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Significant moments which revolutionised contemporary sport

The commercialisation of sport has revolutionised the industry. The advent of e-sports and gaming, the synergising of different sports events together and branding fixtures as global entertainment are clear examples. In this blog, we review key events which have changed the infrastructure of sports business.  

KSI vs Logan Paul 2

On 9th November 2019, the first-ever professional YouTube boxing event headlined by two digital creators at The Staples Center, LA. Sports promotion giants Matchroom Boxing also sponsored the fight. The event was a trailblazer, bringing young tech-savvy audiences into the sport, and astonishing results. The contest generated £2.15 million via PPV on Sky Sports Boxing. It was DAZN’s 3rd best-selling fight of 2019, and the Press Conferences accumulated over 15 million views across multiple YouTube platforms. It also raised the profile of other boxing superstars such as Devin Haney and Billy Joe Saunders. Both world champions garnered over 1 million online impressions on Google the day before the event.

Both KSI and Logan Paul delivered a digital marketing masterclass influencing a new wave of ‘sporting culture’ by integrating online entertainment with professional sport. Matchroom Boxing Director, Eddie Hearn, has openly admitted that more ‘YouTube boxing’ fights are a possibility because of its success.

Floyd Mayweather vs Conor McGregor- ‘The Money Fight’

‘The biggest fight in combats sports history’. On the 26th August 2017 at the Staples Center, ‘The Money fight’ brought two different worlds together, producing a combat fighting masterclass with huge gains. Allegedly, Floyd ‘Money’ Mayweather walked away with approximately 300 million dollars and ‘The Notorious One’ Conor McGregor left with an attractive fee of $100 million. The occasion produced $4.3 million PPV buys and grossed over $600 million through American Television Network Showtime. The PPV buys were the second-highest of all time, behind Mayweather vs Pacquiao in May 2015.

Meanwhile, UK betting companies took £250 million in bets, and 41% of UFC content was affiliated to the fight between 23 July-23 August. Each fighter gained over 400,000 new followers on Instagram on fight night alone. And major sponsor ‘Hublot’ had astonishing digital engagement numbers, experiencing a 184% increase in online engagement three days before the bout. This extravaganza will surely inspire combat sport to explore opportunities to combine different fighting disciplines into one global event.

Anthony Joshua vs Ruiz 2

This was another boxing frenzy which raised the profile of Saudi Arabia’s ability to showcase world-class sporting entertainment. AJ vs Andy Ruiz 2 is arguably one of the most successful boxing events in sporting history.

Andy Ruiz Jr v Anthony Joshua, IBF, WBA, WBO and IBO heavyweight championships, Diriyah, Saudi Arabia. 7th December 2019. Picture By Mark Robinson.

It was the highest-selling PPV fight ever for Sky Sports Box Office, and was DAZN’s most streamed event of 2019, keeping Eddie Hearn keen to host future events in The Middle East.

The fight also demonstrated the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s drive for equality and positivity through sport. The media coverage of AJ and Ruiz’s rematch will provide an opportunity for grassroots athletes such as Saudis first female certified boxing coach, ‘Rasha Al-Khamis’ to demonstrate changes towards progressive gender equality in the Kingdom. 

Tottenham Hotspur- The Northumberland Development project

Spurs’ new multi-purpose stadium has provided a unique competitive advantage to the club, transforming it into a global entertainment business. Since its opening, Spurs has been listed as the 8th most valuable European club according to KPMG with a worth of 2,067 million Euros. The ‘Tottenham Hotspur Stadium’ has also won the ‘Venue of the Year’ at the 2020 Stadium Business Awards. The club has exploited the opportunity by bringing prestigious leisure events to its luxurious stadium. The club was due to host its debut boxing event between heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua and contender Kubrat Pulev before COVID19 struck. Two rugby games for 2020, including Saracens v Harlequins and England v Australia were also on the calendar alongside music concerts including performances from Lady Gaga, Guns N’Roses and the Capital Summertime Ball.

The fascinating part of Spurs’ journey is them achieving their profitable economic status without winning any silverware since 2009. Their unique journey to off-the-pitch stardom sets a new identity for other clubs to be aware of when operating in such an innovative market, that off-the-pitch and on-the-pitch success are two different ball games.

Social Media integrating into sports marketing

The era of social media marketing is debatably the most influential part of revolutionising sports business. The sports industry has been quick to exploit opportunities available to connect better with their audiences.

Palco President Suñol.23-05-2015 ultimo Partido de liga FCB-Deportivo.vista desde el palco presidencial del mosaico de Campions de liga

In the early days of Social Media, sport used platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to update their fans on the latest news affiliated about clubs, leagues, and tournaments. Now, social media is one of the most significant revenue streams for sports clubs. It has also played a crucial role in expanding a brands identity to international audiences. This in itself has helped evolve into the industry it is today, a sector which is driven by data and statistics.

The 2019 FIFA Women’s world cup

Undoubtedly, this is the most instrumental game-changer to elevate the profile of women’s involvement in elite sport. The tournament reached a record-breaking 1.12bn viewers throughout, gaining an average audience size of 82.18m with the final between the USA and The Netherlands matching the viewership figures of the men’s 2018 world cup final between France and Croatia. This tournament has demonstrated to be bigger than just a ‘world cup’, it’s a movement showcasing the power women have to gain equality in a ‘male-dominated’ industry. From a digital perspective, the hashtag ‘Equal Pay’ appeared five times during the final where the USA beat The Netherlands 2-0. This inspired USA striker Megan Rapinoe to contest the US federation for gender equality. This campaign has encouraged sportswomen to take a stand and not to settle for anything less than what they deserve.

Coronavirus

The world has experienced struggles with this unprecedented pandemic for the majority of 2020. The virus has provided an impetus for the sports industry to adapt for survival. Clubs, organisations, and governing bodies have had to re-strategise their traditional marketing methods to keep their audiences engaged without live sport.

Some major sports leagues have returned behind closed doors, including the Bundesliga, Danish Superliga, and the UFC. The most considerable change has been the absence of fan attendance, changing the atmosphere, experience, and commercial feel to sports. This pandemic has re-emphasised the fundamental role sports fans play in the social experience sport brings to society.  Despite this torturous epidemic, the relationship between sport and its supporters could become more influential than ever.

Each of these critical events has proven sport to be an ever-adapting market, continuously adapting its identity and exploiting in new industries, territories, and audiences. The ability of sport to continually adjust and revolutionise will help sustain itself as a market leader in global entertainment.  

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Joshua Stephens journey to Leyton Orient F.C: “Work hard and you will achieve”

Joshua Stephens is the Head of Commercial at Leyton Orient F.C. who also has a degree in Sport and Leisure Management from Loughborough University. Josh has had a wide array of experiences; he’s worked in entertainment, events and sales for the majority of his career. These opportunities led him to work for London’s second oldest football club, Leyton Orient F.C. We had an unmissable opportunity to interview Josh about his journey into sport to enlighten value for you sports enthusiasts to learn from one of the industries finest.

Q: How did your career in sport begin? 

A: I left University about ten years ago; I began my career at theme parks and moved into the music industry for approximately five years. While working in music, I planned, delivered, and sold packages for numerous European music tours, NBA Basketball, Tennis, and premium seating across AEG Europe’s portfolio of venues in the U.K. 

To continue developing my career, I found an opportunity at Saracens Rugby Club, which was a new challenge for me. I was there for a year as maternity cover and progressed onto a business development lead. I felt this opportunity was not for me long-term and decided to move on.

After lots of direct contact with multiple organisations, I eventually came across an opportunity at Leyton Orient. Working in football has been an insightful experience, mainly working with football fans as your audience; it has its pro’s and cons. I love it because we are a small, close-knit team, and I have regular contact with our chairman and board members who have a wealth of business knowledge. I feel I can make a difference every day despite the challenges that football presents. 

Q: As you have entered the sports industry externally, how did you ensure your skills remained transferable? 

A: I believe if you are an excellent digital creator, salesperson, marketer or finance director, no matter what industry you have worked in your skills are transferable. Clubs tend to work very differently. Furthermore, there was so much I could bring to Leyton Orient with my diverse experience coming into the industry. Since my involvement, we have made significant progress with revenue and have taken good practice from other sectors. Therefore, a focus has been on utilising our stadium for comedy galas, music concerts, potential boxing events, and just trying to drive revenue through non-match days.

Q: What was your strategy for building an active network to land that opportunity in the industry? 

A: In terms of networks, there are specific sports recruiters you should sign up to such as Global Sports jobs, SRi and Recruitment Sport. These recruitment agencies have been a part of my network. In terms of contacts, I was fortunate to work for AEG at the O2 Arena as I got to meet lots of contacts in sport. The jobs I found in the industry were thanks to the recruitment firms I used.

Currently, I am equally using this time to reflect on where I want to be in five years and thinking about how I can take my portfolio of experiences to the next level. While reflecting, I wish I had started my own business when I was younger while I had fewer commitments. While you’re early into your career, do not be afraid to be brave and bold.  

While working in the industry for two years at a very senior level, what are the values you have built to ensure your career is sustainable? 

Having a real team ethos is vital; being willing to get your hands dirty reflects very well on you, especially lower down in the pyramid. I think it is essential to have confidence in your ability, make a bold choice and trust your instincts. Be open to ideas, creativity, and innovation, while maintaining a critical eye both on your commercial strategy and P&L.

Q: What does your role at Leyton Orient look like daily? 

A: Each day is hardly the same. However, the core roles of mine include supporting marketing plans and strategies. Furthermore, I review my sales funnel to understand what deals and leads I have in the pipeline. Also, I would check out our sales figures to understand what areas of revenue are prosperous and where we can be improving. Once a week, I would sit with our head of Marketing to discuss messages I need to relay. Moreover, I will be keeping in touch with my clients regularly.

Q: What is the difference in the environment at Leyton Orient like on match-days compared to non-match days?

A: On non-match days, there are no more than 15 people in the stadium from a workforce perspective. Whereas on a match-day, there is around 150+ members of staff and over 6,000 football fans ready to make some noise. Nevertheless, it is a beautiful environment at the club, we are a small team, and the whole place transforms when match-day arrives.

Q: What advice could you pass onto to someone wanting to break into the sports industry? 

A: Be open to sports recruiters and always think about how your skills are transferable into sport. Be brave and bold, think about how you can build up your career portfolio, whether that is freelancing or being self-employed, give it a go. Use resources close to you, such as local sports clubs, identify what value you can provide them and eventually you will build up credible experiences. Also, do not limit yourself to just opportunities in sport, be as open-minded as possible as sport is an ever-growing market.

Finally, nothing is ever given to you on a plate, get up, be hungry, work hard, and you will achieve.

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Sport’s role in global support amidst Coronavirus crisis

That Covid-19 has caused anxiety, stress and disruption are a given. The world of sport has been impacted as heavily as most other sectors, with 2020’s major events now hanging in the balance. The question now is what sport is still able to do to help.

Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski and his partner were quick to respond, donating 1 million Euros to the ‘We Kick Corona’ campaign. ‘We Kick Corona’ was set up by Bayern Munich players Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka to help fund the health and social care sector to fight coronavirus. The campaign has raised over 2.5 million euros to date.

Meanwhile Juventus superstar Cristiano Ronaldo and his agent Jorge Mendes have announced plans to fund essential medical supplies for the San Joao Hospital in Portugal. The Portuguese International has reportedly bought over 200,000 gowns and three ventilators for the hospital. Ronaldo also plans to purchase 50,000 protective masks over the next few days and to donate them to hospitals throughout the rest of the country.

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In the United Arab Emirates, the Dubai Sports Council has launched a Social Media campaign entitled ‘Be Fit, Be Safe’ encouraging its online community to exercise indoors. This happened in direct response to the closure of many of the region’s sports facilities.

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Motorsport is also getting involved. As many of its key manufacturers have expertise in technical equipment, the F1 sector is collaborating with the UK Government and Health Authorities to speed up the production of more ventilators for intensive care units.

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Global sportswear giant Nike has creatively re-thought its normal marketing strategy by releasing a powerful message via social platforms. The message “If you ever dreamed of playing for millions around the world, now is your chance. Play inside, play for the world” is bound to hit home to its online community and influence its competitors to follow suit. The company has also donated $15 million towards the Oregon food bank, Community Recovery Fund and the Oregon Health & Science University.

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Over the coming days and weeks, we can expect to see more examples of the sports industry using its power and influence in positive ways, despite having been hit economically by the pandemic. And while the sector’s budgets, revenue and commercialisation will always be scrutinised by many, and criticised by some, in my opinion, any organisation which can provide support to a disadvantageous situation deserves credit.

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Tottenham Hotspur FC shows the sports world how to operate as global entertainment business

Despite “The Lilywhites” performance so far this season being questioned by some Spurs fans, the football club’s strategy for business has proven to be a game changer. The Northumberland development project, Spurs’ £1bn multi-purpose stadium is now globally recognised as one of the greatest sporting venues. This has attracted commercial opportunity to evolve this football club into an exciting global entertainment business. 

