Kitchener Rangers’ Digital Marketing Manager Alex Witherspoon On Crafting Engaging Content For Fans And Stakeholders

1Tell us about your role as Digital Marketing Manager for the Kitchener Rangers. What does a typical day look like for you?

I started in the Digital Marketing Manager role this year, so I would say that it will change and evolve greatly as time goes on and we are able to resume play this fall.

Prior to this role, I was the Graphic Designer for the team, which involves everything I do in my current role minus the actual execution of posting on our social media platforms.

I enjoy the fact that my role changes depending on the day and what is going on with the team.

In the off-season; some days my job is preparing and planning, working on current and future marketing initiatives, sponsorship items, creating venue graphics and creating graphic templates.

Other days my job is more communication-based, which can include setting up media requests for staff and players, putting out media releases, being more active on our platforms.

During the season; organizing media and photography requests, ensuring all graphics are created for game days and events, running around the building – sometimes taking photos of fans or finding extra content for social media.

2As Digital Marketing Manager, what style of content do you gravitate toward? Quick turnaround or long-form storytelling with high production value? Tell us about your preferences and some of the pros and cons you toggle for each.

I would say we use both wherever necessary.

We plan to do long-form and engaging content for our big annual events and game days – for example, our season releases, Teddy Bear Toss and Remembrance Day Games.

Those require a lot of planning and effort from a lot of different people in our organization.

Other times something unexpected happens – a lot of times in sports we cannot predict what will happen next.

Those times we will quickly plan and pull things together to get out to our fans.

I think for the most part though we pre-plan for the long form as much as possible – quality > quantity.

3Individuals working in marketing and digital are often given the label of being creative. Is this realistic? Beyond creativity, which you have a ton of, tell us about the other skills and abilities required and/or often overlooked when working in sport marketing?

Yes, I think it is realistic to put that label on individuals in our industry.

I think those who work in our industry are constantly trying to provide unique and interesting content for our fan bases – it’s very easy these days for people to ignore what goes on on social media – as we are all bombarded by things every day.

We really have to get creative in how these ideas are presented, and on what mediums they need to be presented.

I think other abilities include:

• Being open and receptive to all ideas and criticism
• Really knowing and understanding the history behind the brand/team you are representing
• Picking up on what the fans want/need to hear from that team

4What are some of the big creative challenges you face with content creation at the Kitchener Rangers? What about smaller ones?

I think for any team, it's important to consider why we are creating content.

In the end, the content should be helping the fan, helping the organization, and/or helping whatever brand or sponsor you are working with – it should be mutually beneficial to all three.

I think sometimes sponsorships can get lost because it's not connecting with the fan or the organizational values.

Sometimes smaller challenges include making things work on all platforms – sometimes certain content will work for TikTok or Instagram, but not on Twitter or Facebook.

There was a mentality for social that at one point everything needed to be everywhere – but I think that is changing.

Content in the offseason can also be a challenge – we want to inform our base but we also know that not everyone is thinking of hockey in the summer.

This has been a challenge for all teams during this COVID year... How do we keep people engaged, and how do we make sure they are excited to come back in the fall?