We’ve worked with The Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity (CIMSPA) to provide a hub of information aimed at improving the digital marketing skills of our sector.
Research conducted for us by the Digital Marketing Institute surveyed more than 1,000 people involved in sport and physical activity marketing and communications, and showed 63% of them had no clear plan to attract new audiences through digital channels.
As a reaction to this digital skills gap, we teamed up with CIMSPA and used £450,000 of National Lottery funding to develop the free Digital Marketing Hub.
Aims of the hub
The Digital Marketing Institute’s research also found that 81% said attracting new participants was very, or extremely, important and 25% rated their organisation as ‘not at all’ effective at adapting to new trends and insights – with just 10% rating their organisations as ‘very or extremely’ effective.
This hub aims to help people and organisations improve how they apply digital marketing tools and techniques to encourage more people to play sport and be active.
What’s on offer?
The hub combines online learning, via bitesize modules and a live webinar series, with peer networking opportunities.
The hub is tailored to small businesses, self-employed professionals and volunteers at frontline organisations and clubs, as well as marketing and communication professionals at larger organisations.
Using content provided by a consortium of partners, it explores how digital marketing can be used to engage people with sport and activity, and look at how people can understand more about their audience.
Other topics the programme covers include:
- Reaching new audiences – helping people to reach new and more diverse audiences and drive growth for their organisation or club on small budgets
- Insight application – supporting people to better understand and apply audience and sector insight to inform their digital marketing activities
- Measurement – supporting people to set goals and key performance indicators and measure them effectively
- Channel skills – increasing understanding of the key digital marketing channels, such as social media, search, websites and email, and giving people the practical skills to use them effectively.