Pro Sports Media

Server Upgrades Complete

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to get you a quick update...

As you know, we did a pretty important upgrade to our data center/servers on Friday evening. As much as we try to ensure zero issues, there are bound to be a few bugs that require us to work out. (and we found a few)

We have spent the majority of the weekend and today working these out, so everything should be all set.

I know that the following bugs had been reported by some teams. I am happy to say they are now fixed:

- issue with pop-ups
- issue in adding content to SCM with (') apostrophe
- miscellaneaous bugs

If you notice any other bug/issue, please document and forward to us so we can rememdy immediately for you.

Thank you all,

Pro Sports Media
Customer Support

New Application Login & Look - Fan 360

We've just launched our new login interface and have repackaged our entire product line as Fan 360° - the complete one-stop sports web site management suite. It's an updated look and feel with a centralized login - appreciate any thoughts/comments you all have on it! You can check it out here.

What's next...
In addition to revamping the look of our applications, we are also in the midst of sketching out the specifics for our future upgrade of a few of our core products. You can see a post describing what's coming here.

The Stanley Cup - Notes from an NHL Marketer

If you’re a hockey fan like me, you’ve been thoroughly entertained over the last two months while watching NHL teams go after the ultimate team prize in sports…the Stanley Cup. 

Watching has made me realize just how much this intense struggle to win the world’s most famous trophy was missed last year during the lock out. 

Hopefully both sides - the NHL and the NHL Players Association - have learned a lesson and we, the fans, will never have to go without our Stanley Cup Playoffs again. 

Speaking of the Stanley Cup, media outlets in the United States continue to point toward low television ratings as a major reason why the NHL should be ignored by the casual sports fan. 

Granted, watching hockey on television isn’t even close to what kind of a feeling you’ll get when you see the sport (and it’s speed, emotion and grit) in person.

Yes the ratings have been low, and that can easily be explained by the following:

• Last year’s lockout
• A new cable (OLN) and over-the-air (NBC) broadcast partner
• The teams competing for the Stanley Cup (Carolina and Edmonton) are from small television markets
• One of the markets is North of the U.S. border

I choose to concentrate on the positive, rather than the negative when it comes to the sport that I like best. 

Yes, OLN broadcasts have been hard to find because the network is not as readily available as the former cable carrier (ESPN) to the average viewer, but that will change with time as both the network and the NHL grow together post-lockout. 

Also, unlike ESPN, the NHL received top billing on OLN during the playoffs…something that ESPN was never able to do because of all of it’s other commitments to other sports.

Is the sport I like best less important because of television ratings?  I think not.  Do the ratings matter?  Not to true hockey fans.  Have hockey venues in the U.S. and Canada been jam-packed with rabid hockey fans throughout the march to the Stanley Cup Finals?  Yes. 

In the end, full buildings and fan loyalty mean the most to me.   

Mike Kalinowski is a Manager of Communications for the NHL’s Los Angeles Kings.  His resume includes 10 seasons of pro hockey experience.

New Site Goes Live - Texas Wildcatters

Today we happily help the Texas Wildcatters of the ECHL launch their new site, welcoming them back into the ECHL's upcoming hockey season. As you may or may not know, Hurricane Rita hit the Beaumont, TX area causing the Texas Wildcatters to ask the ECHL for a volunteer suspension of the 2005-2006 season.

With new front office additions, a new head coach, and AHL League Affiliation (and now a new web site), looks like Texas is ready to get back to work. Good luck Wildcatters!

Great Looking Web Site - In your control! (Part I)

In this post, I want to help some teams out there with a quick tip that will make your site look 100% better as you add content to your site each day. The first of a three part series will discuss using the WYSIWYG editor when adding and formatting content.

Fonts
When choosing a font, ALWAYS choose one font family and stick with it! If you're reading this blog, you would find that we have purposely chosen Tahoma as our font on the web postings. This NEVER changes. NEVER choose more than one font site wide.

What if I want it to stand out? Here is the rule... when formatting text for the web, remember, clean and simple - you can always make your story standout by customizing font size and font color (even then don't get too crazy) and font weight, but don't use more then one font family. (i.e. verdana and arial at the same time). The PSM WYSIWYG editor (the MS Word-like editor you use when adding content to your site) lets you choose which font family to apply when you add text. Pick and stick. Stay with one family and your entire site will start to feel more clean, consistent, easy on the eyes, and professional.

Sales & fan loyalty through email marketing.

Let's face it - your fans are living in their inboxes. And as a sports team marketer, your job of communicating with, and keep in touch with existing fans and new fans leads to more tickets sales. Nothing keeps a fan in the loop and coming back for more better then email marketing - when done right.

Some of you are users of our ECM (Email Marketing Control Manager). The ECM is a powerful self-serv email marketing platform that allows you to deliver fan newsletters and special promotions to your fans inboxes. Email marketing is here to stay and as a sport marketer, there are compelling reasons to get good at it. Here are a few to think about...