Last Monday, Matchroom Boxing Director Eddie Hearn publicly announced boxing’s heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua will be defending his titles against Kubrat Pulev on the 20th June at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. This is the first ever boxing match to be hosted in Spurs’ history.

Spurs are, however, no strangers to expanding their brand into different markets. The club has a 10-year-partnership with the NFL, which has produced millions from merchandise, hosting fees, food and drink sales. On this note, Anthony Joshua’s bout is set to be another appealing financial opportunity considering the growing profile of UK boxing since Tyson Fury’s recent victory against Deontay Wilder.

Not only do ventures of the NFL partnership and the heavyweight boxing initiative generate additional streams of revenue for the club, they complement the clubs marketing strategy. It’s clear the club has strategically used these projects to grow its audience in different sports. 

For this boxing event, having Anthony Joshua headlining the occasion will present opportunity for the club to engage with a new fan base. Anthony Joshua has demonstrated to be a marketable asset within urban music, entertainment and sports fashion. Therefore, bringing ‘AJ’s’ profile into the club could enhance Tottenham’s relationship with these diverse markets. The club has already exhibited its capability to exploit different sectors outside sport by working with global music artist AJ Tracey. The British rapper has been involved in the launch of the club’s 2019/20 kit campaign and generally endorsing the club through his music and brand.

The future is bright for Tottenham now it has become an international phenomenon, rising to the 16th largest intercontinental followed club on social media. The club has exploited online media platforms such as Amazon Prime with its documentary “All or Nothing” set to launch this summer. Spurs’ partnership with design label Hugo Boss has been renewed for another three years, embedding their brand across luxury fashion. Lastly, the club can boast the 8th largest revenue stream worldwide last season according to the Deloitte money league tables.

What else could the future hold for the Lilywhite’s? Music concerts at the venue which could take it into the league of Wembley stadium, while special edition merchandise releases for cultural events could follow, or even collaborating with more luxury fashion labels to further exploit a market evidently engaging with the sports world? 

As a first-class graduate in sports business, and an experienced digital marketer, I believe Spurs has demonstrated to the sports industry that thinking innovatively and collaboratively leads to commercial growth beyond its operating sector. 

Has this piece inspired you? If so, follow my LinkedIn to stay updated with unique and original stories across the sport world and beyond! 

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The Middle East set to become major players in Sport

2019 has seen the Middle East create some of sport’s most inspiring experiences, including Anthony Joshua’s becoming the heavyweight champion in Diriyah, 50 Premier League Goals for Liverpool’s Mohammed Salah, Qatar’s first AFC Asian Cup win, and Bahrain lifting their first Arabian Gulf Cup. 

2020 promises to be an even bigger sporting year for the Middle East now that Saudi Arabia has brokered a 10-year hosting deal with World Snooker, hosted the 2020 Dakar Rally in January and is due to deliver the first-ever Ladies European Tour golf tournament in March.  

The financial status of the region plays a big part. Investment and commercial opportunities are plentiful. The Spanish Super Cup, The Italian Domestic Cup and the para-athletics championships in Doha are just some of the beneficiaries. Moreover, companies such as Nike are producing digital campaigns to raise the profile of the UAE sporting culture. 

This has proven an excellent opportunity for the Middle East to use sport to unite the region. Examples of this include some inspiring and enable paradigm shifts in gender equality and inclusion. Refreshing firsts, such as Sham Al-Ghamdi, the first female football referee, Iranian women attending a men’s football match for the first time in Tehran have reached our screens, and Mohammad Al Hammadi recently winning the United Arab Emirates first-ever world para athletic championship gold medal. 

Ultimately, equality, diversity and inclusion in sport and society can only benefit from the strengthening relationship built between the Middle East and sport. 

To ensure the Middle East sports scene remains a sustainable asset for the future, investment in athletes and talent at the grassroots level should be prioritised. Talented newcomers such as Zuhayr Al-Qahtani (Saudi’s first professional boxer), Talal Bader (Saudi’s youngest Dakar Rally competitor) and many more should be encouraged and supported to become household names and will help the region to develop more role models for aspiring young athletes.

Without question, the Middle East’s extraordinary journey is enhancing its identity to millions across the globe. To follow the region’s exciting adventures in international sport, be sure to check out Arabian Peninsula Sport Management’s (APSM) Digital Marketing channels below. APSM is a niche sport, entertainment and events company helping to nurture the growth of Arabian Peninsula sports and they use their social media profile to champion the achievements made across the Middle East.

The relationship between the Middle East and sport has come so far already and it is truly exciting to see where the journey takes the region for the foreseeable future. 

https://www.facebook.com/SportsArabian

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/apsm_sa/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/arabian-peninsula-sports-management/

Website: https://www.apsm-sa.com/

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Remembering Ash (Ashwyn Paras Lall)

Dear Subscriber,

It is with profound sadness, we share the news of Ash’s passing (8th Oct ‘24) – our beloved son, friend and colleague – the inspiring mind behind the “Ash’s Sports Media” community. His dedication, creativity, support and passion for sports social media marketing touched all of us, leaving an indelible mark on our hearts and our work. Ash was more than just the founder of Ash’s Sports Media; he was a visionary who believed in the power of connection and the potential of social media to bring people together to support and help each other. His innovative spirit and unwavering commitment to excellence inspired us all, and his legacy will continue to guide us in our journey.

During this incredibly difficult time, we celebrate Ash’s amazing life and the vibrant community he built. Despite the immense challenges, including physical and psychological pain and severe disabilities (including regular grand-mal seizures) Ash suffered due to his cancer symptoms, like a true warrior he never surrendered but faced all difficulties with incredible courage, fortitude and resilience. Towards the bitter end when Ash reluctantly accepted that no further cancer treatment was available, he remained strong and I remember him saying, “my body may be broken and weak with cancer, but cancer won’t ever break my spirit – my spirit is still strong and one day it will fly away to be free from suffering, leaving my body behind”.

Amongst his many great achievements during his cancer journey, Ash completed writing an autobiography in 2023-4 which is currently being prepared for publication.  Also, incredibly, Ash proudly completed a challenging twenty-mile marathon training run just before suffering a very serious spinal cord injury due to spine tumours. This caused devastating disabilities including major lower leg mobility issues which meant Ash was not even able to walk normally let alone run. Despite these horrendous disabilities, Ash persevered with his goal to do a marathon charity fundraiser by eventually walking a full marathon (within 24 hours). Ash’s legacy continues to support people, who are suffering, through his “Much-Loved” tribute webpage (AshLall.MuchLoved.com) which has so far raised over £6.5k in charitable donations for the Royal Marsden Hospital cancer charity where Ash received life extending cancer treatment.

