Learning from Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund How to Maintain Loyalty Fans

Dortmund and Liverpool fans (thisisanfield.com)

Football is no longer about the beautiful game. We talk about the brand. The brand which then made me like Liverpool in 2005: the title, the history, the fans were incredible, the motto "You'll Never Walk Alone" and a player of the caliber of Steven Gerrard, is the cause I love this club. And perhaps also, the same reason in yourself.

And talking about the brand, we speak of brand loyalty. Brand loyalty, in practice in the world of football, then make us devote them to the club and pick another club is disbelief.

It is not better to illustrate what Schane Scutte mentioned in one of his articles in RealBusiness; football is a sport that makes the audience could feel an attachment to a team.

On the sense of belonging that we then become willing to buy anything that smelled of idol club. The brand is a promise that we will get something, and as a customer (take it, in the era of modern football, we are customers), we have to pay to get something called satisfaction while watching football.

We, voluntarily, buy original costumes, subscribe to the official club members, also subscribe to a paid TV broadcasts from the club, which is often considered a way of worship: come to the stadium and watch live.

All the price is not low, but no complaints. Of course as long as the limits of normality between the performance of the club, prestige, and class designated by the club itself. All for the sake of the brand, and top brand Similarly emerging brand loyalty as well be cause we do not complaining spend money for it.

However, there is a challenge in the modern world is also to face a brand. We as a customer, in this day and age, it can be very easy to move the brand according to what is said in an article in Forbes.

This phenomenon in football called instant fans, but is it wrong to be an instant fan? Certainly not.

A brand -in the same article- could have been left by customers when a brand is considered to be degraded in quality and quantity by the public, or even longer in an unstable condition. And in everyday life we are of course often do not much different.

Instead of questioning "instant," I have an issue that is more unique. How can a fan, able to remain loyal to a club, when the club is not in a state of unstable achievement?

Sure there are some ways to flatter and keep the fans. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), hear the voice of the fans, publicity, are some things that can be tried by a club to build a loyalty bridge between a club and a fan.

CSR

A good club is a club that should have benefits for the surrounding clubs. For the environment, Liverpool (and also Everton) has the same agenda to visit a children's hospital at Alder Hey at Christmas as they attempt to form attachments.

Besides, there is also an achievements program launched by the Fenway Sports Group (FSG) Special for Merseyside residents. As an estuary that so many talented players want to get into the club. It is evidence that as a club with high locality, Liverpool conscious of applying their motto in each of its activities.

In addition to keeping the locality, there is also a program Seeing is Believing, and Globe Goals, in collaboration with Standard Chartered also been carried out whose goal is to spread the benefits and build a unique impression with fans that interact directly with these activities.

Listen to the sound of fans

Fans are being fussy. They need to be heard, and clubs should also make them feel cared for.

A club, in social media, often we consider doing interaction with the players in the Q & A session with one of the idol players, asking the impression of the game and then retweet, winning costume competition signed by a player that has been widely adopted by various social media accounts clubs. Or provide content beyond the field, that is entertainment, also free, as is done by Manchester City.

However, this kind of things, of course, like a double-edged sword. Especially when you are in a bad condition. Therefore, an approach that out-of-the-box needs to be done to hook the fans as much as possible.

Last season, Jurgen Klopp's side at the time, Borussia Dortmund, was in a tough situation. Fans often come up, and the return of the Westfalenstadion with a repeated disappointment feeling.

Obviously, there is a choice to remain silent, awaiting Dortmund then got up and showed a positive trend. However, the road was not chosen by Dortmund.

Instead of doing so, Dortmund made the apology efforts by giving them free beer to fans directly. It is, of course, suitable German culture which hooked-beer. Mats Hummels and friends then transformed into a bartender at the winter break, with the Dortmund fans as customers.

The result? Yes, of course, fans be understood with this difficult situation. In the eyes of fans, other fans eye, of course, they gain an appreciation for committing their responsiveness to remain flatter fans a unique way of this.

Strengthening publicity

Advertising is when we say we are good people, and publicity is when people say that we are a good person. What's the difference? Of course, this is about trust. For a club, publicity will certainly be crucial to making your fans know what is going on with his club.

Publicity, conducted by the media, it certainly is an important thing. Without exposure extraordinary news from various media, the Premier League will not be the richest league in the world and the club is in it - and then the Liverpool CSR program is also pointless because it was unknown to the world.

Without that, the phrase You'll Never Walk Alone I would not know that implemented in the real world. Without it, Dortmund will not get applause for his actions that remarkable.

With good publicity (or, at least, a quick response to the bad publicity), ultimately it comes down to the fans who feel heard because their opinion is applied. Amazed by the club stick with tradition. Or fans who are proud, as a club achievement and reported on for days.

Conclusion

Forbes, in an article about maintaining customer loyalty, then become the reference I built three things that I mentioned earlier. There are seven key points in what he mentioned, keep quality high, engage your customer, Solicit feedback from customers, give them a reason to come back, stay relevant, provide value, show your appreciation.

Of these seven points, there is one common thread that I pull: fans want an unforgettable experience of a club that made him remembered and bound all his life. And it is then that made me make up three things that should be a solution for the club to keep the fans to remain loyal.

Certainly a memorable experience would be obtained by using the club's official account only for the account to sell, or a news feed to walk that makes them feel like a robot.

And regarding the question three things, it certainly is a way, which in turn refers to humanize the club for the sake of fans. He needs to feel and hear the pain and unhappy fans who have been loyal to them, to spread the benefits and pride, except, of course, struggling to get back to their best performance and become a champion.

And when the club managed to do that, we will be able always to assume a club will be our way of life as a football fan. Kissing the badge on our chest, with a sense of pride, just like what our idol player do on television.