Our resident Performance Marketing Specialist, Jamie Dorsman, shares his thoughts on the opportunities that can come from well thought out strategies delivered across Performance Marketing channels.
In the ever-evolving sports industry a digital revolution is underway, and performance marketing has emerged as a vital catalyst for success. At Winners, we specialise in empowering sports businesses by unlocking their customer data and equipping teams with the necessary tools and strategies to adopt customer-centric approaches through data-driven decision-making. By embracing performance marketing, sports owners can effectively connect with fans, foster deeper engagement, and propel their business objectives forward.
Navigating performance marketing in the context of sports business can be challenging. In the following discussion, we will delve into the complexities it entails and explain the value in terms of fan engagement and highly targeted campaigns.
With the right roadmap and guidance, sports organisations can unlock the full potential of performance marketing, driving digital success through a cross- or omni-channel approach so Winners hired me, Jamie Dorsman, to take on the task of introducing or embedding this approach into our clients’ strategies.
Our founder, Fiona Green, shares her thoughts: “Thankfully most rights owners are now using email marketing, at various levels of excellence, but at least they have that foundational channel covered, but when it comes to their paid digital ads they often operate the two in silos – they use data to get the right message to the right person in email…..but then forget about that principle when it comes to other channels. This post is to introduce our approach to performance marketing across multiple channels, and to showcase Jamie’s extensive experience in this field.
So, what exactly is Performance Marketing?
Performance marketing is a results-driven approach to marketing that focuses on generating measurable outcomes and optimising campaigns for maximum efficiency and return on investment (ROI). It is specifically designed to help businesses achieve their marketing objectives, such as driving sales, acquiring customers, or increasing brand awareness, by leveraging digital platforms and data analytics.
Unlike traditional marketing methods that rely on subjective measures like brand exposure or impressions, performance marketing centres around quantifiable metrics, such as cost per acquisition (CPA), return on ad spend (ROAS), or conversion rates. These metrics allow businesses to track and evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing efforts in real-time, enabling them to make data-backed decisions and optimise campaigns for better performance whilst the campaign is still running.
Performance marketing utilises various digital channels, including search engine marketing (SEM), social media advertising, display advertising, email marketing, and affiliate marketing to reach target audiences. Each channel offers unique targeting options and tracking capabilities, allowing businesses to refine their strategies and reach the right audience at the right time.
One of the key advantages of performance marketing is its ability to provide precise targeting and personalisation. By leveraging user data and advanced targeting options, businesses can tailor their campaigns to specific demographics, interests, or behaviours, ensuring that their message reaches the most relevant audience. This not only enhances the effectiveness of marketing efforts but also helps minimize wasted ad spend on irrelevant audiences.
The question is not, can Performance Marketing work for my business, but rather, how can performance marketing support my business objectives…
The beauty of performance marketing is it allows for precise targeting and personalised campaigns, enabling heightened fan and customer engagement. It offers flexibility to drive various goals such as ticket sales, merchandise, fan interaction, participation, and more. Moreover, it presents an opportunity to provide trackable ROI for sponsors and partners through leverage programs. By embracing performance marketing strategies, rights owners can leverage data insights to make informed decisions, optimise their return on investment, and attain impactful outcomes that surpass conventional marketing approaches.
Performance marketing is a powerful digital communication tool, harnessing this potential, sports rights owners can elevate their fan engagement strategies and drive them forwards. As PwC discuss in their report “Sports Industry Outlook 2023” leveraging these digital platforms, sports organisations can craft personalised marketing approaches that offer customised experiences to fans, while simultaneously reaching vast, even global, audiences. By raising awareness and nurturing engagement among fans, these efforts strengthen the bond between supporters and their beloved teams, while also unlocking avenues for revenue generation and fostering brand loyalty.
Sports organisations acknowledge the importance of data-driven, performance-based strategies, however, executing digital marketing can be daunting; and knowing how to effectively utilise increasingly available fan data can be a headache. The requirements are high and performance marketing demands technical prowess, skilled personnel, substantial investment, and precise measurement of outcomes. Nonetheless, by embracing digital marketing, sports rights owners can revolutionise their business practices and unlock untapped potential like never before.
The Winning Approach
At Winners, we believe performance marketing should be an integral part of any marketing, communications, and data strategy in sports. By incorporating performance marketing, rights owners gain a better understanding of the results from their marketing investment and can accurately measure the impact of their campaigns. The beauty of performance marketing campaigning is that it’s naturally powered and informed by the very fan data, engagement data, purchase behaviour, and relationship data owned by the business.
Winners has a clear roadmap to success and we’d love to have the opportunity to apply it to your business; naturally as experts in unlocking your fan data, we’ll help identify the right goals for you, we’ll define and create the supporting KPI set and reporting touchpoints to ensure success is being measured accurately, and we’ll create and deliver a performance marketing strategy to accelerate towards your goals aligning with your wider communication tactics across emails, SMS, push and any wider strategies.
Get in touch or book a meeting with me if you’d like to discuss this further – I can provide you with guidance on how to implement advanced digital marketing strategies successfully, or help you understand if your current activity is hitting its mark.
