The Ultimate Guide to Sports Marketing (Part 3)

4 minute read · Issue Number 60 · Match 19th, 2021

Mar 19, 2021

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Dear friends,

Welcome to the third and last piece of the ultimate guide to sports marketing.

In the first issue, we learned about the basic concepts surrounding sports marketing. In the second issue, we dove into the sports marketing process and argued why the process could help you, regardless of your industry.

If you missed out on any of the chapters, or you want to share a summary of the marketing guide with your family & friends, my Twitter Thread got you covered:

Ronen Ainbinder @Ronenain

The Ultimate Guide to Sports Marketing: A thread 🧵 ↓

Today we’ll close out the guide with a few additional concepts surrounding sports marketing that I believe are important.

Shall we?

Sports Branding

In a competitive industry like sports, branding is one of the most effective tools for attracting sports consumers' attention.

The reason?

Sales can be affected by how easily a consumer can differentiate your product/service between alternatives.

Without diving into brand equity theory, you must know that a brand works like an identifying badge; the name and logo get engraved in the consumer's mind. It will push him/her to recognize and even buy a product in a crowded environment.

A brand can be so powerful. Sometimes, we want to buy what the brand sells before even evaluating if it’s what we need.

In sports, Nike, the Yankees, Red-Bull, and the NFL are the companies that come to mind when I think about branding. What are yours?

Whichever they are — they have great sports branding simply because they are the first thing that comes to mind.

A powerful brand will result in a high level of recognition in the market, associated imagery, consumer awareness, price perception, perceived quality, etc.

The key to branding in sports is developing brand equity and converting it into a tangible and loyal fan base willing to spend their money and time on it.

Sports Marketing Ethics

In sports —like in any other industry— things can get out of hand quite easily.

Ethics in sports marketing refers to whether the products and services promoted are accurate, honest, and delivered within a moral and professional code.

In sports, publicizing athletes' private lives, promoting the use of unsafe sports facilities, unrealistic promises associated with health and fitness, the overpricing of high-profile matches, and emphasizing issues around athlete behavior are ethically wrong actions.

As sports marketers, we must deliver reliable information, call out fake news, protect the sports consumer, and maintain a serial code of ethics.

The Future of Sports Marketing

The evolution and adoption of powerful platforms and media distribution channels are about to take sports marketing to a whole other level.

There will be dozens of new alternatives for interaction and engagement available at the fans’ fingertips from a sports consumer standpoint.

Sports marketers will have access to a bigger market. They’ll have more information about the fans, their preferences, their level of engagement, etc. – allowing them to create a new and more personalized experience for the users.

Technology will increase fan engagement and integration in sports. No doubt.

Nevertheless, with more technology, I’d expect fans to become more ‘fragmented,’ ‘placeless,’ and the virtual environment will become a fierce competitor to live events.

QUICKIES

🎙 **Democratizing Grassroots Sports;** This week's Halftime Snack features Mike Emery — the CEO of Joymo. In our snack, we talked about traditional sports broadcasting, the DTC & media business, the role of data in 2021, the democratization of grassroots sports, and more. Listen on Apple | Spotify | Google

🇮🇱 Israel’s “green pass” is an early vision of how we leave lockdown; There are plans all over the world for apps and cards that would prove vaccination. But Israel’s experience suggests significant caveats.

🏈 NFL Pondering Approach to Digital Collectibles; The NFL is exploring how blockchain technology can be used in ticketing and how NFTs (non-fungible tokens) can be used to add value alongside tickets.

🧳 Team USA Sues Puma Over Olympic Trademark; As Team USA sees it, Puma’s actions threaten to upset the value of those rights, and that money is critical to helping fund the Olympic movement, not just in the U.S., but around the world.

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