How to Create a Marketing Plan

The basic element of any successful marketing campaign is to convince the public that the product being promoted is a commodity that they either want or need.  The following marketing strategies are designed to provide an institution with a marketing plan for promoting women's college basketball as a valuable commodity.

Major Objectives of a Basketball Marketing Plan

• To educate the general public about the institution's basketball team.                        
• To create awareness within the institution and the community of the sport.     
• To promote the sport as a valuable commodity to be sought by the consumer.                      
• To increase attendance at basketball games.

Competitive analysis.   Identify any competition, such as another major event that will also be of interest to the target audience.  

Goals.   Identify attendance and awareness level goals.    

Identification of target markets.   Identify groups of individuals to whom the championship could be successfully promoted.  Common target markets might include: 

• University's sports fans     
• Season ticket holders (current and previous ticket holders)      
• Individual game ticket purchasers (current and previous ticket purchasers)      
• Booster club/athletic fund contributors (both current and non-current/non-active members)     
• Local and regional sports groups and clubs                   
• Community service groups     
• Corporations and businesses                    
• Senior citizen centers         
• Youth groups         
• Local area chambers of commerce       

Strategies to Reach Goals 

Identify strategies for reaching goals and budgets for implementing those strategies.  These strategies should include the development of:

• A media relations plan     
• An advertising campaign plan     
• A grassroots-marketing plan     
• A promotions plan     
• A campus and community communications plan

Identification of Potential Marketing Partners 

Identify those individuals who may have an interest in becoming involved in the marketing of the championship.  These individuals may include: 

• Local convention and visitor's bureau         
• Leaders in the local sports community (i.e., sports authority or sports commission, community leaders, directors of athletics, coaches)                    
• Corporate partners                 
• Licensees     
• Local media               
• Sport-management program on campus or marketing association                    
• Local area chambers of commerce           
• Amateur sport federations  

• Marketing representatives                    
• Sports information representatives                    
• Campus executive staff members                    
• Ticket sales representatives                    
• Coaches     
• Student-athletes              
• Band/cheerleader/dance team and mascot representatives                    
• Student group representatives

Ideas for Internal Promotion of College Basketball

• Image enhancement tactics.  Communicate the fact that the success of the sport is a reflection on the athletics department, institution and community.                    
• Communication amongst staff.  Make sure the entire athletics department staff is informed about the branding initiative through staff meetings, flyers, etc.                    
• Using a Web site.  Include information about the sport on your Web site.  Let people know how to order tickets, numbers to call for lodging, times of the events, etc.                  
• Using departmental fax cover page.  Include logo, dates and ticket number on your athletics department's fax cover page.                    
• Ensure coach and student-athlete support.  Encourage other coaches and teams to support the women's basketball program.                   
• Using other student groups.  Use other athletics department-sponsored student groups (i.e., band, cheerleaders, dance squad, etc.) to help promote and distribute information about the team.                    
• Internal mailings.  Include information in internal mailings (e.g. season tickets, letters, Student-Athlete Advisory Committee newsletters, booster mailings, kids club mailings)                    
• Incentive programs.  For example, at Virginia Tech they developed a program where they asked their Hokie Club Reps (those individuals/volunteers who help their Athletic Fund Office raise money) to help them sell tickets.  They developed a reward system where they compensated the individuals for their efforts (i.e. if you sold two new season tickets, you received a poster with the coach's signature on it.  The more tickets you sold, the more prizes you won).

Ideas for External Promotion of Women's College Basketball

• Using CVBs.  Contact the local Convention and Visitor's Bureau (CVB) or Chamber of Commerce. It is in their best interest to help promote your sport, and CVBs often have the resources to assist in marketing the event.     
• Public appearances (sport coaches).  Have coaches make public appearances on the sport's behalf.                    
• Public appearances (high-profile coaches).  Use high-profile coaches from other sports to promote basketball through public appearances and/or radio and television spots (e.g., TV spot with your school's most successful/popular coach: "Where are you going to be on (date of game)?  I'll be at the basketball game, right here on our campus.").                    
• Special ticket booth/displays.  Have a special ticket booth/display at season events.                    
• Using corporate databases.  Utilize the corporate partner database built by the marketing department to send personalized notices about the events.                    
• Incentive gifts.  Offer a premium item for those that purchased a specific number of tickets.              
• Involve students in promotional efforts.                      
• Campus bus boards.                    
• Using the university credit union.  Get the university credit union involved in promoting the team.  Print an ad on the back of ATM receipts and/or include it in bank statements.

• Highlight video.  Show highlight video of the sport at halftime of other sporting events (include ticket information).                    
• PSA.  Read public-address announcements for the sport at all home sporting events.                    
• Using game programs.  Include promotional articles and/or advertisements in game programs of all home-sporting events                    
• Exhibition performance.  Organize an exhibition performance of the sport before, after or during (halftime) another sporting event.                  
• Using coaches' shows.  Promote the team on all coaches' shows.                    
• Promotional event.  Organize a promotional event for the sport to be held before, after or at halftime of a regular-season sport on campus.      
• Providing free or discounted tickets.  Allow individuals who purchase tickets to the sport to attend one of your Olympic sport home events for free or get a discount to other popular sporting events.  Provide a list of the events they could attend.                    
• Special ticket booth/display.  Have a special ticket booth/display at regular-season events that attract large turnouts.                    
• Banners.  Hang banners that promote the sport at venue entrances of other sports.

