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Cole and the Bananas’ team are constantly looking elsewhere. If you ask Cole who the organization’s competitors are, he won’t tell you the rest of the teams in the Coastal Plain League. He’ll rattle off the likes of Google, Amazon and Starbucks, because he’s not putting on a baseball game – he’s putting on an…

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Cole and the Bananas’ team are constantly looking elsewhere. If you ask Cole who the organization’s competitors are, he won’t tell you the rest of the teams in the Coastal Plain League. He’ll rattle off the likes of Google, Amazon and Starbucks, because he’s not putting on a baseball game – he’s putting on an experience. From resort-inspired cooling towels handed out to fans, “parking penguins” passing out popsicles and more, the Bananas’ “culture of ideas” draws from anywhere inspiration can be found.

Video TranscriptExpand ↓

We've learned that our customers are our best marketers. And a question we always ask ourselves with whatever we put out is, is it shareable? Are we creating an experience that is shareable, that's remarkable by our customers? And we ask the question, is what we're doing camera worthy? Is it video worthy? You know, when we're at our ballpark and our breakdancing first base coach is doing the moonwalk, all of a sudden we see cameras coming up. And we know what's happening. Our fans are now spreading what we're doing. They're sharing what we're doing. It doesn't necessarily matter what you say, it matters what your customers say. And they are the marketers. So we try to create what are those wow moments, those you wouldn't believe moments where our customers are doing the marketing for us. Word-of-mouth marketing is by far the best form of marketing, but what are you doing to design and reimagine what that marketing is for your customers? For us, we've seen the stats and and they're staggering. Ninety four percent of people trust a recommendation from a friend or a family member more than any advertising. And the reality is companies that create an emotional connection with something special for their customers receive three times the amount of word-of-mouth marketing. So what's your word-of-mouth marketing plan? Do you have one? What is your plan for your customers to start talking about you?

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