When you think of companies benefiting from major sporting events, the first thing that comes to mind is likely the vast sums of money spent in advertising at tournaments. However, the vast majority of businesses do not have the funds to pay to promote their brand on this massive scale. Despite this, sporting events can provide an excellent opportunity for organisations of all sizes to improve business. While it is relatively common to associate marketing campaigns with sporting events, how should you go about it to get the maximum benefit?
Choose the event wisely
The first step to successfully capitalising on a sporting event to promote your business is to choose the right one. Making the correct decision for your marketing push is crucial, as it can be disastrous both financially and for your relationship with customers if you do not cater to them. It can often be the case with social media marketing that a poor attempt to tailor a campaign to your target market can spread faster than a suitable one, so it is critical to put thought into the event.
To effectively pick an event to base your marketing campaign on, you must research and understand your brand’s demographic. If your company is selling alcohol, the type of drink you sell might impact your marketing campaign. Beers, wines, and spirits all have slightly different target demographics, so the sporting event you wish to make the focus of your marketing campaign might change accordingly.
Think outside the box
As stated before, advertising at the events themselves is astronomically expensive and well beyond the reach of most companies. However, it is possible to capitalise on the buzz that larger tournaments generate on a cultural level.
For example, many spectators will be combing through social media during major football games and tournaments whilst watching the event. They will often look at media on these platforms relating to the sport in question and are highly receptive to a brand that can produce relevant content.
Thinking creatively to produce promotional material that is relevant, engaging, and entertaining is critical here. Those interested in the event will often embrace the occasion and will be looking to offer their support to a team or country. During international football tournaments involving the country where your target demographic is based, it is good to publicly show your support to build a rapport with the customer base.
You could, for example, utilise the services of companies with quality flagpoles for sale, such as Flagmakers, to hang the emblem of a country or team from publicly visible buildings associated with your business.
Promotional products
You could also produce a specialist range of products related to the event in question to use the high level of interest in a sport. This is a common tactic in the marketing world. Often brands will produce a promotional version of a staple product to celebrate a specific sporting event that they know will receive a lot of attention. For example, during grand slam tennis tournaments like Wimbledon, companies might rebrand some of their merchandise to correspond with the competition’s iconic green and purple colour scheme.
Marketing in this way can be a fun way of engaging customers. There is often a novelty to some of the twists on classic products that can bring in droves of new and existing customers alike.
Consider involvement in grassroots sports
Another option to grow your business using sporting events is to act on a more local level. A great way to drive interest in your brand is to offer sponsorship to a local sports team. Local sponsorships can also be a great way to build loyalty to your company amongst supporters committed to a club and, therefore, to a business that supports the team.
This can be a good strategy for companies that have smaller marketing budgets. Often in situations involving local sports teams, the entity offering sponsorship can control the negotiations and usually comes out with favourable terms.
Promotions with local sports teams can reach much further than might be expected. If, for example, your brand sponsors a club and your logo is on the kits, players will wear those kits time and time again, so the number of people that your branding can reach is significantly increased.
Another positive to this strategy is that you can support your local community through these sponsorships. Often, small sports teams are strapped for cash. By offering money in return for promoting your business, you can help young people in your area, improving your brand’s image while marketing it simultaneously – it’s a win-win!
The takeaway
Overall, using sports to promote your business is an effective way to grow the reach and popularity of your brand. There are many ways that you can capitalise on the massive public interest in sporting events and teams to generate buzz about your products and services. So start today and build your brand using the interests of your target demographic.
