Sports marketing strategies: How to build them

Sports marketing strategies encompass data research and analysis over actions necessary to establish a positive relationship between the brand and its customers. In sports marketing, this link is mainly established through sport and a deep emotional connection.

In the online Master's in Sports Marketing or the Master's in Sports Marketing in Madrid at Escuela Universitaria Real Madrid - Universidad Europea, you will delve into all these strategies to strengthen the sports brand image with specialised training. In addition, this world-class institution also has programmes such as the Real Madrid masters with which you can train as an expert in sport with the best professionals.

What is brand management?

Brand management encompasses the relationship between a company and its target customers and stakeholders, as well as including the creation, maintenance and strengthening of its identity and value.

Brand management is responsible for ensuring that the relationship with customers and other stakeholders is of high quality and enduring. In other words, it seeks to build a reputation, a visual and emotional identity, as well as a brand image that differentiates the brand from others and serves as a support for commercial activity.

In this sense, companies must pay attention to the needs and preferences of their customers in order to increase their sales and continue to grow. It is therefore their responsibility to study the behaviour, reactions, tastes and emotions of their audience. With this data, companies can adopt practices that satisfy the customer and increase brand loyalty.

Brand management in the sports sector

In the sports sector, brand management is part of sports marketing and constitutes a strategy to enhance the image of a brand associated with a sports organisation, a person or a country, for example. To this end, strategies and actions are developed that go beyond selling products and services, with the aim of creating a solid link between the brand and its customers or fans.

Objectives of sports marketing strategies

Brands are built through a real dimension (for example, what a football team or a MotoGP rider does) and an emotional one (what they mean or how people perceive them). Efficient management of both dimensions is key to the success of any sports organisation.

The main objectives of sports marketing strategies are:

• To understand the trends in your industry and the customer lifecycle.
• Build a profitable relationship with the media
• Improve presence in traditional and digital formats, such as the press and search engines.
• Generate opportunities for collaboration with other institutions or organisations that bring value to the sports organisation.
• Create new monetisation opportunities through sports sponsorship and advertising.

To achieve this, sports brand management is based on creating an identity that differentiates it from its competitors through the generation of unique experiences for fans.

Strategies for sports brand management

As well as sporting success, creating a visual identity and brand personality that conveys your values and is recognisable is very important. Fitting in with the fan base is essential.

To that end, the following tasks need to be undertaken:

• Research the state of the industry and competition.
• Prioritise relevant channels and audiences for the brand.
• Develop strategies to reach, impact and build consumer loyalty.
• Analyse customer behaviour to anticipate future actions, campaigns and risks.
• Disseminate the values of the institution and its products (players, sports team, collaborations with other brands, etc.) to create a community around the brand that helps to amplify its positioning and protect it against possible reputational crises.

Tools for sports brand management

The fan sees the purchase of products as a way to bond with and make the team or athlete his or her own. To fulfil this purpose, teams use different tools, among which the following stand out:

• Search engine optimisation (SEO): to increase the visibility of web pages and content.
• Paid advertising (SEM): to reach new audiences.
• Social networks (Instagram, TikTok, etc.): where the brand image is worked on, new markets are reached and advertising reach is increased.
• Multimedia content: such as mobile applications, YouTube, etc.
• Content marketing: for certain fan segments, such as guides, collectable cards or podcasts.
• Newslettering: email chains to build loyalty and impact on users.
• Public relations (PR) and media: to continue connecting with audiences and specialised press.
• Sponsorship: to promote a brand image.

Examples of sports brands that stand out for their strategies

A sign of good sports brand management is that it is part of the collective imagination. For example, brands such as Nike or Adidas, with their slogans ‘Just do it’ or ‘Impossible is nothing’, respectively, have managed to create an emotional bond that goes beyond the clothing.

Among great athletes, such as LeBron James or David Beckham, successful campaigns are often planned through their presence as brand ambassadors. One of the best-known cases is that of Michael Jordan, where the footwear connects with both the commercial brand and the athlete's personal brand.

Main advantages of sports marketing strategies 

Brand management in sport leverages the emotional impact of fans with real experiences and the feeling of group, club or identification with an athlete to enhance their image. The main advantages of this strategy include:

• Better connection between the brand or company and customers or fans.
• Reinforcement of customer commitment and loyalty to the brand, taking advantage of the emotional component of sport.
• Increased visibility and notoriety thanks to media and event exposure.
• Increased brand penetration in the market, making it easier for consumers to identify the brand.
• Increased sales, as advertising campaigns help to encourage consumption.
• Increased revenues from sponsorship, advertising or collaboration with other organisations.
• Increased strength in dealing with potential crises, both on and off the field.
• Alternative sources of monetisation, such as fan engagement or social media.
• Less price resistance and less sensitivity to competitor marketing.

With sports brand management, you can increase the visibility and relevance of a brand and strengthen its connection with the public through the values and emotions present in sport. At Universidad Europea, we help you to train professionally with pioneering programmes with a practical approach to specialised training in sports marketing and sponsorship.