6 Digital Marketing Tactics You Can Learn From The IPL 2020 Event

Across the globe and for Indians, the Indian Premier League (IPL) is the most massive sporting and marketing extravaganza. Since 2008, the victorious Indian Premier League has completely altered T20 cricket and has given the format a significant name. As a result, the IPL brand is now on its own. 

The Dream11 IPL 2020 and digital marketing may seem like an unusual combination, but the entire T20 cricket tournament represents a massive marketing opportunity for brands. The IPL marketing strategy has closely aligned with modern technology and evolving consumer behavior. As a brand, there is a lot to learn from this marketing powerhouse on how to grow, engage, and retain a loyal audience.

In today’s blog, we highlight some of the most effective digital marketing tactics used during the Dream11 Indian Premier League 2020 and explain how you can apply them to your own Digital Marketing Services India strategy to increase brand awareness and improve conversion rates.

Timing Matters: 

IPL is a huge marketing stunt – right from IPL Auctions to the glamorous inauguration ceremony. The months to broadcast the matches are chosen in such a way that no other tournament clashes with IPL. Moreover, April & May are peak summer months in India, where students are enjoying their summer break, and due to the extreme temperatures outside, people prefer to lounge in their air-conditioned rooms. Hence, scheduling this mega event is ideal for engaging the crowd from all walks of life. 

With digital marketing as well, timing plays a significant role in engagement rates. And these timings depend on your demographics, business type, platform, and consistency of your posts. So, perform a few trial and errors to know what time works the best for your business. 

Increase Brand Awareness Through Sponsorship: 

IPL 2020 is a consortium of all big shots from all over the world. Big names own the IPL teams. Major brands like Dream11, VIVO, Byju’s, Amul, JIO, PayTM, Unacademy, Amazon, Patanjali, CRED, and so on sponsor teams and produce more excitement around the event. This year, 16-17 brands have joined hands this season. 

So this move has introduced to the tournament a new bonanza. People are now more enthusiastic, and they are delighted to see the players align themselves with the brands they use. Essentially, as you get linked with major names in the field, the brand’s reputation improves, and people start staring at it and dreaming about buying it.

Making The Right Use Of Influencer Marketing: 

Many players are associated with new brands that promote the product on their social media channels while playing IPL. For instance, Virat Kohli is marketing the products of an FMCG brand called TooYumm, a clothing brand called Wrogn, and PUMA. Hardik Pandya is in partnership with Altroz, a car brand that is also a sponsor of the event. KL Rahul is also promoting the new lavish car by Tata Nexon on his social media channels. Similarly, various other players are interested in influencer marketing activities. 

So with this, at the right moment and the right venue, we learn how to use influencer marketing tactics to start following our brand.

Using Social Media For Organic Reach & Connecting With The Audience: 

All IPL 2020 teams exist on popular platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to maintain their presence digitally. Each team also has a website of its own and updates it from time to time with various updates, merchandise, live score, videos, blogs, etc. For instance, check out the Royal Challengers Bangalore’s website. 

If you follow IPL teams and their players on various social media platforms, you’ll see that they host live sessions of pre & post-match sessions. Captains of different teams post pictures of team players appreciating their performance. All of this sparks the engagement ratio of the posts. Fans love to see the behind the scene happenings of teams & players they follow. 

As a brand, it is essential to understand that the audience enjoys real-time images and videos, and having a digital presence is a must! 

Apt Use Of Hashtags: 

IPL is no less than a blockbuster movie; hence, people are bound to talk about it on social media. Media platforms such as CricBuzz and Sports channels frequently talk about players’ performance, cricket pitch, what went wrong, a recordset, etc. The hashtag starts trending on Twitter. Similarly, other hashtags of various brands associated with IPL teams also begin trending. 

As a brand, you need to know how to build a sensation around a specific event you’re trying to plan in this manner.

Run Contests: 

Dineout, a popular Indian restaurant aggregator app, organizes daily contests to predict and win dineout credits that can be redeemed when you pay through them at a restaurant. Telecom companies have rolled out exclusive phone plans for the IPL event. CRED, a credit card payment app, has announced that members who pay their bills during CRED Power Playtime of the match get assured cashback, and one lucky person can win 100% cashback. Crazy contests, isn’t it?  

Hence, running attractive promotional campaigns will engage your customers and help you with your conversion rates. 

IPL is currently the best way to get into the eyes of your audience. Every year IPL brands come up with new ways to market, engage, and delight their customers. So while you watch the #IPLFinals2020, enjoy and take notes from it. We can learn a lot about digital marketing techniques from such events. Integrate these lessons into your everyday campaign efforts and watch your engagement scores skyrocket.