What Sport Can Teach Us About Marketing

For many, sitting back and watching your sport of choice is the preferred way to wind down and set work aside.

But have you considered that watching sport could actually be integrated into your marketing strategy? And let’s face it, if watching sport is marketing you could justifiably catch up on games during your work day (maybe).

It’s not exactly a core marketing activity. But watching sport really can give us some excellent pointers about marketing.

Let’s take a look at some of the key takeaways that sport offers to enhance the way you approach marketing your business.

Know your audience.

The ads that broadcast during a game of AFL usually have a clear vision of who their audience is.

This is evidenced by the ads themselves — men gathering, drinking beer, placing bets, eating food that’s generally not considered healthy.

It sounds cliché, but it’s safe to say the advertisers have done their research and know who the largest viewing demographic is that is most likely to take action during these slots. Of course, it will continue to evolve and who knows what the future holds, particularly with the ongoing inclusion and celebration of women in sport.

Even the teams and players themselves know the value of understanding their audience, what they like and what they don’t like. This impacts how they play, how they celebrate a goal and even how they behave on public platforms such as during interviews or on social media.

Knowing your audience enables you to make smart decisions that will boost your image and build your brand.

Analyse your efforts.

Win or lose, when the game is all said and done, the NRL players simply move on to the next game, right?

Wrong. Past games are a valuable teacher that sportspeople look to in order to learn, grow and improve on.

There is no doubt that every NRL team, including coaches and players, review what happened play-for-play. They analyse what went wrong, what worked and of course what they can do better.

Same goes for marketing. If we don’t continually review and analyse the outcomes from each marketing activity, how will you know what’s working and what’s not?

Taking the time to assess your marketing game play-by-play will mean that you can be sure you’re investing time, energy and budget into the areas that are getting you the result you want.

Sell the hype.

You can’t write about sport and marketing without making mention of the USA’s renowned Super Bowl. In 2022, some advertisers spent approximately AU$9 million on a 30-second TV ad spot during the Super Bowl’s broadcast.

Super Bowl ads are an enormous marketing investment and so it’s important that they are part of a broader strategy and serve a purpose.

What we often see in Super Bowl marketing is content that sells the sizzle, not just the sausage. That is, the benefit of the product, not merely its features.

The commercials offer a feeling, a connection, a laugh that helps to build a relationship with the audience.

Of course, there will almost always be a product highlighted, but overall we are being shown how we will feel or appear to others as a result of buying in.

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