This course seeks to introduce students to the specialized marketing activities involved in recreation and sporting events. Students will explore concepts such as recreation and sporting events and competitions, sponsorship, merchandising, integrated marketing campaigns, promotional activities, and calendars. Students should be introduced to the CTSOs for this course including DECA and FBLA and the related competitions.
Core Standards of the Course
STRAND 1 Sports & Recreation Events - Students will explore the varied world of recreation and sports events.
Sports & Outdoor Recreation Marketing Core
Standard 1 Explore recreation and sports opportunities available in your area. Examples: hiking, mountain biking, rock climbing, snowboarding, skiing, Ice skating, hunting, baseball, golf, soccer, and football
Define recreation: an activity done for enjoyment.
Define sports: activity involving physical exertion and skill in which an individual or team competes against another or others for entertainment.
Standard 2 Identify programs (both individual and team) for youth, adults, and seniors in your school, city, and state.
Seasonal recreational programs
City sports leagues
Club sports teams
Youth, adult, and seniors fitness programs
UHSAA sanctioned events
Performance Skills
Evaluate events held in your community that an integrated marketing campaign can be developed to increase attendance, participation, or fundraising.
Determine which event you will use to create an integrated marketing campaign.
STRAND 2 Campaign Objectives - Students will be able to write SMART campaign goals that meet the organization or entity's vision for the event.
Sports & Outdoor Recreation Marketing Core
Standard 1 Distinguish between commonly used campaign goals and determine appropriate goals for your marketing campaign.
Specific
Pinpoint problems and opportunities in the market your event will occur and write campaign goals that reflect those needs.
Identifies a timeline for each goal
Describes target market clearly
Determines the best metrics for the campaign.
Relevant
Determine a campaign theme, slogan, or title for the campaign
Brand Awareness
Consider current economic conditions or the need to pivot.
Exhibits effective application of promotional strategies
Time-based
45 days or 6 weeks before the event
Sets checkpoints throughout the campaign to determine if promotions are effective.
Standard 2 Demonstrate evidence of marketing knowledge by describing goals that will challenge the student's abilities and are still attainable.
Attainable
Compare competitive events happening in the same location during the same time period.
Set integrated marketing goals that combine traditional marketing and the use of digital marketing strategies.
Standard 3 Research-based goals - Demonstrate a variety of key metrics both digital and traditional metrics, that can be used in the goal-setting process
Measurable
Base campaign goals on primary and secondary research of existing events or previous year's results.
Sales goal based on last year's event or fiscal year
Track and report progress to all stakeholders
Identify the quantitative and qualitative indicators to measure your effectiveness.
Performance Skills Create at least three campaign objectives using the SMART goal format.
STRAND 3 Campaign Target Market - Students will be able to identify and utilize relevant primary and secondary markets.
Sports & Outdoor Recreation Marketing Core
Standard 1 Marketing Segmentation - Describe how marketing segmentation can be used to think through who your primary and secondary markets are. Briefly review marketing segmentation.
Demographics
Geographics/Location
Psychographics/Interests
Behavioral (Provide specific details such as season/annual pass holders, merchandise purchases, and social engagement)
Standard 2 Campaign Reach
Targeting your marketing efforts to attract participants, fans, and community. engagement through the use of specific keywords.
Determine a unifying theme or central message that will engage participants.
Brand your campaign with a common look and feel.
Standard 3 Campaign Season - Identify the seasonality of the event that is taking place. Highlight examples from both the sporting and recreational industries.
Define Seasons: based on the time of year and the holidays.
Discuss both recreation and sports examples of seasons. i.e. Ski season (winter), Football (fall), River raft (Spring-Summer), Basketball (Fall-Winter)
Identify a promotional campaign that fits the appropriate season of your event.
Explain the purpose is to create brand or event awareness and build anticipation throughout the year
Off-Season and Pre-Season promotions and activities
Fan appreciation
Give back promotions
Season pass sales
Locals discounts and promotions
STRAND 4 Sponsors or Corporate Partnerships - Students will understand the relationship between sponsors and the recreation and sports events.
Sports & Outdoor Recreation Marketing Core
Standard 1 Describe the concept of sponsorship and the importance of the relationship between sponsors and recreation and sports organizations.
Define, understand, and identify sponsorship and sponsorship levels, including the benefits and challenges of sponsoring an event or entity.
Determine the levels of sponsorship for your organization
Level of promotional opportunity should match the level of sponsorship
Theme can be included in your sponsorship level
Should include a distinct group of benefits for the level of sponsorship
Challenges
Based on who you know limited in your prospecting of possible sponsors
No security or accountability
Saturation of teams and organizations asking for sponsorship
Will need to cast a wide net to get results. Example: If you contact 10 sponsors, 3 will be interested, and 1 will become a sponsor.
Discuss reasons a company would be involved in a recreational or sports event.
Leveraging your sponsor's followers/fans by using their official sites and pages.
Standard 2 Sponsorship Strategy - Describe the process of finding and building relationships with sponsors that share the same values and target market.
Identifying potential sponsors
Sponsorship goals
Understand the concept of borrowed equity: utilizes the appeal of an event to market products, increases sponsorship demand for the event
Why would an entity sponsor an event
Why would an organization select a specific endorsement, influencer, or celebrity sponsor
Creating a sponsorship proposal
Standard 3 Sponsorship Evaluation
Evaluate the sponsor's effectiveness
Assessing return on investment (ROI):
Measuring the brand awareness of a sponsor
Obtaining and analyzing customer feedback
Performance Skill (Choose one)
Identify at least 10 possible sponsors for an event that share the same target audience.
Create a sponsorship proposal that includes the levels of sponsorship, the cost, and benefits to the business for becoming a sponsor.
