Building the Foundations: Why Better Marketing Starts Before the Campaign

January has been one of those months where a huge amount of work has been happening, but much of it has been behind the scenes.

A major focus has been Aberystwyth Town Football Club and, in particular, building a much stronger digital and commercial platform for the club.

When people talk about digital marketing, the conversation often jumps straight to social media. How many posts are we doing? What should we put on Instagram? Can we make a Reel?

Those things matter, but increasingly I think good digital marketing starts much further back.

What happens when somebody actually responds to the marketing?

Where do they go?

What information do they find?

Can they buy?

Can they book?

Can they join?

Can we capture that relationship and communicate with them again?

That thinking has been at the heart of the work on the new Aberystwyth Town website.

Rather than simply replacing an old website with a prettier one, the aim has been to create a much broader digital home for the football club. That has meant thinking about supporters, sponsors, visitors, players, parents, businesses and people discovering the club for the first time.

I have been working through the customer journeys around match tickets, sponsorship, the club shop, hospitality, memberships, fixtures, club information and the wider matchday experience.

The supporters' guide is a good example.

It would be easy to view that as simply another webpage. But think about somebody visiting Park Avenue for the first time. They might want to know where to park, where to buy a ticket, what time to arrive, where they can eat and drink and what the ground is like.

Removing those little bits of friction is marketing.

Commercially, I have also been developing the club's sponsorship proposition. Again, the thinking is bigger than producing a sponsorship PDF and emailing it to businesses.

What does a modern football club actually offer a partner?

Physical visibility still matters, particularly advertising boards and matchday exposure, but there is now a much bigger opportunity through digital content, websites, social media, email, events, networking and community connection.

The Black & Green Business Club is another part of that thinking. Instead of viewing businesses purely as companies to sell advertising to, why can't a football club become somewhere that local businesses meet each other, build relationships and become part of the club?

The bigger lesson from January is something I seem to be thinking about more and more:

Marketing works better when the foundations connect.

Website, social media, email, content, sponsorship, ticketing and events shouldn't exist as completely separate jobs.

They should support each other.

January hasn't necessarily been about one enormous campaign.

It has been about building the machine that will allow a lot more marketing to happen during 2025.

And I think that might ultimately prove much more valuable.