Emerging Trend in High School Sport Marketing

Aug. 14, 2010 - PRLog -- Charlottesville, Virginia - 8/10/2010 - Tradition is sacred in sport. And when it comes to the need for money to feed the machine, that will never change. In professional sports and high-profile college sports, marketing drives revenue. High school athletic directors, coaches and booster clubs are beginning to see social media as the great equalizer to help them get some of those same dollars from their local community through marketing.
Social media, often free, is a cost-effective way for athletic administrators, coaches and booster clubs to help their teams increase ticket sales, fund raising and community support. Email marketing, Facebook, blogging, Twitter, Foursquare and Youtube are both accessible and powerful ways to increase awareness and drive revenue. Marketing firms, like Riot Sports Marketing, are assisting athletic leadership in extending their reach and depth in their markets. "Primarily through social media we assisted Beat the Streets-NYC, a non-profit organization, raise $900,000 at their event in Manhattan this spring," commented Jim Harshaw, chief instigator at Riot Sports Marketing.
"Riot provides programs with a core set of tools that are essential to fundraising, marketing your team and overall program development,"remarked Steve Garland, head wrestling coach at the University of Virginia.
As the business world shifts advertising dollars online, so too the sports world evolves to take advantage of online marketing. While tradition remains strong in sport, the means of selling more tickets, fund raising and building a strong, supportive community are evolving. Social media has become the great equalizer.
Riot Sports Marketing is a sport marketing consulting firm based in Charlottesville, VA. Chief Instigator, Jim Harshaw, brings a wealth of experience from various backgrounds including small business ownership, non-profit leadership and NCAA Division I coaching.

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With a background in small business management, non-profit leadership and as a Division I wrestling coach, Jim Harshaw developed RSM systems with the goal to help for both for-profit and non-profit sports organizations grow.