A suitable marketing plan for a football club - Coursework Example

?Marketing Report Executive Summary The report mainly aims to propose a suitable marketing plan for a football club d Hapoel Petach Tikva in order to increase its number of attendances as well as to increase the productivity of the club as a sport organisation. The different aspects that have been taken in this proposal of marketing plan include the assessment of Israeli market environment, various attendance objectives for the club, detailed analysis of market segmentation as well as target markets and the different elements of marketing mix such as promotion, price, place and product. The various aspects that are included in the marketing plan along with the different elements of the marketing mix, if followed adequately, Hapoel Petach Tikva could raise their number of attendances and thus might increase their revenue, productivity, fan following and reputation by a considerable extent. In order to increase the number of attendances that Hapoel Petach Tikva has been advised certain aspects such as providing seasonal tickets in bundles, providing loyalty cards and attracting a target audience of 18-35 years for the matches among others. Table of Contents Executive Summary 2 Introduction 4 An Assessment of the Market Environment of Hapoel Petach Tikva 5 Macro Environment 6 Micro Environment 9 Attendance Objectives for Hapoel Petach Tikva 12 An Analysis of the Available Segments for Hapoel Petach Tikva 13 An Analysis of the Target Market for Hapoel Petach Tikva 15 Marketing Mix Strategic Plan for Hapoel Petach Tikva 19 Conclusion 22 References 23 Introduction The football club of Hapoel Petach Tikva was founded in the year 1935 in the town of Petach Tikva in Israel. During the phase of 1950s and 1960s, the football club won various noteworthy championships such as Israeli Championships and State Cup and the period was considered as the most flourishing phase of success for them. The home ground of Hapoel Petach Tikva is HaMoshava Stadium which was recently opened at the end of 2011 replacing Petach Tikva Muncipal Stadium as the home ground of the football team (Hapoel Petach Tikva, n.d.). The recently built stadium i.e. HaMoshava Stadium which the club has started to use from this season is possessed by the city authorities of Petach Tikva and not by the club itself. The capacity for the attendances of HaMoshava Stadium is 12500 (Global Sports Media, 2012). During the phase of 1950s and 1960s, football became the most renowned local sport in Israel. There lie certain basic features that dominated football in Israel after the establishment of the state in the year 1948. The basic features that dominated football in Israel were both political and nationalistic. The local sport of Israel i.e. football fell under the sponsorships of three political centres or federations such as Hapo’el, Maccabi and Beitar. The influences of these federations were noteworthy towards the local football clubs. The Israeli Football Association (IFA) controlled and monitored the beautiful game of soccer through these federations (Porat, 2007). The concept of sports marketing comprises certain activities that are mainly designed to meet with various requirements of the sports consumers. In order to comply with the various requirements of the sports consumers broadly concerning the sport spectators, an effective marketing plan is very much necessary for any sports organisation or any sporting club (Morgan & Summers, 2005). The report aims to deliver an adequate marketing plan for Hapoel Petach Tikva in order to raise their number of attendances to a significant level. Moreover, the marketing plan also includes certain marketing strategies for its successful execution. In the report, there are several areas where the marketing plan intends to focus upon. The several areas include the evaluation of the market environment, attendance purposes, complete analysis of the market segments, recognising target markets and different implications of marketing mix strategies. An Assessment of the Market Environment of Hapoel Petach Tikva It is very much essential for any organisation to interpret its marketing environment. The interpretation of marketing environment helps as well as supports the organisations to minimise threats and also helps to identify various opportunities. The market environment of any organisation consists of two broad categories. The macro environment comprises social, environmental, political, economic, technological and legal or regulatory factors and the micro environment such as distributors, competitors, suppliers and customers (Kotler & Armstrong, 2008). Macro Environment Political From the perspective of the political environment that prevails in Israel, it has been observed that when there has been any football match between any two local clubs, the spectators view the match and demonstrate their support towards their club and also their political party. The sport federations that mainly control the Israeli Football Association (IFA) are politically hostile to each other. The Israeli football is mainly dominated by the political bodies (Porat, 2007). Economic During the early 1990s, the politically influenced football model of Israel transformed into an economic