As we wind down the year its time for everyone to come out with their “Top 10 this” or “Best 5 that” type lists. In the spirit of looking forward (because GREAT things are ahead of us in 2010) here are three trends to watch for and implement in college sports, development/booster, and alumni marketing in 2010.

Going Green
Everyone talks about the need/desire to go green and reduce their organization’s impact on the environment. We should use best practices such as emailing before sending out a direct mail piece for renewals. We should encourage people to renew or pay online. But perhaps the best green contribution college athletic and alumni organizations can make is through targeting. And many of you are already doing a great job at this.

Think about it. You’re probably not sending out ticket or membership renewals scatter shot…you’re sending them to people who were either ticketholders/members/donors last year, people who were previously ticketholders/members/donors who did not renew last year, and finally those who, based on prior relationship with your school (ie: graduates/alumni) might be highly likely to take action.

Contrast this with the pool care company that blankets a neighborhood with postcards sent to every home, instead of just homes with pools. I’m sure you can think of other examples of wasteful marketing, we see it everyday.

Pat yourself on the back, and think of ways that you can get even more targeted in your marketing and prospecting to 1) “go green” and 2) get even better results.

One possible strategy is profiling your current ticketholders/members/donors and finding out where they live, how many games they attend, what their annual giving habits are etc. Then go find other people that look just like them to target.

Localization
Alumni and Booster organizations are the best when it comes to practicing localization, defined for our uses here as using a member’s/donor’s current location as a connect point with your organization. You can see this in action with local chapters of alumni/booster organizations, usually in major metro areas.

But have you thought to use this in your marketing? Instead of a form letter or mailer that says the same exact thing to everyone, speak to each person individually. How about something like: “Join the other 2,419 Orlando area <School Name> alumni by becoming a member today”.

This type of appeal lets them know that 1) you care about and “know” them as an individual and 2) uses the power of social proof (ie: the other 2,419 area alumni) to help tie them back to your organization.

Sound like a lot of work? Perhaps if you are doing all of your marketing in house. But to direct marketing companies like Replay Marketing that do this everyday, its all just variable data communication. We do it everyday, and can help you accomplish this.

Your data holds untapped power. It’s time to put it to use in 2010.

Integration
Many college sports and alumni marketing organizations experienced better results this year by integrating their marketing campaigns across multiple channels from direct mail, to email, and even personalized websites. This trend will continue to build momentum in 2010 simply because it works.

In tests in just about every industry it has been found that sales can be as much as 50% higher among those who receive a mail piece and click through to a personalized website than those who just visit the site on their own. An email either before or after sending a direct mail piece has also been proven to boost response significantly.

Isn’t this more expensive? It can be, but with proper planning probably not by much. You probably already use direct mail, email, and web in your marketing, just maybe not together. Integrate them, and your campaigns could be dangerously successful.

When doing your 2010 marketing planning keep these 3 trends in mind and look for ways to apply them effectively within your budget.