Sportswear Marketing and PR that targets your core consumer by understanding sportswear and talks the right language.
Sportswear has been dominated by global giants for decades who capitalise on their latest technologies and innovations to present consumers with marginal gains in terms of performance for today’s athletes.
Endorsed by mega athletes and worn by the masses, it’s hard to see how a small brand could start to compete in this sector, however, the sector is always innovating and carving new niches, allowing brands the opportunity to own their own space within a crowded industry, providing they execute the right marketing strategy.
There are several examples of how start-up brands have managed to slice their way through the noise of the established brands, such as Rapha, Castor, Gym Shark and not forgetting Under Armour, who overtook Adidas briefly to number two spot behind Nike for a while.
What’s Important in Marketing Sportswear?
The most important aspect of all Marketing and Public Relations is to start with the right product. If the product isn’t great, be it low performance, poor quality or fitting, or overpriced for what it is, then the Marketing and PR needs to work much harder to convince consumers to make a purchase. If you over deliver with the product, then your marketing can be more relaxed as word of mouth, repeat custom and reputation kicks in.
With the world now focussed on digital with online shopping dominating the majority of sales transactions, it seems obvious that your marketing should follow suit and focus on digital platforms, however, this isn’t necessarily the most strategic marketing plan.
The 7 times rule:
There is a general rule that consumers need to see an advert at least 7 times before they take notice and potentially find out more information. This advertising should be across multiple platforms rather than focus on one so that the advert come across as fresh content and not spammy.
Alongside paid online marketing like Google Ads etc reviews and news published by sports media with an audience specifically focussed on your target demographic is without doubt the most credible and highest ROI form of advertising. A review or post by a credible expert within your sector who already have a huge, dedicated audience will resonate and convince consumers far faster than any paid advert. Reviews are trusted by consumers and gives them the wear test background they might be looking for to convince them about your product and brand.
This isn’t quite as easy as it sounds as the press are bombarded with enquiries and products every day and this is where Public Relations comes in. Reputation and relationships are key here alongside a professional press release and quality images. Building these credible relationships takes time and trust is built between the brand and the gear reviewer over time. They will need to be furnished with not only the product to test, but all the right materials for them to write their review.
You might want to consider some marketing that supports the review so customers who become convinced by the review, have a call-to-action advert to click that feeds them straight to the shop, making the journey as seamless as possible.
So how do you pick the best sportswear PR company to represent your activewear brand? Easy, pick one that understands your market and lives and breathes sportswear.
Why choose us?
We launched our Sportswear PR and Marketing service because too many of our clients were left having to use general PR or Fashion PR agencies that simply don’t understand sportswear and the target demographic. Fashion isn’t sportswear and while both follow trends and have a distinct style, good sportswear is built around engineering and performance to aid an athletes performance. Fashion PR agencies simply don’t understand or have any affinity to this and therefore won’t understand the tech, lingo or reasons behind those incredibly considered details, features or technologies.
By living and breathing your brand from a blank page to finished production for over 12 months, we understand your brand and every minute detail of the product. We get the target consumer and understand the lingo in terms of performance and marginal gains. We are heavily invested in your brand, its USP, DNA and tone and therefore we believe we are best placed to manage your public relations and marketing.
At Blue Associates, we get your target market and understand what they need in terms of features, fit and performance and therefore when we create press releases and talk to journalists, we make sure these key messages get heard and are on point.
We also make sure that advertising looks authentic and credible by using your brands tone of voice and capitalising on what’s important to make sure they resonate with your target audience.
Please get in touch for more information to discuss your needs for public relations and marketing for your activewear brand.
