In a world where PR and content marketing is essential to SEO, the sports industry can bring about some learnings for anyone in the digital marketing field.

Karina Barriga Albring of FIFA joins me on the SEJ Show to discuss the world of sports development and sports marketing. She shares her journey from traditional journalism to PR and marketing.

Take a look at how sports can provide some valuable marketing insights and how marketing can benefit from sports too.

We know how passionate people are about a sport, whether football, soccer, or basketball. People sometimes have an irrational attachment to this activity, myself included. We don’t use our minds when we process a sport. The fan base is not something rational. So when you have such an attachment to something. The emotional connection is so strong that, of course, brands will want to be involved. Sports marketing is tagging along to the immense love, attachment, and relationship we have for sports. –Karina Barriga Albring, 11:44

We’re going to start seeing brands align with athletes whose message and online persona align with the values that the brand wants to spread. –Karina Barriga Albring, 24:31

Brands like to have ambassadors who are relatable and who are real people. So if you are an athlete who enjoys theater, go to the theater and get involved in local community activities. Try to identify the other passions that you have. All of that helps you build your persona. Make people find you more relatable and likable, which will translate into brands wanting to work with you. –Karina Barriga Albring, 30:30

[00:00] – About Karina.
[03:40] – How working with other industries helped her in sports.
[06:57] – What PR is all about.
[10:54] – What is Sports Marketing?
[16:12] – To what extent is licensing a part of Sports Marketing?
[19:14] – The importance of personal branding in Sports Marketing.
[27:26] – Opportunities for athletes to build their brand.
[33:28] – Sports Marketing tips that can be applied to marketing.

Resources mentioned:
FIFA – https://www.fifa.com/

In the time that we’re living in, we’re no longer competing for an audience. We’re not only
competing with our direct competitors but for the attention of the audience. You’re competing for people’s times. So if you are trying to get one of your fans’ attention, you are competing with the music they listen to. You’re also competing with Spotify and so many different things. These days that is something that we need to think about when we analyze our strategies and our positioning. It’s not only about our direct competitors but about who our audience is giving their time and interest to. –Karina Barriga Albring, 48:29

In website development or SEO, it’s always nice to check what your main competitor is doing and your smaller competition. And it’s always great to have a “side project” to experiment with. But, of course, you may be unable to do it on your company’s website. Still, the ability to have some side project and then turn it into a business case and then pitch the ability to do it on your company’s website may also be helpful. –Loren Baker, 47:23

The number one thing is understanding the audience. Who are you trying to reach, and then identify the best channels to reach that audience? With influencers and content creators online, when we think about PR, we don’t only think about traditional media. We think about anyone with a platform to make your message widespread.–Karina Barriga Albring, 8:27

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Connect with Karina Viviana Barriga

Karina loves building lasting relationships with people, using the game of football as her prime opportunity.

Her passion for sports and expertise in journalism, public relations, and marketing help her develop athletes and businesses side-by-side through dynamic business models.

With an MBA dedicated to Football Industries already under her belt combined with bi/multicultural experience within the industry, Karina is ready to make significant changes in this ballgame!

Connect with Karina on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karina-barriga-albring
Follow her on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kbarrigaalbring

Connect with Loren Baker, Founder of Search Engine Journal:

Follow him on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/lorenbaker

Connect with him on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorenbaker