How to win the sports marketing game

Some babies come home from the hospital wrapped in team colors. They grow up wearing a baseball mitt to bed or worshipping at the altar of football every Sunday. If any of this sounds familiar, you might think you’re immune to sports marketing. You don’t need some advertiser to tell you who to root for – it’s in your blood.

But while marketing may not influence which sports teams you support (or which ones you love to hate), it’s what makes you crave that half-time hot dog. And if you’ve ever been tempted to test-drive the new SUV you saw in a Super Bowl commercial, you have marketers to thank.

Sports marketing is a complex ecosystem: brands sponsor athletes, athletes endorse brands, and companies and sports organizations win new fans and customers. Let’s explore how one of the most important marketing arenas works and where you fit into this $100 billion industry.

What is sports marketing?

It’s a much easier question to ask than to answer. Because sports marketing is such a vast category, you might gain a clearer understanding by studying the different types of sports marketing. Here are some examples of sports advertising at work:

• Brand logos decorating uniforms, merch, and stadiums
• Brand sponsorship of games and tournaments
• Athlete-endorsed advertisements for athletic gear or nutritional products, such as energy drinks and protein powder
• Brand ambassadorships featuring an athlete or team
• Food and drink promotions at the stadium
• Print and digital advertisements announcing upcoming games
• Billboards promoting local teams

Why is marketing so important to sports?

In many cases, sports sell themselves. But the industry is about far more than games and matches: it’s a money-making machine – and all the players win. Here’s why:

• Viewership: Sporting events rely on ticket sales, memberships, and TV views to fund games and keep the stadium lights burning bright.
• Sports sponsorships and endorsements: We admire athletes – it’s a big part of what draws us to sports. We get more excited about a product when we see a well-loved athlete endorsing it. Endorsements go far beyond sports brands. You’ve probably seen athletes repping everything from cars to coffee. Professional athletes aren’t just celebrities. They’re role models, and fans take their word seriously.

Best practices for sports marketing strategies

No matter where you fit into the sports marketing ecosystem, you should understand the best practices of what makes it all work. Whether you’re an athlete or a company looking to sponsor one, you’ll get the most benefit from a marketing strategy that takes these considerations into account:

Know what you're selling

You may be a star quarterback who eats, sleeps, and drinks football, but if you’re appearing in an ad for a product that has nothing to do with the game, learn all about it. The brand believes in its product and trusts you to represent it, so know your stuff. If you’re on the brand side, you know your product inside and out, but take the time to get to know the athlete you’re hiring to sell it.

Define a target audience

Before you shell out for a pricey partnership with a sports star, define the target audience for the product you want to pitch. If you’re the one playing the role of a star athlete, understand the kind of user you’re pitching to. This point is crucial for marketing on social media, where brands and the athletes who represent them, partner, up because the athlete has a particular audience. Knowing your fan base helps you set the tone and aesthetics for your campaign.

Know your brand

You know who you are. You understand your values, vibe, and voice, and you need to translate this brand awareness into a logo, colors, fonts – an entire cohesive image. As you market for yourself or on behalf of others, stick to your brand. Whether you’re a brand partnering with an athlete or vice versa, make sure the values and image of both parties align.

Never underestimate the power of social media

Social media is its own universe, and it’s crucial for brands to stake their claim in the virtual space. Take advantage of all social media has to offer, from access to targeted audiences to analytics on the performance of digital marketing campaigns. In social media marketing, you’re not just presenting your product, brand or personality to a viewer: you’re allowing them to interact with you.

Use calls-to-action (CTAs) like giveaways, challenges, and other promotions so clients who admire your brand or the athletes that represent it can help spread the word. Never leave sports fans or clients hanging with long breaks between posts. The first rule of social media marketing is to get organized. Create a content calendar to map out consistent posts, and formulate content pillars (key content categories) to guide your content.

Share

Whether you’re an up-and-coming athlete trying to promote your career or a brand that’s newly partnered with an NBA, NFL, or MLB legend, you can improve the reach of your sports marketing initiatives by doing some “new school” sharing. Share a link to the YouTube video for your brand’s sports marketing campaign in your bio. If you’re an athlete, share a link to your professional website and good press. Since platforms put limitations on the number of characters and links you can include, consolidate all the sites you want to link out to in a single Linktree URL.