Wrap Up

In my time with the Freedom, my eyes have been opened to a different side of the sports business. I have seen sales and marketing that I couldn't have experienced at a better small professional team. I have come to love this smaller work atmosphere after dreaming of working for a large professional team for so long. The relationships seem to be strengthened by the close quarters and strong bonds formed with the members of the front office and staff. I was given a lot of responsibility, sometimes even seemingly too much, but was able to find a way to handle it. This experience made me feel accomplished and being able to see my work on the internet and for so many others to see it, felt great. I would love to continue my work here in the media department because it's something I enjoy, something that I could see myself doing with a passion for many years to come.

Baseball Camps

I recently added information to the Florence Freedom website about the Freedom Basebll Camps this summer. They are special because they are taught by the Freedom's Manager, Toby Rumfield who has professional playing experience as well as the Freedom players. Camp participants also get to enjoy a day of camp and a baseball game which is kind of unique.

Aside from putting the information on the site, my other task was to create a PDF registration form for the camp with pictures and information for participants to print off and bring in with their money.

Promotional Schedule

One of my most recent projects included mocking up a promotional schedule in calendar form that can be posted online. It would make it extremely simple for our fans and cusotmers to look at a specific game and see what nightly promotions are going on. It also has a ticket purchasing link where customers can purchase the tickets for a specific game or promotion.

It also linked specific promotions to pages on the website. For example, Sunday-Wednesday games, kids can enjoy our Meijer Kids Eat Free Program so those games are linked to its information pages.

This was turned into PDF form and put on the front of the website.

Wally the Watertower

The largest project I have undertaken while I've been at the Freedom is heading up a promotional project for the Freedom's newest mascot, Wally the Watertower. After Wally arrived at the park, we began taking him out for outings only to find that people went crazy for him. So, the office decided that we could run a promotion similar to Where's Waldo to raise awareness of the new mascot and generate buzz about the upcoming season. The promotion is called "Where's Wally?" and Wally appears all over the Tri-state. At these locations, I took pictures of Wally and posted them online for people to guess Wally's lcoation. The pictures were posted to our website, Facebook and Twitter.

I created a new Facebook page for Wally which has been a huge hit. He has almost 200 friends online and generates a lot of buzz with each of his posts.

The idea was to collect e-mail addresses for our distribution lists so we had people e-mail me their guesses as to his location and the first 5 correct received gift certificates to our local partners. In the 8 weeks leading up to opening week, we had 8 different locations which is 40 winners. The biggest draw of this competition is that 1 of those 40 contestants would win 2 VIP season tickets.

Ace Hardware's Father Day Celebration

Our corporate sales director sold a great promotion to Ace Hardware and as part of its promotion, I wrapped boxes for the entry of essays and delivered boxes, essay forms and posters to three local Ace Hardware stores to be set up and distributed to children and their fathers. The promotion includes writing an essay about why your Dad be a Freedom Player for the Day. The game is June 20, Father's Day which is one of the most perfect gifts a son or daughter can give to his or her father on this special day.

Career Stat Links

As I have updated the roster with new players, it can be daunting to remember all the players and stats. And for a radio broadcaster who has to recall stats at the spur of a moment, I added links on each player's page to their career and year by year stats. The stats were retrieved from Howe's Sports Data. This will allow broadcasters to quickly click on a player's name and see career, yearly and situational statistics.

Media Contacts

Along with the Constant Contact distribution lists, my supervisor asked me to spend time gathering other media contacts to send press releases and information to. So, I searched media outlets (Tv, newspaper and online media) and added those contacts e-mail addresses to our Constant Contact lists. I searched for media in Louisville, Lexington, Dayton and Columbus.

Constant Contact

One of the main programs that I use is Constant Contact. This program is used to make the e-newsletters as well as our main contact database. So, as any information comes in on clients or contests, I extract email addresses and add them to our e-Flock list and mailing lists so that they can receive information. It also houses distribution lists for the company, local baseball teams, and media contacts.

Freedom Affiliated Players

As players play for the Freedom, their ultimate goal is to reach the Major Leagues. Over time, as players are moved up, their names are added to the "Freedom Affiliated Players" page. The date they were signed is added with their name as well as the team they sign with. I added to the side of the list a collage of pictures of 4 of the players I created in Photoshop.

Flyers/ Promotions

For certain events, I have to create a flyer that can be send to prospective clients, ticket holders, and used for promotional purposes to market the events.

