesn't perform as well as everyone says?

AdWords. That's right. I said it. Google probably won't let this blog post trend now because I said so. When we really dive into the usefulness of Google AdWords, yes it can be very effective, like the Dallas offense. There are a lot of marketers making a living handling these accounts for clients, but the conversion rates don't match the same percentages they once had, and consumers are basically tuning them out.

We could make it a metaphor for the Dallas Cowboys. They were once really great, and could throw the ball, defend, and had a great reputation....in the 90s.

New York Giants - Reddit Forum Posts

Have they pulled off a win yet? The answer is yes. Somehow.

Let's just say that the Giants have had some tough breaks with losing Odell Beckham Jr., and really didn't have much to begin with. Yes, they still have Manning as QB, but how he is tied with Peyton on the amount of Super Bowl Rings they can wear at Thanksgiving, still baffles me.

With only a win or two a season, but somehow still having this great reputation, let's give the New York Giants to forum posts on Reddit.

Every once in a while you can reply to issues on Reddit, and have someone respond. But, you probably will end up replying to about 20 posts before even receiving your first response.

At least you'll have a ring or two at dinner.

Philadelphia Eagles - WOM

The Eagles are 7-1. I know that I told my friends to wake me out of the coma when this happened, but for now, just let me stay in.

Carson Wentz finally found a team that he has Synergy with and has spent some time as the best fantasy QB in the NFL. With a great running game to help offset the pass, and only losing to the Chiefs, I'd say that they're Super Bowl bound.

The Eagles have an extremely quick offense, a decent defense, and have the ability to win games. So far, their win percentage is high. So, we're going to give them word-of-mouth. Yes!

A lot of small businesses in the world will claim that word-of-mouth is what has driven their sales to the tipping point, and they haven't had to spend a single dime on marketing. For any businesses that have customers coming back for more, we're proud of you. Companies with a great reputation, matched by a great service or product, tend to have great chances in being able to succeed.

However, it only takes that one loss to turn the reputation around and help realize the company's growth is vulnerable.

Washington Redskins - VR

I'm not sure I even watched any of the Redskins games this year. Is RGIII still a thing?

There's been plenty of disinterest on my end regarding the performance of the Redskins, but they still have a chance to pull it off with a 3-4 season. Do I think they'll make the playoffs this year? Far cry at a shot at the wild card if the Cowboys can't get anything going with the loss of Ezekiel Elliot to his 6-game suspension. 

That's why I chose VR for this one. Virtual Reality has been taking a lot of industries by storm. Mainly for the fact that watching people run into the wall makes a great YouTube video.

Virtual Reality offers a really great spot to start placing ads, but it is under utilized, probably for the fact that, so far, the technology seems to be in its very early stages. Could it be successful by the end of the year? Far shot, but maybe if some other companies decide that it's time to move on from email marketing, we'll be in luck.

 

NFC South

Atlanta Falcons - Blogging

The Falcons have had an on-and-off season. Prone to injury, big games from their players, followed by no games.

It seems that against the perfect team, they're going to have a great day. But against the wrong team, they're certainly going to have their work cut out for them. They may spend the whole week just preparing for something that is going to let them down.

Or, they spend the whole week prepping and end up just destroying every shred of dignity their competitors have.

Blogging in similar in the fact that there are a lot of companies that have made their way to the red carpet just with content creation and delivery. Hubspot is a great example, considering that they practically invented inbound's definition.

For some companies, however, blogging is something they can spend endless amounts of time and money on, and never get it off the ground. Could be a lack of preparation and strategy, maybe the wrong key players, or just missing the boat entirely.

Carolina Panthers - Facebook Ads

The Panthers still have Cam Newton. Just making sure everyone knew.

Their defense had a really strong start to the season, and they're going to continue to need to hold on and keep up the great work, because their offense is struggling.

Facebook Ads have had quite the shakeup this year, with fingers being pointed that they were taking other countries' money to fund campaigns in the US presidential election. Might want to make sure that their lawyers and defensive counsel to continue to do a great job. If Facebook got shut down, how will I know it's my mom's birthday?

New Orleans Saints - Video Ads

It's easy to forget that one of the greatest quarterbacks to have every played is still in New Orleans. That's right, Drew Brees still throws 3TDs and about 400 yards per game like clockwork. Maybe you even got lucky and drafted him into fantasy last year.

Do you hear about him in the fantasy casts? No, except to tell you to play him. Do they talk about how he's older and still dishes out 35 points in a game? Nope. They think the poor guy is washed up, but he should be talked about almost as much as Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers. If there's anyone that's dealing with mediocre players, it's Drew.

That's why the Saints are like video ads. They work really well. And most people know that, but nobody really talks about it. And what's worse, is that it is underrated and underutilized. If you need a TD this week, go put together a sweet video.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers - Door-to-door Sales

There was a time in my lifetime that the Buccaneers went to the Super Bowl. I'd have to Google it to find the year though. Ever since then, it's been long season after long season. Also, with all the "great talent" that was boasted in the TV show Hard Knocks. Not only was that mentioned a few times, it was to the point it got annoying.

