Executive Summary
Safe Youth Athletics is an interscholastic athletics department that provides children and the youth in the schools in the state of Nebraska with an across-the-board athletics sports program. Our program provides a platform for children and youngsters, all the way from kindergartens to high schools across Nebraska, to engage in competitive and interactive sports all year round. Through these programs that are held once in every three months, students from the participating schools get to learn from each other on various issues such as cultural differences, study structures and much more. Through competitive sports, Safe Youth Athletics has managed to foster strong relationships between these schools over the course of the short time that we have been in existence.
We operate on a considerably limited budget and our business is primarily aimed at fostering cohesion and better relationships between schools, their teaching and non-teaching staff and their students through these sporting activities; not to make money or profits. Our operations are funded by the same schools participating in the events and tickets and branded merchandise sales to spectators who come to watch the events. We have also been fortunate enough to secure some generous sponsorship packages from a few corporations and these funds have gone a long way in ensuring that we continue smoothly in our endeavor to deliver high-quality sporting experiences to both the competitive participants, the spectators and all the other stakeholders in our communities.
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The athletic events are held in four different venues every year. The Safe Youth Athletics Organizing Committee is tasked with the responsibility of selecting these venues from within the state, overseeing the events and ensuring that they go on smoothly from day one all the way to the final day. The events take one to two weeks depending on the number of schools that have enrolled for a particular event. The organizing committee creates the structure and timetable of the events and handles the logistics and contingencies that may arise in the course of the events. We also get volunteers from the surrounding communities who appreciate the constructive work we are trying to do and the schools themselves.
The track and field sporting activities that the students engage in include; race walking, hurdling, 100metre, 200metre and 400metre sprints, long jumps, high jumps and triple jumps. The competitive sporting activities mentioned above are mostly undertaken by high school students and the list goes on to include, among others; baseball, basketball, javelin, short put and discus throwing. For grade low and middle-level grade schoolers, the activities include the races listed above and field activities such as lacrosse, softball, and tennis.
In this sports marketing plan that delineates every aspect of Safe Youth Athletics, the reader will get a precise account of our history, the mission we have set out to achieve and an outline of the vision we have for the future of this highly beneficial endeavor. We shall point out the continuous challenges that we have been encountering in the execution of our duty to society, the ones we have been able to address and the ones that still linger on. In this plan, the reader will get more information on the people we target for our athletics programs, both the participants and the relevant stakeholders. A catalog of the products we have on sale during these track and field events is also provided in this plan together with the promotional initiatives we also have in place.
Company Background
Safe Youth Athletics was started in the year 2006 as a community-based sports program for the youth and young children in the York public schools district in York Nebraska. The program picked up momentum almost immediately as a result of the warm reception from the school district and the surrounding community. The initial aim of the program was to involve the school going children in constructive sporting activities during the holidays to keep them away from potential criminal activities and drug and substance abuse. The pioneers of the initiative recognized the immense power that sports have in empowering a community socially by facilitating cohesion and integration and keeping the youth engaged thus enabling them to live successful and meaningful lives.
They intended to take full advantage of these facts to make the children and the society a better place. After a year of successfully conducted athletics events, the board of Safe Youth Athletics decided to expand the program to other school districts such as the Papillion-La Vista school district, the Auburn public schools district and by the year 2014, virtually every school district in the entire state of Nebraska was involved in the program in one way or another.
Our mission statement is to provide all stakeholders who comprise of first-time and continuing participants, parents, teaching and non-teaching staff, and the community at large with the best sporting experience by going way beyond their expectations year after year. We strive to bring the International Association of Athletics Federations’ Olympics experience closer home once every three months (Shank & Lyberger, 2014). At the same time, we purport to instill life-long values in the participants through the seminars and life skills coaching and counseling sessions that we arrange for them to attend in the course of these games.
Our vision is to be the ultimate provider of interscholastic sports experiences in the entire United States of America. We aim to be regarded as the go-to people for the best and most credible organization, facilitation and management of sporting events for school going children and the youth. The safety and prosperity of the youth through sports is our core business and every successive year, we set realistic targets and work towards achieving them in our deliberate efforts to ensure that our existence and operations are in line with our mission. We shall always endeavor to introduce the relevant aspects of business and technology in our programs in order to enable the participants to achieve their personal and collective goals and ameliorate their well-being.
