National College Athletic Association Marketing Plan

Introduction

Every organization often incorporates the aspect of a marketing plan in their business strategy to prove a comprehensive outline of its marketing effort. A marketing plan is important to NCAA (National College Athletic Association) as an organization since it depicts its policies and the strategies. The paper will, therefore, outline the organization’s marketing plan with a major focus on aspects such as the organizations sales strategy, digital plan, the sponsorship plans, public relation strategy and the distribution plans. Other areas include the aspect of social media, the company’s product place matrix, the patent protection and the organizational structure, which are all essential elements for planning activities and operations of the organization.

Sales

As an organization, NCAA (National College Athletic Association) has to put down various strategies for raising revenue that would be essential, in running its operations. The organization, therefore, tends to use various avenues to make sales and raise revenue. In the first instance, the organization intends to acquire the majority of its revenue from a preplanned long-term marketing rights and multimedia agreements with mainstream television networks such as Turner Broadcasting and CBS which is likely to provide revenue of about $700 million annually. The organization further tends to organize an annual NCAA men’s basketball tournament through which revenue will be generated from the sales of tickets and other ancillary efforts related to the tournament. The sales of sportswear such as jerseys, hats, and baseballs to colleges and other athletics events is another major area through with NCAA (National College Athletic Association) plans to raise its revenue. The main strategy is to establish major sportswear stores in the major colleges that will be well equipped with athletics equipment and wears for sale Finally, NCAA (National College Athletic Association) plans to use the aspect of likeness promotion as a strategy to raise revenue. The promotion will involve strengthening the organization’s public relations that will promote the organization’s image thus attracting more customers (Fischer, Robert, Wilsker & Dennis 661). Other promotional strategies include sponsorship programs from major sports companies such as Nike and Adidas, Partnership, Collaboration with other associations and advertisement that are likely to create revenue.

Sponsorship

Sponsorship can be described as cash or fee that is paid to a given organization in return for access to exploitation of the commercial, organizational potential. Sponsorship is a very important aspect of any organization’s business strategy. Apart from using sponsorship as a source of revenue, most organizations also engage in non-revenue sponsorship either as a public relation exercise to enhance the organization’s image or to give back to the society as a form of community development. NCAA (National College Athletic Association) intends to use its good public image and programs to attract sponsors and further to use its position as an athletic brand to provide sponsorship to various sports programs such as tournaments. One of the organizations main sponsorship targets is the top major corporations within the country who have emphasized the important role that academics and athletics play in the society. Furthermore, these targeted corporations have been influential in supporting youth athletic program, offering honors and awards to successful student-athletes and scholarship initiative to talented athletes. NCAA (National College Athletic Association) intends to form an NCAA championship programs that will act as an umbrella body that will bring together the different corporations towards a common objective of supporting NCAA (National College Athletic Association) programs. The organization further intends to acquire sponsorship deals with major sportswear companies such as Adidas and Nike for the provision of jerseys and other sportswear. On the other hand, the non-revenue aspect of sponsorship will involve sponsoring college championship or programs benefit student’s athletes.

Public relations

Every running organization often incorporates the aspect of public relations in its business strategy. The public relation in its raw context defines a strategic process of communication that creates a mutual and beneficial relationship between an organization and the public (Curtis &Lindley, et al 90). As a function of the management, public relation is vital in the process of analyzing interpreting and anticipating the opinion of the public, their attitudes, and other issues the public might want to inquire, and which might have an impact on the plans and operations of an organization. NCAA (National College Athletic Association) as an organization intends to accomplish its public relations through advertising the organization’s programs on various television networks such as CBS, ESPN, and Turner. The organization intends to design an effective promotion and advertisement standards that will focus mainly in portraying to the public the NCAA ideals and values and their involvement in promoting the interest of higher education and student-athletes. The organization tends to utilize the various components of media relation to enhancing further its public relation. Some of the media relation components that the organization intends to utilize include;

News releases: The organization intends to make its major announcements especially about its programs and sales products such as jerseys and other breaking news concerning the organization that might be of interest to the public through the use of news releases (Curtis &Lindley, et al ).