Promote group attendance to the following groups: 

• Community service groups                      
• Community health and fitness clubs                    
• Senior citizens centers                    
• Youth sports teams                    
• Boy and Girl Scouts and other youth troops       
• Little Leagues and recreational leagues                     
• Elementary/middle school classes

• Flyers             
• Personal appearances       
• Reception     
• Youth clinics       
•  Provide educational lesson plans                   
• Adopt-A-Team program                     
• Follow up with personal letters                    
• Provide transportation                              
• Attendance contests

Involving Students in Promotional Programs

• Provide opportunity to gain practical experience.  Solicit the involvement of undergraduate and graduate students in majors such as sport management, journalism, marketing and public relations.  Challenge the students to increase attendance and improve promotional efforts of the sport, while giving them practical experience with event management and promotions.                      
• Using the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC).  Contact the SAAC president to find other student-athletes who may be interested in assisting with the promotional experience.                    
• Using campus organizations and clubs.  Contact various organizations (Student-Athlete Board, Sports Marketing club) or departments on campus (e.g., sport management, journalism, marketing, public relations) that would have students interested in participating in your promotional campaign.                    
• Earning school credit.  Depending on how much work would be involved, you may be able to arrange for students to earn credit in exchange for their participation.  This situation must be arranged almost one year in advance.                    
• Allow students to meet athletics department personnel.  Arrange a meeting between the students and any athletics department personnel.                    
• Assign directing responsibilities to university officials.  Have one athletics department staff member and one member of each of the respective academic departments involved as directors of the program.

Media.  Work with your Sports Information Director to create a Public Relations Campaign. If your athletics department is not large, you might consider doing the following ideas yourself. 

• Features.  Ask the local newspaper/media to do features during the regular season that highlight some of the sport's top collegiate teams and players.  Explain the rules of the sport if it is one that is not well known in your area.        
• Guest columns.  Get the institution's coach involved as a guest columnist.      
• Media appearances.  Arrange media appearances for coaches and staff.      
• Talk shows.  Get a representative (promotions director, head coach or student-athlete) to go on a local talk radio sports show to talk about the sport.

Advertise.  Use the following ideas to advertise the team and its event. 

• Web site.  Include information on the sport on your Web site.  Let people know how to order tickets, numbers to call for lodging, times of the events, etc.       
• Departmental fax cover page.  Include sport logo, dates and ticket number on your athletics department's fax cover page.      
• Regular-season mailings.  Include mention of the sport on all lists and mailings of your institution's regular-season events.      
• Scoreboard and PSAs.  Promote the games at all home men's and women's events on the scoreboard and public-address system.      
• Talk radio.  Advertise on talk radio sports shows.      
• Outdoor advertisements. Create billboard advertising and transit advertisements (public transportation).      
• TV and newspaper.  Use radio and television (public service announcements) and newspaper advertisements.      
• Time-and-temperature broadcasts.  Advertise on time-and-temperature broadcasts.      
• Local cable.  Advertise on local cable access channels.      
• Table tents.  Ask local restaurants to display table tents.      
• Insert in monthly bills.  Ask the local cable company and/or power company to include an insert advertisement/flyer about events in the monthly bills.      
• Radio.  Ask a local radio station to promote during radio remotes.      
• Street pole banners.  Create street pole banners for the campus and/or downtown light poles.       
• Student media.  Ask on-campus, student radio/newspaper/television to get involved and give them some ownership in the sport itself.      
• Newspaper insert. 

Community. Use the following community outlets to help promote your product:

• CVBs.  Work with the local CVB and chamber of commerce to advertise to members and use marketing resources.      
• Group promotions.      
• Speaker's bureau.  Establish a speaker's bureau     
• Political and corporate leaders.  Obtain support of key political and corporate leaders.      
• Create youth sponsorship program.   Encourage corporations and boosters to sponsor youth groups or individuals.      
• Targeted mailings.  Distribute a mailing to parks and recreation participants.      
• Marketing tactic.  Promote the sport as a city and community event.     
• Cross promote with local event.  Tie in other local events, holidays or festivals that may be taking place at the same time as the event.  Create festival or concert around the event for other activities for out-of-town guests. 

Create a Championships Atmosphere.  Market the games as events and create an atmosphere at the site throughout the entire sport season.  Use cheerleaders, bands, visual aids and the media.   

• Pre and post game activities.  Encourage pre and post game activities.      
• Special events.  Host hospitality events or picnics around the event.      
• Work with chamber of commerce.  Partner with the chamber of commerce and send a joint letter from the athletics director and president of the chamber to top executives soliciting ticket sales and attendance.  Follow up with phone calls.

Ideas for Selling Tickets

• Convenience.  Provide convenient ways to purchase tickets.  For example, credit card telephone orders, online ticketing, other retail outlets, extend ticket-office hours, etc.      
• Advertising campaign.  Create an aggressive advertising campaign that utilizes all available and cost-effective media sources.      
• Ticket packages.  Package tickets with other sport season ticket purchases.      
• Brochures.  Create ticket brochures and direct mail these brochures to target market groups.       
• Campus/athletic communities       
• Special ticket booth/displays.  Have a special ticket booth/display with information and ticket order forms available at all regular-season home events.      
• Campus-wide E-mail/voicemail. Send a campus-wide e-mail and/or voicemail message promoting the event.      
• Contests. Organize a campus contest for highest group attendance.      
• Door hangtags.  Create door hangtags for residence halls, sororities and fraternities that give information and ticket prices.      
• Regula-season mailings.  Include mention of the sport on all lists and mailings of your institution's regular-season events.      
• Targeted mailings.  Organize a mailing to booster club or foundation members.      
• Alumni special event.  Host an alumni reunion or honor a team from years past.

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