We are a department founded on the principles and values of credibility, the indefatigable desire to win and do so fairly, a firm team spirit and creativity and innovation. The event organizers in the Safe Youth Athletics Organizing committees are highly skilled professionals with years of experience in sports management. They work round the clock to ensure that everything about the games is always above board. They ensure that the venues for the sports are ready and safe well before the scheduled start dates and that they stay that way through the entire period of the events. They also address the legality issues encompassing the events, which includes among others, licensing and permits issues. The organizers ensure that the necessary medical personnel and equipment are in place to handle any medical and emergency cases with the participants.
We heighten the participants’ desire and determination to win by use of an incentive initiative. We have monetary awards for the winning schools in all the sports categories we have during every event. We also have medals for the first position, first runners-up and second runners-up positions. Every participant also gets a free pack of branded merchandise at the completion of the event. We use professional judges and the available technology mechanisms to determine the winners in every track and field event. We encourage each and every participating school to have their team draw up a collective goal that they hope to achieve during these events and have every member know the role they are supposed to play to enable the team to achieve this goal. This goes a long way in enhancing teamwork and raising the team spirit.
Market Analysis
Safe Youth Athletics interscholastic department provides value adding individual and collective social experiences for all the children and youth in both public and private schools in the state of Nebraska. The opportunity and platform provided to these school going children keep them engaged almost throughout the year since you will find them practicing almost every day of the school term for the upcoming event and they do not stop even after the events have come and gone. Apart from building their athletic skills, the participants get the opportunity to improve their health and the fitness of their bodies, physically, mentally and psychologically.
In the modern world we live in today, lifestyle diseases such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, and obesity have become among the most prevalent causes of death and incapacitation amongst the youth population. The case is also true for mental health conditions such as depression, Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, schizophrenia, and many others (Felfe et al. 2011). One of the most conspicuous risk factors associated with all these conditions and ailments is the lack of proper exercise. Children and young adults sit around all day watching television, playing computer or video games or interacting with their stranger friends on social media platforms. Through these sports programs, the participants get to keep healthy and alleviate the possible complications caused by these dangerous diseases. One of the things that we like to keep reminding our young participants is that if they stay active, they will stay healthy. It’s even one of the slogans printed on the T-shirts we sell during the sporting events.
When the team managers from the participating schools delegate duties and roles to the team members, they instill in them a sense of responsibility and leadership. The ability to be an effective leader and the willingness to always take responsibility for your actions are very important skills that anyone who wishes to prosper in today’s world should possess(Felfe et al. 2011). We take great pride in knowing that through our sports programs, the participants get to study these skills early on in life. Increased self-confidence is another one of the many benefits that participants reap from our programs. According to the latest census statistics, the state of Nebraska has a population of approximately 1,907,116 people. 83.7percent of the people live in family arrangements (Population Estimates, 2016). 90.7percent of the people living in Nebraska and who are 25 years and older have graduated from high school and other institutions of higher education such as college and university.
From the above demographics, it is clear that a huge part of the population goes through school, which provides Safe Youth Athletics with a huge market of potential participants. The families from which our participants come, and who have shown great interest in the program and supported it since its inception generally have the following profiles; the parents work full-time jobs and they have one or more children. Even though most of them have extremely tight working schedules, they try their level best to be involved in their children’s academic and social lives. The parents and guardians with whom we have interacted and held discourse over the athletics programs value an appreciate the physical and social experiences that their children get from the games and also the skills they develop as a result of participating in the events.
As far as Market behaviors go, Safe Youth Athletics has and continues to enjoy massive support and positive reception from the government of Nebraska, stakeholders in the education industry, parents and guardians and the entire society. The strong belief and confidence in the values we espouse and the vision we have set out for the department and the things we aim to achieve, can be seen through the enormous support we receive from hundreds of volunteers who turn during every event to play a part in ensuring that the games go on without any hitches.
Our market needs remain the same as they were when the program started; the founders of the department recognized the grave shortage that existed in school-sponsored sports programs and they embraced the reality at that time and started Safe Youth Athletics as an opportunity to address this shortage. State sponsored schools receive too little funding to enable them to run full-scale sports programs, hence they opt to pay a small participation fee for their students to participate in the programs and events organized by Safe Youth Athletics. At Safe Youth Athletics, we welcome every school going child to be a part of our community, regardless of their social, ethnic, religious, academic and economic background. We are an equal opportunity provider and this is one of the values that has endeared us most to everyone with whom we associate.
