Sports marketing involves promoting and arranging sponsorship deals for sporting events, teams, and athletes. Sports marketing agencies act as liaisons between clients and sponsors, while internal marketers promote their team or event and obtain outside sponsorship. Companies may also maintain their own in-house sports marketing department. A degree in marketing, business, or advertising can be beneficial, and experience can be gained through internships.
It’s no secret that the world of professional sports is heavily dependent on funding generated by corporate sponsorship. Visible evidence of this relationship abounds in most sporting events, from logo and outfield jerseys adorned with advertisements. In most cases, this corporate presence is the work of a sports marketing department. Sports marketing is a branch of the marketing industry that involves promoting and arranging sponsorship deals for sporting events, venues, teams, and individual athletes. Those who work in the field are often employed by a specialized agency, a sports franchise, or by the marketing division of a company that promotes its products through athletic sponsorships.
Sports marketing agencies are specialized firms that cater to the promotional and sponsorship needs of sporting events, teams and individual athletes. An agent in this type of firm usually acts as a liaison between his client and potential sponsors. For example, he can get valuable shoe support for a basketball player, or he can arrange for a candy company to sponsor a sports venue’s mid-season show.
Some sports marketing professionals work for a sports team or the organizers of a major sporting event such as a professional golf tournament. Often, these internal marketers are responsible for promoting the team or event they work for. For example, they may secure radio and newspaper spots to advertise upcoming games or devise special offers and product giveaways to encourage participation. Additionally, they can obtain outside sponsorship for their franchise by selling promotional space in a variety of formats, including spots on over-time game screens, advertisements on scoreboards and collectible mugs, and so on.
In some cases, companies maintain their own in-house sports marketing department. The goal of corporate athletic sponsorship is to raise awareness of your product and stimulate its sale. Therefore, these departments are often responsible for researching charitable sports sponsorship opportunities. They may conduct market research studies to determine which athletes, teams and events can best expose their company’s product to the target audience. After identifying these opportunities and negotiating acceptable sponsorship deals, they can work with the company’s advertising staff to determine how their product would be best marketed.
A bachelor’s degree in marketing, business, or advertising can be beneficial for those looking to enter the sports marketing field. Some universities offer marketing degrees with a concentration in sports. Additionally, experience can sometimes be gained by interning for a sports franchise or marketing agency.
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