Fans look forward to it.
Unlike Corporate America email marketing initiatives (trust me, I know a bit about this), fans give very little resistance to recieving email from you. As a matter of fact, they look forward to it. One study of corporate america opt-out rates versus sports team email marketing found sports fans are much opt-out nearly 75 % less.

High readership and length in inbox.
Fans keep their email inside their inbox and refer back to it often. What does this mean? It means they don't hit the delete key as often as they may with other email types. And referring back to it (we know because our software tracks it for you), shows you readership. (they revisit it often).

Cost-effective marketing tactic.
If you are not currently aware of this, email can cut costs in many ways for your team. By planning various mailing types, you can cut costs and increase response over traditional direct mail by utilizing email.

Measureable.
This is perhaps my favorite aspect of email. Think about your direct mail for a moment. When's the last time you where given a real-time report showing you who received it, opened it, read it and maybe tossed it? With email (and of course our ECM), you get real-time, measureable results to know how your promotions are working. This provides the perfect platform to test offers, subject lines, headlines and creative, again, at a fraction of the cost of print.

Some ways to use email for fan marketing...

- Send special ticket alerts
- Send package promotions
- Send newsletters
- Send events/community emails
- Send player or behind the scenes emails

Whatever you do, don't ignore email, and dedicate yourself to learning it inside your front office to increase results. If you have questions, feel free to contact us.

Software Updates - 6/10/06

Thought we'd let you all know we are in the planning stages of our software upgrades. Here is a sneak peek...

SCM (Site Control Manager)
This is the core tool you are in and out of every day to manage your sites content. In addition to an upgrade of the applications look, we are also exploring enhanced usability features and new core functionality to make your job of maintaining your sports site even easier.

MCM (Merchandise Control Manager)
For teams who are selling merchandise online through our turn-key store, we are diving into a major overhaul of the MCM. Set to release some time in September (we'll update you as we go), we'll be giving the application a new look-and-feel, as well as some new functionality and increased flexibility and customization ability.

ACM (Auction Control Manager)
Running parallel to the MCM rebuild will be the rebuilding of our online auction system.

ECM (Email Marketing Control Manager)
We have recently upgraded our email marketing system for you all and have added an industry best core email delivery engine. This will help you get more and more emails through to your fans through advanced deliverability features and new ISP relations. (i.e. we are whitelisted with AOL, etc.) We've also revamped your real-time campaign stats - look for richer statistics some time this summer.

Finally, you will notice a new login page soon when accessing our suite. We have consolidated all application logins into a single unified screen and will be releasing this shortly. We will notify you when the change is made.

If you have any thoughts or suggestions you'd like to see, please comment!

Meet PSM

Ok - here's your chance to get to know the folks who create the PSM Software & provide the services. First up...

Jay Baldwin
Senior Developer

How long have you been programming?
9 years

What's your favorite food for lunch?
Roast Beef Sub

Name your top three favorite sport teams?
Patriots, Red Sox, Florida Gators

Name your favorite TV show?
Lost

Stranded on desert island - Top 3 CD's?
Bob Marley Greatest Hits, Guns & Roses Appitite For Destruction, Tupac Greatest Hits

PC or Mac?
PC

PHP or .NET?
.NET

Gwen Stefani, Jessica Alba or Angelina Jolie?
Jessica Alba

Give us one little known thing about you?
I am a mean saute cook

PSM Graphics Services

Though we provide the majority of graphic design upfront for our clients when designing their team web site, often teams look internally to a graphics person or outside freelancer to get some graphics work done when the site requires a custom graphic for a promotion let's say. And if you can find the right designer at the right price, kudos. But have you ever been in a jam or wish to reduce costs and have regular graphic support to maintain your sites pro look and feel?

PSM Professional Graphic Services
Pro Sports Media's graphic design services might be your solution. Certain teams run promotions ongoing or desire to keep their site fresh on a limited budget. Or often they do not wish to hire a full-time graphics person or department, and turn to us for rapid and professional graphics support. List of services include:

• Custom graphics
• Logo design
• Icon design
• Illustration
• Flash

PSM offers ala carte graphics services as well as annual graphics packages that give teams a graphics person in their back pocket, turning out graphics in a moments notice.

To talk with us about graphic support, contact us and ask for Brett.

New Support Protocol - 6/1/06

If you log into the SCM to manage your sites content, you will notice a new support login screen by default. This is our new online support & help center. (You can also go to www.prosportsmedia.com click Customer Support)

New Support Protocol
What to do when you have problems or need help...

Effective June 1, 2006 Pro Sports Media has instituted a new form of customer support in an effort to streamline our support process for each team and make life easier for you. Our new Support Center is a web-based tool, secured by a username and password that will now give you the ability to log-in and create new support case, add a bug, make a feature request, and gain visibility into support comments, histories and statuses. It will present a centralized and consolidated view of any issues you may be experiencing.

In the near future, each team will also have access to our growing support knowledgebase and training tools, giving you each quick access to a comprehensive list of frequently asked question, tips and training regarding the use of our product suite.

Some of our teams already have been given access. To get your teams user/password information, please email support@prosportsmedia.com and Steve will set you up.

Thank you for helping us help you!

PSM Support Team