How is sports marketing different from traditional marketing?

What makes sports marketing unique from marketing in other industries is live events.

There are three elements that make sports marketing different:

Live Marketing

This means that, while other industries are able to plan and execute marketing plans at their own pace, sports marketers have to also manage campaigns during live events.

This means, monitoring the content that goes up on marketing platforms, tracking data such as engagement on social media platforms, logo presence and visibility during a live game, and share of conversation.

Live marketing is both exciting and challenging.

While it is exciting because of the thrill of managing a live marketing campaign and adapting it to meet brand objectives, it is challenging to stay on top of the campaign and ensure that no mistakes are made in the rush to execute a live marketing campaign.

Passionate Conversation

Sports is a highly passionate topic. And as such, sports marketing campaigns can elicit very extreme reactions and conversations - both positive or negative.

A campaign that the fans love can become viral in a matter of hours, whereas a campaign that does not resonate can be cast away to the back of a fan’s mind.

This possibility of an extreme reaction towards a sports marketing campaign makes it unique.

Technology enables a marketer to keep track of the conversation surrounding a campaign and adapt according to real-time data.

Personal Identity

Sports fans often attach their sports fandom of a team or player to their identity. This can lead to a fan often adopting a particular brand that his favorite team or her favorite player endorses.

Additionally, sponsors can also ride this identity wave towards becoming a part of a sports fan’s life.

For example, a Nike becoming the sportswear brand of choice for a LeBron James fan, or Chevrolet finding prime placement on the chest of every Manchester United fan.

These fans are wearing the jersey or buying the shoes because of their love for the athlete or team, but a marketer gets to become part of that fan’s life by association with the respective athlete or team.

If sports marketing interests you and you wish to learn more about a career in sports marketing visit sporjo.com and help us get you started today!