Promotional strategies in NASCAR, horse racing, and professional golf

¶ … Businesses

One of the common issues that all major sports are dealing with is effectively promoting themselves. In the case of NASCAR, Horse Racing and Professional Golf; there are specific strategies that are utilized to reach out to the target audience. To understand how this is achieved requires looking at the audience profile for each sport. This will be accomplished by: examining demographic, promotional strategies, the promotional mix and how to apply these tools. Together, these elements will provide specific insights as to how each sport has been able to effectively reach out to their core audience.

NASCAR

NASCAR is focused on males and females who are between the ages of 15 to 60 years old. In general, the audience is from a middle class background and is located in suburban areas. The kind of promotional strategy that is being utilized in a pull-based philosophy. This is when advertisers will spend tremendous amounts of money promoting their image. NASCAR is using their web site and traditional / online media to promote themselves to the target audience. There are three different strategies that they are using as a part of the promotional mix to include: advertising, sales promotion, public relations, corporate image and exhibitions. The way that these tools are applied is to use the combination of them to create a media strategy that is effectively promoting the excitement of the sport. These factors will have an impact on behavior and psychology by creating a mindset where people are passionate about following a particular driver. This is when there will be more interest in following different events. ("Promotion and Pull Marketing Strategies," 2005) ("The Marketing Communications or Promotional Mix," 2010) ("NASCAR," 2012)

Golf

Golf is focused on reaching out to a target audience that is affluent, well-educated and conservative. The kind of promotional strategy that they are using is a pull-based philosophy. This is when they will market themselves through the Internet and traditional forms of media. The promotional mix that is being used includes: advertising, sales promotion, public relations, corporate image and exhibitions. The way that these tools are applied is to create a unique image of the sport. This is accomplished through having different promotional events and using the traditional / online mediums to create excitement for various tournaments. When this happens, there will be more people who are enthusiastic that will follow the sport more closely. This will impact the behavior and psychology of the target audience by always keeping them excited about upcoming events. Over the course of time, this interest will translate into a large TV audience and greater discussions about specific issues that are impacting the sport. ("Promotion and Pull Marketing Strategies," 2005) ("The Marketing Communications or Promotional Mix," 2010) ("PGA Home," 2012)