Marketing Athletic Events at the University of Illinois

Answer

A target market profile
The target group of students include both full-time and part time students. The full-time students are aged 17 years to 24 years while part timers are mostly older. There is no preferred gender as both male and female students are welcome (Hutchinson et al. 195). The games will be hosted at the University of Illinois based at its flagship institution at Urbana-Champaign., Chicago. Most of the students engage in part time work while others are dependent on their parents. New York Times reports that the median family income of University of Illinois students is $109,000 (para 1).
The preferences and interests of target students range from both introverts and extroverts who value collegiate sporting events. The students have active lifestyles and their hobbies include watching and making follow up on collegiate, national, and international sporting events especially in football and basketball.
The service being offered provides fun and relaxation to the target audience. Additional benefits are that sporting activities are vital for relaxation and passing time. Some students use the event to bond and network while others want to meet their favorite players. To meet these goals, the services have been designed in a manner that the loyal customers have the front seats and sit closest to the pitches. This enables them to have firsthand view of the game and to meet and interact with their favorite players at the end of the games.
This service does not have internal competition at the University of Illinois, however, other universities having collegiate sports also have their programs, however, the Illini Pride Pass offers a superior value proposition since it is affordably priced.
A media user profile
The Fighting Illini Athletics Facebook page has more than 121,671 likes. The page is very interactive as it has current updates of most of the sporting activities. Its Instagram page has a larger following of more than 39,900 people. This social media site attracts more interactions compared to Facebook. The dominant profiles are of elderly fans meaning that the youths are not actively involved in collegiate sports. Their interactions are not consistent and could be in need of some stimulation through targeted marketing.
A follow up on the media channels used by the fans shows that they frequent Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and the Fighting Illini Athletics website and blog pages. Most of the fans prefer reading about American football than men’s basketball. They like being updated on the latest and upcoming events within and outside the university. Lately, most students have been searching for ways to stream live events around the university. Perhaps this report points at a new trend where the millennials prefer live streamed events rather than attending the live events at the stipulated venues around the university.
The most suitable channels for reaching the target market is through social media platforms, especially Instagram. This page has attracted the largest following and thus, it could be the best avenue for connecting with the target customers. The best tactic for marketing the events would be inviting sporting celebrities to the sports. This strategy is also known as celebrity endorsements (Fridley, 23). It will entice the students to purchase the Illini Pride Pass.