Sports marketing
The sporting arena is a wide market that is waiting to be tapped. According to the national football foundation repots about forty-nine million people attended the NCAA football game, while over one hundred and ten million people watched the super bowl in 2012. This is to show that sports have got a wide and great market potential since it captures the attention of millions of people. In order to develop a good marketing plan for the good or service to be sold it is important to make sure you have marketing information thus choose the best tactic to enter the market. Strategic market planning includes careful assessment of the marketing environment, development of strategies and finally implementation. It is important that during the implementation that the plan yields positive results (profits) rather than losses (Miller 1997).
The sport product of interest to me is the assortment sporting equipment such as base balls, basket balls, tennis equipment, baseball. Also selling sports jazzes, and cheering products. Product mix in this case will help in targeting all sporting markets because different sporting events have different seasons during the year. For instance, during super bowl selling products such as balls, or jazzes with different players’ numbers can be such a great potential. Since the target market will be shifting from time to time depending on the sport, the assorted products will help us capture the customers at different events thus the business will always be in play.
Developing the market plan
Data and analysis: The key thing as a sport marketer is taking into account the internal and external environment that they will operate. When it comes to the internal environment, the mission, goals and objectives, resources and the organizational culture must be taken to account. Information is a vital thing so having knowledge of all league programs around your market target is important so as to plan the resources. The resources required in this case is in terms of the starting capital, employees, technology and the work space required or the storage facility. Financial resources are the key to the establishment of a marketing plan. Since it the start, making sure that from the purchase of products to advertising and the final sales all fall into the financial budget while at the same time having profits (Gray 2001).
The external environment includes things like the economy, legal issues, political agendas, educational institutions, environment, technology, social and cultural norms. When the economy is good people will have more to spend for entertainment thus this will be more beneficial to the business. Since we are living in a digital era taking advantage of the numerous social networks to advertise and even sell online products will be beneficial. The cultural and social norms affect the sports being played in given areas so it is better to keep that in mind. Making sure that you are good with the law is also important. So getting licensed and ensuring that you sell quality products rather than counterfeits. Since this is a wide market the competition will be great so ensuring that the business is greatly advertised will help in making sure you are in the top. Also since bigger events will be more competitive, sticking to minor leagues or other smaller leagues will be beneficial (Gray 2001).
Goal and mission: the mission is selling sporting products throughout the state during the different sport events in the state. The goal is to enter the market and establish our market share, increase profitability a time and get sponsors while promoting sports in our state.
Target market: the target market includes high school and college students during their different championship leagues and public customers as they attend the different sports leagues. Dividing the market into segments also assist in fulfilling plan. For instance, demographic segmentation is dividing the market based on, age, socio-economic status, gender, geographic region and education. Psychographic segmentation based on, life styles, attitudes, opinions and values. This will help in going with the right product for the right market (Parkhouse, Turner & Kimberly 2012).
Market strategies: the key thing is market penetration. In such a competitive market how do you gain the competitors customers. For instance, having a rewards program could be advantageous. After that market development is important since this will ensure that you will always have a market for your product. Product development is also important since this will create a loyal customer base (Parkhouse, Turner & Kimberly 2012).
Price decisions: the prices should be market friendly. This means that you must take into how much will be charged to the spectators, participants, or the sponsors. The prices should not be too high since it will scare the customers away nor should it be too low since it will bring losses. Always put into account, purchase price, pricing strategies, discount policies, price lining, payment policies and bundling (Miller 1997).
Place and promotional decisions: when it comes to promoting the products, a promotional budget is important. Then the objectives, message content and media selection. The venue for the sale will be mostly stadiums so making sure there is access and having all the permits will be beneficial.
Implementation: this is the most important part of a plan, seeing it through. It is important to establish how each task necessary to implement each tactic mission, people necessary to executing each task and the time frame. This will ensure that the set target is met.
References
Miller, L. K.1997. Sport business management. Gaithersburg, MD: Aspen.
Gray, D. P. 2001 “Sport marketing: Strategies and tactics.” In The management of sports: Its foundation and application, 3rd, edited by B.L. Parkhouse. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill,
Parkhouse, B. & Turner, B. & Kimberly, M. 2012. Developing a Strategic Sport Marketing Plan from Marketing for Sport Business Success, 1st Edition. Kendall Hunt Publishing.