Jameis Winston gets hurt all the time. Veteran WRs are having difficulty catching and holding onto the ball, and even with all the talent they have, they just struggle to get a win and end up just making everyone mad. Generally speaking, it's a good idea to have really pathetic excuses cued up in your mind so when your friends ask why you missed the Buccaneers game, you have an answer.

Yes, using Hard Knocks was a pun. Sorry.

Door-to-door salespeople used to keep housewives company during the day and help them take care of some of the work by bringing by Kirby vacuums, hair products, makeup, and even great gift ideas for their husbands. People weren't afraid to open the door, and would at least consider the product and its usefulness.

Bucs fans, beware, it's coming. Then, like the Buccaneers, they started knocking on the door way too often, with no reason to be there. Fans would slowly open the door thinking that there may be some chance, but when they realized it was only a really pushy season full of grief and probably getting screwed over, it was just best to keep the door shut.

 

NFC North Teams

Chicago Bears - Email marketing

Every year I want them to do so well. But, every year they just do so bad. Letting go of Jay Cutler, finally, was one of the best decisions they ever made. Obviously with Miami, he's doing a really great job.

The Bears used to have a defense that other teams were afraid to play. They were winning left and right, and basically had the NFC North locked up. The Packers didn't have a chance with their offense, and the Vikings just maintained their ability to lose every year.

Email marketing was once the golden path to marketing automation. Building automated emails for different clients to generate leads and encourage them to reach out or schedule a demo. But now, they have just been used way too often, by way too many companies, and are driving customers away from even clicking. Now that we see an upward trend in the use of direct mail again, maybe we will see email marketing come back once post office box owners get tired of the same coupons they've always received from Super 1.

Detroit Lions - Billboards

The Lions season has just been riddled with one bug or another. They're still recovering from the loss of MegaTron. Matthew Stafford continues to be an average QB to a team that needs a great one, and no wide receivers or running backs want to help lead the team to a few more wins. Just playing it safe.

Billboards are such a safe investment for marketing. It puts you in front of a local market, and catches eyeballs through red lights, rubber necking, and the occasional person actually walking by and looking up, rather than at their smartphone.

There's a chance that someone is going to actually take action and give you a call. Or that your message will stick in their head. It's probably a 50/50 chance. I'm just playing it safe here.

Green Bay Packers - CRMs

The Packers suffered an excruciating loss with the injury to Aaron Rodger's throwing collarbone. With at least an 8-week recovery, it's going to be a while before we see the pack pick it back up.

These team-changing injuries haven't just been this year, either. This has been an on-going issue as the Packers attempt to make another run for the Super Bowl. They've been in contention since their last in 2006, but always seem to have it taken away by injuries.

That's why CRMs are perfect for the Packers. In every way, good CRMs like Salesforce can come into a company and change the way it does business, increase sales, and help the marketing team automate a lot of its lead generation. A huge year is always on the horizon, until the CMO figures out that the contacts that have been generated all of a sudden were vanished out of the database. Oops. Better luck next year.

Minnesota Vikings - Super Bowl Ads

The Minnesota Vikings this year have been showing us that they certainly have the ability to be a Super Bowl team. But, their reputation for crashing and burning in both the playoffs and the Super Bowl can hold them back a little.

Just like Super Bowl ads. The hype is definitely there. There are so many people that pay attention to the hilarious Doritos commercials, Pepsi songs, and every once in a while, Budweiser will bring back the Clydesdales.

Just like the Vikings, though, the Super Bowl Ads will try to build the hype around their success, but when you see the ROI of the actually ads, it's a huge let down. The last few years, companies like McDonald's have turned away from the Super Bowl ads and instead have turned towards something more worth their time and money.

Sort of like Vikings fans, they may want to pick a different team to put their time and money to better use.

 

NFC West

Arizona Cardinals - 

Los Angeles Rams - Food Samples

It's really cool that the Rams are doing well this season. I mean, since Kurt Warner, when can we actually say we're enjoying watching the games, and the Rams can say they have a winning season?

But will they make the playoffs? Maybe. Are they going to the Super Bowl. Probably not. But it would be cool if they did.

When you're at Costco and get the food samples, what a win. It's exciting to see what they have in line, and eat a good 80% of what they have, maybe come back for seconds on one you really like. Heck, you might even go and purchase the product.

San Francisco 49ers - In-Video Game Ads

0-8. The 49ers have lost most of their games by only a few points, but are currently the worst team in the NFL. Even when attempting to make a few changes by opening cap space letting veterean linebackers go, and refusing to take back Kaepernick, this just isn't the team that their fans, or even the rankings thought they would be at the beginning of the season.

In the mid-2000s I saw my first advertisement in Madden. It was crazy to see Old Spice on the game rings, and even heard the commentators throw a little jingle in my ear: "The Greatest Smell in the NFL."

Although the advertisements had the ability to stick in my head for this long, I was already an Old Spice user. In-game ads had a little hype to begin with, but it's rare to hear of more, and I doubt it's going anywhere in the near future.

Seattle Seahawks - Television Ads

A team that is always way overrated, and definitely overpaid, we have the perfect medium for this team.

Television. Expensive, over-rated, and with almost little to no way to track its ratings, except with Pearson. That's a guess at best. 


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