STRAND 5 Marketing Campaign Activities and Schedule - Students will explore and determine the marketing campaign activities and promotions that will be used for the event.
Sports & Outdoor Recreation Marketing Core
Standard 1 Explore the brainstorming process of creating a campaign theme for a recreation or sports event.
Branding your campaign
Brand awareness: the extent to which consumers are familiar with the distinctive qualities or image of a particular brand of goods or services
Consistent with brand identity and messaging.
Reinforce your brand values and personality.
Brainstorm a theme including
Slogans, taglines, or jingles
Avoid groupthink. Listen to all ideas
Consider your sponsors and other stakeholders
Ethical and Legal considerations
Consider tone of voice
Deciding on the visualization of the campaign
Use specific photo or video filters
Consistent color palette for all ads
Signage (facility, merchandise, banners)
Ensure ADA compliance online media
Standard 2 Campaign Activities - Describe possible choices for effective campaign activities.
Direct students to consider the target audience of the event.
Include both participants and viewers of the event
Intent: Campaign goals
Location: Venue seating, frequency, arrival time, and event time
Interest: Is this for hobby, entertainment, or competition
Select and develop the activities you will use to promote the event
Discuss activities that encourage registration or competitor sign-up
What do participants gain from participating
Beneficiaries of the event such as non-profits
Entertainment
Legacy Events
Extrinsic and intrinsic Incentives or clear benefits from participating
Discuss activities that encourage audience attendance
Theme nights
Giveaways
Half-time shows or performances
Unifying theme: throughout all campaign activities
Keep consistent, colors, verbiage, and slogan
Promote the campaign activities and event
Types of promotional media
Social Media Post
Videos both long and short form
Photos or Memes
Broadcasting
Announcements
Live Streaming
Radio and TV Channels
Mass Email
Traditional Media
Marquees, Billboard, Posters
Flyers or Mailer to Community
Press release
Standard 3 Campaign Schedule and Calendars
Campaign Calendar: An overview of the campaign that provides the ability to view the entire campaign in one place.
45-day schedule of planned promotions
Cohesive and consistent throughout the 45 days
Campaign Schedule: A breakdown of specific dates and times of identified promotions for the campaign. Can be created by day, week, or by platform or media.
Who: Which team member is responsible for the promotion going out
When: What date and time is the campaign activity being held or the post going live.
What: the form of the promotion or activity.
Where: which means of distribution are you going to use
Performance Skill
Create three high-quality, appropriate, and creative promotional materials.
Create a 45-day calendar and a daily or weekly schedule of the campaign activities and promotions.
STRAND 6 Event Budget - Students will be able to create a detailed projection of the actual cost for the marketing of the event and all promotional activities and materials.
Sports & Outdoor Recreation Marketing Core
Standard 1 Research Projected Cost - Research the campaign event type and identify the applicable cost.
Venue: a building, gym, park, stadium, or facility
Venue costs may be different based on the type of venue needed for the event i.e. building, gym, park, stadium, or facility rental
Staff:
Staffing costs based on the event could include or be added to the facility rental. Ensure when you are researching the venue, ask which of the following may need to be paid separately.
Janitorial
Security
Officials or referees
Technology
Sound and lighting
Live streaming or video production
Staffing or volunteers
Room rental
Equipment rental
Look for both primary and secondary research on vendors
Contact vendors directly and ask for quotes
Read reviews of past customers' experiences
Create a survey to find resources
Include "In-Kind" donations from sponsors and community partners to offset the cost.
Standard 2 Marketing Budget Categories - Identify commonly used categories when budgeting for a marketing campaign
Media Production
Web Designer
Graphic Designer
Copy Writer
Print Promotion
Influencer(s) or SM Content Creator
Public Relations
Merchandise
Volunteers
Participants
Giveaways
Performance Skill
Conduct primary and secondary research for potential vendors
Create a realistic budget for a campaign that includes all incurred costs
STRAND 7 Key Metrics - Students will understand various key metrics to determine the success of a recreation or ports campaign.
Sports & Outdoor Recreation Marketing Core
Standard 1 Discuss qualitative metrics that will be used to measure campaign success.
Qualitative Metric: metrics that look at perceived value
Customer satisfaction
Reviews and comments on official sites or to personnel
Feedback surveys
Standard 2 Discuss quantitative metrics that will be used to measure campaign success
Quantitative Metric: a set of measurements that objectively evaluate your product or company's performance
Increase in sales, participation, attendance, and registration over last year.
Merchandise and concession sales
Performance Skills Use your three campaign objectives to identify and select a related metric(s) to evaluate the success of the campaign
STRAND 8 Pathways, Post Secondary, and Careers - Students will understand the opportunities to graduate as a pathway completer, the post-secondary programs and Career opportunities in Marketing.
Sports & Outdoor Recreation Marketing Core
Standard 1 Highlight the courses offered at your school in the marketing pathway.
Explorer Courses
Concentrator Courses
Completer Courses
Standard 2 Explore post-secondary school programs in the region
Tech colleges & certifications
Associate degree programs
4-year Bachelor's degrees
Standard 3 Explore potential careers in sport and recreation marketing. Include average salaries, benefits, flexibility, and work/life balance.
Athletic Director
Program Directors
Youth Programs
Park Operations
Athletics Supervisor
Recreation Management
Sports Event Planner
Sales Manager
Community Outreach Coordinator
Outdoor Recreation Leadership
Therapeutic Recreation
Adaptive Sports
Entrepreneurial Opportunities
http://www.uen.org - in partnership with Utah State Board of Education
(USBE) and Utah System of Higher Education (USHE). Send questions or comments to USBE
Specialist -
THALEA LONGHURST
and see the
CTE/Marketing website.
For general questions about Utah's Core Standards contact the Director -
THALEA LONGHURST.
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