Best Practices in Sports Marketing and Brand Activation

Best Practices in Sports Marketing and Brand Activation
By KVI Solutions

According to Albert Einstein, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Be S.M.A.R.T., Avoid Insanity
All too often, sponsors ‘carpet bomb’ their message in the hopes that the law of averages will give them enough of a response to call the activation/campaign “successful.”
Strategy

• Take the time up front to understand your product and your target audience’s needs so you can effectively adapt the message to meet the needs.
• Sports properties spend incredible time and monetary resources to research and understand their fan base.  Partner with them and build cost and content effective campaigns that add value to the fan’s experience, generate revenue for the sponsor and are measurable.
• Set specific goals you want to reach in the planning phase, before you begin spending your precious marketing dollars
• Fit your marketing pitch to meet the pain points of your target audience
• Make sure that you’re geographically positioned (on property) to meet your target audience face to face
• Location, Location, Location
• Negotiate with the property to ensure that you are able to connect with your target and that there are no obstacles that will hinder that communication  (I.E. Your activation space is in the far corner of a remote parking lot, or set up next to a sound stage with live music…)

Measurability

• When Sponsors allocate their finite marketing dollars toward a sports marketing campaign – ROI should always be measurable and specific
  (I.e. $X million in sales revenue, increase website traffic by Y%; generate Z% new enrollments in xyz offer; increase brand awareness by R%)
• Marketers can no longer afford to “hope” that someone remembers their promotion long after the event has ended – they must create “brand traction”
• Manage your opportunity cost
  • Activation budgets are limited and every dollar spent on sponsorship programs, that cannot prove their own worth, are dollars that could have been spent more effectively elsewhere
  • You only get one shot to do this right

Activate and Engage with Fans

• Select the right people to represent the brand and deliver the message
• Not everyone is cut from the same cloth
  • Make sure that your front line agency and/or activation team is:
    • Fully aware and capable of achieving your specific objectives
    • Well spoken and represent your brand the way you are intending it to be perceived
• Tell it, don’t sell it!
  • Fans don’t attend sporting events to interact with your brand.  However, if you have a compelling story that engages them, they will return the favor by listening or participating in your promotion

Relevance

• Find a way to connect your program to the affinity (loyalty) of the fan.  They are passionate about their team and you want them to be passionate about your brand, product or service
• You share a bond with the fans as mutual supporters and stakeholders of the team, leverage this opportunity to integrate your message into a positive fan experience

Time Bound

• Promotional Activities should be unique, limited time offers.  What makes it compelling if anyone can get it anytime?
• Creating a subtle sense of urgency grabs people’s attention
• Careful, avoid over emphasizing this

Provide Compelling Reasons for Fan Engagement

• Listen first
• Remember your brand isn’t what you do or say, it’s as the client/customer/consumer perceives it
• Leverage the passion your target audience has for their team and integrate your message using the rights/marks/logos, you have invested in, to give fans what they are asking for, generate sales revenue, learn from the results and celebrate the victory back in the office!