#45 Leverage influencer marketing as a key component of your sports marketing strategy

Today, an increasing number of sports athletes are driving personal connections on different platforms and channels – especially on social media.

Sports fans are looking to athletes and other sports influencers that champion societal issues that they believe in. They view these athletes as both meaningful and personalized connections. And this trend can be seen across industries beyond sports. On a global scale, 71% of consumers involved in a survey said that they either completely or somewhat trust opinions and ads from influencers about different brands and products.

But what is an influencer? An influencer by definition is anyone who inspires or guides the actions of others. That’s why athletes and players are the ultimate influencers when it comes to sports.

If you are a smaller club and doubting the effectiveness of your players or any other influencers, don’t worry. The increased interest and trust in influencers is particularly prevalent among micro-and nano influencers. These types of influencers are those who have less than 10 000 followers on social media. Influencers with fewer followers make more personal connections with followers and thus have a greater impact on driving supporter behaviors, such as trying a new product or attending a sporting event. So you see, anyone can leverage influencer marketing, from small clubs to big ones - there is a way for everyone to win.

So how can you leverage influencer marketing in a creative way?

To make this a bit more concrete for you, why don’t we take a real-life example? This example shows the power of clubs understanding their fans and using every single moment to really push the envelope when it comes to increasing revenue. This example is from our customer PAOK FC a top-tier club in Greece.

It’s February 10, 2022, PAOK is facing AEK Athens for the second leg of the Greek Cup Quarter Final. The score is 1-0 for AEK Athens and PAOK qualifies only with a draw. Only a few seconds before the referee blows the last whistle, Jasmin Kurtić, one of PAOK’s best players scores! Everyone goes crazy. What a game!

So what does the PAOK team decide to do? They decide to leverage their success on the field to gain more success off the field. How?

By creating a campaign that offers fans the opportunity to purchase t-shirts starring the legendary Kurtić.

1. Their e-store sales rocketed by 66% on the 15th of February 2022 compared to the best day of the year so far (11th of January)
2. They gave their fans and supporters something “extra” to be excited about which boosted engagement across their social media channels as well.

What can we learn from the PAOK FC case?

That:

1. Your intentions need action

We all want to win and have great success in everything we do but we have to put our money where our mouths are. And that starts with being aware of opportunities as they show up. PAOK seized a moment that some might have not realized was a great opportunity.

2. You have to understand your supporters

Do you understand your supporters? Do you know what keeps them coming back to your club for more?

A great solution that you can start using is the sports customer data platform (CDP). That’s because a CDP allows you to:

1.  store all your supporter data in one place

2. it helps you analyze that data so that you can uncover patterns in your supporters’ interaction with your organization

Not only that but with the insights you get from the sports CDP, you can then act in real time by setting up measurable and monitorable goals.

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