model. The football clubs were purchased by individual entrepreneurs and thus the political influence continued to decrease. With the decrease in the political influence, the economic influence of the football model of Israel raised significantly. In this connection it can be said, the individual entrepreneurs mainly looks after the various matters that are related with supporting their clubs which ultimately stopped the political federations to provide support for the football clubs that they had done before (Porat, 2007). The economy of Israel has experienced substantial growth due to the fact that the country possesses great exposure towards the worldwide monetary market through the execution of extensive trade. The increasingly competitive environment in the financial sector of Israel ultimately made the football clubs to work hard to progress as well as to preserve the market share (Nathanson, 2011). Social In terms of the social aspect, the football clubs of Israel are not only interested to win matches but also to present their active support towards the community as well. The football clubs of Israel act as ambassadors towards the community due to the fact of their fans who truly provide support for their clubs. The football clubs help as well as support the community through taking part in charities along with conducting different health or educational associated programs (Nathanson, 2011). With regard to the social grounds, various football clubs such as Arsenal of the United Kingdom facilitated Arab and Jewish youths to play with each other in the same football teams. In a part of Northern Israel, Arsenal managed to conduct a program in which they successfully brought the two cultures in a unitary form in order to diminish the negative interrelation amid the Arab and Jewish (Nathanson, 2011). Technological The various technological enhancements regarding the quality of the labour forces along with the efficiency of the organisations in the economy during recessions ultimately had a decisive influence upon the financial condition of Israel. The major aspects of technological enhancements and transformations became a crucial factor in the policy making and also in the financial analysis because the technological enhancements and transformations raise the efficiency of an establishment such as football clubs in Israel which is necessary for their sustainable growth (Nathanson, 2011). Environmental The government of Israel has a considerable level of involvement especially upon the economy. From the viewpoint of the business environment, the capital markets of Israel are considerably becoming more modernised as well as liberalised. The greater participation of the government of Israel particularly in the economy made the financial system of the country to bear minimum risks (Nathanson, 2011). Legal or Regulatory The regulatory or legal market environment of Israel is based upon a lawful system, lawful business environment along with developing capital markets and other business regulatory structures. Israel possesses a stable as well as a conventional legal system. Thus, there lies minimum risk of legal stability for the country (Nathanson, 2011). Micro Environment The micro environment mainly covers the aspect of distributors, competitors, suppliers and customers. By emphasising largely upon the greater impact on attendances for Hapoel Petach Tikva, the aspects of customers and competitors will only be considered. Customers The level of attendances is regarded as one of the best indicators which portray how a football club strategically executes its marketing plans. The revenue which is collected from the attendances is an important source of delivering financial accomplishment for the specialized sports organisations (Nathanson, 2011). The customers of the football clubs are the attendances who actively support their football teams while viewing the matches in a particular ground. Apart from the attendances, the other customer of the football clubs is the sponsors. The football clubs as sporting organisations greatly focus upon the sponsors because they invest a large sum of valuable money for the football teams. The sponsors invest their money towards the football teams because they desire to promote their various products through the medium of sponsorships. During the year 2011 and 2012, a match between Hapoel Petach Tikva and Maccabi Netanya that took place in Hamoshava stadium, it was observed that the number of attendances was 1500 and that match was in favour of Hapoel Petach Tikva (Global Sports Media, 2012). From the perspective of the attendances, it has been recognised that during the year 2010-2011, the average number of attendances of Hapoel Petcah Tikva was 2.277 out of 15 games. Out of these 15 games, the highest attendance was 5,500 in one of the 15 games (European Football Statistics, n.d.). From the above graph, it can be stated that with the newly built stadium which holds the capacity of 12,500 attendances, the football club i.e. Hapoel Petach Tikva could raise their number of attendances as compared to other high attendance football clubs that are mentioned in the above graph by a significant level. Competitors The specialized sport clubs mainly operate through various competitive markets that include