What is Sports Marketing?
The benefits of sports marketing are seen daily as it helps create fan loyalty for organisations. Sports marketing is defined as a marketing strategy that is aimed at promoting sporting events, equipment, or products and services using athletes or a team. It involves organisations planning, executing, and advertising sporting events and in return increases revenue. Let’s look at the benefits of sports marketing and its types.
Benefits Of Sports Marketing
1. Build Brand Awareness & New Clients
One of the first benefits of sports marketing is creating brand awareness, and drawing new and potential clients. As you align your brand with local sports teams, you will realise that you’ve positioned your brand to reach new audiences who might not be familiar with your product/services. When you increase your overall brand awareness, you will notice a significant increase in your sales because your brand starts getting in front of local supporters of that team. Tools like social media and digital ads can also help make your brand more visible to sports fans.
2. Loyalty is Sky High with Sports Marketing
Loyalty is just as relevant in the sports industry as in any business environment. Brand loyalty is the second top benefits of sports marketing. Helping fans identify with their teams and build a passion for them is key in sports marketing. Your business can increase its loyalty by aligning your brand with things your customers care about, including the sports teams they support regularly. An average of about 50% of a company’s business comes from the referrals of existing customers.
3. Increase in Sales & Sales Of Season Ticket
Loyal season ticket holders also create more interest from media coverage.
With sports marketing, season ticket sales are the foundation of any professional sports team. Aligning your brand with sports can overall help increase your sales because there are a lot of sports lovers out there. Your brand can derive revenue from the sale of team merchandise that is through programs, shirts, caps, jerseys and posters, and more.
4. Getting a Good Return On Investment (ROI)
Increasing the brand’s ROI is the last but not the least benefit of sports marketing. Research has shown that event sponsorship brings a solid return on investment to companies that operate effectively. One way to maximise the chances of success is having a crystal clear plan of action, and a set goal. To always be on track, set metrics to measure the impact of your efforts.
Types of Sport Marketing
1. Marketing of Sports
Marketing of sports deals with advertising sports to the viewing public. It involves the promotion of sports, sporting events, sporting associations, and sports teams. Marketing of sports includes marketing operators of sports businesses and organisers of events, leagues, championships, and more.
2. Marketing Through Sports
Just as the name sounds, it involves the use of sport as a booster to grow a business that is not directly connected to sports. Marketing through sports deals with athletes and sports teams endorsing different products, as well as the use of sporting events by sponsors to advertise their products to the viewers. It is mostly the responsibility of the sports associations or the sports clubs, rather than sponsorship and endorsement.
3. Grassroots Sports Marketing
Grassroots sports marketing is what makes these little known teams and leagues thrive in a sea of competition. Grassroots sports marketing is the promotion of sports to the general population, and it aims at enhancing the popularity of a sport. It focuses on the public and its benefits. This type of sports marketing was created by the sporting associations for those brands who want to build up interest in sport and governmental bodies. It is also ideal for charitable organisations who wish to increase participation from youngsters, and lower the cost of healthcare.
Sports Marketing Strategies
A business thinking of entering into sports marketing should consider these strategies.
Develop a Target Audience
It is vital to know your targeted audience before diving into any sports marketing campaign. Look at traits such as location, age, interests, and income. These targeted audiences are a specific group of people at which a product or marketing message is pitched. Note that every business has different target audiences that it seeks to influence, so ensure to identify yours and focus on it.
Create Engaging Content
Messaging is the foundation of a brand’s public communication. Creating appealing and engaging content with the help of celebrity sports figures is one of the strategies of sports marketing. It attracts more potential clients to your business. From social media up to press releases, a strong, consistent message should guide all of your public communication. It is because more than half of fans follow their favourite teams on social media, so you can digitally engage your customer base if they also happen to be sports fans.
Create Brand Partnerships
Winning sports marketing strategies involve partnerships with influencers/charities. A good number of sports teams and brands are looking to align with one another because the sporting businesses are becoming more data-oriented. Creating a brand partnership can raise the profile of both brands and draw them to new and potential audiences.
Select the Right Distribution Tools
Another sports marketing strategy to consider is identifying and selecting the right distribution channels. It could be through the use of various social media (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, and more), television, radios, or content marketing options, such as blogs or email. Because people watch sporting events on television, check scores on their mobile devices, attend live sporting events, listen to sports on the radio, and read about sports in the newspaper and online. Select which channels are best for you to reach your targeted audiences.