Events that I created flyers for are:

-Christian Family Night
-Media Cocktail Party
-MGM Dance Studios Night
-Citi Group Night
-Thirsty Thursday, Fireworks Friday and Family Sundays Mini Plans

Sponsors/ Partners

Another very important aspect of the media relations and the website is sponsorships and partners. As part of their contracts, they are expected to be listed on the website. So, as contracts are signed or not renewed, I have to remove and add partners quickly. If they are not renewed, it's easy to remove a sponsor from the backend of the website. If they are a new contract, I have to get a picture of the company's logo and reduce its size to fit in the same size as the other partners. Then I add the image to the website and also link the picture to the company's webpage. This allows customers looking at the website wanting to go our partner's websites to simply click their images.

Photo Gallery/ Facebook

After the season was over, I was asked to update the photo gallery on the website with new and more dynamic pictures of the team and the season. I organized the photos by specific game and uploaded those to the website.

Then, I uploaded the pictures to the Freedom's Facebook page for people to see on another venue as well.

Transactions

As players and rosters change as they so often do in professional baseball, it's important to update our roster constantly and our transactions page. To do that, and get official results, I have to go on the Frontier League website and check official transactions and enter those into the backend of our website so that they are correct at all times.

E-Flock e-newsletter

Another very fun and rewarding job that I have been able to do while with the Freedom has been working on the weekly e-newsletter that gets sent to over 14,000 people known as the E-flock. These letters are sent through e-mail weekly or as needed. They include promotions, coupons, links to the website and important events. As the season gets underway, it also includes a player update or interview with a returning player.


Information only: Pics could not be copied into this format.

Florence Freedom Professional Baseball Newsletter May 8, 2010
$5
FREEDOM
HAT eFlock SPECIAL!
Redeem this voucher at the Bank of Kentucky Team Shop by May 24 and get this white Zemhyr Freedom hat for just $5. That's $10 off just for our eFlockers!

Offer Expires: May 24, 2010


FREEDOM REPORT: PREVIEW OF JOHNNY WELCH

FLORENCE, KY - Every sports team seems to have at least one guy that no matter what happens cannot seem to stay healthy.

Florence Freedom infielder Johnny Welch has been that guy since his freshman year at St. Anselm College. "Every year it's a little frustrating because I never seem to get to where I want to be physically because I'm always battling an injury," Welch said.

Over the past seven years he has undergone a whopping 10 surgeries; five to his left wrist, three on his right throwing shoulder and two to his right elbow.

Click here to read the complete story on Johnny Welch.
KIDS CORNER - click on the links below


Be a Freedom Junior Bat Boy!

Birthday Bash - Throw out the first pitch

MEIJER KIDS EAT FREE PROGRAM

XTREME READING CLUB - Kids read books to earn free tickets!
SURVEY
Please click here to take a quick survey on social media and how we can make it better for you.
OPENING DAY IS JUST WEEKS AWAY!


Opening Day is Tuesday, May 25 and the Freedom are gearing up for another great season.

Parents, don't forget that your kids can eat FREE on Sunday through Wednesday home games by stopping in your local Meijer and picking up the Meijer Kids Eat Free voucher.

Click here to see more information on our Meijer Kids Eat Free Program.

GROUP OUTINGS HAVE MANY OPTIONS

If you're thinking of bringing a group out to the ballpark, you have many options. Our reserved seating is close to the field and offers a great view of the players and the action. You also get a price break depending on the size of your group. For more exclusive group options: we have the open air suites along with our Eagles' Nests. Our Party Patio houses the largest groups if you're thinking BIG. We also have our Enclosed Luxury Suites if you're thinking of enjoying some AC on a hot summer day at the ballpark.

You'll be a winner no matter whick way you go! The hardest part is figuring out which group area is best for you!
OPENING WEEK PROMOTIONS AND GIVEAWAYS

Opening week is full of fun nights and giveaways.
Check out our nightly specials below:

Tues. May 25: Opening Night, Belle/Liberty Bobble Giveaway for Freedom Family members , Calvary Christian School Night. Buy Tickets 5/25.
Wed. May 26: Education Day Fair sponsored by Xavier University's College of Education, Health and Social Sciences; Gates open by 9:30 am, Game starts at 11:05 am. Buy Tickets 5/26.
Thurs. May 27: Magnet Schedule Giveaway, Postgame Concert by Code 9, $1 Thirsty Thursday Presented by Miller Lite. Buy Tickets 5/27.
Fri. May 28: Magnet Schedule Giveaway, Fox 19 Fireworks Friday with postgame fireworks. Buy Tickets 5/28.
Sat. May 29: Magnet Schedule Giveaway, 25 cent hotdogs, Postgame Concert by Velvet Soul. Buy Tickets 5/29.
Sun. May 30: Hometown Heroes Night. Buy Tickets 5/30.
Florence Freedom Professional Baseball
Champion Window Field
Florence, Kentucky 41042
859-594-HITS

Miscellaneous Tasks

As part of any internship, you can find yourself doing various tasks maybe not so much related to your job but just something that helps the company in some way. One specific task that I happened to enjoy that was not expected was doing some various tasks was a job that I did for our GM. She asked me to send out important season ticket holder letters and some promotional items for the 2010 season. It was just some assembly of items and folding, sealing and mailing but it made me feel like a little more of the company than my tasks as an intern. Other small tasks including picking up wrapping paper and making boxes for an in-store contest, getting suites ready for group luncheons among other things.

