Once upon a time, a cool website was a “nice-to-have” element of a cycling team’s marketing assets. But as individuals and corporations both large and small lead the way onto the social web, it has become a vital core of the marketing portfolio. Complicating matters even more is the speed at which web trends and technologies develop. Twitter and Facebook were nice-to-have elements last year, this year they are a must-have. Within the next year, some new technology that is just on the fringe now will become a vital element of a sports marketing portfolio.

Sadly, you can rarely look to traditional marketing and PR firms for support in keeping on top of the web. Some agencies have areas of competence, and some digital agencies can create spectacular looking websites, but they usually come at a price and rarely understand the unique opportunities cycling presents to teams and their sponsors. Of course, if you are concentrating full-time on running a team, you don’t have time to keep up with what works, where fans are, and how they interact with each other, you, and your sponsors. So you put up a quick blogger “website”, or if you’re lucky a WordPress or other CMS-based website, posting content in the form of race reports that get written by whoever has the time or was at the races that week. There’s no season-long plan, little adoption of the variety of inexpensive multi-media tools, and too often a lack of follow-through (how many teams last posted content in September, August, or even July of 2009?).

The move of corporate marketing dollars from traditional media outlets to online and customer engagement outlets demands that sponsored properties create and manage modern online media programs, regardless of time-intensity. This series outlines a strategy for creating an engaging team website, integrating it with social media outlets, and populating all of them with content that engages fans, delivers value to the current sponsors, and establishes a framework that increases the value of the team to existing and future sponsors.

This series will cover four separate areas teams need to consider when developing a strategy for creating web content:

• The website as an online hub
• Connecting with social media
• Integrating Multi-media
• Measuring, measuring, measuring

We won’t talk about everything in detail, and we won’t cover ever last potential item, idea, or tactic. The idea is to give you an idea of what the landscape is like, what the basics are, and give you a way to measure yourself against a benchmark. The idea is that you can improve in a few areas depending on time and budget, deliver more value to your sponsors (justifying more money), and take the next set of steps. Hit me up in the comments or on Twitter if you have questions, thoughts, or topics you’d like to make sure I cover.

The following list includes a few assumptions; you’re not an elite in any frequent flyer program (that can lower some fees), you’re flying discounted coach (full-fare & business can lower fees), you are flying from the US to Europe (other regions have their own fee structures), and your flight handles baggage on the “piece concept” (meaning you get 2 bags with a max weight, not a max weight with unlimited bags). It is true as of 12/24/09 to the best of my knowledge. As we all know, the airlines can be fickle and change their policies on a whim. Check the included links for more info and call the airlines to be sure. This is only a rough guide; if you don’t check and get hit with an unexpected fee, don’t come crying to me!

¹$200 in US, 200euro from Europe
²$300 in US, 300euro from Europe

A couple of other notes. The fees have been converted to US$ (if necessary) from Euro, and weights converted to kgs. If you are travelling on a code-share (e.g. Lufthansa ticket but United planes), it’s best to assume the most restrictive fees and weight limits will apply. The weight limits are often the most difficult to figure out, so definitely double-check these before heading to the airport. If there is a standard checked bag fee, that has been added in already (e.g. American is $50 + $100 bike fee).

If you’ve had other experiences or better information, please let us know in the comments.