Ebook Advanced Theory and Practice in Sport Marketing (Part 2)

COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT IN SPORT CHAPTER OUTLINE What Is Communication Management in Sport? The Communication Process Sport Organizational Images Sport Promotions Advertising Sponsorship Public Relations Licensing Personal Contact Incentives Atmospherics Sport Promotion Strategies Conclusion CHAPTER OBJECTIVES The reader will be able to: Appreciate the role of communications in the sport marketing process. Identify the internal and external elements of organizational image in sport marketing including internal marketing communications, corporate image, logos, and publicity campaigns. 199 Understand the various elements of the sport promotion mix, including public relations, licensing, personal contact, incentives, and atmospherics. Recognize the incorporation of sport promotion activities with integrated com-munication plans, event planning, pricing development, and location and distri-bution strategies. Identify the various elements for each of the promotion mix components. Know the various indirect (word-of-mouth) and direct (sales) promotional strate-gies in relationship to positioning, building brand equity, increasing credibility, and enhancing image transfer and association. WHAT IS COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT IN SPORT? Communication management involves the planning, implementing, supervising, evaluation, and modification of the various methods of communication inter-nal and external to a sport organization. Effective and efficient communication management is crucial to success in sport marketing because it is the conduit by which information between employees and organizations is exchanged, and ensures that parties have access to the same information. Communication manage-ment also seeks to created continuity in the decision making process by ensur-ing that all parties are involved in goals setting and attainment in a coordinated and organized manner. The sport marketing professional is involved in a number of roles to make sure that effective and efficient communication takes place throughout the organization in terms of the marketing process. These include: Develop organizational communication strategies including the structure of the internal and external communication processes, the goals and objectives of orga-nizational communication, and the policies and procedures to follow related to communication of information regarding the sport organization. Plan, implement, manage, and evaluate the flow of information in and out of the sport organization through verbal, written, and online communication methods. Manage all sport organizational images in terms of presentation to the public, the media, and the online environment. Develop, implement, manage, and evaluate the organizational crisis commu-nication plan. Provide training to all staff of the organization about appropriate communi-cation methodology. In order to effectively and efficiently manage communication for a sport organization, the sport marketing professional must focus on having a full understanding of three main areas: the communication process, sport organiza-tion images, and sport promotions. 200 ADVANCED THEORY AND PRACTICE IN SPORT MARKETING THE COMMUNICATION PROCESS Communication is critical to the success of a sport marketing professional. Communication helps to establish and maintain relationships with the sport con-sumer by providing a conduit for listening and reacting to the sport consumer. The key components of the communication process are documented below: Source Encoding Message Channel Receiver Interference Decoding Feedback The source starts with an idea of how to communicate information about the sport product or organization. As the source continued developing the idea, it is encoded into a message. The encoding process involves giving the idea a person-ality. A representation of the idea and the sport entity is created in print, verbal, and/or visual form. This representation can range from a simple photograph to the use of sport personalities to endorse the sport product. Depending on the choice of representation, the message may be delivered as an autobiographical sketch, a narrative, or a drama. The autobiography is where the message about the sport product is directly from the sport entity to the sport consumer. The narra-tive is where a third party (such as an athlete endorsement) tells the sport con-sumer about the sport product. The goal is to entice the sport consumer to be involved with that product as a result of the reputation of the endorser. Sport products can also be advertised in a dramatic form, where “characters” act out events in front of an imaginary audience, and the act is reproduced in print, ver-bal, and/or visual form to persuade the sport consumer to purchase the specific sport product. Once the message is encoded, it is then sent through marketing channels to the receiver. Marketing channels include many different forms of media, includ-ing print, radio, television, and Internet. The receiver then decodes the message and provides feedback to the source. The goal is to have effective and efficient communication between the source and the receiver. Effective communication occurs when the intended meaning of the sender is identical to the interpreted meaning of the receiver. One of the major reasons communication is not effec-tive and efficient is due to interference with the process. This interference can come from a number of sources, including poor choices in communication channels, poor expression of the message, and environmental distractions. COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT IN SPORT 201 SPORT ORGANIZATIONAL IMAGES One of the most significant issues faced by sport marketing professionals in terms of communication management is the sport organization’s image. Organizational image is the combination of how the internal