Story pitches: The main strategic plan within this context is to task the organization PR specialist to work closely with media writers and editors and to encourage them to create a copy or only show information segments that portray NCAA in good light.

Internet: The organizations further intend to use the internet platforms to interact closely with members and the public. Through this aspect, the public can make inquiries on various issues and receive an immediate response. Creation of the organization’s website on the internet is another strategy for achieving the PR goals (Curtis &Lindley, et al 92). The public will be able to receive all the needed information about the organization such as schedules for major programs and events such as the annual tournament dates. Furthermore, the website will provide the public with a platform to send direct emails and receive a direct response on the various issues that they might want to inquire.

Other strategies for achieving the PR goals that the organization intends to use will include engaging in community development programs such as giving out scholarship programs to best performing student-athlete and sponsoring sports programs within the community.

Social Media

In a broader perspective, social refers to a platform through which people interact by creating, sharing and exchange information through various networks. NCAA (National College Athletic Association) intends use various social media platforms to interact with the public as a public relation process and to create awareness to the public (Curtis &Lindley, et al 90). The organization intends to use social bloggers who will be instrumental in writing positive blogs about the organization and its programs to increase public awareness. The use of Facebook will also provide a good interactive platform between the public and the organization, and the public can make various inquiries on various issues concerning NCAA (National College Athletic Association).The organization further intend to use LinkedIn, which will be essential in meeting new customers, get in touch with different vendors and keep up with the latest news on athletics. Other social media platforms that the organization intends to utilize include Twitter among others.

Regarding revenue, the organization intends to use the social media to enhance brand awareness and create loyalty. The social media platform will enable people to have a close follow up on their favorite athletic teams hence creating revenue through the sales of team-related merchandise and products. Furthermore, there is likely to be an increase in match attendance which will lead to increase in the sales of tickets hence more revenue. Another aspect is that the use of social media will shorten the organizations sales cycle (Curtis &Lindley, et al). The credible organization review from the bloggers or other respected publications within the social media will help the customers to feel excited and comfortable about purchasing NCAA (National College Athletic Association) products. The company, therefore, intends to put specific social media strategies and experts who will be instrumental in providing various analyzes on the number of followers each NCAA member association has in its social pages and how the numbers can be transformed into revenue.

Distribution Plan

A distribution strategy or plan is the most important aspects of every given business strategy. In this case, a distribution plan will lay out the details through which NCAA (National College Athletic Association) products and services will reach the hand of its end users. Most organizational set up often use the traditional methods whereby products move from the manufacturer to the wholesaler to retailer and then to the retailer. Since NCAA (National College Athletic Association) is an organization that deals with athletes programs and products the organization intends to use both the direct and the indirect distribution channels. The direct distribution channels will involve the customers receiving NCAA (National College Athletic Association) products and services directly from the organization. In this case, the organization intends to establish sports in each and every member’s colleges where the student-athletes can purchase their products directly from the stores.

Apart from establishing the products stores, NCAA (National College Athletic Association) has established direct contact lines both through channels such as e-mails, websites or direct phone call through which organizations or colleges can seek for their services. On the other hand, the organization intends to use the indirect method of distribution. In this aspect, the organization intends to utilize the services of intermediaries to distribute some of their products to the customers. The organization plans to use small-scale sports stores in the country to store and sell some of its products so as to cover a wide area. The stores will be paid on a commission basis for every NCAA (National College Athletic Association) products sold. The organization further intends to establish its agents and use brokers in negotiating for its products and services.

Product Place Matrix

NCAA (National College Athletic Association) intends to use the 4P marketing matrix on its operations. A 4p marketing matrix is a tool that divides the marketing decisions into four categories that are controllable (Dann &Stephen 8). The four categories include the place; price, product and the promotion.

