How The UFC Marketed Its Way To $4 Billion

From failed brand to Billion dollar Business this is how the UFC turned things around through their content. In the year 2000, the company was failing with a $50 million debt after being sold to Dana White for $2 million, they made significant changes to their marketing and sales funnel. First they launched a reality series called the Ultimate Fighter to introduce everyday viewers to their sport and athletes. This use of storytelling to create awareness led to historic ratings with 1.9 million viewers tuning in at the end of their first season. They took that attention and used personality driven content to retain it. Instead of hiring a celebrity, the product is promoted by personalities. The audience can they hired a PR firm to teach their fighters how to use social media to build momentum before fights by also introducing the first ever incentive based social media program for athletes. Fighters were offered bonuses for getting the most engagement by creating an easy entry into their sales funnel. Focusing on storytelling to build awareness and using incentives to help generate buzz, they exploded with fights reaching upwards of 2.4 million pay per view buys. After this move in 2016, the company sold for $4 billion. Like learning about successful marketing strategies, subscribe to the HubSpot Marketing channel.