Although there are currently no plans to actively run, manage or develop Ash’s website AshSportsMedia.org, to honour Ash’s life and legacy, it will continue to be browsable as an inactive legacy site (IMPORTANT: please note that the other website address URL aliases “AshSportsMedia.com” & “AshSportsTalk.org” will no longer work). I hope you can all honour his memory by following his passion and continuing his mission in your own work and strive to uphold the values he championed.

Our deepest condolences go out to everyone who had the privilege of knowing Ash. Let’s together support each other as we remember and celebrate his life and contributions.  Thank you so much for being a part of Ash’s journey – your support and engagement meant the world to him, and it will always mean the world to us too.

With heartfelt sympathy,

“Ash’s Sports Media”

What are fighters, brands and promotions teaching us about the value of personal branding?

Oleksandr Usyk

Grid screenshot of Oleksandr Usyk’s Instagram profile

The heavyweight champion has sharpened up his personal brand after beating two of the toughest boxers in this generation, Anthony Joshua & Tyson Fury 👀

His Instagram description is also comprehensive from summarising his legacy as it list the belts he has despite not every fan will be aware of which ones are affiliated with the heavyweight champs status 🏆

Adding to the weblink Usyk has in his IG bio, this is an opportunity for upcoming fighters to use with creating for promoting sponsors, partnerships, portfolios that give them further light into the sport 🥊

When it comes to making short-form content long-term and using the element of IG stories to do so, that is another avenue if content that can help you with growing long-term supporters ♥️

BRANDS

X post from MMA Uncensored in relation to promoting the fight between Jake Paul & Mike Perry

This page is often found on X due to the tone of it sparking controversial content across the MMA scape 👀

Something that MMA uncesored do really well with their content often involves where they get their features from, whereas this one refers to one of UFC stars Sean O Malley ⬇️

Fight promotions

Andrew Valdina continues to be an advocate for Cage Titans

At #CTFC66, none other than one of their superstars Andrew Valdina. Despite the images being sharp and engaging to captivate Cafe fans across New England and beyond they’ve gone to focus on image carousels very often for their events 📈

Something that could be done by copywriters at the promotion can include the following ⬇️

👉🏾 alt text to comprehensively describe what each picture is an describes on representing the company 📙

👉🏾 have a direct conversation with the sponsors mentioned in the caption to also promote content they’re affiliated with 💬

👉🏾The same applies with Andrew re-posting the Cage Titans post as he’ll likely have a wider audience or niche fans that were not necessarily aware of who Valdina competes through.

Through these avenues it only helps to increase more opportunities for Cage Titans due to athete-driven marketing 🙏🏾

So that’s a wrap-up for todays content

Marketing wrap-up for today’s fight game, which has been led by Andrew Valdina, specific features on X that Cage Titans can use to improve their visibility alongside the value of athlete-drive marketing 🔥

How amazing is colour coding when growing my personal brand?

Hey, fighters, brand reps and promoters! I hope we’re enjoying the fight game as much as possible. I’m starting the week with some value around how there are plenty of dudes and dudettes in the sport who have done a good job of branding themselves to open new opportunities for themselves and others 👀

So let’s go with some case studies, Ash Sports Media followers!

What can you learn about how ESPN MMA brand themselves through colours?

https://x.com/espnmma/status/1814357987080765909?s=46&t=PJ_Gp3khAFSbWPAX656cbg

https://twitter.com/espnmma/status/1814357987080765909?s=46&t=PJ_Gp3khAFSbWPAX656cbg
X post from ESPN MMA

ESPN MMA, across both Instagram and X are, a leading voice regarding the latest updates across MMA, particularly the UFC 🔥

Not only is ESPN MMA one of the most super cool with colour coding, which looks good, but they’re also great at the consistency behind it🎨

Considering that their logo is red, black, and white, This plays a quality role when you want to be recognised by a viewer on social media/alerts/notifications etc. For that reason, being consistent with whatever content you’re producing, place that in mind 🔴⚫⚪

The content marketing team at ESPN MMA have done a good job at that with this X post endorsing Charles ‘Do Bronx’ Oliveira 🇧🇷

They’ve highlighted the core message through the text on the image, which is the same colour as the logo 👀

Why does this matter?

An example for myself involves whenever I get a notification on BBC Sport, Strava or LinkedIn. I can spot it straight away when looking at my phone purely based on its colours, It is also something to help those that aren’t able to read so well due to visual issues 🙏🏾

To discover more about how I can help with this, get in touch 💬

Casuals Corner MMA are the ones to learn more about colour grading 🎨

A screenshot of the Instagram grid of Casuals Corner MMA

https://www.instagram.com/casuals.corner.mma?igsh=bGZhcmg0ejhtMmV0

It was an honour to feature on their podcast last year purely down to how consistent they are around engaging and punchy colour grading 🟡

Here it is ➡️ https://bit.ly/3S4cTd4

Plus, there’s plenty of accounts on Instagram that use carousels to produce their content, although, Casuals have treated the first carousel as a thumbnail whereas there’s others who don’t meaning they have a lower chance of getting a fan to stop scrolling 👀

Focusing on smaller details like this can definitely help make a big difference simply through consistency 👊🏾

The proof is in the pudding through what Casuals have accomplished 👏🏾

If you want to chat further, go for it 💬

Mr. Jake ‘the problem child’ Paul certainly is a marketing machine

https://twitter.com/jakepaul/status/1814823577733956008?s=46&t=PJ_Gp3khAFSbWPAX656cbg
A link embedded from professional boxer Jake ‘the problem child’ Paul X account

The Problem Child this weekend fought against MMA veteran, Mike Perry 👊🏾

This post on X definitely stood out through the 🇺🇸’s promotional knowledge no question. Want to know more?

First and foremost, he’s showing off what boxer outfit he’ll be competing in which is definitely something I remember and it looked 🔥

Secondly if you’re not creating a video, make the most of designing a post accompanied with pictures, just like how Jake has 📷

Maximum amount of images and to get even more visibility, feel free to do an alt text feature which can improve how many more people see your brand through being as descriptive as possible 🪟🌅🌄

I thought I’d keep this short and sweet for you as a long blog post isn’t every ones cup of tea, for that reason, for further help and advice, give me a message 💬

How did it feel proving myself wrong?

