Sports Team Marketing

Fans the world over, unite! Your favorite teams not only need you to cheer them on, but they need sports team marketers to get their name out there, draw in new fans, and keep the sport alive, whatever it may be. A a sports team marketer, you’ll have to figure out the best marketing tactics to use in a digitally-focused world.

Personal Connection

Most people have an attachment to at least one sport and one sports team, and that loyalty is driven by sports marketers who help create products, negotiate deals, and help hard-working athletes get the recognition they deserve.

Are you a sports fan?
Do you love supporting your favorite teams?
Do you want to work to make those teams more successful and well-known?
Can you see yourself brainstorming different ways to get your team’s name out there?

Other Connections

The sports industry is expansive and encompasses many different potential career paths. If you want to work in sports but don’t think marketing is the direction for you, some of your other options include the following:

Playing a sport as a professional athlete

Managing a team as a sports team managers and make important decisions that help teams succeed with your in-depth knowledge both of the sport itself as well as how to be a leader

Spotting the talent as a recruiter who takes a high school football star and makes him known

Working as a sports broadcaster can be a dream come true if you like being in front of a camera

Working as a sports physician to assess injuries, provide rehabilitation plans, and generally oversee the health of athletes

Working as a sports agent to help an athlete find sponsorships, negotiate with teams, and have the best career possible

STEM Connection

Sports team marketing in the digital age is all about knowing where and how to reach new fans and get your team’s name out there. Here are some of the methods today’s marketers are using.

Machine learning helps marketers know what’s working and what isn’t:

In the world of marketing, there’s a lot of trial and error. Some tactics might bring in revenue like crazy, while others will fall flat. Machine learning makes the trial and error process more efficient by learning from past data to predict patterns and help humans make better inferences.

Cloud-based analytics give a more efficient view of data, which is ideal for a fast-paced connected world:

Cloud-based is a term that’s used quite often these days, and what it means is that information is stored in such a way that it is available to be accessed at all times. Sports team marketers need to use and understand these capabilities in order to efficiently handle incoming data that informs future marketing decisions.

Virtual reality generates excitement in fans that can’t always be a part of the action:

The main goal of sports marketers is to connect to a fan base and get them excited about a particular team. In the past, the best way to do so was to encourage fans to attend live games. Not everyone can do this, but with today’s technology we can bring the excitement of live sporting events directly to the fans using virtual reality.

Social media is king and gives fans the connected experience they’re searching for:

Anyone marketing anything must have at least some form of social media presence. In sports, it’s even more important. Fans and their favorite teams used to be separated by what might as well have been entirely different worlds, but these days social media bridges the gap and gets fans more involved, which in turn helps teams generate more revenue.

Journeys to Becoming a Sports Team Marketer

The sports industry is highly competitive no matter which career you’re going for, so knowing what you can do now to prepare is vital for your future success.

Sports marketer Jeff LaClaire has observed that most people in the sports industry don’t actually have marketing or sports-related degrees. What he says trumps any type of educational achievements is on-the-job learning. If you can get an internship and demonstrate that you are willing to train and become knowledgeable in areas relevant to sports marketing, you can make it. Looking back on his own college career, Jeff wishes he had taken classes in web design and Photoshop/graphics in order to add to his marketable skill set.

He grew up in Daytona Beach, FL where sporting events like NASCAR drew in fans by the thousands. A love of sports led him to a sports marketing class in college, where he discovered a true passion for the process. Though it was several years into his professional career before he actually got the opportunity to work for NASCAR, the skills he acquired early on and the experience he gained on the job helped him succeed and eventually open his own marketing agency.

Articles, Videos, Podcasts of Interest

It’s always useful to see examples of what a career in sports team marketing might entail. Take a look at a few marketing campaigns that have made waves over the years:

For a good overview of the wider field of sports marketing, along with degree recommendations and possible career paths, take a look at this website:

The website Jobs in Sports offers a comprehensive look at the steps to take if you want to pursue sports team marketing:

If you’ve ever wondered how exactly the multi-billion dollar sports industry makes so much money, this article offers a good look at the biggest leagues around the world:

Many aspects of marketing are all about psychology. Learn about the psychology of sports marketing here:

Fun Facts/ “Did You Know?”

Some fun trivia about sports marketing:

Big Money:

Most of the money generated by sports comes from sponsorships, which in 2017 amounted to about $44 billion!

MVP:

Did you know that the most valuable sports team in the world as of 2019 is the Dallas Cowboys?

Top Dollar:

While the Cowboys have the highest value, they aren’t the highest-paid team in global sports. That title goes to Barcelona, the soccer team.

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