the entertainment market, professional sport market and same-sport alternative market. On the basis of various competitive markets, the numerous competitors of Hapoel Petach Tikva are Maccabi Haifa, Maccabi Netanya, Ashdod, Hapoel Tel Aviv and Maccabi Petach among other reputed football clubs (Global Sports Media, 2012). Attendance Objectives for Hapoel Petach Tikva There lie numerous advantages for the sport organisation i.e. Hapoel Petach Tikva for raising the capacity of attendances. The sport organisations such as Hapoel Petach Tikva recognise the significance of building relationships with existing customers and generating added value for new customers that will lead to satisfaction of the customer (Kriemadis & Terzoudis, 2007). Moreover, the sport organisations also believe that attracting new customers will be more costly rather than preserving the existing customers because it will take much time to understand the personal preferences of the new customers rather than the existing customers (Kriemadis & Terzoudis, 2007). The major objective of Hapoel Petach Tikva for increasing the number of attendances would be to make a large impact upon its sales growth. It can be stated that by increasing the number of attendances, the sport organisation can attain a superior as well an enhanced growth of sales while operating their business operations (Kriemadis & Terzoudis, 2007). The aspect of market share would be the other crucial objective of Hapoel Petach Tikva. By increasing the capacity of attendances, the market share of the sport organisation would rise significantly and thus it can compete with its other major competitors (Kriemadis & Terzoudis, 2007). Apart from the aspect of market share, the increment of the number of attendances would increase the revenue of Hapoel Petach Tikva to a noteworthy level. The substantial increase in revenue would ultimately raise the productivity of the sport organisation along with enhancing the business performances (Kriemadis & Terzoudis, 2007). The other objective for Hapoel Petach Tikva would be to capture the potential sporting consumer market that includes children, females and young adults. The rising number of attendances would diminish the burden of budget for Hapoel Petach Tikva (Kriemadis & Terzoudis, 2007). The increment of club membership would also be one of the prime objectives of Hapoel Petach Tikva. By increasing the number of attendances along with delivering superior quality games for attracting the audiences, ultimately the membership of the sport organisation would increase and thus the revenue as well as the productivity would also increase to a desired level (Kriemadis & Terzoudis, 2007). The aspect of reputation as well as fan following would also be the chief objectives of Hapoel Petach Tikva. The fan following as well as the reputation of the sport organisation would rise remarkably by increasing the number of attendances. Thus, the overall objectives of Hapoel Petach Tikva would be to increase their growth of sales, market share, revenues, overall business performances, club memberships, productivity, reputation and fan following. An Analysis of the Available Segments for Hapoel Petach Tikva In order to increase the number of attendances, the sport organisation i.e. Hapoel Petach Tikva should focus upon the aspect of market segmentation along with the aspect of targeting and positioning the sport market. The aspect of market segmentation would provide the basis for the target market of the sport organisation and also would help to recognise new upcoming opportunities. Moreover, the sport organisations such as Hapoel Petach Tikva mainly need to focus upon the aspect of market segmentation for various reasons. The reasons include increasing the revenue as well as the productivity of the organisation and most importantly to grow their fan following (Croft, 1994). The football sport bears a class of entertainment that can be enjoyed by everyone. The market segmentation for Hapoel Petach Tikva would be based upon behavioural, geographic, psychographic and demographic segments. The sport organization would target the demographic segment which consists of females, children, younger age group consumers and adults living in the city of Petach Tikva in Israel (Croft, 1994). The geographical segment for Hapoel Petach Tikva would be to emphasise upon the various spectators or attendances based upon the city of Petach Tikva in Isarel. From a realistic geographical segment viewpoint, the sport organisation should focus upon attendances of those audiences that are living aside or nearby the stadium in Israel rather than the attendances who travel far and wide to watch the team play (Croft, 1994). In this connection, the city of Petach Tikva possesses the population of 220,000 and targeting upon these residents would be beneficial for the football club in order to increase their number of attendances (YEDID, 2012). The psychographic segment for the sport organisation would be based upon the common personality types and lifestyle characteristics of the attendances. In terms of the psychographic segmentation, the sport organisation must emphasise upon considering the living standards of the attendances. In terms of behavioural market segmentation, Hapoel Petach Tikva should