Hi one and all, I’m Ash and I’m feeling super blessed to say that I’ve achieved a walk marathon 🔥

Unfortunately, a few weeks ago, I had some bad news about cancer. All of the tumours have grown, got a new one spotted in my lung where it is about 1.1 cm 😢

Last year, I didn’t have a better experience as the cancer spread to my spine, which affected my walking and running to an extreme level. Long story short, I had to re-learn how to walk and run. I went from training for a marathon where the maximum distance I achieved was 19 miles, although, after that, the metastases just began to grow in that area; I didn’t know at all about it 👀

It was a massive curveball and a horrible thing to deal with on top of what I’m going through already. It made me shed plenty of tears, especially when I heard the awful news that my cancer had grown; this was several months after I was diagnosed with spinal metastases. However, I remember chatting with a 3-time gold Olympic Medalist, Pete Reed OBE, who reminded me that “what gets in the way, becomes the way”. Unfortunately, quite some time ago, he went through a spinal stroke, which has caused him to be paralysed from his waist down, and he is in a wheelchair. He is a friend and former teammate of my step-brother, Jack Beaumont 🚣

“What gets in the way becomes the way”—one of the first thoughts that came into my mind. I initially thought I was training for a proper marathon, which was going well. However, life is too short to be upset constantly, so I thought, why not just go for walks more often? Eventually, I did over 13 miles in two days, in just under 11 hours, and chose to fundraise money for the Royal Marsden Charity. So far, just under £100 has been raised, and I plan to increase further by staying consistent with continuous charities and being able to say to myself, “This is a big deal towards my legacy”. 🔥

How did I feel after the walk marathon? Very rewarded, I proved myself wrong and others wrong. People with spinal cord injuries, epilepsy, cancer, etc. They’re, according to doctors and the average person, weak, unwell, and have low immunity, which affects their routine and other stuff. However, I’ve been one of the odds breakers, and I continue to be. Its not just with this, its also to do with this ⬇️

➡️ cancer shrinking further treatment after treat

➡️ the lung tumour being the primary cause of stage 4 but became dead after chemotherapy.

➡️ going from approximately 6 brain tumours to now a total of 2.

➡️ keeping active and well throughout chemotherapy and radiotherapy.

“I hope everyone in this arena and saw this knockout can experience my level of happiness, just one time in your life. But I’ve got to say, that isn’t going to happen if you don’t go for something” – Israel Adesanya 🇳🇬🇳🇿

If I were to summarise something from my walk marathon achievement is I was so happy after I did it regardless of my health. It reminded me how important it is to achieve things and put your mind to it as life is too short.

If I could teach yourselves from my achievement would be, “regardless of whatever challenges you’re going through, always remember that there always something you can do to make you happy and proud of yourself, look at me, I’m the evidence”.

How can other sports educate you to build your personal brand?

It’s another week and another opportunity to build your personal brand from other sports. Today’s blog post focuses on how fitness influencers use social media and methods to adopt from football broadcasters and brands.

Focus your content marketing on fan behaviours

Instagram reel posted by fitness influencer, Demi Bagby

Fitness influencer Demi Bagby, a few weeks ago, did a walk around at a gym and asked several members what songs they were listening to while working out 🤸🎧

Music is similar to sport in the sense that it brings people together, such as on the way to work, you’ll likely have your headphones in and be listening to some tunes 🎶

If you’re a fighter, combat sports brand or fight promotion, you can repurpose this idea through the following avenues 👇🏾

👉🏾 a fighter can share the songs they listen to while training, foods they eat before/after camp. 

👉🏾 combat sports brands, similar to Casuals Corner MMA, can create a food-related series regarding snacks and treats they make ahead of MMA-related events.

👉🏾 Fight promotions can use the opportunity ahead of events to promote local artists to attend their events to gain traction towards more audiences buying tickets to events 👀

Get into the habit of adapting your branding relating to your adventure

Screenshot of @footballontnt’s X profile

In the football world, it’s currently the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League. ⚽🌍

Therefore, the footballontntsports account has raised awareness of this to casual supporters of the beautiful game. Across the fight game, this is a transferable content lesson fighters, brands, and promotions can learn about 👇🏾

👉🏾 If you’re a fighter, ensure your cover photo and pinned post are related to an upcoming fight, media feature, promotion of yourself to compete, etc. 

👉🏾 If you’re a combat sports brand or fight promotion, ensure your creative assets, such as a cover photo, pinned post, etc., relate to your latest event/opportunity. 

Joey Swoll is a great example of how to use taglines for personal branding 

@thejoeyswoll

Her membership has been cancelled! #gymtok #gym #fyp

♬ original sound – Joey Swoll
TikTok uploaded by fitness influencer, Joey Swoll

Joey Swoll is a fitness influencer who uses his profile to call out those who give gym culture a controversial and exclusive name for itself. Long story short, through his content, he’ll regularly call out toxic behaviour and ends his videos with the tagline,” You need to do better”. 💪🏾

If you’re a fighter or represent a combat sports brand/promotion, this is a habit you should get into. It becomes a part of your brand identity to get more casual audiences to recognise you. Almost similar to colour codes across social content, it’s an avenue to capture attention and gain a community long-term. 💡

If you want to learn about branding, check out COPA90 Football! 

YouTube video uploaded by COPA90 Football

On the COPA90 Football YouTube channel, they’ve got a series called BWSL | Behind The Baller. What initially caught my eye was the consistency and engaging colour codes/typography used regarding the thumbnails. 🔥

As I’ve mentioned, this is a deal breaker to whether somebody chooses to click through to the video. Something else that struck me was their YouTube description, including a bit.ly link. 🔗

What’s a bit.ly link, I hear you ask; well, essentially, it’s a link shortener that you can use as a part of writing captions across social media, meaning you have slightly more space for writing or putting in different content pieces to make your brand potentially more engaging. 

Bit.ly have free accounts you can create, so feel free to check it out! 

Now that’s a wrap!

How can you build your personal brand from studying other sports?

Across the marketing world, tactics, tricks and trends are transferable regardless of whatever industry you’re in. Plus, particular sports are quicker to jump on trends than the combat sports world. However, it’s not just about the trends; it’s about following tactics that help optimise visibility, community management and branding. One way or another, it’s time to learn how to build your personal brand from other sports.

