I was three years old the last time a Milwaukee baseball team won the World Series. That was the Braves, in 1957. I was 28 when the Brewers went to the Series in 1982, but I wasn’t much of a fan yet. I knew who they were and recognized some of the players. Since then, I’d been to a few games, but never because I bought the tickets. They came through client events, a free ticket promotion, or friends who couldn’t use theirs.
This season was different. I was watching more games than ever and getting excited about the prospect that this might be “their year.” When Jamie, our Senior Business Development leader, and lifelong Brewers fan, noticed how interested the Trivera team had become, he suggested we buy a block of seats for an outing for our team. And so it finally happened: It was the first time Trivera or I had ever bought tickets to a Brewers game.
That small detail got me thinking about the way marketing works. For years, like many folks, I was aware of the Brewers. How could I not be? I attended games for free and followed along now and then. But I wasn’t a “customer.” It took a growing interest, a timely suggestion, and the right opportunity to turn that interest into a purchase.
Activity Is Not the Same as Action
Businesses often measure marketing by the activity it creates: website visits, impressions, social engagement, email opens, or form fills. Those numbers can tell us something, but they aren’t the ultimate goal. The goal is a measurable business transaction: a sale, a qualified lead, a new customer, or another action that moves the business forward.
The activity still matters. It helps people:
- Discover a company
- Learn what it does and decide whether they trust it
- Move closer to buying or taking another meaningful next step
But each activity should have a purpose. We want to understand what stage a prospect is in, what meaningful step could come next, and what might trigger that step.
Some people move quickly. Others stay in the funnel for months or years. They may be aware of you long before they have the need, budget, authority, or timing to act. The answer isn’t to mistake awareness for a sale, or to abandon every prospect who doesn’t convert right away. It’s to stay useful, measure progress, and recognize when the next step becomes relevant.
Sometimes the Trigger Is a Moment of Clarity
I saw this with Mitchell International Airport. For about two years, I had been trying to convince my contact there that the airport needed to be on social media. Then, during a conversation about website work, I asked if she knew about a current problem in a men’s room on Concourse C. She didn’t. People on Twitter did.
A month later, Trivera had created Mitchell’s social media strategy and plan. The trigger wasn’t another general argument about why social media mattered. It was a specific example that made the gap visible: people were already talking about the airport, and the airport wasn’t hearing the conversation.
That’s part of strategic marketing. It means understanding the client’s situation well enough to recognize when a point, an opportunity, or a change in the market can move a discussion forward. Sometimes the next step isn’t a new campaign. It’s helping the client see why the time to act is now.
Relationships Can Stay in the Funnel for Years
Trivera has been part of Milwaukee’s business fabric now for three decades. Our current client list includes Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport, Potawatomi Casino Hotel, STRATTEC Security Corporation, the Bartolotta Restaurant Group, and George Webb. Those names aren’t just a list of logos. They reflect the people, organizations, and local traditions that have kept us, and them, connected to this community.
The Brewers’ return to the World Series after 44 years carries that same kind of history. This season didn’t create the relationship between the team and Milwaukee. It brought decades of memories, loyalty, frustration, and hope back into focus. For many fans, the run matters because they were already connected to the team long before this October.
One relationship shows how an opportunity can take time and travel with people. Fifteen years ago, the owner of Potawatomi’s agency of record invited me to speak at his winter marketing retreat. Chris Graham and his boss heard my presentation about social media. About a month later, Trivera was working with Chris on our first Potawatomi project. Years later, when Chris moved to Bartolotta, his experience with Trivera helped create the opportunity for us to work with them too.
That wasn’t a funnel someone clicked through in a week. It was a series of moments: an invitation, a presentation, an initial project, years of working together, and then a trusted relationship opening a door somewhere else. We can’t assume every early interaction will lead to a sale. But we can make those interactions valuable, keep earning trust, and make it easier for the next opportunity to happen.
A Trigger People Remember
For decades, George Webb has promised free burgers if the Brewers win 12 games in a row. That promotion was part of Milwaukee long before Trivera worked with George Webb. But we knew what it could mean when the Brewers’ streak started approaching that magic number. We proactively worked with George Webb to make sure its website was ready for the crush of traffic we knew would happen when the Free Burger clock struck 12.
We didn’t create the promotion. Our role was to help our client prepare for the response to a tradition people already knew and loved. That is part of marketing, too: recognize what could trigger a surge of interest, then make sure the digital experience is ready when people act on it.
What This Means for You
You don’t need a World Series run to create momentum. You need to know what action you want prospects to take, what might move them toward it, and how you’ll measure progress.
- Start with the business outcome. Know whether you need sales, qualified leads, new customers, or another measurable transaction. Then define the activity that should help produce it.
- Give every stage a next step. Awareness, engagement, and consideration are useful when they move the right prospects closer to action. Measure whether that movement is happening.
- Look for the trigger. It might be a problem customers are already discussing, a change in their needs, a useful offer, or a trusted relationship that opens a door. Your job is to notice when the next step becomes relevant.
- Stay useful while the decision takes time. Not every prospect is ready now. Keep the right people engaged with relevant information, and pay attention to whether they are progressing.
The Brewers’ run is a reminder that lasting success grows from years of connection and being ready when the moment arrives. If your marketing is creating activity but you can’t tell whether prospects are moving toward a transaction, that’s a good place to start a conversation with Trivera. We can help you build the strategy and digital experiences that turn sustained interest into measurable business growth.
Official disclaimer: Trivera is not associated with or endorsed by the Milwaukee Brewers.
