CONSULTANTS

OPPORTUNITIES
New Marketing Techniques for the Paw Point Program
From our research we found most students were unaware that paw points
existed and their are rewards for attending games. Students from our focus group
stated they would attend three games to receive a prize. No student at our focus
group was aware of the paw points program, which shows that there is a lack of
promotion for the program. This presents us with an opportunity to make students
aware of the paw points program. The program could be a successful tool to increase
student attendance if students were aware of the program and the incentives they
could potentially receive. In addition to new marketing efforts, the paw points
program needs a few improvements. Students want to receive apparel, electronics,
or money as we found from our focus group. While the prizes for the paw points
program range from free breadsticks, a color-changing mug, to a trip to an out-ofstate
game. The prizes for the paw points system need to be improved so students
will be more interested in attending games.
More Engagement on Social Media
Data collected from our focus group and social media audit found that there
are many social media sites for USD athletics. We also discovered a Twitter page
that had all of the athletic information on one feed, but not many students are
aware of this page. The University lists all of its social media accounts on their
webpage (www.usd.edu), but it does not list the Twitter account with all the athletic
content that students want. Therefore, the University needs to update their listing
of their social media pages but unfortunately this out of the hands for the Athletic
Department’s control.
In addition interaction on Facebook is nonexistent, so it is important to begin
engaging conversations with the followers of the page. Interaction between a brand
and its consumer is essential today, thus the Athletic Department needs to begin
interacting with their consumers so they will continue to consume the product.
Also, with the increase popularity of Snapchat this gives us an opportunity to
utilize a social medium that engages students. After we conducted our social media
audit, the Athletic Department joined Snapchat. Since they joined Snapchat, this
opens the door to many opportunities to engage with students who use the app.
By increasing the social media interaction with the students it will show that the
University does care about their students, and students will be motivated to attend
games.
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