The Lawn Tennis Association content team know exactly what they’re doing with X threads

X post from the Lawn Tennis Association (The LTA)

Andy Murray is currently competing at the Dubai Tennis Championships and recently had an interview where he shared his thoughts about competing again at the Olympic Games. Considering that Paris 2024 is coming up soon, the LTA have optimised this by including their handle, which is beneficial for generating brand awareness towards their account. Furthermore, they’ve included Andy Murray’s X handle at the beginning of the caption while including an emoji before it. This is because if you simply start an X post with someone’s X handle, X will register that as a reply rather than an X post, limiting the level of impressions you can reach.

Another excellent marketing tactic the LTA has adopted is using alt text and creating an X thread for the key quotes that Andy shared during the interview. Alt text is a specific feature on X which allows you to describe an image you post through an X post. Its purpose is to make your content more accessible to those who are visually impaired. It also benefits the algorithm across X as social media generally appreciates content that is as comprehensive as possible.

Transferable lessons that fighters, combat sports brands and promotions can take away from this include the following.

  • Use alt text when promoting images to describe images as comprehensively as possible across your X feed.
  • Utilise X threads when covering long-form content.
  • Remember not to make the mistake of not registering an X post as a reply; to avoid this, place a full stop ahead of a handle when writing an X post.

That’s not how you promote web links on Instagram!

https://www.instagram.com/p/C3gJ6p0Mig6
An Instagram post from Paris 2024

Now, this is a lovely compilation of some of the best goals in football at the Olympic Games, no question. However, the content team made a slight error regarding promoting their web link via the captions. Unfortunately, on mobile devices, web links aren’t clickable via captions. Instead, when promoting web links via Instagram, it’s best to direct users to a link in your bio. Then, when sharing a story, there’s a link option available when creating one; utilise that to optimise as much awareness of the web link as possible.

Therefore, if you’re a fighter, combat sports brand or promotion, there are various ways to promote traffic to your website or an alternative platform. The most common platform is to set up a Linktree account; this allows you to store multiple web links to different platforms through one channel. It can also be used for different marketing channels, such as X.

Take YouTube Marketing notes from BBC Sport

YouTube video uploaded by BBC Sport entitled ‘McLaren want to be at the top of F1 – Oscar Piastri | BBC Sport”

Australian Motorsport racing driver Oscar Piastri was recently featured on the BBC Sport YouTube channel. He certainly had plenty to say regarding his verdict on McLaren’s legacy; at the same time, the BBC Sport content team did a great job branding the content to draw in as many eyeballs as possible.

First and foremost, the gradient of their colour branding is very consistent within their thumbnail as it aligns with their logo. The typography is also immaculate and consistent across other videos on their channel. The video description includes keywords for optimising YouTube Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). Those include a comprehensive summary of the video, encouraging viewers to subscribe, and raising awareness of other channels across social media alongside a community management tactic by promoting their hashtag #bbcsport.

There are plenty of transferable marketing lessons fighters, combat sports brands, and promotions can take away from this breakdown; they include:

  • Be consistent with your videos’ typography, colour codes, and tone of voice. For example, include the taglines/nicknames, etc. Alongside promoting your sponsors/products/services simultaneously during your videos.
  • When writing your YouTube video descriptions, keep a template of text relating to copying and pasting your external links, which will be placed in each video upload.

Now that’s a wrap! Feel free to ask any questions or if you have any other content pieces that you think are valuable to learn from.

How can X/Twitter Spaces grow your online visibility?

X/Twitter Spaces is an audio-centric chatroom allowing users to form and be involved in live conversations, similar to Facebook & Instagram Live, without video. Considering that X is a microblogging social platform, having an audio-orientated feature offers its users another way of engaging with their community. In the fight game, there’s plenty of value for fighters, combat sports brands and promotions to gain from utilising this feature.

Reaching a wider audience

According to highperformr, there are over 200 million daily active accounts on X, which expresses the volume of diverse industries and backgrounds on the platform. Considering that the fight business is driven via entertainment first before its sporting prowess, it adds more string to your bow to ensure audio-centred content plays a part in your marketing strategy. Long story short, occasionally hosting an X space via your brand will make you more likely to reach a higher audience volume than a traditional X post.

Build a community rather than just a following

From personal experience, I’m a big fan of voice notes on WhatsApp for many reasons. It’s easier than texting, it’s helped with my communication, and it’s simpler to interpret the tone of voice for the person you’re sending a voice note to. This applies similarly to X spaces; when on X, it’s very easy to scroll through our feeds mindlessly when just seeing a choco-block load of text. Instead, you’ll be more likely to stop scrolling and engage if you spot an engaging graphic, bite-size video or audio clip. Then, once that user stops scrolling, that increases the chance of gaining a follower/having another user join your community.

Be the brand to trust

Considering the leverage you’re likely to gain with the X algorithm favouring X spaces over traditional X posts alongside the impact that audio-orientated content has, this can rank your content higher to make yourself more visible. Regarding being the brand to trust, ensure the content you share via the feature is on point regarding what will bring in new followers, community members, subscribers etc.

Therefore, if you’re a brand in the fight game, here are some ways to utilise X spaces to grow your visibility.

  • Q&A session: Host a questions and answers session with your audience either live via the chat room or to boost engagement and reach, perhaps asking your demographic in advance to create X posts, accumulate them together and spend the session using them as the topic of discussion.
  • Prize giveaways: A commonly themed trend that’s proven successful in building a community. Whether that’s a discount for an upcoming event or a chance to meet a fighter under your promotion, it’s likely to bring traction towards your brand, gaining a stronger community.
  • Industry conversations: Away from the UFC for a change, history was made in women’s MMA last weekend. Professional Fighters League athlete Claressa Shields beat Kelsey De Santis in Saudi Arabia. This is a chance for brands representing Women’s MMA, female fighter communities, female sports brands, etc. To endorse this to the core about the positivity this brings towards female sport, particularly in MMA, where it’s come a long way.
  • Re-purpose across other platforms: X spaces has an option where you can save the audio recording. You can use this as a fighter, fight brand or combat sports promotion to share across your other content feeds. For example, editing a simple graphic on Instagram and sharing it via the audio feature, sharing a video via YouTube while including the audio etc.

That’s a wrap! For further details regarding optimising X spaces, get in touch for a marketing consultation.

How can you use emojis to grow your personal brand?

The use of emojis across social media marketing has become increasingly popular over the last several years. They’ve increased the level of creativity brands can explore when producing content, and they support communication online to be more succinct and concise while enhancing the tone-of-voice brands want to express. For that reason, I’ve created a blog post to help fighters, combat sports brands, and fight promotions learn more about how emojis can be used to grow your personal brand.

