Understand, football is in the entertainment industry and
there is an intensive competition for spectators’ money…those who will pay
entry ticket and attract sponsors to associate with the club’s offers.
A professional club
that want to operate as a successful business enterprise must focus on all the
activities that will lead to the growth of spectators following the team. When
spectators are constantly engaged and satisfied with the club’s overall
performance, then they will keep coming and asking for more.
Unfortunately in Nigeria, football is still run as a social
service and are largely funded by government. So it doesn’t really matter to
club management whether spectators’ show-up on match day or not. There is a
gross marketing myopia (short sightedness) in the management of football clubs
in Nigeria.
As it is, the challenges of running a club is getting even more
difficult these days. Never before has club owners faced as many complex challenges
as confront them today. The situation is such that cost of running a club is
increasing astronomically and government can no longer bear it alone.
There’s urgent need for club management to sit up and not
rely solely on government or owners disbursements. They should aggressively to
go for other sources of revenue through strategic marketing management
approach.
Marketing Football, What does it entail?
Football marketing consists of all activities designed to
meet the needs and wants of football consumers through exchange processes.
Football marketing has developed two major thrusts:
- · The marketing of football products and services directly to consumers of football,
- · And marketing of other consumer and industrial products or services through the use of football promotions.
Football marketing has two aspects: marketing of football
and marketing through football. The first is marketing to persuade direct
consumers to attend the club’s games in the stadium or watch on television or
other electronic devices. As the club grows its audience to become large enough,
then corporate sponsors come on board to associate with the club, to
strategically sell their own product and services to the clubs large audiences.
Marketing Starts with SWOT Analysis
To start marketing your club, the first thing is to create a
quality marketing department or engage a professional sport marketing agency to
carry out the club’s SWOT analysis: Strength, Weakness, Opportunities and
Threat.
I can make a general SWOT analysis for clubs in NPFL
1.
Strength: the large population of football
consumers, over 50million, is a great strength which clubs in Nigeria can work
to take advantage of.
2.
Weakness: low quality games in NPFL has weakened
the potentials of clubs in the top flight league.
3.
Opportunities: We can get fans to take ownership
of the club close to their locality through strategic marketing and engagement of
these consumers at the grassroots.
4.
Threat: the level of love and preference for English
Premier League in Nigeria, threatens to extinct the domestic leagues. Players’ flight abroad, hooliganism and match
fixing scandals are also a big threat to football in Nigeria.
The club management and the marketing agency should look at
the marketing mix (5P’s) and put them right: Product, Price, Place, Promotion
and Public relations. I will have to write a very voluminous book to explain
all these.
Product: The club must have a unique style of play and
playing culture that will attract certain kind of fans. The club must be
competitive at the level of the league or tournaments they participate. They should
have their own stars which effectively attract large spectators to the stadium and
to watch on television.
Pricing: The club must price their games such that
spectators are willing to pay. The club’s marketing team should strategically
organize a year ticket subscriptions; priced along a well divided sitting
arrangement: VVIP, VIP, Popular side…
Place: football is played in a pitch inside a stadium and as
well watched on television. May be also streamed over the Internet.
The stadium must be accessible and close to the core fans.
There should be free traffic flow and enough packing space with security. To
ensure easy entry and exist of spectators, no matter the size.
The club or league should close a television right deal with
a media house that has the capability to effectively cover and broadcast about
90% of the games on television.
Promotion: This is a very important aspect of football
marketing. The club must use every media format available to them to reach its
active spectators. The club home fixtures should be well-advertised with
pre-match interviews and other razzmatazz to persuade as well as instil the
games in mind of fans.
Before now, television and radio are the most effective
medium to reach the people. But with the popularity of the social media, clubs
can do much more by themselves to engage its fans.
Public Relations: This is also another very important aspect
of club marketing. The club must engage their community both on-site and
online. The club marketing department should find a way to build a strong
relationship with their community (immediate environment and their fans
generally) to ensure their loyalty.
The club should also build a cordial relationship with the
media to ensure positive mention in headline news and editorial reviews. Such
relationship with media makes it easy for image laundry, in case of scandals.
There’s much more to share
regarding the marketing aspect of club management. Perhaps, I may post another
part of this publication. Watch out!
