Sport & Leisure Industry - Week 2 - Introduction to Marketing

Marketing: Session 1

SPO 028-1: The Sport and Leisure Industry

In This Session We Will Address…

1. What a market is, how they are organised and how competitive they are.

2. What is marketing.

3. We should be aiming to be marketing an experience, not just a product or service. This is done by the implementation of a marketing mix.

What is a Market?

“A market is a group of buyers and sellers of a particular good or service. The buyers as a group determine the demand for the product, and the sellers as a group determine the supply of the product.”

Mankiw and Taylor (2011, p.68)

Market Organisation

Organised market:

Buyers and sellers of a certain product meet at a location at a pre-arranged time to arrange sales.

Unorganised market:

More commonly you have numerous sellers in numerous locations and the buyers choose when and where to purchase the product.

Market Competition

Perfectly competitive market: The goods being offered are all the same (homogenous) and because of this buyers have no preference between sellers. Prices are the same or very similar across all the sellers. Example: Milk.

Monopoly: Some markets only have one seller and this seller sets the price. Example: Water supply.

Oligopoly: Sellers don’t compete aggressively. There are a few sellers selling similar products but they are reluctant to compete on price so as to keep prices high. Example: Airlines.

Imperfectly competitive market: There are many sellers in the market but because they are offering slightly different products they set their own prices. Example: Football tickets.

What is Marketing?

“…marketing is that essential part of the management process that matches markets with the sport ‘products’ and services. It assesses the needs and wants of potential customers.”

Torkildsen (1999, p.435)

So Therefore Marketing…

• analyses the market profile (the demographic, income, life style and economic situation of the potential buyers of the product or service).

• assesses the needs and wants of potential customers.

• creates and develops tailor-made products and services.

• promotes the product or service in ways to best get to the target markets (those markets you have deemed as potential customers).

• packages the products and services to increase sales and avoid price resistance.

Offering an experience

Because of the immense size of the leisure industry it is impossible to specify a general, standard or usual sport product.

But whether it is a product or service that is being marketed the seller should be striving to offer the buyer an experience.

Not just a transaction.

The buyer needs to feel as if the product/service is helping them appear as the person they want to be or to be living a lifestyle they want to live.

Offering an Experience

So as a marketer you are looking to inspire an action from your potential buyer.

To do so you need to offer them more than a transaction. You need to offer them an experience, or part of a wider experience.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp0HIF3SfI4

Two examples…

Two examples…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YePFGhCC7ro

One of these adverts asks you to buy something, the other asks you to be part of something.

The Marketing Mix

The four P’s…

1. Product

2. Place

3. Promotion

4. Price

The Marketing Mix

Product

- Does it satisfy your customers wants or needs?

- How is it different from your competitors?

Price

- What type of market is your product or service in and can you set your own price or do you need to follow the market value for your product or service.

Promotion

- “The process is one of pulling customers to the product using words, music, pictures and symbols to present an image of the product that is attractive, if not compelling.”

Torkildsen (1999, p452)

Place

- Where will buyers look for your product/service?

- If marketing an event where will it take place and is is socially, economically and geographically accessible.

Group Task

Select a product/service/event from the Sport and Leisure industry.

You have 20 minutes to investigate the product/service and its marketing mix ready to report back to the group in as much detail as possible on the Product, it’s Price (and why its price is what it is), it’s Place (where the event took place or where the product would be distributed) and it’s Promotion.

References

Mankiw, N and Taylor, M. (2011) Economics. China: RR Donnelley.

Tolkildsen, G. (1999) Leisure and Recreation Management. London: Routledge.