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Requirement
Essay on The use of digital marketing by major sports brands.
Solution
Introduction
‘New media marketing’ is a new concept in the present highly competitive world. It allows the business organizations to promote and advertise their products & services with the help of online channels. The businesses have shifted their focus more on the internet to develop a complete web presence because the web has become the prime medium of communication, research, and other tasks. The key media marketing channels are Social media networks, Search Engines, Websites & website content, online forums, Email Newsletters, Online videos, Blogs, Content Aggregators, etc. The new media marketing is used by the industries and companies of almost every sector. The companies are using the methods of digital marketing. Digital marketing involves the use of digital technologies and electronic media to advertise the goods and services to attract the customers and increase the sales. In this, a message from the source company is sent to the target customers/consumers through the digital platforms and the internet. Digital marketing is different from the traditional marketing methods. To make a perfect digital marketing plan, the digital marketers focus on many things like, what is being viewed by the target customers, how often they are viewed and &for how long, what are the effective contents, sales conversations, etc. Apart from the internet which is the main channel for digital marketing, various other mediums are also used for digital marketing in profusion like, text messaging, electronic billboards, radio channels, mobile instant messaging, podcasts, mobile apps, digital television, etc.
However, in this essay, we will discuss the use of digital marketing by some major sports brands of the world. We will have various examples of sports companies and sports teams that use digital marketing method to promote their sports goods & services and their teams respectively; we will also have an overview of different ways they use digital marketing.
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Discussion
New marketing media plays a pivotal role in turning any digital channel into a marketing platform for the business organizations. It has proved to be very effective in reaching to the target customers as well as to the business buyers. According to research by the Acquity Group, approximately 94 percent of Business to Business buyers reach online for purchase decisions. These days, the major sports brands in the world that offer sports goods and services heavily rely on digital marketing to advertising and promote their goods and services and digital marketing has significantly changed the way sport is packaged, consumed and sold to the consumers (Donna & Novak, 1997).
Importance of digital marketing to sports brands
Digital marketing enables the sports brands to share the necessary information about their goods and services with the consumers any time and at any place. In this present technologically advanced era, digital media has become a prominent source of entertainment, shopping, news, social interactions, etc. and the consumers not only get to know what the companies say but they also come across the views of the media, experts, people, relatives, and friends say about the particular sports brands (McQuade et al. 1996). Whether it's about favorite sports event, sports goods & services, sports team, competitor of retailer, to be seen online as well as engaging the customers and the supporters is an important aspect of effective sports marketing (Shank & Lyberger, 2014).
In this essay, to be more specific and precise about the use of digital marketing in sports brands, we will highlight various examples that are helping in bringing change in the sporting world:
Social media and Sports
The advent of social media has been the biggest change to the sports industry. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter give ample opportunities to the sports brands to promote themselves. For an average sports fan, going to the place of the sporting event to watch it is very challenging, both in geographical and financial context. Social media bridges this gap and has created a new form of fandom. With the help of social media, people can have a look on the live updates and exclusive contents of a sports event happening anywhere on the globe. Social media also help in increasing the number of fans (Witkemper et al. 2012). For example, the Twitter page of team GB (the Olympic team of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) was very active during the Olympics, and it used "#OurGreatesTeam' to share the updates and information ("Team GB (@TeamGB) | Twitter", 2016). It had a lot of interactivity with the fans thus the motive of publishing the Olympic team was successful. The Liverpool football club took to the micro-blogging site to ask the football fans to decide about their next manager.
Blogging
Clubs and teams across different sports use blogs to showcase their teams. Sports fan get enormous chance to see what is happening inside and outside of their favorite sports team (Hurt & Yin, 2006). For example, the Arsenal Football Club has a very strong following as far as the online community is concerned. A large number of blog owners share their views on the events happening within the club and outside the club. Moreover, Arsenal Football Club has worked with a lot of blog owners to get a story out to their community of followers.
Search Engine Optimization and Sports
Search engine optimization has become a prominent medium within the sports industry to enhance the exposure and generate additional traffic to the websites. A lot of sports equipment manufacturing companies, sports professionals, fitness coaches, personal trainers, etc. use the search engine optimization method to advertise themselves and to raise their profile. For instance, if a sports shoes manufacturing company has used the search engine optimization method to raise its profile then the moment a user types some key words related to sports shoes on the search engine, the first website that appears in the result list is of the company that has used search engine to optimize its brand name and website. The user usually clicks on the very first result and continues with it, in this way we can see how the companies and various other professionals use this strong medium of social media to endorse itself as well to sell more and more products and services (Davis, 2006).
Brand management and Search Engines
The sports industry uses search engine optimization for its digital marketing efforts in through brand management. Brand management which is also known as reputation management refers to the way within which the listings of the results are manipulated to show only the positive results. For example, if any person searches for a particular brand, in the result, he will only see the quality on-brand links and anything negative of potentially harmful for the brand get pushed down. This method is used by almost all the major sports brands and sports team like Nike, Reebok, ESPN, Adidas, Sky Sports, Gatorade, Under Armour, MSG, etc. all across the world (Ozanian, 2016). If brand management is not taken care of properly then it may also lead to the decline in the brand value as well as in the reputation of any famous person involved like in the case of John Terry, when a user searches for John Terry on a search engine, the results shown on the website gives a negative impact of John to the user because in the past he was charged for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand. This result also gives a negative impact on the football club to which he is associated with i.e. the Chelsea Football Club (Hayward, 2015).