Freedom Cares Ticket Packages

On the backend of the Team Shop, as I added groups to the Freedom Cares groups, I added their ticket packages to the shop and linked them to the page on the website so that users could easily order their tickets from the website without externally having to leave the site. For different groups, there were different packages. For example, the Autism Night was selling $10 tickets with $5 of each ticket going to Generation Rescue so I set up $10 tickets and with each order, we could give $5 to GR. The reason for the Team Shop is to know who bought tickets for Autism Night and who just bought walk up tickets or to see the game.

Freedom Cares

Part of what the Freedom have been doing as an organization is to turn events for large groups into charitable events as well. This was tagged as the Freedom Cares outings where companies or groups come to the stadium for a group outing and depending on how many tickets are sold, a certain amount of each ticket goes towards a chosen charity. When our owner wanted to add this to the website, I contacted our website guru and asked him to add a Freedom Cares tab under the Tickets heading on the frontpage. I added pages for events that were scheduled for other charities such as our Autism Awareness Night and our CitiGroup Night. For each group, I made a page with their company's charity and information and a button that linked to our Team Shop and their ticket packages.

Pitch, Hit and Run

In my first few weeks at the Freedom, I heard a lot about this Pitch, Hit and Run event which was modeled after the Punt, Pass and Kick Event of the NFL. As the event was nearing, I was approached by Kari, our General Manager, asking my supervisor to be the Local Coordinator of the event. He happened to be very busy with phone calls and a lot of other duties and tasks to be done, so Kari looked at me to be the coordinator and field the calls and emails regarding the event. I was blown away to be asked and so, I became the Local Coordinator of the Freedom's first ever Pitch, Hit and Run Event.

I created a new page for the event and linked a button for participants to click with a PDF file that I linked to the page as well. That PDF file was the registration form to print out and send in for your spot to be filled. I also wrote a press release for the media to announce our event as well.

On the day of the event, I was there helping to run the event, keep the kids running smoothly, collect the scores, and notify the winners after the event.

After the event, I tallied the scores, notified winners and coordinated their ribbon pickup and sent out the sectional details for the sectional qualifiers.

Press Releases

As part of any media relations job, it is necessary to write press releases for events. I began working on this in my second week with the Freedom. I starting writing press releases on returning players, the 2009 season and various promotions or events as assigned. The following is one of the press releases that I wrote during my time with the Freedom:

FLORENCE, KY - Most of us have heard of ‘Where's Waldo?' but now, the Florence Freedom are asking ‘Where's Wally?'. Wally the Watertower, the Freedom's newest mascot, will be roaming the Tri-state giving fans the opportunity to win gift certificates to local restaurants and one lucky winner will receive 2 VIP season tickets for this summer.

The first five people who guessed the Bank of Kentucky will be pleased to know they are the winners of gift certificates to Mio's Pizzeria courtesy of the Florence Freedom.

Each week, a picture of Wally and a clue as to his where-a-bouts will be posted on Wally's Facebook page, the Florence Freedom's Twitter account, and the Florence Freedom website. The first five people to e-mail back Wally's correct location will receive gift certificates. There are eight weeks until Opening Day so that's eight chances to win!

Each week, the five winners will also be entered into a grand prize drawing. On Friday, May 21, one lucky winner will receive 2 VIP season tickets, a value worth $936.

Become friends with Wally on Facebook, start following the Florence Freedom on Twitter and keep checking our website for ‘Where's Wally?' sightings! If you think you know where Wally is, e-mail your guess to Megan Smith.

Week 1: Tom Gill Chevrolet

Week 2: Culver's in Florence

Week 3: Mortenson Family Dental

Week 4: The Bank of Kentucky


Week 5: ???

The Freedom are members of the Independent Frontier League and open the home regular season on May 25 against the Southern Illinois Miners. Season tickets and group tickets are available now. Call the Freedom at (859)594-HITS to reserve your taste of ‘Dream Out Loud Fun' today.

Teamshop/ Shopping Cart

As part of my job, I have worked with the team shop and shopping cart on numerous occasions. This was mostly done with the School Days promotions. I made various packages that customers could choose between and set the prices for those in the system. For example, a Family Package includes 4 game tickets and a bobblehead. Each school also had a Couples Package with 2 tickets and a bobblehead. There are also other various things to be purchased that are entered on the page.