The most significant market trends in our area of operations include; a rise in the demand from parents to have their children become actively involved in sports activities from a young age, a steady decline in monetary support from schools to cater for sports activities for students, the realization that increased involvement in sports results in reduced involvement in drug abuse and criminal activities and a considerable increase in interest from corporations and companies to sponsor these kinds of community and school-based activities. Safe Youth Athletics programs have experienced a steady and encouraging growth since the first one was held way back in the year 2006. Looking at the current market trends that are delineated above, it is safe to predict even further and much faster growth of the program, considering other factors such as innovation in technology which facilitate the smooth running of the department, its day to day activities and the sports events themselves.
Marketing Plan and Goals
Since we have already the market needs and potential during our analysis of the market, we shall now delve into the development of an elaborate marketing plan for the products that we provide. Firstly, we must not forget that our core business is sports and not making money. The marketing of the products that have been mentioned in earlier sections of the plan and those that will be mentioned here, is carried out to augment our financial resources to enable us to conduct the athletics events successfully. The products mainly include the sports activities themselves, the tickets and the branded apparel. They will be elaborated further and in more specific detail in the products section.
The goals of this marketing plan are less related to profitability and more geared towards participation and image preservation (Shank & Lyberger, 2014). In observation of our mission statement, our vision and our values, we aim to achieve the following from this marketing plan; the first and most crucial aim to promote sports among the school-going children so as to enable them to lead constructive lives. The other goal is to raise the number of those who will be participating in our future events. At Safe Youth Athletics, we purpose to increase spectator attendance at our events and increase individual, scholastic and corporate membership as well. With the successful implementation of this marketing plan, we aim to raise enough monies in due time to fund our expansion into other states around the country. We also aim to create value for the corporate sponsors who donate generously towards our sports initiatives.
In our aim to promote sports and increase participation, our objective is to retain 100percent of the participants from previous events and to register at least ten new schools for participation in the upcoming events by the end of the registration period. We shall also recruit more training and technical personnel to handle the participants and help in the development of a training program for a sports training camp that the students will attend during the school holidays. In our efforts to increase spectator participation, we shall increase the frequency of advertisements in the local news and radio stations in the weeks running up to the event(Shank & Lyberger, 2014). We have already created the event on our social media account pages and handles and the number of people who have indicated that they are interested in attending the events is rising on a daily basis. We also plan on running 5-9 youth sports clinics three to two weeks before the athletics events kick off.
To beef up our revenue collection, we intend to sell 20percent more across-the-board event packages and products for this quarter’s event than we did for the last one. The aim is to realize these sales at least a month or so before the event starts and by the time it does we hope to have made even more sales. For every activity either on the track or on the field, we intend to sell a minimum of 600 walk-up tickets and 150 group tickets. The average amount of money we intend to get from each spectator in branded apparel sales is US$10.
Marketing Plan: The Products
Below is a tabular representation of all the products that will be available in the upcoming events. The list includes all track and field events, branded apparel and the prices for each product (Rein et al. 2007). The table includes a section of how much a school will pay in participatory fees for each of the activities and how much money individual and group spectators will pay to watch the games.
The benefits of the sports activities have been elaborated in the entire content of this plan; from enhancing the participants’ physical health to ameliorating their cognitive and numeracy skills and abilities; from keeping the participants away from crime and drugs to helping turn them into able and responsible leaders; from providing the participants and spectators with a platform for the establishment of healthy and lifelong friendships to giving them a memorable and fun experience. The t-shirts, caps, wrist and headbands, wrappers and many other types of apparel that will be branded with the Safe Youth Athletics name, our slogan, “To Stay Active Is To Stay Healthy”, and other relevant writings, will give the spectators a sense of identity, pride and belonging when they wear them during and after the games. There is no plan to reposition the products unless we experience significant changes in the market trends and needs, or fail to meet our marketing objectives by the time the department sits down to conduct and in-depth evaluation of our performance.