segregate the attendances into various groups on the basis of their understanding, approach and response towards the game (Croft, 1994). The sport organisation should focus mainly upon the youth who possess much more knowledge, positive outlook and greater response towards the game as compared with other demographic variables. Moreover, along with the above discussed market segmentations, Hapoel Petach Tikva might also segment their market through its sports fans. From the perspective of the segmentation of sports fans, the segmentation includes devoted fans, temporary fans and local fans among others (Kaser & Oelkers, 2007). The temporary or impermanent fans are interested for a certain period of time that possesses lesser importance or attachment towards attending the sport. The local fans are generally a part of geographical recognition and show greater participation by remaining present in the sporting event. The devoted fans show greater attachment towards their presence in the sporting event and are considered as a major part in segmenting the sports fans (Kaser & Oelkers, 2007). An Analysis of the Target Market for Hapoel Petach Tikva Every organisation executes the procedure of market segmentation in order to decide upon which segments should be targeted. The target marketing strategies for Hapoel Petach Tikva should vary upon different marketing facets. The different marketing facets include differentiated marketing in which an organisation segments the market and applies separate marketing mix strategies to all or a few of the definite segments (Blann & Armstrong, n.d.). The other target marketing strategy is focusing upon customised marketing which signifies that an organisation designs a separate marketing mix for each individual customer. After acquiring a brief idea regarding the different target market strategies, it is recommended for the sport organisation i.e. Hapoel Petach Tikva to compete in the differentiated markets by applying separate marketing mixes to all the marketing segments. This particular function would help and support the sport organisation from a number of aspects such as revenue, productivity, reputation and fan following to a certain extent (Blann & Armstrong, n.d.). In lieu of the demographic segmentation, the target market for Hapoel Petach Tikva would be to focus upon the age group between 18 to 35 years who are regarded as emerging sports consumers and can be treated as strong target market for the sport organisation. From the viewpoint of the psychographic and attitudinal market segmentation, the target for Hapoel Petach Tikva could be segregated into various categories (A.T. Kearney, Inc., 2003). The various categories include opportunistic viewers, team and club loyalists, star-struck spectators, social viewers, sports fanatics and sports indifferent individuals. The sports fanatics show greater interest in sports who enthusiastically participate in the sporting events. The team and club loyalists could be the most potential target market for the sport organisation because these fans are very much faithful towards an individual team or club and show dynamic participation in the sporting events (A.T. Kearney, Inc., 2003). The star struck spectators could be a useful target market for the sport organisation to a certain extent due to the fact that the star struck spectators emphasise upon a big name player rather than a team and often participate in the sporting events. The social viewers generally attend the sporting events in order to meet with their friends or to meet with any clients or business friends as part of corporate aspect and show little attention towards the sporting event (A.T. Kearney, Inc., 2003). The opportunistic viewers consider the sporting events as an entertainment and often attend a sport event when asked by the friends or other individuals. They are not much attracted in the sporting events and are only interested to attend chief sport events like Olympics (A.T. Kearney, Inc., 2003). Thus, it can be stated that apart from the basis of different market segmentations, the above discussed categories of sports fans could be the potential target markets for Hapoel Petach Tikva. After targeting the potential market for Hapoel Petach Tikva, it is necessary to position the sport product in the minds of the consumers. The main purpose of positioning the sport product is to differentiate the product by generating a distinctive image of the product towards the consumers (A.T. Kearney, Inc., 2003). The positioning of the sport organisation would be to build such an image towards its target market customers so that it could attain number of attendances at their sporting events. The image could be build through conducting video scenes that focus upon visualising the moments of intimacies and bond among the players and few images that comprise the image of a celebrity player of the sport organisation and various other promotional tools like advertising in the form of magazines and attractive hoardings (A.T. Kearney, Inc., 2003). Marketing Mix Strategic Plan for Hapoel Petach Tikva In order to increase the number of attendances, the implementation of the marketing plan would be made upon the different facets of marketing mix. The different facets of marketing mix involve