ProHockey Advantage
Building a Digital Content Strategy for a Hockey Training Business
A collaborative project focused on helping a new hockey training business create its first digital content strategy to reach athletes, parents, and coaches in rural Manitoba.
A New Business Without a Digital Presence
The Challenge
ProHockey Advantage, founded by Cole Pruden, is a new hockey training business in the Eastman Region of Manitoba. Despite his strong background as a hockey player and certified Train2.0 coach, Cole faced a major challenge: he had no digital content strategy to connect with two key audiences — rep hockey associations/coaches and parents of rep players.
Without a clear digital presence, the business risked missing opportunities to differentiate itself from competitors and reach potential clients.
The Research
Understanding the Audiences
To understand the hockey community, our team conducted cold calls and interviews with coaches and association members in rural Manitoba. Some were highly supportive, while others were harder to reach, but the insights gathered gave us a deeper view of the culture and challenges of hockey in small communities.
Personas: who we’re designing for
Liam Fournier
From this research, we built personas that captured the reality of coaches and parents.
One coach persona profile, Liam, represents the strong sense of community in Manitoba hockey coaches.
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A long-time volunteer coach in rural Manitoba, grew up playing hockey with friends and neighbors.
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He never went professional; he found meaning in coaching the next generation. His priority is not winning scores but building teamwork, character, and love for the sport.
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Though he is trusted by his community, valued for his experience, and motivated by a desire to see hockey thrive locally.
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Lack of professional resources, limited training pathways, and high time demands on both coaches and students.
Competitive Landscape
To better understand the hockey training market, we conducted a SWOT and competitive analysis of three main competitors in rural Manitoba. This helped us identify gaps and opportunities for ProHockey Advantage to stand out.
Competitive scorecard comparing local hockey training programs
The analysis exposed gaps in digital presence, pricing transparency, and structured training — all key pain points we addressed to position our client more effectively.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT analysis outlining ProHockey Advantage’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. This exercise clarified the client’s goals and highlighted focus areas such as stronger branding, clearer pricing, and leveraging coaching credentials.
Problem Definition
Framing the Opportunity
From our research, we reframed the challenge into a guiding question:
How might we create a digital content strategy that builds trust, demonstrates expertise, and connects ProHockey Advantage with both coaches and parents?
This question shaped our recommendations and guided us toward practical solutions.
The Solution
A Tailored Content Strategy
We delivered a comprehensive digital content strategy designed for ProHockey Advantage’s unique audiences. The strategy included:
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Personas for coaches and parents, to guide targeted messaging.
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Content themes highlighting Cole’s expertise, success stories, and unique training approach.
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Social media tactics for building awareness and trust through video and photography.
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Wireframes for a future website, showcasing services, testimonials, and transparent pricing.
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User Flow mapping how audiences would move from discovery to engagement, ensuring a seamless digital journey.
Together, these components formed a structured strategy that positioned ProHockey Advantage as a credible, trustworthy, and modern hockey training business.
User flow diagram mapping the journey from discovery to engagement. This helped ensure the content strategy aligned with real user pathways.
My Role – Communicator and Strategist
I served as the main communicator between our team and the client, organizing meeting agendas and recaps. I also contributed to the competitive analysis, helped craft the content strategy, and participated in the design of wireframes. This role allowed me to practice both project management and strategic design thinking.
The Outcome
Prototype and Client Feedback
The final deliverables included a set of wireframes and a content roadmap that Cole could use to launch his business online. The prototype website presented a professional, easy-to-navigate structure with space for coach credentials, testimonials, program details, and pricing transparency.
Cole appreciated how the strategy gave him clear next steps and a foundation to build from. Even in its early stage, ProHockey Advantage gained direction and clarity for its digital presence.
Explore the wireframes and content structure we created for ProHockey Advantage,
a first step in building their digital presence.
Reflection
What I Learned
This project was a turning point in understanding how research translates into strategy. I learned how to analyze competitors and identify clear opportunities in crowded markets. I also realized how critical collaboration is — our team balanced research, design, and strategy under time pressure, and I grew more confident in working with different roles.
Another key takeaway was the importance of client communication. Acting as the bridge between our team and Cole taught me how to keep discussions clear, focused, and actionable. The experience showed me that good strategy isn’t only about insights — it’s about delivering clarity and building trust with both the client and the audience.
