Essay Example on Sports Marketing in the Digital Era: A Study of Changes and Outcomes

Regarding how sports marketing has changed due to modern technologies and social media, findings have reported that technological changes and social media platforms have enabled sports traders to communicate, persuade, inform, and interact with customers about sports. These findings are similar to results of a study by Eddy and Cork (2019) that indicated that sports sponsorship marketing events enable consumers to interact and lose contacts with the company. The findings also revealed that sports traders regularly use social media platforms especially Facebook to create awareness about sports personalities. Further, modern technologies and social media provide the right avenues for gathering information about sports personalities and other sporting activities. These findings are similar to the results of a study by Watkins (2018) that reported that social media platforms and modern technologies allow players to express their deeper passionate relationship with their supporters and to watch how their rival group play.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Save 25%

In terms of features of sports marketing that have been significantly influenced and those that are still doing well under traditional methods, findings revealed that sports products, consumers and teams are greatly influenced by modern technologies and social media. Further, internet and social media are the current means of getting information about favorite sports personalities and that traditional methods such as newspapers and television are becoming obsolete. The participants stated that they usually get sports news through social media platforms especially Facebook and modern technologies such as the internet and therefore traditional methods are being rendered useless. However, these findings are different with results of a study by Zhang and Pitts (2017) that stated that other organizations that provide sporting products and services use traditional methods such as television to advertise and promote their products to the groups of consumers who cannot access social media sites. Similarly, Kang, Rice, Hambrick, and Choi, (2019) stated that some employees still depend on traditional methods such as radio, print, and television to know what is taking place in the field of sports.

Regarding whether customers purchase decisions are influenced by the marketing campaign on social media, the study findings have indicated that most participants are more likely to make sports-related purchases in case their favorite sporting personalities were to promote it or give it a good review. Further, involving preferred sports personalities in marketing is likely to influence customers' decision to buy a particular product. Overall, the findings revealed that more customers are persuaded to purchase products when their favorite sports personalities are used in the marketing campaign on social media. These findings were similar with those from a study by Dart (2014) that revealed that new technology is transforming behaviors of consumers through marketing and selling of products in social media with the help of their favorite sports personalities.

Concerning the overall effects of social media and modern technologies on sports marketing, findings revealed that modern technologies and social media have positive and negative impacts on sports marketing. About 82% of respondents stated that modern technologies and social media positively influence sports marketing while the remaining 18% said that modern technologies and social media negatively affect sports marketing. These findings are similar with results of a study by Smith and Stewart (2014) that revealed that modern technologies and social media have made communication easy and fast and therefore consumers and supporters of sporting events can easily watch, share and learn about their game from any place without necessarily attending the event by themselves.

Implications of Findings to Managers and Decision Makers

From these findings, it is apparent that consumers follow their favorite sports personalities on social networking platforms due to functional needs (Simonson & Rosen, 2014). Therefore, managers should focus on these needs. Currently, consumers are pursuing extra, new and better information, discounts, updates, and views of other consumers (Petrovic et al., 2013). Therefore, managers need to focus on offering practical information through social networking platforms and by using modern technologies. Moreover, consumers are looking for hedonic needs such as fun, entertainment, and enjoyment on social media platforms. Thus, managers should concentrate on providing customers with useful information in a more entertaining manner.

Using social media and modern technologies can improve sports marketing especially when sports personalities are included in such marketing activities (Felix, Reto, Philipp, & Chris, (2017)). As already discussed, when sports personalities are used for marketing a particular product, consumers are likely to purchase such a product. Modern technologies have also made it easy for consumers to share photos, information, and pictures through social networking platforms. Therefore, decision makers should strive to provide contents that consumers can easily share. Further, they should not only focus on customers that already follow their marketing activities but instead use various technologies and social media sites to reach out to more customers.