I know what you’re thinking; what’s the point of growing ‘my brand’? Well, it’s something which can open up opportunities for you. For example, the more active you are on social media, the more you share content, produce it, engage with others, etc. The more visible you become. Then, the more marketable you become due to that activity, it can lead to an income through social media. This is often achieved via sponsorship.

So, let’s explore some case studies where emojis have proven useful for building a personal brand across the fight game.

Ilia ‘El Matador’ Topuria case study

Instagram post across Ilia Topuria’s Instagram feed

Whether you follow me across Instagram, X or LinkedIn, you’ll know I’ve been VERY vocal about Ilia since his win against Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski. I don’t need to go into detail how incredible his KO was, instead, I’m going to talk about the personal branding aspect of how he promoted himself pre and post fight.

If you scroll through his last few Instagram posts and check out his bio, you’ll see a rose emoji, and this is something that represents his personal brand hugely. The same applies when you visit his X feed as well. As a result, you’ll find it aligns with the colour red on his UFC shorts, on the Spanish flag, included in the colour code of text for his X cover photo, etc. Plus, after his victory speech in the Octagon, the space was soon covered in red petals, an initiative contributing towards his personal brand.

With this leverage, the rose emoji, in particular, became shared and curated by many other brands in the combat sports space, such as tntsportsufc, as seen below.

An Instagram post by tntsportsufc promoting a quote from Ilia Topuria following his win against Alexander Volkanovski

The further this spreads across social content, the more awareness will be raised of Topuria’s brand via the rose emoji and then that can be repurposed for other purposes, such as:

  • community management: his fanbase posts rose emojis across their social feeds for upcoming fights.
  • As his leverage continues to rise, it could lead to sponsorship opportunities associated with flower brands, expanding his niche outside of combat sports.
  • When a fight fan see’s the colour red, it can be a symbol and represent the brand identity of Ilia Topuria.

Andrew ‘The Gladiator’ Valdina case study

An Instagram video posted by Andrew Valdina

Andrew, ‘The Gladiator’ Valdina, is a pro-MMA fighter who fights for the regional MMA fight promotion Cage Titans, based in Massachusetts, New England. What stands out about how he’s using emojis as a part of his personal branding is including the cross swords emoji to represent his ‘the gladiator’ nickname. This post, in particular, stood out as he created a community-orientated post entitled #GladiatorSZN. This culturally sensitive nickname is a good move to have a tracker to increase brand visibility.

Scrolling through his comments sections across his Instagram feed demonstrates others have invested in his brand by sharing the emoji through endorsements, discussion and more.

Staying consistent with using this tactic for personal branding and other consistent marketing tactics can lead to further sponsorship and online monetisation opportunities. For example, creating merchandise dedicated to the term gladiator with the crossed swords as a logo. Using it as a part of his branded graphics, typography through fight promo etc.

Joe ‘Skeletor’ Giannetti case study

A reposted X post shared onto Joe Joe Giannetti’s X feed

Joe Joe ‘Skeletor’ Giannetti, is another Cage Titans MMA fighter who has done a remarkable job with his personal brand. Similar to Andrew, he’s utilised the skull emoji to represent his brand identity to link with his nickname ‘skeletor’.

Instagram post by Joe Giannettimma promoting his audience to share who they think should be his next opponent.

Similar to Andrew Valdina, he’s utilised this as a hashtag, ‘skeletorsevilarmy’, which again is effective as a brand awareness tracker to encourage others to use it. Furthermore, he’s utilised this as a part of his merchandise, which is driving his audience to be treated as a community rather than online fans. All of this from a simple emoji.

As always, I decided to keep this blog post short and sweet, I hope you found value from it.

What marketing lessons can the fight game learn from other sports?

Whether you’re a fighter, a combat sports brand or a fight promotion, it’s important to consider how other sports promote themselves via content. The reason is that sport is more than just sport; it’s an entertainment business which is focused on placing bums on seats and its assets, drawing as much attention as possible. For that purpose, I’ve decided to dedicate a weekly blog post covering some of my favourite brands across different sports to discover how they create content and how this can benefit the fight game.

The Lionesses demonstrate how to make content as inclusive as possible on X.

The Lionesses, also known as the England Women’s National football/soccer team, utilise the specific features well on X. For example, each image has an alternative text description. This is a built-in feature to support platform consumers who may have visual impairments. Instead, they can read the description of the image to gain an idea of what is presented on their screen. Plus, getting into a consistent routine of being as comprehensive as possible with alt-text descriptions can be beneficial for ranking your content higher on others’ X feeds.

If you’re a fighter and you’ve got images from a recent training session that you’d like to share on your social feeds, whether that’s X, Instagram, or both, just remember to add an alt text description, it can make a world of difference to grow your brand.

The same applies if you’re a combat sports brand that is covering updates across boxing, MMA or another combat sport. If you want to grow the amount of leverage your posts are receiving, alt text can help with ranking it higher across search feeds.

Lastly, if you’re a combat sports promotion that owns a carousel of images following an event you’ve recently held, create some alt text descriptions to add when publishing the content across your feeds.

LET Golf lead by example around how to optimise interview clips

When it comes to media features, if you’re an upcoming fighter, brand or promotion, it pays off to collect good content habits early on. A great example is how the Ladies European Tour Golf (LET Golf) promoted this interview clip of golfer Charley Hull. They’ve created a branded graphic of a quote from her interview, and the next bit of media in the Instagram carousel is the full clip of her sharing her passion for golf.

This is a really effective branding tactic because of the colour coding, font and format that’s utilised by the content team to make this as engaging as possible.

If you’re a fighter, you can transfer this tactic to optimise your brand by getting a consistent house style practised across your social feeds, whether that’s hashtagging your fighter nickname, colour grading, etc.

If you’re a combat sports brand that’s looking to gain more recognition for sharing updates across the fight game, take notes from how this single carousel post from LET Golf has been branded.

If you represent a combat sports promotion, implementing this as a part of your marketing strategy with pre-making graphics and videos will pay dividends in the long term.

Natalie Long, a long-distance runner, shows the value of community management

Nat_runs, also known as Natalie Long, is a long-distance runner who has grown rapidly on TikTok and is also growing her brand across Instagram. Something that stood out to me when I first saw her content across my TikTok feed is that her brand is very community-driven. For example, every TikTok & Instagram reel is orientated through her comment section. As shown in the above post, “run until you see a pregnant woman running” was a comment that someone left on a previous video.

Content like this is easily transferable in the fight game. For instance, if you’re an upcoming fighter looking to build an audience, stay consistent with creating content and get into the habit of consistent replies when that audience grows. Also, consider hosting Q&A sessions via YouTube, livestreams, etc., to further endorse your desired audience. The same applies if you’re a combat sports brand or a fight promotion.