organization believes others view the organization, and the beliefs and perceptions the external organization actually has of the organization. Based on these beliefs and per-ceptions, sport consumers either wish to be associated with or avoid the organ-ization. It is a major role of the sport marketing professional to control communications to maximize the public image of the sport organization. One method used to control the outflow of information from the organization is through internal marketing communications. Internal marketing involves the perceptions of individuals from inside an organization about how they view that organization. As a result, the sport marketing professional treats individu-als within the sport organization as customers, with the goal of using principles of leadership and motivation to help shape the organization’s image. Sport marketing professional also seek to control external organizational images, which involves the perceptions of individuals from outside an organi-zation and how they view that sport organization. This is a significant chal-lenge because external organizational images seek to control the beliefs and perceptions of potential customers – a challenge that is easier said than done. There are a number of methods utilized by sport marketing professionals to articulate the organizational image to external constituencies, including brand image, publicity campaigns, crisis communications, and sport promotions. As dis-cussed in Chapter 6, branding and brand image is one of the most powerful external organizational images. Branding involves using a name, term, design, symbol, or feature to identify one sport product, service, or organization as being different from another. The mixture of attributes can be tangible or intangible, are usually symbolized in a trademark, and if managed properly, creates value and influence for the sport organization. Another method utilized to covey external organizational image is the publicity campaign. A publicity campaign is the use of communications, activities, and media coverage to convey specific information to a targeted market over a specific period of time. The development of this type of focused effort to communicate the sport organization’s image involves a number of steps as listed below: Internal audit: The sport marketing professional must conduct an appraisal of the internal operations and systems of the sport organization to observe and evaluate their efficiency and effectiveness in quality delivery of products and services, appropriate risk management practices, and financial control. Identification of weaknesses: Identification of deficiencies within the sport organization and how they will adversely affect the sport organization’s image. External research: An investigation of the opportunities and threats may result in a change to the sport organizational image. Target audience: The process of determining the best method for getting the sport organization’s image into the minds of specific consumers. 202 ADVANCED THEORY AND PRACTICE IN SPORT MARKETING Message structure: Developing a specific communication that has a specific goal, is aimed at a specific group of individuals (target audience), and has a measurable component to determine effectiveness. Methods for outreach: A plan of action to communicate the message to the external environment. Post-campaign evaluation: An assessment of the overall campaign to deter-mine whether the message was clear, understood, and was a positive influ-ence on the organizational image. Also integral to controlling the external organizational image is through cri-sis communications. Crisis communications involve the development of a contingency plan that is based on existing communication resources and operational capabilities, and allow sport marketing professionals to effectively respond to a crisis related to the sport organization. This plan is crucial to maintaining a positive organiza-tional image during times of public scrutiny. Crises can come in numerous forms for a sport organization, which required the sport marketing profes-sional to forecast potential crisis and have a method of dealing with said crises from a communication point of view. This will often include having a plan for articulating the organization’s response to all internal members of the sport organization, a policy for external communication regarding the situation (often by directing inquiries to a designated spokesperson) and a targeted chan-nel for disseminating information regarding the crisis. By maintaining control of the information, the sport marketing professional can help to minimize the damage a crisis has on the organizational image of the sport entity. The most extensive and significant methods for communicating external organizational image is through sport promotion. Sport promotion is defined as the procedure of communicating information about the sport product or service to consumers. The sport marketing professional entices consumers to make a pur-chase by managing the sport promotional mix. As a significant part of the sport marketing, because sport promotions is an integral part of the sport marketing mix, the remainder of this chapter will focus on the elements of sport promotions. MULLET NIGHT The Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League have admin-istered a promotion called “Mullet Night.” Prior to offering this promotion for the first time in 2003, the front office of the organization contemplated numer-ouspromotions to offer during the season. According to Jeff Eisenberg, General Manager of the Manchester Monarchs, “The Monarchs have the same goals for other promotions: sell tickets, add value, and build brand. While the organ-ization may have slightly different goals for individual promotions … the ulti-mate goal is to use promotions to get to a sell-out.” The organization’s goals Continued COMMUNICATION MANAGEMENT IN SPORT 203 ... - tailieumienphi.vn