BARK LOUDER: Growing an Athletics Brand Through Exceptional Fan Focus

The Challenge

“Bark louder” is Louisiana Tech University’s call to their fans to show up and contribute their talents toward the goal of advancing their athletics brand. Prior to partnering with Paciolan, LA Tech (“LAH Tech”, not “EL-AYE Tech”) had multiple challenges to deal with in order to enable this call-to-action for their students, fans, and donors.

“The call to bark louder falls flat if fans struggle to get in the gate or give when their passion is highest.” - Wally Crittenden, CRO and Senior Associate Athletics Director, Louisiana Tech University

The Wrong Fit - On the fan experience side, their ticketing provider wasn’t the right fit for the collegiate fanbase. It was geared towards the pro sports experience and the sentiment from their fans was that it didn’t fit their needs. The mobile experience was clunky and ticket transfer was cumbersome. And a separate giving experience reduced new donor conversion.

Disjointed Data - Their disparate ticketing and fundraising technology created inefficiency for the operational staff, dragging out tasks, and making it time consuming to make decisions and take action. It was harder for them to build targeted campaigns or create automated loyalty rewards programs.

The Wrong Partner - The charge for the LA Tech Athletics Department was clear. Grow fan engagement and unify experiences for students, fans, and donors, all while making things more efficient and data-driven on the operator side. They needed a change in order to realize the true potential their Bark Louder initiative.

LA Tech fans barking louder.

The Solution

When asked why they chose Paciolan for their ticketing, fundraising, and email marketing platform, LA Tech’s response was three-fold.

The Right Fit for the Collegiate Fan

First, it was for their audience. Bulldogs and Lady Techsters fans are dedicated college sports supporters. There isn’t a lot of demographic overlap with pro sports, which other ticketing options are more geared towards. LA Tech felt that the PAC Live ticket buying experience meets the collegiate sports fan where they’re at. Case in point: Their first football season ticket renewals with Paciolan saw an 88% increase in online transactions due to ease of use. This resulted in a record breaking month for renewal revenue.

Further, fundraising isn’t a need for pro sports, but giving is a critical source of funding for a collegiate athletics program. Thus, having PAC io natively integrate ticketing and fundraising into modern experiences emphasizing e-commerce conversion best practices was a non-negotiable. Being able to use out of the box tools to raise NIL funds was also a differentiator.

Unified Data Amplifies Engagement

Second, unified data was critical if their Athletics Department wanted to transform into a brand experience organization with a clear focus on their audience. Again, PAC io fit this need with ticketing and fundraising on a shared platform as well as a tried-and-true integration with Eloqua, a best-of-breed marketing system for their email campaigns. This improved email segmentation, allowing them to tailor messaging to tighter audiences, for better results.

But it’s more than just emails. 50% of the student population downloaded their Digital Access Passes and the university saw a 567% increase in identified student attendees at football games. With rich attendance records, along with giving data, they’re able to easily set up Priority Points to reward their most loyal fans. Having a robust single view of all student activity in PAC io also makes it possible to take their Blue Bloods student organization to the next level, allowing students to earn rewards, ranging from branded swag all the way up to trips to away games with the teams.

For the long term, data sovereignty where they can own and control their fan data will be an essential component to a modern Athletics Department’s ability to drive growth. The LA Tech team is confident that having the student attendance data will give them tremendous value in the future with valuable insights into who is likely to be a season ticket holder or donor after graduation.

The Right Partner for LA Tech

Third, for Wally Crittenden, their CRO and Senior Associate Athletics Director, it was the excellent service from Paciolan that he had experienced at a previous university. According to him, “What separates Paciolan, in my opinion, are the people behind the customer service. They do such a tremendous job. They appreciate the urgency of this space and help us get everything over the finish line.”

A Blueprint for the Next Era of LA Tech Athletics

Bark Louder isn’t just a call-to-action for LA Tech students. The Athletics Department is leading by example, showing up, and using their talent to innovate as they create the blueprint for the next era of their brand. The real upside will come as ticketing volume increases and as new student engagement programs begin to feed alumni loyalty. Then, the future earnings picture becomes even more promising. But revenue isn’t the end goal. It’s an offshoot of a successful athletics program that is able to build a culture and a community through exceptional fan focus. And to that end, LA Tech is looking really well positioned for the future.