Winning Online Tools Help a Sports Startup Thrive

PROJECT SCOPE

Website Design
Website Development
Website Management
App Development
Email Marketing
Graphic Design
Marketing Collateral Design

The Client

Fanspeak.com is an interactive website for diehard sports fans. Sports lovers gather there to enjoy and explore Fanspeak’s online tools and resources, chiefly its signature On the Clock NFL Mock Draft Simulator. In this simulation of the annual NFL Draft, users can play general manager, researching players and digging deep into the game they love to take control of their favorite teams and assemble the perfect roster.

Beyond 20 available football tools, Fanspeak also features resources such as mock drafts, databases, power rankings, and more for football, baseball, basketball, and hockey. Additional online tools are always being developed.

The Challenge

The company began in 2009 as a niche community for sports fans to come together and share their passion for professional athletics using blogs, social networking, and forums. The site’s original web developer did not realize the founders’ vision and was unable to complete the website to their specifications or on time.

Complicating website troubles, Fanspeak’s social network concept was failing to attract a critical mass of users. Company founders shifted the site’s emphasis to promote offline sports meetups among fans, and later to post sports articles and content; neither approach gained enough traction to make the site viable.

“When we realized we needed to make pivots, and evolve, Digital Ink was very quick to respond.”

MEGAN SHOUP

CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, FANSPEAK

Project Highlights

Agile web development shaped and pivoted with shifting company strategy.
Popular On the Clock NFL Mock Draft Simulator tool revitalized Fanspeak’s business model.
Surging website traffic, major advertising partners, and subscription sales generated increasing revenue.
Branding and email marketing solidify Fanspeak’s engagement with online users.
Healthy website growth enables the creation of new Fanspeak resources for sports lovers.

The Solution

Fanspeak connected with Digital Ink in 2010, one of the creative firm’s original partners. The company needed a new web developer to move the website forward, prepare it for launch, and fulfill the venture’s evolving strategy. Digital Ink understood and executed Fanspeak’s initial social networking concept on time and on budget. Later, Digital Ink worked closely with the organization to transform the site multiple times, adding and modifying tools as it evolved across a series of incarnations. In addition to designing and developing online sports tools, Digital Ink became Fanspeak’s primary partner for shaping and pivoting their digital strategy.

Leaders at Fanspeak observed the dynamic interaction among fans on the site, and realized the business needed to establish multimedia tools to enable sports aficionados to join in the game. They turned to Digital Ink to build new interactive resources to rework the site’s focus. In late 2013, Digital Ink created Fanspeak’s most popular offering, the On the Clock NFL Mock Draft Simulator.

In addition to strategic web development, Digital Ink designed the logos and branding for the enterprise’s online simulators and NFL draft guides. The firm helps Fanspeak effectively communicate with and engage users through email blasts and optimized email marketing.

The company needed a new web developer to move the website forward, prepare it for launch, and fulfill the venture’s evolving strategy.

Results

The On the Clock simulator developed for Fanspeak by Digital Ink was a literal game changer for the company. After years of testing various site structures and service offerings, together Fanspeak and Digital Ink discovered a winning business model. On the Clock generates substantial website traffic and pageviews year-round, making the operation sustainable and allowing it to grow.

A surge in traffic led to Fanspeak’s crucial partnership with USA Today Sports Digital Properties.Previously, the company had tried soliciting major sports-related advertisers such as Under Armour. As a small website with modest visitors, they saw little success with this individualized approach. Thanks to On the Clock’s popularity, Fanspeak was able to join USA Today’s aggregated online advertising pool that includes major retailers such as Doritos and Nissan. With the launch of the On the Clock premium edition, Fanspeak began selling user subscriptions, generating steady revenue.

Traffic to Fanspeak.com has grown exponentially each year since On the Clock launched. Sustained growth and increasing ad dollars will support the design, in collaboration with Digital Ink, of new and improved sports simulator products.

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