Marketing Plan: Pricing
It is clear from the table in the previous section that our prices are meant to meet the sustainability needs of the sporting events, the availability needs of the products and services and the logistical and contractual obligations. The organizers of the events have altered the ticket prices to attract all classes of people; adults, children, and groups will all pay different ticket prices to watch the games (Shank & Lyberger, 2014). The organizing committee has also made provisions to have the prices of the tickets for an event revised downwards in case there is an economic recession when the events start. Another pricing provision is to increase ticket prices with the improvement in the teams’ performances in the course of the games.
Our major concern when setting prices is to offer all the stakeholders a delectable experience with outcomes and benefits that outweigh the financial costs they incur during these athletic events. All our pricing strategies are geared towards value addition rather than profitability. Our sales strategies shall involve engaging the potential participants and spectators on our social media platforms. Most of the people in our target market are tech savvy and we shall take full advantage of this fact by placing regular adverts with event and pricing information on our facebook, twitter and Instagram accounts. We also intend to have tickets for our upcoming events sold in all the major retail stores, gas stations and other public use facilities all over Nebraska. An extensive television and radio campaign will be launched well ahead of the games to inform the people about them, where they can get the tickets and any other relevant information.
Marketing Plan: Promotions
Promotion in simple terms is making people aware of something. The promotions we are going to run during the implementation of this marketing plan involve a wide range of techniques and interconnected activities which are designed to attract the attention of potential spectators and participants for the upcoming athletic events. The core aim of promotional activities is to intensify the interest and awareness of prospective consumers on the athletics products we have on offer during our events. By educating and informing the people about our products and events, we encourage them to become actively involved in them by investing their time and financial resources.
Our promotional strategy shall be primarily comprised of advertising, sponsorship and public relations. We shall have advertisements on our events and products printed in the local dailies all over Nebraska in the weeks and days leading to the starting dates of the said events. We shall also use television and radio broadcasts in our advertising efforts to reach as many people as possible (Madrigal, 2000). We shall develop a short and detailed message accompanied by a video clip describing who we are and why we exist, to be played on prime time television in an effort to enhance our relationship with the public. We look to form alliances with more and reputable corporate sponsors in order to develop and good and strong brand image and augment the loyalty of participants, spectators, and all other stakeholders.
Marketing Plan: Place and Distribution
Place or distribution is the process of getting the sports products to the consumer, which in our case are the spectators and the players. The stadiums in which the next four events by Safe Youth Athletics are slated to be held are; Memorial stadium, the Bob Devaney center, TD Ameritrade Park and Seacrest Field (Nebraska, 2017). We have already made the necessary arrangements with the management teams of each arena to secure them for the year’s events. The distribution of the tickets shall be done through public use facilities as stated in earlier sections of this plan, at the gate during entry and online through our social media accounts and other e-commerce accounts. Merchandise sales will also be done through the same platforms mentioned above. All these venues are convenient as they are all accessible via the Nebraska highway system, they all have ample parking spaces, are well maintained and have enough public safety and security personnel.
Evaluation
This marketing plan will be rolled out for action as soon as members of the board and organizing committee of Safe Youth Athletics discuss and approve its execution. We shall execute the plan for a whole, through four events and at the end, we shall have a sit down to review its overall achievements and performances. A minor review of the impacts of the marketing plan shall be done at the end of every quarterly event and the relevant stakeholders will be accorded to make suggestions for the changes they deem necessary. However, the implementation of these changes shall be considered during the major review meeting at the end of the sports calendar year.
References
Felfe, A. C., Lechner, M., & Steinmayr, A. (2011). Sports and child development.
Madrigal, R. (2000). The influence of social alliances with sports teams on intentions to purchase corporate sponsors' products . Journal of Advertising, 29 (4), 13-24.
Nebraska. (2017). Retrieved April 26, 2017, from http://www.worldstadiums.com/north_america/countries/united_states/nebraska.shtml
Population estimates, July 1, 2016, (V2016). (2016). Retrieved April 26, 2017, from https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045216/31
Rein, I., Kotler, P., & Shields, B. R. (2007). The elusive fan: Reinventing sports in a crowded marketplace. McGraw Hill Professional.
Shank, M. D., & Lyberger, M. R. (2014). Sports marketing: A strategic perspective. Routledge