Content Marketing and Video Marketing
Content marketing and video marketing refers to the creation and exhibition of unique content that can be optimized in order to give it a greater chance to be seen online. The content could be pictorial, written and a video. Talking about the technicalities, content marketing, and video marketing helps in building brand awareness and creates additional links along with traffic to the concerned website (Flickner et al. 1995). Keeping sports in mind, the fans, followers, and potential customers remain engaged and interested. For example, the Wimbledon's You tube channel is the best example to show how a sports brand can attract the fans and followers and keep them updated with the unique, relevant and engaging contents (Schoenstedt & Reau, 2013). Moreover, to attract more people, various games, tips and all sorts of other significant contents can be created.
In the case of a company that offers sports goods and services, the creation of additional content can help highlight the products and services of the sports company. It also makes a way for the company to have a community of online followers. Since the search engines play a key role in social signals, the use of content marketing and video marketing proves to be highly beneficial in the online marketing campaigns irrespective of sporting perspective the company comes from.
Apps
The use of mobile App is very common these days. The sports event management or the sports team makes apps especially, for those fans who face difficulty in attending the event due to various reasons to can keep them engaged with their brands. The use of such apps helps the fans to follow their favorite sports persons or clubs even if they are not able to present at the venue of the event. This, particularly helps those sports that have become increasingly expensive as well as increasingly popular. This digital marketing medium is significantly helpful in creating a new type of fandom in the world. For example, the Barcelona Football Club which has become a footballing dynasty on the globe has its app for mobile phones and tablets with the help of which the fans all over the world can get to know about the happenings within the club. The reason behind making such app is that it is not possible for all the fans of Barcelona football club all across the world to come to Spain and enjoy the game so, it was necessary for the club to come out with such an app that can help both, the club as well as the fans in maintaining & increasing its brandings and being engaged with the club respectively (Sahami et al. 2011).
Email newsletters
This medium of digital marketing is specifically used by the sports goods manufacturing companies. These companies, with the help of email, send commercial messages to a specific targeted group of people. These emails contain the detailing of the sports goods & services, the nearest stores of the company, various advertisements, etc.
Electronic Billboards
An electronic bill board or a digital bill board is a billboard used to display digital images that are changed every second. In the present day, the digital billboards are mainly used to endorse products and services (Rosser & Williams, 1996). The sports companies majorly use digital billboards to advertise their sports goods and services. For example, companies like Nike, Reebok, Adidas, Yonex, Cosco, Sunridge etc. use the electronic bill boards in profusion so that their products & services are seen by the majority of the people while they travel or go outside. The companies majorly choose populated places like Malls, Parks, Airports, Railway stations, etc. or the roads and highway sides to advertise their products on the digital billboards so that bulk of people can see them and get interested in buying the products & services displayed (Loban & Ryng, 1997).
Radio Channel
Radio also plays a key role in advertising the sports brands. The sports brands advertise their sports events on the local radio channels to make awareness among the people about the event that is about to happen in near future. The sports goods manufacturing companies also sponsor some of the radio programs on the radio channels thus advertising themselves in front of the radio listeners.
Podcast
A podcast is a type of digital media which consists of a digital audio file, video, PDF, etc. that can be downloaded on the computer and further, read by the users and subscribers. Various sports brands like ESPN, WWE, PTI, FOX Sports, Barstool Sports, etc. use podcast to endorse and advertise their branding ("podbay.fm", 2016).
According to Julie Frank of Navigation Research, sports fans when see a brand message on the social media, there is a probability that 78% of them will have a positive perception of the particular sports brand.
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From the above discussion, it is evident that the world is rapidly developing & growing and shifting from the analog age to digital age. People are seen consuming as many as digital content on a regular basis with the help of smartphones, computers, tablets, laptops, etc. The prominent sports brands in the world use the digital marketing to publicize and popularize their brandings. Currently, we are going through the digital age where technology is of prime significance. Digital marketing can help the companies attract more and more number of people. In the present era, with the advent of the internet, social media and high technology, it has become very easy for the companies to reach to anyone anywhere in the world thus the companies use this medium of marketing significantly.
We have discussed in detail along with various examples how the sports brand and sports goods & manufacturing companies use social media, blogging, video content, email newsletter, radio channel, digital billboards, apps, search engine optimization, brand management, etc. to increase their branding and attract more and more customers/followers. Digital marketing helps in building long-term relationship with the customers, and it also helps in establishing a sense of trust and confidence in the customers without which no business organization can survive. If a company has a good reputation in front of the customers, then the customers may choose to go for the particular company over other companies in the market. In this way, it can be said that the inception of digital marketing has brought a revolution in the marketing methods of the companies of all the sectors, and a company can become successful in quick succession if it follows the new marketing strategy i.e. the digital marketing and therefore, we have so many top sports brands in the world that use digital marketing significantly.
References
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McQuade, S., Waitman, R., Zeisser, M., & Kierzkowski, A. (1996). Marketing to the digital consumer. The McKinsey Quarterly, (3), 4-5.
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Shank, M. D., & Lyberger, M. R. (2014). Sports marketing: A strategic perspective. Routledge.
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Hayward, P. (2015). Chelsea news: Shadow of John Terry's racial abuse of Anton Ferdinand still hangs over Stamford Bridge. Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 9 April 2016, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/11425639/Chelsea-news-Shadow-of-John-Terrys-racial-abuse-of-Anton-Ferdinand-still-hangs-over-Stamford-Bridge.html
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Sahami Shirazi, A., Rohs, M., Schleicher, R., Kratz, S., Müller, A., & Schmidt, A. (2011, May). Real-time nonverbal opinion sharing through mobile phones during sports events. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 307-310). ACM.
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