Most sports brands today utilize online marketing in some form, whether or not they have a well-developed strategy in place. If your business is just starting out, here are a few factors to keep in mind when developing your online marketing strategy:
Know Your Audience Well
When determining the best marketing strategies for your brand, you first need to get to know your audience and what they want. This typically involves observing and researching your customers, monitoring customer behavior, investing in analytical software, creating customer personas, conversing with customers, and monitoring your brand’s online activity. Then, once you know what types of content, products, and services they want, you can actually deliver them.
Take a cue from the casino industry, for example. They understood that there were a lot of casino gaming fans out there, but that these fans didn’t want to — or couldn’t — make it to a physical casino. So the industry decided to come to them. Now, sites like PokerStars are commonplace and offer casino lovers all of their favorite games online (plus a bunch of new ones). So, this is how the casino industry listened and met their audience’s demands for variety, accessibility, convenience, and so much more.
For example, if you have an athletic wear startup, you’re not going to sell anything if you make products that your target audience isn’t interested in. Compare yourself to your competition and what they’re producing (and how you can do it better), listen to positive and negative customer feedback on your products, and even interview customers directly to find out what they’re really looking for. Customers love brands that just seem to get them because it shows they’re listening and they actually care about their customers.
Deliver Steady, Relevant, and Valuable Content
This is one of the most important factors to keep in mind when creating an online marketing strategy. You can’t just produce a large volume of content — you also have to make sure that content is relevant and valuable to your audience. Producing irrelevant or clickbait-like content are surefire ways to quickly lose new and longtime customers and clients. Your clients and customers need to be able to trust you on some level, and those types of content destroy that trust.
For example, if you have a sports analytics business, it’s crucial that you deliver steady, well-researched analysis and tips, whether you’re producing a short video or writing blog content. For instance, if you’re predicting outcomes for College Football, make sure your picks are clearly stated and backed up with supporting information like team history, wins, and best players. Then you can offer up your analysis.
Most of all, make sure you have something valuable to contribute to the world of sports analysis in your content, something to set yourself apart from the competition. If you know your stuff and show it, you’ll win customers and clients over.
Take Advantage of Social Media
Getting to know your audience will help you to figure out which social media platforms they are most active on. With billions of global users, you can’t afford to neglect a strong social media presence. It also helps to consider where your competitors are most active, in addition to where athletes or other stars are most active.
For example, Instagram and Twitter tend to be the most popular with athletes. So a sports analytics brand would definitely want to be active on those platforms and interact with those athletes when applicable. But Facebook would also be a good platform for a sports analytics company because it’s a popular place to create and share live videos.
An athletic wear brand will likely see the most success on Instagram and Facebook. On Instagram, you’ll be able to partner with influencers to advertise your products, which will help to expand your reach. As for eSports brands, YouTube is one of the best platforms to utilize since it has hundreds of millions of eSports fans. But you could also share live feed from tournaments or tips and tricks on Instagram or Facebook.
There’s a lot to keep in mind when developing an online marketing strategy for sports brands. But with these tips, you’ll be sure to have an effective strategy in place in no time.
By Alejandro Quintana
