Become a Moneyball Marketer and Win Big

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It’s summertime and baseball season is in full swing. As a diehard Chicago Cubs fan, I’m known to have their games playing around the office. Though, I refrain from watching them in meetings (mostly). As a Cubs loyalist, though, I’ll never forget the night of November 2, 2016. It was the night they won their first World Series championship in longer than a century. My three boys won’t forget it either—because I let them stay up to watch the entire game (and on a school night, no less). It is America’s pastime, after all. The Cubs clinched the title with an 8–7 win over the Cleveland Indians in absolutely epic fashion. The team’s historic drought ended on a rain-soaked field, and my boys got to see me more than a little excited. Team manager, Joe Maddon, is the hero who led the Cubs storming out of their 108-year losing streak. And even outside of my undying love for the Cubs, his coaching philosophy is genius in its simplicity. He explains that you win games “through the relentless execution of fundamentals and technique. Thousands of Opportunities As a startup co-founder, CEO, and marketer, lessons like this are another reason I revel in summertime baseball.

In Major League Baseball, there are 162 regular season games. To win the World Series means your team will play nearly 200 games. That’s thousands of swings, throws, slides, catches, and (hopefully) runs scored. And to Coach Maddon, that’s thousands of opportunities to beat your opponent, one inning at a time. As marketers, we have constant campaigns offering us thousands of similar Optometrist Accurate Email List chances in… …every bit of email copy, …all social media posts, …and every ad and article. Our entire marketing program is woven together, driving toward the same goal: massive business growth. Consistent Execution However, successful marketing is a lot like baseball and my beloved Cubbies: home runs and grand slams don’t win championships on their own. Flashy plays might make highlight reels, but it’s the consistent execution of fundamentals that bring home the Commissioner’s Trophy. So, it’s no wonder the Cubs didn’t win Game Seven of the 2016 World Series with a show-stopping play for the ages.



They won it on a string of two-base hits and a double. Not exactly a high-adrenaline homer is it? Moneyball The 2011 film, Moneyball, is a great example of this. (If you haven’t seen it, I’ll keep the spoilers to a minimum!) It’s based on the true story of the 1990s Oakland Athletics, a small-market team with a garbage stadium. They had no money, dismal attendance, no star players, and slim prospects of winning anytime soon. A classic setup for any great underdog story. Eventually, the team’s front office came to grips with this reality. And they knew the only way to get butts in stadium seats was to start winning games. And fast. But how do you beat the Yankees and their huge budget? Or to bring it closer to home, how does your company beat out your competitors who are swimming in VC money or are long-time industry incumbents? That’s what the A’s were up against. So, the team’s managers did the only thing they could afford. They looked past the prime-time sluggers and dug into the stats. As simple as it sounds, they realized to win games, you need to score runs. But to score runs, you need to get on base. The more players that got on base, the more points they’d rack up. They found the missing link between winning and losing. And it wasn’t what they thought it would be! This changed their entire approach.