Lesson 2.4
Primary Marketing Functions
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
 Pricing
 Distribution
 Promotion
 Financing
 Selling
 Information-Management
 Product and Service Management
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Pricing: Assigning a value to products and services
Price is determined on the basis of supply and demand
Tickets to the Super Bowl are very expensive because
demand is high.
In 2013, the New York Jets chose to lower the prices on
about 5,000 seats combined for season ticket holders in the
300-level and in the club seating areas (in some cases
dropping prices from $700 to $255 for season tickets) at
MetLife Stadium based on the supply and demand that
impacted the previous year's sales in those areas
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Pricing: Assigning a value to products and services
Despite the fact that Disney announced ticket price
increases at both Disneyland and Disney World while
eliminating many of the traditional discounts given to
local residents, the majority of Disney parks enjoyed
attendance increases.
Tickets for the 2014 men's ice hockey gold medal game at the
Sochi Olympics were unavailable within a half hour of going
on sale online. Customers were able to buy a maximum of
four tickets, with prices ranging from $233 and $1,132.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
When demand fluctuates as frequently
as it does in the ticketing world,
companies must implement strategies
to help identify the best price points to
match demand.
This is why many organizations are
moving toward a “dynamic pricing”
structure where games in higher
demand cost more than the same ticket
for a game with lower demand…
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Distribution: Determining how best to get products
and services to consumers
EA Sports sells their video game products at
Target and Best Buy stores, knowing that
consumers shop at those stores for video games
and entertainment
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
On Demand and streaming services have become
prevalent options for consumers in today’s
marketplace
As Apple tries to hold on to
market share, they are
constantly adding new
streaming content for their
Apple TV product (such as
HBO Go, ESPN) to appeal to
a broader base of
customers
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Sports and entertainment companies must
determine which distribution strategies will
help to maximize sales, whether that is mass
distribution in as many outlets as possible or
partnerships with individual retailers to
create exclusivity and drive demand.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Taylor Swift’s album release
Red received a boost because
the album was available at
several nontraditional retail
outlets, including Starbucks,
Target, Papa John’s Pizza and
Walgreens, selling over 1.2
million copies in its first week
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
To promote last year’s release of his album Magna
Carta Holy Grail, Jay-Z inked an exclusive (and
lucrative) partnership with Samsung to provide free
copies of the album to one million Samsung cell phone
and tablet owners before it was available for sale.
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Exclusive distribution doesn’t always guarantee
success however, illustrated by the disappointing
sales of Sears’ “Kardashian Kollection”
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Promotion: Communicating information about
products and services to consumers
GameFly, Inc., an online video game rental subscription
service, announced a national summer-long promotion
with Six Flags last summer, in which the online video
game rental company offered Six Flags guests extended
“free” trials of their subscription service as well as
providing one million gift cards available for giveaway at
toll booth exits at each park
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Financing activities could include:
 Creating a budget for a company’s marketing
plan
 Analyzing the cost effectiveness of existing or
past marketing efforts
 Providing customers with flexibility in purchasing
company products or services
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
In July of 2014, Under
Armour bumped its annual
forecast for sales for the
second time, citing
"increased confidence" in
its footwear and
international businesses.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Budgets and projections/forecasts are never an
exact science.
The 2013 summer release of the film Star
Trek Into Darkness was forecast to break
the $100 million barrier but made just $84
million, not good news for the studio after
budgeting a reported $200 million to
produce the movie.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
The US Army chose to end it NASCAR sponsorship
after the Air National Guard spent $650,000 to
sponsor a 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup race that
resulted in just 439 recruitment leads, none of
which ended up joining the Army
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Like many professional sports
franchises, MLB’s Washington
Nationals offer payment plans for
customers purchasing ticket
packages. According to the team’s
website, the Nats’ “Grand Slam E-Z
Payment Plan allows season ticket
holders to pay a fraction of the total
cost of their tickets in easy monthly
payments. This is available for either
Full, Half, or Partial Season Ticket
Plans.”
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Selling: Communicating with consumers to assess and
fill their needs, as well as anticipating future needs

Cultivating prospective buyers (or leads) in a
market segment

Conveying the features, advantages and benefits
of a product or service to the prospective buyer

Closing the sale
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing

Many professional sports teams utilize a call center
to revenue generated by ticket sales

A call center is a physical location where calls are
placed, or received, in high volume for the purpose
of sales, marketing, customer service; typically
through the use of telemarketers

Call centers employ a staff to perform
telemarketing activity with the goal of selling
ticket packages over the telephone
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
The University of Minnesota athletics department
outsourced their ticket sales operation to a third party
organization (Aspire Group) to help boost ticket sales for
Gopher athletic events.
Aspire deployed a full-time sales staff to work in
Minneapolis on the effort.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
In 2014, The University of Texas also
contracted The Aspire Group to manage the
program’s athletic ticket sales and service, a
program that generates more than $40 million
in ticket revenue each year according to the
Sports Business Journal.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Marketing Information-Management: Gathering
and using information about customers to improve
business decision making
Professional sports teams began offering smaller
ticket packages (half-season, quarter-season,
five-game packages) after determining through
customer research that full season ticket plans
were often too costly and/or time consuming for
many fans to purchase
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
As visitors pass through the turnstiles at Disneyland in
California, guests are randomly selected to answer
interview questions from friendly staff members
equipped with hand held data recording devices. This
provides Disney management with up to date
information about park guests, such as where they
are from, how many are in their group, and how many
times they have visited the theme park in the past.
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Product/Service Management:
Designing, developing, maintaining,
improving, and acquiring products or
services so they meet customer needs
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
One of Nike’s product management efforts includes
the “Nike Field Tester Program” in which selected
applicants will wear Nike shoes for typically 4-8
weeks. Testers keep a daily written account of
information relating to the product. Also, testers
are required log the number of hours the shoes
were worn each day, the surfaces shoes were worn
on, observations regarding the shoe’s fit,
performance and durability.
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Executives from professional sports teams are always
working to improve their product, recognizing the
importance of fielding a competitive team to meet the
demands of consumers (fans)
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© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
What is SEM?
LESSON 2.4
Primary Functions of Marketing
Following in the footsteps of
the popular “app” ecosystem
which allows anyone to
create games for mobile
devices, Microsoft announced
that the release of its Xbox
One gaming console would
allow developers to create
their own games
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC
LESSON 2.4 REVIEW (ANSWERS)
What is SEM?
1) Describe the seven functions of marketing
1- Pricing
2- Distribution
3- Promotion
4- Financing
5- Selling
6- Marketing information-management
7- Product and service management
Copyright
© 2014 by Sports Career Consulting, LLC