Now or never

Online Advertising For Niche Sports, Vol. 1

Over the past few weeks I’ve reached out to 15 businesses. These businesses relate (in one way or another) to the sport of lacrosse. They include retailers, equipment manufacturers, apparel vendors and camp companies. Looking back at my conversations, here are the stats to date:

• 1 manufacturer said their marketing budget is empty
• 1 manufacturer said they did all their 2010-2011 online ad buying in April 2009 (note: this seems preposterous)
• 8 have yet to reply, 6 of which are equipment retailers. The retailers who get on board with us first are the ones who will benefit the most, so let’s hope the best one reads this.
• 2 are interested and weighing their options. This means they can expect a follow up from me on Wednesday.
• 1 couldn’t afford advertising, so they offered up a trade. We love trades.
• 2 have signed on with us, and so far their ads are performing remarkably well.

I share these stats as a way to depict what the online advertising landscape is like for a niche sport. It’s shaky, to say the least. But at the same time, it’s promising because there are not a lot of players out there. And, as I’m sure you know, the less players on the court, the sooner the best player stands out.