Turning your love of sports into a successful career takes passion, persistence, and a real willingness to give it your all. Competition is at the center of what sports are all about — and a successful sports marketing career can be yours with the right strategy. If you have excellent communication skills and a determination to make a good living in athletics, you could become a real player in the field of sports marketing.
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How to Start a Sports Marketing Career
1. Explore Your Options
Diversity abounds in the types of jobs in sports marketing. Consider the possibilities to refine your path forward accordingly. Some of the positions available in sports marketing include:
- Public Relations Specialist, Athletic Business Manager
- Sports Athletic Director, Account Coordinator
- Sports Agent, Vice President of Business Development, and more!
Once you decide on a particular path, you can customize your strategy moving forward.
2. Pursue the Proper Education
As a general rule, you will need a Bachelor’s degree to get into sports marketing. The areas of study that will make you the most competitive are marketing and journalism. But other related degrees that can open the door include:
- Business Administration to develop your business skills.
- Sports Management for marketing and other opportunities in sports.
- Kinesiology, if you really like sports medicine too.
- If you are able to attend a college with a specialized program in sports marketing — even better.
Regardless of your major, make sure to include some courses in business, economics, and sales. These are all central to effective
marketing.
3. Strengthen Your Sports Marketing Skill Set
A love of sports and excellent communication skills are the first essential components of a successful sports marketing career. But there are several other qualities that are needed to truly thrive in the field. Good project management skills will keep the team on the same page, projects completed on time, and impress bosses and other business partners too.
You also need to have skills in campaign management. Working all your resources to get the event or announcement to your audience in a timely, effective, and dynamic manner will propel success. (Plan.Build.Execute.) Other main areas to strengthen include vision and strategic planning. These qualities will become more powerful with experience and time, but having some skill with connecting audiences to brand identity (and the process to deliver) will make you that more attractive of a candidate at the beginning of your career — and for future promotions.
4. Start Applying!
Opportunity awaits the eager sports marketing candidate. Whether you are applying for positions in public relations, event sales, promotions, or other areas, there are a variety of employers you could have the opportunity to work for:
- College sports teams
- NFL, NBA, and NHL teams
- Sports venues
- Soccer clubs and teams
- Tennis associations, organizations, and teams
- And more!
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5. Take Advantage of Internships
The perfect job may not always be available when you are ready to start applying. Sports Marketing internships can be very valuable experiences to get your foot in the door. It also looks great on your resume and helps you stand out from thousands of other people who are interested in launching a career in sports.
Other benefits of obtaining an internship include the following:
- Gives you a chance to explore your career path
- Potentially receive financial compensation
- Excellent networking opportunities within the industry
- Learning directly from other professionals and increasing your skill set
- Gives you the ability to transition more easily into your career
A career in sports marketing is exciting, often fast-paced, and offers sports lovers of all types to be a part of a team that works together doing something they truly enjoy.