product, price, promotion and place. From the viewpoint of the marketing plan relating with the product of the sport organisation i.e. of Hapoel Petach Tikva, the sport organisation could adopt the strategy of branding that would create loyalty, trust and competitive advantage and also enhance the market share and ultimately raise the profits of the sport organisation. Along with the strategy of branding, the sport organisation could introduce group as well as family ticket packages for the purpose of increasing its number of attendances. The introduction of attractive group and family tickets may ultimately increase the number of attendances of Hapoel Petach Tikva to a certain extent and also will raise the interest of the sport to the females and children along with males (Ellen, 2010). Taking into concern the marketing mix strategy in relation to place, it can be suggested that Hapoel Petach Tikva should conduct their sporting events in a physical location such as the newly built stadium that might increase the brand loyalty. Moreover, the sport organisation should conduct their sporting events at the heart of the community so that huge number of attendances can attend the sporting event and thus ultimately there lies a probable chance for the increment of the attendances (Ellen, 2010). In terms of the marketing mix strategies relating with price, Hapoel Petach Tikva should decrease the cost of the seasonal match tickets for the attendances belonging to the age group of ‘under 16’. Moreover, the sport organisation can also introduce attractive as well as cheap season ticket-bundles as compared with an individual match ticket. The introduction of attractive and cheap season ticket-bundles would permit an individual to view or to attend large number of games rather than a single game that would ultimately increase the frequency of attendances (Ellen, 2010). In addition, Hapoel Petach Tikva should also introduce certain attractive offers in purchasing any kind of tickets whether seasonal or individual for the game. In this connection, it should offer free tickets or an additional ticket while purchasing a single ticket for the spectators for certain high profile matches. By the introduction of attractive free offers, Hapoel Petach Tikva might expect to raise their number of attendances to a certain extent (Ellen, 2010). The aspect of promotion as a part of marketing mix can also be one of the effective strategies for Hapoel Petach Tikva to increase its number of attendances to a significant level. The particular marketing mix strategy of promotion could be very much crucial for the sport clubs such as Hapoel Petach Tikva in order to promote their product and to increase the number of attendances (Ellen, 2010). The various promotional tools that Hapoel Petach Tikva could use in order to raise their number of attendances include advertising, public relations, personal selling and sales promotion. The sport organisation can perform the promotional tool of advertising through television, magazines, brochures and text messages through mobile phones (Ellen, 2010). The sport organisation could execute public relations as a promotional mix strategy through press releases and photographs among others. Moreover, the promotional tools such as sales promotion and personal selling can also be executed by Hapoel Petach Tikva through conducting exhibitions, loyalty cards and sponsorships. The other significant promotional marketing mix strategy of Hapoel Petach Tikva could be in the introduction of sports celebrities. The introduction of the sports celebrities would increase the attractiveness, trustworthiness and ultimately the number of attendances in the sporting events of Hapoel Petach Tikva (Ellen, 2010). Conclusion The execution of marketing planning is the most significant procedure of marketing management which ensures complete understanding of competitors, customers and other trends of the organisation. The above discussions have successfully depicted that a proper marketing planning can lead towards overall business performances as well as financial success by a considerable extent. In this particular report, a strategic marketing plan has been proposed to a football club i.e. Hapoel Petach Tikva, as a sport organisation. The respective authorities of the football club might follow the above discussed marketing plan in order to make their business more effective and also to increase their number of attendances. The effectiveness in the business as well as the increasing the number of attendances would lead the football club or the sport organisation to increase their reputation, fan following as well as productivity to a certain extent. References A. T. Kearney, Inc., 2003. Who Are Today’s Fans? The New Sports Consumer. [Online] Available at: http://www.ekospor.com/Sports-Marketing/New%20Sports%20Consumer.pdf [Accessed March 22, 2012]. Blann, F. W. & Armstrong, K. L., No Date. Pick The Players: Analyze and Target Consumers. Sport Marketing. [Online] Available at: http://www.ithaca.edu/faculty/wblann/spt_mkt_grad/documents/ParksCh9%20193-218.pdf [Accessed March 22, 2012]. Croft, M. J., 1994. Market Segmentation: A Step-By-Step Guide to Profitable New Business. Routledge. Ellen, L., 2010. 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