Here is an example of what I have set up:
http://www.florencefreedom.com/page.php?pID=213

Also, I have gotten to set up the player tryouts and link it to its respective page.

More recently, the front office wanted to add shipping to merchandise and items that were being shipped free. This wasn't as easy as expected, so I figured out that I had to add a flat rate shipping of $4.95 to all orders. However, we then realized that certain items such as player tryouts, kids club memberships, birthday parties and other such items didn't need shipping so I had to learn how to apply a discount to those items of $4.95 that would counter the shipping applied.

Player Tryouts

As part of my website duties, I marketed the team's open tryouts. First, I made a graphic on Photoshop of a current player and text that showed the day and time of the event. Then, I linked the graphic off the homepage through the backend of the website to a page I created with all the details of the event. Including, the cost, details and tryout information. I also made a button that web viewers can click on that links to the team shop where prospective players can purchase their registration, but I will talk more about that under the shopping cart section.

Aside from the online information, I also collected player information as they registered and used it to register guys on the tryout date.

On the tryout date, I signed preregistered and nonregistered players into the event, collected money, signed registration forms, marking paid, and assigned players numbers based on their respective positions.

Player Bios and Updates

One of the first things that I learned to do was add players and update player bios on the Florence Freedom website. I receive player contracts from the team's manager and add them through the back end of the website individually. I enter their statistics and biographical information onto the rosters and then add their information onto the Frontier League's website under the Florence Freedom roster. The other aspect of adding players are the small write-ups that I write on each player. I use statistics usually compiled from Howe Sports Data (www.howesportsdata.com) to write this. Here is an example of a write-up written for a newly signed player, Beau Manning.

Beau Manning comes to the Freedom after playing in the 2009 season with the Big Bend Cowboys of the Continental Baseball League.
2009... Manning was a valuable hitter in the Cowboys lineup batting .312 with 52 RBI and 7 HR. He was efficient at the plate with a .401 on-base percentage and only 14 strikeouts in 205 at-bats. The infielder played most of his 58 games at second base (54) and posted a solid .952 fielding percentage.

I also did write-ups for the returning players summing up their 2009 seasons with the Freedom. I later added links on each player's page that linked to their career and yearly statistics from every year they have played. This will make it much easier for Josh, our radio broadcaster, to click on a player's name and click links to their individual statistics over their career with the Freedom and various other teams.

Up to Date..

Things have been busy here at the Freedom! I've been keeping track of all my jobs, duties, various tasks so that I can write it all down here.

Here at the office, I can get a number of different jobs throughout the day, so keeping track of things chronologically wouldn't be beneficial because as I was working on a larger, extended period job, I would get smaller, more urgent tasks that needed my attention. So, instead of going through a timeline of my job, I'm going to describe different jobs that I've done throughout my experience here.

Jan. 11-13

After finishing the video work and editing, I started to work on updating a few pages on the website as well as adding pictures and pages of the spring interns.

The first page that I've been working on is the "Birthday Bash" page on the website. Here, it talks about all the various details for kids wanting to celebrate their birthday at a Florence Freedom baseball game.

I, first, added a picture of a kid throwing out a first pitch for his birthday.

Then, I created 2 graphics in Photoshop of birthday upgrades:

1. Merchandise upgrades (Gloves, bats, pennants, baseballs) and 2. Food and beverage upgrades (Upgrade to pizza, pitchers of pop, cake, candy, etc.).

After adding these graphics to the Birthday Bash page, I began working on adding photos and bio's on the spring interns to the "Front Office" page. The idea was to have their names listed at the bottom of the page with their job titles. Then, by clicking on an intern's name, it would direct you to a new page with a picture and bio of that intern.

Here is a link to the front office's page: http://www.florencefreedom.com/frontoffice.php
&

By clicking on my name, this is the new page that opens: http://www.florencefreedom.com/page.php?pID=198

I added pictures to the website first, then linked them to each of the individual's pages.

Days 1 & ...

I began doing work for the Florence Freedom Professional Baseball Team on November 3, 2009. My first task was to edit down videos taken from the 2009 season and make short videos (30-60 seconds) to be used on the Florence Freedom website and possibly, other websites i.e. Youtube. Working 2 days a week for a few hours made this task take a little over a month to complete. Around Christmas, the office took a two week break which allowed me time to finish the videos when I came back in after the new year. The front office staff said it's nice to get that vacation time around Christmas (which they are afforded because of their 90+ hr work weeks during the summer baseball season).
When I returned to the office in 2010, I showed my supervisor Josh the videos and as the broadcaster, he was going to voice over the scripts that I wrote for the videos. Around this time, I began to receive some new assignments which have made things a little more fun to be trying out new things. I started to now feel like a part of the front office and that I had a more major stake in the media relations.