Marketing Plan for North Carolina State Men's Soccer Josh Katz Cory
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Marketing Plan for North Carolina State Men’s Soccer Josh Katz Cory Scott 12/08/2014 PRT 476 1 Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 4 Company Description/Mission Statement 4 Background 5 Situational Analysis 7 Internal Analysis (Strengths/Weaknesses) 7 External Analysis (Opportunities/Threats) 8 Examine Product Portfolio & Positioning 9 Competitive Analysis 10 Customer Analysis 12 Marketing Goals 14 Marketing Tactics 15 Implementation & Control 19 Appendix 21 2 Executive Summary The N.C. State Men’s Soccer team is one of the many Division One Varsity sports that are offered at the University. Since its first season as a Varsity sport in 1949 the team has upheld the traditions of N.C. State and continues to excel at grooming quality men and a quality soccer team. Located in the heart of main campus the Men’s Soccer teams plays its home games at Dail Soccer Field. With top notch training facilities and recent stadium renovations the men’s soccer team at N.C. State already competes well with other soccer events that are in the surrounding area. The primary goal of the Men’s Soccer team is to put the best product out on the field so the University can reach the success that it once had in the 1990’s such as winning the ACC title and competing in the NCAA tournament for soccer on a consistent basis. Upon further examination of the product, the men’s soccer team has many strengths that distinguishes itself from direct competitors and indirect competitors. One strength is the quality of the training facility and stadium that are here at N.C. State. Many of the training fields are turf grass, which makes a huge difference because most colleges only have their game field as turf. This enables our players to have a competitive edge when competing because they are already accustomed to playing on this surface, they do not have to adjust when playing their games. Another strength that the team possesses is the rich historic tradition that N.C. State has as a whole and as a separate entity. Along with any sport that is offered here at N.C State the fans from Raleigh and the surrounding cities rally behind them and continue to support the efforts of our student athletics. As a separate team the men’s soccer team has shown it can win on the highest level in the past by winning the ACC title in the 1990 and continues to produce athletes that go on and have professional careers. In an effort to enhance the N. C. States Men’s Soccer team we will focus on two major marketing strategies that we feel need to be addressed in order to make the product better in all facets. The first marketing strategy is to increase the attendance of N.C. State Men’s Soccer team home games by 15% for the 2015-2016 season. When the men’s team is playing an in state rival such as the UNC-Chapel Hill or Wake Forest there are high numbers of attendance. However, when the men’s team plays weaker opponents or teams from outside the ACC the attendance diminishes by a considerable margin. We will look to have a consistent steady increase in numbers of attendance each home game of the season. Another strategy that we want to address is to distinguish the product from the competitors both direct and indirect. By running promotions that promote community involvement and active participation of fans we hope to have a product that families will want to take their kids to as well as considerable participation from the N.C. State student body. After making the necessary goals and strategies we will then display the tactics that we will use to achieve these strategies. Those tactics include a social media overhaul of all accounts that the team has now and also the creation of new accounts that we feel should be explored. Promotions that will get fans more involved such as Jersey Night and Show Your Pride Night. One tactic will be to run a Family Night Preseason Scrimmage that 3 will feature the men’s soccer team against the Carolina Railhawks, the NASL team in Cary North Carolina. Another tactic will be to run promotions through CASL’s ball boy team and ball girl teams of the night and give special prize packages to the best performing team. With planning and strategic implementation of the marketing tactics this marketing plan is sure to be successful in making the Men’s Soccer team one of the best family entertainment destinations in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area. 4 Introduction Company Description/Mission Statement The N.C. State Men’s Soccer team is one of the many Division One Varsity sports that are offered at the University. Since its first season as a Varsity sport in 1949 the team has upheld the traditions of N.C. State and continues to excel at grooming quality men and a quality soccer team. “The mission of the NC State University Department of Athletics is to prepare student-athletes to compete at the highest level and to inspire them to be leaders now and for the future by providing the best environment to achieve their athletic, academic, and personal aspirations as well as providing support for the professional development of our coaches and staff, all within the role of the greater institutional relationships to the University.” (gopack.com) A Unique Branding statement that is echoed throughout NC State Athletics is the phrase, to Prepare, to Compete, to Inspire, to Achieve. In summary we would like the Men’s Soccer team to embody this phrase by being the best prepared and compete well, inspire fans and achieve the success that we know we can have. Specific to the Men’s Soccer team, we would like to embody everything that N.C. State Athletics stand for as a unit as well as build their specific community. We want our men’s soccer team to be well revered within the community and our players and staff members to be role models that families want their kids to look up to. While playing in what could be argued as the best conference for Men’s Soccer, the ACC, the Wolfpack takes on the best competition and continues to compete against the best on the pitch. 5 Background The N.C. State Men’s Soccer team became a varsity sport in 1949 and competes in the Atlantic Coast Conference in Division One of the NCAA. The Wolfpack captured their first ACC title in 1990. The head coach of the team is Kelly Findley. Kelly Findley became the eighth NC State men's soccer coach on December 22, 2010. After going to two straight NCAA Tournaments and being named the Horizon League Coach of the Year at Butler University, Findley came to Raleigh to take over a NC State soccer program rich in tradition. Upon new renovations done in 2008, for the first time in the teams history the Dail Soccer Stadium was able to have Wolfpack games at night. The current marketing strategy for the Men’s Soccer team is to target current students and families. This is accurate to us because the stadium is right on campus so students are a great demographic to market to. This past season students were marketed to by having certain student groups such as the alumni association and the student Wolfpack club sponsor the games and having different promotions to push attendance for the home games that they would sponsor. For example the Student Wolfpack Club would hold minute events at men’s soccer games as an incentive for members to attend. This has been a pretty successful strategy because it does increase attendance for games. However, we feel like it can be constructed better which will be further discussed in sections below. For families, they are marketed by having local boys and girl’s soccer teams be the official ball boy/girls for the games. As an extra incentive the parents of the players are given free admission into the game so that they can enjoy seeing their kids on the sidelines. To market every family at one time this past season there was a “Youth Soccer Night” where the parents accompanied by the child and or children of a youth soccer participant would receive discounted admission. This was added so that families that had kids but were not on a team that got to be a ball boy or girl could show off their jersey and be able to be recognized for participating in the sport of soccer as a youth. To reach students and families at the same time social networking accounts have been created and are used to update and display important information regarding the team. The twitter page NC State Men’s Soccer created the hash tag #packfooty which has caught the interest of many fans. This tactic was created to track how many hits that this account received and to better understand what demographic was seeking out men’s soccer information. Along with Twitter the team also has a Facebook account and a YouTube account. One special thing that is run through the YouTube channel is a web series that chronicles different stages of preparation of the team. For example, one episode is about how the team prepares for an away game or what their practices look like. This video series gives fans an inside look at how division one athletes prepare for games and what the rigors are like being an NC State athlete.