The past two years have been game-changing for sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But sports are ready to make a comeback.
Stadiums are filling up, audiences are tuning in, and sports fans are going to be hungrier than ever for content. Now is the time to develop a successful sports marketing strategy. But with so much that has changed in the world of sports over the past years, how do you know what will be a successful sports marketing strategy in the future?
In this blog, we cover three guaranteed to succeed sports marketing strategies that you need to be implementing in 2021 and beyond.
Sports fans are fanatics. They love to engage with their team and be involved in their sports. Spectators in the stands and fans that follow along at home have often been doing so for their whole lives, and with their family and friends around. Sports become a part of their identity and therefore these people are incredibly passionate about their team.
For marketers this is excellent. You are targeting an incredibly engaged audience. But that does not mean you can let your content quality slip.
You need to provide sports fans with compelling content across platforms in video, photo, and written formats.
The help of influencers and celebrity sports figures can help you tap into existing audiences that will be interested in your products and connect with fans through their favourite athletes.
With sports marketing, timing is essential. You don't want to run campaigns in the off-season or update fans with outdated news.
With smart timing, you can run campaigns that:
Another aspect of timing includes monitoring when users are active on which platforms. You want to distribute your content at the time when it will have the biggest impact and is most likely to reach your audience. Therefore you should monitor your social, email, and other distribution analytics to see what times of day and days of the week your audience are most active and engaged.
For example, you might think that during a live sporting event, viewers will be focused on the action and not checking their phones. However, 52% of avid sports fans use their mobile device while watching sporting events. Connecting with social media users during a big game is a great way to build a community and interact with your audience.
Sports marketing strategies in 2021 and 2022 will need to take a greater focus on women in sports.
For decades a large majority of sports have been male-dominated spaces. However, the sports industry has undergone a major change in the past decade and more and more women are participating in sports as both athletes and spectators.
Women have a huge amount of buying power in the sports industry, and your marketing strategies need to address them. The more that women feel included and valued by your brand, the more likely they are to become loyal customers.
A great example of a sports marketing campaign that includes women is The North Face’s She Moves Mountains campaign. They highlighted the stories of women in various sports and encouraged their audience to share photos of female sports role models with the hashtag #shemovesmountains on Instagram.
Sports marketing has changed at a rapid pace in recent years. Changes in demographics such as more women entering the space and bringing with them a huge amount of buying power, and a pandemic that shut down many major sports leagues, have meant brands need to adapt.
To thrive in sports marketing you need to engage fans and build a community. Tap into the intense passion that sports fans have and time your content to line up with major events in your sport to see the most success.
See inspirations here:
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