When I first heard of sports marketing, as many students that started a sports marketing course, I thought it was only about sponsorships, ticket and jersey sales. At the end of the module I can clearly say that sports marketing is far more complex than I thought, where proper fan engagement is key. This blog will be a personal reflection of how this module has shaped my understanding of sports marketing.
Additionally, the in class activities and the assignments have been extremely useful. The first assignment, where I prepared a marketing and communication plan for Wembley FC, has allowed me to have hands-on experience in applying marketing concepts to a real world scenario. Having a realistic and specific budget for marketing, allowed me to emphasise how organisations with financial constraints cope with marketing strategies and understand how marketing departments work within an allocated budget.
In the future, I would like to pursue a career in sports marketing and gain practical experience through internships in this field. I would like to expand my knowledge on the sector through a summer internship this year. Also I will consider choosing my next elective course in sports so that I can pursue a career in this sector after I graduate. I believe that understanding how to engage with fans and apply marketing strategies will help me contribute effectively in a professional environment. This module has also increased my interest in working within the sports industry and has given me a clearer idea of my future career path.
I am a second year university student at the Business Faculty. The university offers the selection of 1 elective course every year, therefore during my second year I was allowed to select a module that I had an interest in. My interest in sports was not something new, instead, I can truly say that sports has been a passion in my life. During my secondary education years, I played basketball in the school team for 7 years. Also, football has always been an important part of my life, both as a player and a fan. These experiences made me realise my interest in sports from a young age. Last year, I took an elective module called Business of Sport, which introduced me to the basic concepts of the sports industry. Throughout the course, I have realised that in the future I might like to capture a career in sports business. Therefore, in order to further my learning in the industry, this semester I selected the Sports Marketing course. The course started with an introduction on the macro & micro environments of the business, moving on to market segmentation along with the industry context, following with consumers and stakeholders, and standard marketing tools collaborated in sports.
One of the most important things that I learned is how social media plays a crucial role in the modern world of sports marketing. I have understood that marketing is a key tool for attracting customers and maintaining long term relationships with them, aiming to keep them interested in the business. I realised that in the modern world, social media creates a path to engage with fans; which are identified as stakeholders in the sports industry. Additionally, I learned that social media enables sports organisations to apply segmentation, targeting, and positioning strategies by delivering personalised content to different fan segments. I realised that identifying and reaching different target audiences is essential, as sports organisations need to adapt to different groups of fan segments in order to increase engagement. Not only enabling the three strategies, social media in sports creates a path to reach and engage with fans as well. I realised that fan engagement not only provides clubs reach customers but also, as a huge sports fan, I can truly tell that it boosts the entertainment level and keeps us in the game.
In conclusion, this module has shaped my understanding of sports marketing and allowed me to realise and explore the career path I would like to capture in the future. Before, I thought that sports marketing was basically made up of shirt and ticket sales and the most important income source of sport organisations are those sales. After taking the module, I have understood that sports marketing prioritises fan engagement and contributes to the income of the organisation significantly. I realised that Improving fan engagement not only allows the organisations to attract more customers, but also, contributes to a more improved fan experience.
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