PROFESSION

Sports Marketing Manager

Jonathan Wilson

Name:
Jonathan Wilson

Degree:
Business Studies

Employer:
110% Marketing

  • Typical Day
  • Advantages
  • Qualifications
  • Resources

A day in the life of a...
Sports Marketing Manager

Job Description
A Sports Marketing Manager collaborates with sporting organisations to help them develop and promote their products, services and campaigns across any media platform. 

 
A day in a life of a Sports Marketing Manager
No two days are ever the same and while the hours can be long (don’t expect 9-5 if you choose to work in sport) I am lucky to work in an industry that I am interested in.

My company is a new marketing agency focused in the marketing and commercial aspects of the sports industry and so we work on a whole manner of projects from conferences and exhibitions (such as our flagship event Careers in Sport and Leisure) through to designing new commercial strategies and marketing campaigns.

Our clients cover the entire breadth of sport from National Governing Bodies to charities, new small companies and then large commercial operators.

It’s always busy, varied and I have to be able to manage a full range of projects at any one time – but its fun and very rewarding and its nice to have an excuse to talk about sport in a meeting and know that its to do with work!

3 great things about being a Sports Marketing Manager

 

1. The people you meet in the sports industry are a definite plus. There is a definite sense of pride and passion from people that work in sport
   
2. The variety of the work – the industry is young and so the types of projects you’re likely to get involved in are varied
   
3. The sense of achievement. While I am sure this is the same for people that work in many industries I am lucky enough to sometimes work on a project that makes a genuine difference

 

3 not so great things about being a Sports Marketing Manager
   
1. The hours are long and the expectations on you to deliver can be significant as the competition is tough
   
2. Lots of people outside the industry think your job is permanently free tickets and famous sports people – believe me its not
   
3. When you first start you will need to be aware that the pay can be less than other industries given the competition to work in sport so you need to take a longer term view of your career and maybe for go some of the immediate financial benefits that come with starting your first job. 

 

Qualifications recommended you gain

I don’t think a sports marketing degree or even a marketing degree is essential. The people that work for me don’t have such focused degrees, but they do all have good academic qualifications and all have good ‘solid’ degrees which did help me to ensure a certain level of academic ability that I felt was important for 110% Marketing.

So if we take a degree as the standard benchmark in terms of academic requirements, following completion of your degree look to get into sport and look to ‘differentiate’ yourselves from the competition. That was the key message from Careers in Sport and Leisure 2009 and will continue to be crucial for anyone wanting to work in ANY competitive industry.

Think about joining a professional institute or chartered institute and sign up to the free emails and newsletters so you know what is happening in the industry and the types of opportunities that are available. This means that when you do get the interview for THAT job you can show an interest in your chosen industry and differentiate yourself from your competition.

 

3 opportunities and experiences you recommend people gain?
   
1. Work Experience
   
2. Work Experience
   
3. Work Experience

Make sure it’s relevant and be creative with what you do so when you are looking for someone to give you that dream job you can prove that you have some understanding of what will be required – it will significantly help your chances at interview. 

Salary Range
A typical starting salary of a marketing executive in sport will be anywhere from £12,000 – £16,000 depending on the size of the company and expectations of the role 

 

Where to study...

You can study a BA (Hons) in Sports Marketing at;

Coventry University 
Leeds Metropolitan University 
Manchester Metropolitan University 
University of Huddersfield 
University of Lincoln 
University of Northampton 

Useful Websites
www.careersinsportandleisure.co.uk 
www.sportbusiness.com 
www.sportengland.org
www.skillsactive.com

Videos 
icould.com - Sarah Steel

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