Sports marketing is a marketing activity that uses sports activities as a carrier to promote one's own products and brands. It is a means of marketing.

Sports marketing includes two levels. One refers to the marketing of sports itself as a product. From a team and its athletes to an event or a sports meeting, they can all be regarded as products in the marketing sense. This level can be called "sports industry marketing". The other refers to marketing phenomena such as the promotion of non-sports products and brand communication using sports events as the carrier using the original force of marketing. For example, we saw all the activities and presence of sponsors in the World Cup, as well as the clever display of their products and brands, etc. What we usually call sports marketing refers to the latter level.

Through the definition of sports marketing, we can see the three meanings of sports marketing:

1. The components of sports marketing are also the "sports triangle". All marketing is based on sponsorship. On the basis of , sports events and audiences, successful sports marketing cannot be achieved without any one of them;

2. Sports marketing is centered around sponsorship, and sponsorship (sponsorship) can bring sports events together The image (event image) is organically combined with the corporate brand image (brand image); the starting point of the transfer mechanism is sponsorship, forming awareness, generating interest, attachment, enhancing desire, until the customer purchases, the transfer process ends, and the connotation of the sports event is attached to the brand , and the strength of the transfer effect is determined by the regulating variables: the similarity between the sports event and the sponsoring company, the sponsorship level, the frequency of the sports event and the complexity of the product.

3. Business owners should know that our brands are mainly for customers, and we use brands to win and retain customers. Sponsorship is the primary factor in sports marketing, but sponsorship alone is not enough. After establishing contact with sports projects or organizations, we must not only create the brand from the perspective of marketing communication technology, but also manage the brand from the perspective of corporate development. What's more important is whether it can create and manage brand value from a new brand perspective. In fact, brand building and management have become a strategic management theme. The ability to create brand value and maintain and increase its value has increasingly become the key to the success or failure of an enterprise.

Characteristics of sports marketing

1. There are business opportunities behind sports activities

With the widespread spread of sports craze, sports are characterized by their ornamental, competitive and game qualities. It has become one of the major festivals of all mankind and the most widely recognized human activity. The resulting attention economy and sports economy have a profound impact on corporate development or brand value appreciation. Many companies have deeply realized the magic power of sports marketing in shaping their brands, and at the same time they have become more aware of the unlimited business opportunities behind sports activities.

2. It is a sports activity with high public welfare and credibility

Sports is the most common cause of mankind. Sponsoring sports or conducting other forms of combined sports marketing requires the attention of the audience. The power, brand penetration and influence cannot be achieved by other types of advertising. The communication effect is easy to accept. The rejection resistance of the audience is relatively weak, and the commerciality and utilitarianism are not obvious. At the same time, it can stimulate personal emotional attachment as well as group and halo effects.

3. Sports marketing communication is wide-ranging and highly targeted

At major competition sites, the number of viewers is so large that other event marketing cannot match; for live event broadcasts, the media audience is even more widely. Sports itself is a global language. It breaks down various barriers such as belief, culture, language and race, and connects the relationship between society, enterprises and consumers. Therefore, it is very conducive to effective communication between enterprises and target audiences and quickly enhances brand value. , to rapidly promote the international brand process and brand international value-added.

Advantages of sports marketing

Sports consumers tend to associate themselves with sports, creating opportunities to enhance brand loyalty to related sponsored products; and sports marketing is precisely based on its The unique public welfare, interactivity and cost-effective advantages have become the most favored brand communication method by consumers and merchants. The specific reasons are as follows:

1. Sports inspire personal emotional attachment, and sports marketers can link the brands of companies and products with the excitement, motivation and emotions of the game;

2. Sports generally attract and penetrate all elements of life, and can transcend cultural, religious, racial and other barriers. If you want to find the most common communication language in the world, it must be sports. It is this kind of sports culture Fairness, equality and borderless communication functions allow sports marketing to fulfill the brand dreams of many merchants.

3. On the other hand, as sports events with media functions, due to the different popularity, specifications and appeal of the events, their communication capabilities and commercial investment values ??vary greatly. As a participant in the investment As enterprises face reality, how to discover value and win returns becomes more urgent!

4. An important trend in general marketing is the change from "advertising-based" marketing to "career-based" marketing. This change can establish the public welfare of the company's "morality" and "social responsibility" Image, and sports marketing is catering to this trend;

Sports marketing relies on sports activities (sponsorship), combines products (or companies) with sports, and gives the connotation of sports projects to corporate brands to form Unique value-added system engineering of corporate identification, image decoding and transfer, and brand internalization and interpretation. Sports marketing can be called one of the most effective marketing tools in the 21st century. It is a strategy in business operations. All walks of life have recognized the effectiveness of sports marketing in achieving business goals.

Former South African President Mandela once said: "Sports have the power to change the world."