How Sports Team Can Market Themselves

How sports teams can market themselves

Brand marketing is an increasingly influential activity for sports teams as it is key to selling merchandise, driving engagement with fans, filling seats in stadiums, and boosting revenue. Not every team can have the reach of a Boston Red Sox or Real Madrid, but there are a few marketing techniques that can help your small or local team to get the support and fans it deserves. Both online and offline methods can be used.

Social media

Social networking has had a huge impact on how the biggest teams interact with their fans and market themselves. Billions of people now use Facebook and Twitter on a daily basis, and these offer a unique platform for sports teams to build their brand. Facebook remains the biggest platform, and almost every major football, baseball, American football and basketball team has a dedicated fan page. Premier League side Manchester City regularly posts news, images, behind-the-scenes videos and messages from star players as a means to boosting social engagement. This content can be “liked” and shared by fans, which gets them more invested in the team. You can adopt similar marketing methods and create other competitions and giveaways and even sell tickets and merchandise via Facebook.

Fan-generated content

Fan-created content is a great way for local teams to get their biggest supporters involved with marketing. Italian football team AS Roma has adapted to the digital generation by ensuring that the content it produces is what sports fans actually want to consume, which is key to broadening brand reach and curating fan culture. AS Roma Head of Digital Paul Rogers said: “The fans are now creating a lot of the content that appears on the site, from photography, written features, opinion columns, graphic design and even art work. Can we please everyone? Possibly not, but we believe the approach we’ve taken gives us a better chance of success and is more likely to come closer to satisfying the ever-increasing demands of our existing and future global fanbase."

Merchandise

Branding merchandise is another incredibly effective form of marketing. Teams that use their logos and fonts on clothing lines, equipment, and other forms of tangible products are more likely to extend their reach in local areas, which is ideal for those in small, local communities. Sports teams should also aim to create branded stationery with a company letterhead on their official documents. These letterheads can be included on posters and flyers for a local, targeted promotional campaign. Promotion via print media may have been usurped by the rise of social media, but traditional forms of marketing remain effective for sports teams as fans are likely to attend games on a weekly basis. Print is also a great option for special events and if you have signed a new player.

Local media

Local radio, magazines, and newspapers are a useful marketing source to try to cultivate relationships with local editors and journalists. Building a rapport with them and carefully preparing your own stories can boost media coverage and make your brand more visible among the local community. It is also important to give something back to the local environment, so projects such as collecting money for charity or holding a fundraising event can aid others while boosting your profile with the community.

Create a website

All of the biggest sports teams have a website that features their core branding and useful information for fans. Websites can be an important touchpoint for local fans as they will be able to view upcoming fixtures, read the latest news, and even discuss the latest goings on with other fans on a dedicated forum. Webpages can include all the features that you need to help you to run the club. It has never been easier to set up a website, with platforms such as WordPress readily available. Creating your own design based on your logo and branding is important. The site can include aspects such as results and match reports, player profiles, photo galleries, and other sections for fans to browse. Another great aspect of webpages is that they make your team more visible in search engine listings such as Google, so a fan can find the site if they include relevant keywords in their search terms.

There are other marketing techniques that you could adopt such as opting for a unique kit color or name. Sports teams that successfully bring together traditional and online marketing methods have the best chance of leveraging word of mouth and increasing their brand reach and recognition.