Place: Even the headquarters of NCAA (National College Athletic Association) is in Indianapolis, it’s very popular in both Canada and the United States where it’s accessible to numerous colleges and universities that it collaborates. There are other stores that are located within the colleges for easy product access.

Price: The organization is mainly a non-profit organization and, therefore, derives most of its revenue from sponsorship from other cooperation’s, and organization of major college tournaments. However, the organization will still be engaged in the sales of jerseys and tickets and, therefore, intends to set prices based on the prevailing conditions and the competition. The prices of tickets will mainly be based on the ticket prices of other major competitions that are not under the umbrella of NCAA (National College Athletic Association).

Product: The NCAA (National College Athletic Association) products and services will be essential mostly in providing programs that are beneficial to the student-athlete. The organization will further offer jerseys to its associate members at a reduced price that will save on expenditure.

Promotion: The promotion strategy will largely involve the use of mainstream media networks such as CBC and ESPN. Other promotion platforms that the organization intends to use include social media such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. The social media promotion will largely target the people who are interested in sports and sports activities. The promotion of the organization, its product and its services will commence immediately after the establishment of its major stores within the various colleges and universities.

Trademark and patent protection

Trademark protection describes the protection of a symbol that is affixed on a good or service and indicates the origin or source. On the other hand, a patent protects the expression of a given idea but not the idea itself (Davis, Michael, Arthur &Miller). NCAA (National College Athletic Association) has acquired the services of Collegiate Licensing Company to manage its trademarks. Therefore, any individual who may want to use the organizations trademarks will have to make a formal request for an application through a web form after which the company will have to send license application. The applicant will then have to submit detailed information as to the intended use of the trademark and pay a lot of money before being granted the trademark use. On the other hand, the organization has invented various sporting techniques which it has acquired a patent.

Organization Structure

An organizational structure outlines the arrangement of hierarchy in an organization. The arrangement shows the lines of authority, duties and rights of an individual in an organization. Furthermore, the structure shows how the powers, roles and responsibilities in an organization are controlled assigned and coordinated. The governance structure of the organizations made up of 100 committees. The association-wide committees are responsible for handling major issues that impact on NCAA members and will perform their duties in line with the organizations operations.

Executive Committee: The highest organization organ is the executive committee. The main responsibility of the executive committee is to ensure there is consistency in the operation of the divisions.

Subcommittee on gender and diversity issues: After the executive committee, there is the subcommittee formed from the executive committee whose main responsibility is to furnish the executive committee with a preview of issues regarding the minority, gender, youth and in overall the welfare of student –athlete.

Sports Medical Committee: The committee will be responsible for promoting a safe and healthy environment for student-athlete. Other duties will include drug education and testing and policy development.

Marketing Committee: The committee will be responsible for the marketing aspect of the organization and will be headed by the Chief Marketing Officer who will also act as the chairman of the committee.

Student-athlete advisory committee: The committee which is the lowest in the organizational structure will be responsible for protecting the student welfare and enhancing a positive image of the student-athlete.

All the committees and the subcommittees within the organizational structure shall be headed by a chairman and a vice chairman elected by the committee members

Digital strategy

The aspect of digital marketing and use of advanced technology has taken over almost all operations of every company or organizations in the 21st century. The establishment of a digital strategy often guides an organization towards making the right decision to achieve online success. NCAA (National College Athletic Association) therefore intends to create a website that will create a platform through which the public and members will have access to information concerning the operations and programs of the organization such as the upcoming championship, their dates, and venues. Furthermore, the organizations will engage the services of other e-commerce services such as Amazon to advertise and make online ticket sales. Social media applications such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn will further be used to create a platform for interacting with the public.

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Conclusion

NCAA (National College Athletic Association) marketing plan, therefore, indicate the organization is well equipped to establish its operations. The sales strategy gives a good indication of sustainability since the organization is likely to acquire good revenue from the stated avenue to sustain its operations. Apart from the sale, there is a clear distribution channel through which the organization will reach its end users.