That’s a wrap! I hope that’s provided you plenty of value. By all means, I’m all ears if there’s anything I’ve missed out on.

What sports marketing trends should the fight game look out for in 2024?

I meant to write this blog post some time ago, but hey, better late than never! Throughout 2023, a lot has gone on in the fight game, such as the growth of crossover boxing, creators continuing to gain leverage with hardcore supporters, Search Engine Optimisation evolving across different avenues and much more that we’ll dive into.

Search Engine Optimisation will continue to evolve in its inclusive nature

It’s becoming clearer by the hour as social media is becoming more and more saturated that it’s evolving into more than a platform just for content. Instead, it’s becoming a super app. Whether that’s X/Twitter, YouTube, TikTok, Instagram or another channel, users appear to be stepping away from just using Google to find information about a topic. For example, whether it be nutritional/health/exercise related, you’ll find there’s more and more content available on short-form channels. such as TikTok/YouTube shorts/Instagram Reels that younger demographics are searching for.

For that reason, a transferable sports marketing trend for the fight game to take advantage of is to treat your social media channels as if they’re your audience search engine. By all means, it’s key to have a website if you’re a promotion. The reason is that it will behave as the core hub for all of your brands, for example, fight dates, athlete rankings, merchandise, etc.

This can be delivered in the following formats.

  • Paying consistent attention to your analytics and creating content for popular searches.
  • Leading your content creation via upcoming events & searches your audiences are engaging with.
  • Keep each of your marketing channels updated with the latest events that are affiliated with your brand.

Consider leading your marketing by content that’s away from your niche

Something that I love about combat sports is that the community is very niche, and it’s easy to rub shoulders with influential figures. Although, from a marketing perspective, that’s one of the challenges. Ultimately, it’s representing the current culture that the sports industry as a whole. is more about entertainment than it is about sport.

The reason why fighters such as Ryan Garcia, Sean O’Malley, Jake Paul, Tyson Fury and many more are superstars of the sport is because they know how to entertain and draw attention. Rest assured, you don’t have to be unauthetic or put on an overstretched persona, it’s as simple of when publishing content that’s away from your niche, do it while proactively promoting your brand.

Methods that you can deliver include the following.

  • If you’re a promotion, film fight fans coming into the arena and ask them about food they might’ve ordered/drinks they’ve ordered/film a quiz about non-mma related questions. Cage Titans have done a simple but effective job at this.
  • If you own a brand that affiliates themselves with fan-orientated content, consider creating content that might cover food/snacks you typically snack on when watching events. Casuals Corner MMA do a great job at this.
  • If you’re a fighter, share content such as songs that you listen to while training, or when you’re not fighting, share some vlogs or something that shines a light on your life when you’re not competing. Take notes from UFC fighter, Arnold Allen’s YouTube channel.
  • If there are major events taking place in different industries, for example, Beyonce doing her renaissance tour, the Olympics taking place this year alongside the Euros 2024, get involved in creating content surrounding that which is relevant to your marketing strategy.

Bitesize content will continue to thrive

It’s been clear that short-form content keeps the digital algorithms flowing like there’s no tomorrow. Therefore, utilise this as your core content format to keep your brand awareness and engagement as optimised as possible.

  • For example, if you’ve created a TikTok, repurpose that as an Instagram reel/YouTube shorts video (if it’s under 1 minute). The same applies if you’re a fighter, brand or promotion that has uploaded a long-form video, chop up some influential clips and share them across as short-form content clips.
  • If you’ve written a blog post/newsletter affiliated with your brand, repurpose this through producing an Instagram carousel/X thread highlighting the key points you want communicated.

Educate yourself on AI, VR & AR tools that can influence the content you create

Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are becoming more and more influential to shaping how we search, consume and absorb content. Search Engines are becoming more inclusive towards different audiences as already mentioned. From visual search being available via text-prompt, voice search being possible on multiple search engines alongside being able to produce animation through AI apps through the web.

There’s plenty of Artificial Intelligence apps that can help optimise your content creation to make things easier, simpler and more unique for your current and desired demographic. For example, Eleven Labs is an AI voice generator which can transcribe text into different languages. Therefore, if you’re a combat sports promotion that has foreign fighters/personalities representing your brand, this could play a role in creating engagement across your marketing feeds.

Regarding Augmented Reality, apps such as TikTok and Instagram have their own effects studios which allow account users to produce their own effects. This could be a massive deal if you’re a fighter who has a fight coming up. For instance, dependant on where the location for the fight is, you can create your own green screen promoting that or any other brand-associated content.

Value and build a community that endorses your brand

There’s more and more inclusivity across different platforms that allow you to have opportunities for community building. For example, X spaces could be argued to be an imitation of the app Clubhouse. You’ve also got Instagram live streams accompanied by streaming platforms such as Twitch/Kick, etc.

Or, to take things one step further, KSI’s Boxing promotion, Misfits Boxing, has created its own small council, which is orientated around creators/influencers contributing to what fights should take place. Across the fight game, this topic is the most discussed topic across multiple promotions, especially the UFC and boxing. For that reason, focus on the bigger picture and lead decisions from marketing, especially by your fans.

Other ways you can utilise this involve the following

  • Using X spaces to host conversations with your audience about topics on a consistent basis.
  • Hosting an Instagram/TikTok live stream when watching/reacting to a fight or a few days after a key event affiliated with your brand.

Influencer marketing

A trend that has continually been a part of the sports industry. From my perspective, the moment KSI & Logan Paul had their rematch at the Staples Center in LA was when influencer marketing excelled to another level in the sports industry. More fighters began starting YouTube channels, crossover boxing has become one of the most widely discussed topics in the fight game, and insane numbers are being generated in exhibition-led bouts.

The root cause for this comes from influencer marketing, as a brand, there’s many ways you can continue to optimise this long-term trend. These strategies involve.

  • As an upcoming fighter, be in a position where you’re engaging with influencers/creators that are outside of your niche but align with your personal interests. For example, this could be through their social media comments section, remixing content etc.
  • As a brand, the above is certainly transferable, however, it can be as simple as curating other influencer content across your own feed.
  • As a promotion, this can include imitating what other promotions do. for example, inviting influencers/creators local to your area to your events.

And now that’s the final bell! Despite this being the fight game, it’s important to pay attention to trends across sport and entertainment, too, as that’s what drives the interest! By all means, if I’ve missed out anything, let me know and I look forward to hearing from you.