Utilizing location in mobile sports marketing
In one recent sports management post, we discussed the various marketing principles that carry over to the sports world.
One of these strategies sports marketers are taking advantage of is a common buzzword these days — location based marketing.
What exactly is location based marketing? And how are sports management professionals utilizing it to bring fans to games, build energy, promote community, and share special events?
Also known as proximity marketing, location based marketing is the use of mobile marketing to target mobile users within a certain geographic area.
According to one Ad Week article titled How Location-Based Marketing Will Evolve in 2017, “Location intelligence is a massive industry. It allows consumer obsession with mobile devices to create significant amounts of data and insights that drive critical decision-making for a wide range of businesses.”
Sports marketers are utilizing this in a number of cool ways. Here are three examples:
(1) Sports marketers are utilizing this in a number of cool ways. Here are three examples:Sports venues have started using beacon technology, which allows messages to be sent through specific applications within a particular radius. For example, stadiums and venues can send special offers and promotions, maps, guides and more.
(2) Some college and professional sports teams are enhancing the fan experience. For example, The University of Kentucky rolled out location-based technology as part of its recent renovation of Commonwealth Stadium. “The school sends a welcome message and information on former Wildcats greats—including player cards with biographical and statistical information—to fans walking through the venue’s Ring of Honor,” notes one article.
“As fans pass through the Ring of Honor, custom content for each honoree is automatically delivered to the phone, giving the fan a deeper look at the history and achievements of the athlete. It’s a great way to engage more deeply with fans, and leverage technology to enrich Kentucky’s Ring of Honor experience,” said Chris Jackson, senior vice president of business development with SportsLabs, the official digital platform provider for University of Kentucky.
(3) Everybody loves a good Snapchat geofilter! Professional and collegiate sports teams all use snapchat to engage the crowd — from geographic-specific filters to adding your event perspective to the games’ community story. Instagram also has a similar feature.
For example, every MLB team has a Snapchat filter where you’re wearing the teams’ hat from the game.
Here are a few great William Woods’ ones:
How can you imagine proximity marketing being used for WWU’s own Owl events, or for other local teams?