Introduction
Sports have become a fundamental aspect of our lives. The importance of sports is preached to us when we are young and as we grow. For some, it is a lifestyle that they lead. Sports have their benefits from keeping us fit to providing us with an extra-curricular activity after a long day in class. One sport that is fast becoming a trend is flag football. Flag football has been in existence for a long time but it not until recently that it has become a trend.
Flag football is a variation of American football that is played without any form of protection. It was popular among United States servicemen and involves two sides playing against each other (Bird, 2017). Unlike American football, the players in flag football are not tackled. Instead, a flag attached to the player’s clothing is grabbed to stop them (Bird, 2017). This marketing plan proposes flag football for the youth.
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Strategic Marketing
Sports’ marketing is a promotion of sports events, products, and services. Sports marketing can involve marketing of sports or marketing through sports (Silva & Casas, 2017). In this context, it is the sport that is being marketed. Therefore, the strategic marketing elements that will be addressed include the external environment, target market, marketing strategy, implementation, and evaluation.
External Environment
The external environment is composed of the influences outside the organization (Greenwell & Thorn, 2012). In this context, the influence that is bound to make an impact on the marketing plan is social trends. The number of flag football participants in the United States has grown from 6.17 million in 2016 to 6.55 million in 2017 (Statista, n.d.). Therefore, there is a market out there for youth flag football.
Target Market
The targeted market is the youth. Flag football is played by children between the ages of 6 and above (Statista, n.d.). This marketing plan targets children between the ages of 10 and above. Both boys and girls will be targeted to participate in the sport. Therefore, the marketing plan will be used to convince their parents as they are not yet adults. Parental consent will, therefore, be needed. The marketing strategy will attempt to sway parental consent.
Marketing Strategy
This section describes the strategies and tactics that will be used for marketing youth flag football. Ansoff’s market penetration strategy and Porter’s cost leadership strategy will be used in this marketing plan (Greenwell & Thorn, 2012). The market penetration strategy involves the introduction of an existing product (flag football) in an existing market (youth). The cost leadership strategy involves introducing a product at a lower price than that of competitors.
The marketing strategy will use the 4Ps of the marketing mix. These include product, price, promotions, and place. The product is the youth flag football where participants will be trained by qualified coaches every weekend. The pricing strategy is cost leadership, and thus prices will be 2 percent lower than those of competitors. A discount of 4 percent will be given to the first 100 children that sign up. All games will be played in high-quality sports centers.
Implementation
Advertisements will also play a critical role in the marketing plan. Print advertisements will be posted on community whiteboards and social media (Facebook and Twitter). Promotional sales, such as the, 4 percent discount for the first 100 children, will be the focus of these advertisements. Sports centers that will be used have already been selected and approval obtained from the relevant management.
Evaluation
This will be an ongoing process. The level of success of the marketing plan will be measured using the number of recruits and their satisfaction with the services offered.
References
Bird, B. (2017, September 11). “History of Flag Football” Live strong . Retrieved 8 June 2018, from https://www.livestrong.com/article/368626-history-of-flag-football/
Greenwell, C. & Thorn, D. (2012). “Developing a Strategic Sport Marketing Plan,” in Marketing for Sport Business Success : Kendall Hunt Publishing. Retrieved 8 June 2018, from https://he.kendallhunt.com/sites/default/files/uploadedFiles/Kendall_Hunt/Content/Higher_Education/Uploads/Parkhouse_1e_Ch2.pdf#page=18&zoom=auto,45,45
Silva, E. C. & Casas, A. L. (2017). “Sports Marketing Plan: An Alternative Framework for Sports Club.” International Journal of Marketing Studies , 9(4), 15-28. Retrieved 8 June 2018, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318764714_Sports_Marketing_Plan_An_Alternative_Framework_for_Sports_Club
Statista. (n.d.). “Number of participants in flag football in the United States from 2011 to 2017 (in millions)” Statista . Retrieved 8 June 2018, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/763674/flag-football-participants-us/
