It’s no surprise that sports play a vital role in today’s society. For most people, attending a sporting event is a mere form of entertainment but the die-hard, avid fans are much more connected to the event. Sports organizations have to put projects or “events” in place that cater to the needs of both avid fans and casual observers without overwhelming or underwhelming each party equally. Catering to as many demographics is essential in growing your brand image, recognition and loyalty. Building brand equity and presence within key demographics is a strong and bold move to make, but it’s also a necessary one. There are many different on-site and on-line factors that make fans remember brands and their experiences. The following 5 initiatives will help to grow, maintain and extend an organization’s relevance within the sports industry.
1) Incentives & Loyalty Programs – Who doesn’t like to win exclusive merchandise? Fan participation is essential in keeping your brand relevant. Incentives grant fans the opportunity to stay engaged with the brand while at the same time participating in an exciting opportunity to win exclusive prizes from their favorite teams. These types of incentives are important because they motivate and engage all fans in the stands, whether avid or casual. These initiatives motivate the organizations target audience to support their brand while attending or watching the sporting event. Today’s consumers are more empowered and savvier then ever with the fast growing improvements in technology, keeping your audience engaged and entertained during each game throughout the season can be a challenge, but with proper project management, can be done. A fan needs to feel that they are properly entertained in order to feel 100% satisfaction. A great example of a “staple” incentive program is the 50/50 raffle. Another fun and engaging way of utilizing incentives in order to boost interaction and brand equity is allowing fans to participate via SMS by predicting outcomes to questions posted by broadcasters and other social media accounts during pre-game festivities. Those who predict correctly will be entered to win a random prize drawing. This encourages the fans that would otherwise not participate in pre/post game programming/events to take action and submerse themselves in a new and enticing part of an organizations brand. Fan loyalty projects are important because sports fans have a direct influence on sporting events through emotional ties to the organization and dedicated financial support. Sports fans are consistently looking for satisfaction and recognition for supporting their local sports organization. Without fans, sports organizations wouldn’t survive. Loyalty programs give fans a sense of power, enlightenment and accomplishment that further enhances their loyalty to the team.
2) Second Screen and Social Strategy – Capitalizing on this swift shift towards a second-screen and more social experience is an essential part of staying relevant in this new age online world. It’s important that an organization capitalizes on key conversations happening throughout social platforms in order to keep their overall brand image consistent while providing meaningful content for their fans. This is especially true in the sports industry. Transparency between teams and their respective fans is fading more and more each and every day. Fans want and need to be included in the latest headline grabbing topics related to injuries, signings, extensions, winning/losing streaks, rivalries and unexpected wins/loses. Fans feel like they have earned the right to voice their opinion and gain access to exclusive news stories and announcements from their favorite sports teams. Accomplishing transparency that these fans crave can be done through social media strategies like “hashtag” branded conversations on Twitter and special announcements/forums via personalized applications. These social outlets allow for a more personalized experience for fans; exactly what they are looking for.
Extending second screen options and unique social media experiences is a great way to stay on top of consistent branding. These social platforms give fans a centralized location to access and discuss the topics they care about; ultimately creating a community feel. By “owning” this community it becomes extremely easy to understand and evaluate the topics and mediums fans are most willing to engage on; this allows the organization to identify and develop targeted content that they know will resonate with fans. By continuing this strategy over and over again, you’re able to gain higher volumes of engagement over longer periods of time.
3) Youth Programs – The involvement and creation of youth programs within an organization shows that you are dedicated to nourishing the minds and bodies of children that will eventually become supporters of your organization in the future. Its so important to create memorable events for these children because when they become parents they will remember the great times they had while at youth programs, resulting in them wanting their children to have the same childhood experience they did. This type of chain reaction could form a type of family bond and tradition within generations of families to come.
4) Community Outreach - Community Projects are important because volunteerism plays a huge part in communities on every level. By giving back to your community, you are not only helping the surrounding area to grow stronger but the organization itself becomes stronger. Volunteering and bettering your community can cause positive reactions that make the world a better place for everyone. Showing your community that you embrace your “corporate” social responsibility demonstrates high ethical standards and a decrease in community transparency. By helping to clean up local schools, parks and recreation areas your showing a balanced and understood mutual respect for your fans and their “home” aka community and what they do in order to support your organization. Communities keep sports teams alive, its important that a sports organization shows their appreciation for their success within the community.
5) Foundations – The benefits of associating your organizations brand with foundations that hold a special place in the hearts of Americans across the nation are virtually endless and will help to form a special distinction between you and your competitors. Sports fans are emotional beings; there’s no doubt about that, so evoking a special emotional relationship between two powerful brands could prove to be a successful strategy. By aligning your organization with a powerful movement, you’re creating a whole new level of involvement not only within your immediate community, but also within the entire nation as a whole. Forming a strong relationship with these types of foundations will boost the organizations brand image and recognition almost instantaneously. Forming partnerships with foundations such as Jimmy V, The Special Olympics and Suzan G Komen can help to form and promote further key partnerships within the global sports community. This type of project initiative will help to initiate and spread compassion and acceptance in a way that can truly unite individual communities around the globe. These partnerships could also help to attract individuals that currently are not part of an organizations current target audience. Lets say that your organization partnered up with Suzan G Komen. Through a specially sponsored “Women’s Day” event or game, you can draw a different demographic then the organization might usually otherwise draw – the female demographic. An organization should never stop focusing on creating new sponsorships and events that will introduce a broader audience to all of their already established events.
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