BASEBALL PROGRAM 2016 MARKETING PLAN

BASEBALL PROGRAM 2016 MARKETING PLAN

Marketing Plan Assignment Liberty City Warriors Optimist Club Renald Jeanmarie PRT Marketing Plan Assignment Spring Term 2016 Table of Contents Executive Summary Page 3 Introduction Page 4 Situational Analysis Page 5 Competitive Analysis.Page 6 Customer Analysis.Page 6 Marketing Goal..Page 7 Marketing Strategy Page 7 Marketing Tactics..Page 8 Implementation and Control..Page 9 Appendix Page 10-13 2

Executive Summary The Liberty City Warriors Optimist Club (LCW) has been a great pilar of the African- American community in Miami, Florida. The organization has serviced the Liberty City community and the city of Miami through youth sports. Over the years Pop Warner football and the youth basketball program has reached brand equity. Unfortunetly the baseball program brand has decline rapidly quick in recent years. In my marketing plan the organization goals is to increase baseball participation, keep the baseball program sustainable, and to re-brand the LCW baseball program. The marketing strategy for LCW is to increase awareness and attract interest in the baseball program. The organization will use grassroot & swarm marketing to reach out to customers. LCW will offer penetration pricing along with bundling for baseball registration. The price for registration is $65 dollars and it includes baseball cleats, a baseball glove, a cap, and a sports bag. The marketing tactic for the LCW baseball program will be free baseball clinics with Miami Marlins, Miami Hurricanes, and Florida International Panthers players and free tickets to Miami Marlins baseball games. This tactic will attract more athletes for the LCW baseball program and potentially produce future MLB players.. In the marketing process I analyze the organization strengths which is our sponsors, facility, equipment, and uniforms. I analyze our weakness which is lack of advertisement, lack of talent, and non-competitive opponents. I also analyze our opportunities which is become a year round traveling baseball team, and be able to strive for the Little League World Series. I then analyze our threats and that was possibly losing our loyal customers and our baseball program being discountinued. Furthermore in the marketing plan I analyzed our competitiors which is other baseball programs in other leagues, youth basketball, flag football, and track & field. I studlied our customers in the Liberty City community, and baseball wasn t fun or popular to my market segment. Football was the popular sport because the NFL is the renowned outlet for that environment. I did extra reseach on the MLB players and the drastic low number of black players can be a reason why Baseball not a popular sport in African-American communities. My target market will be young men from the ages of 9-14 years old and the marketing plan will get the attention of the Liberty City community and it will make baseball a cool, fun, and popular sport to play this year and in the future. 3

Introduction The Liberty City Warriors Optimist Club mission is to give at risk youth a positive outlet through sports and education in the Liberty City community. LCW provide youth athletes the opportunity to participate in team sports such as football & cheerleading, basketball, baseball, and softball. LCW also focus on education, mentorship, and positive guidance off the playing fields and courts. The Liberty City Warriors is a non-profit organization that has been around for 25 years in Miami, Florida. The sports program has been a valuable asset in the African- American community. LCW was founded at Charles Hadley Park by Coach Sam Johnson and former Miami rapper Luther Uncle Luke Campbell. Under Coach Sam Johnson direction, LCW became the largest youth sport non-profit organization in Miami-Dade County. Coach Sam along with his wife Margaret Johnson handled the day to day operation of the program. Luther Campbell along with former Miami Heat player Alonzo Mourning, and other professional athletes was the financial support that kept the organization sustainable. The LCW baseball program was actually the first sport that the organization offered to the community. Throughout the 25 years of the baseball program different age group teams was able to win Greater Miami League championships and South Florida district championships. The baseball program offers: Tee-Ball ages 4-6 Coaches Pitch ages 7-8 Fast Pitch ages 9-10 Junior Boys ages 11-12 Senior Boys ages 13-14 In 2011, Coach Sam passed away leaving behind his wife, four children, and the Liberty City Optimist Club. The baseball commissioner now is Coach Kelley Lamb and she is working tremendously hard to rebuild the brand of LCW baseball program. 4

Situational Analysis Internal Analysis The strengths of the LCW baseball program are that the teams have good local sponsors to support all the teams. Sponsors like the Miami Marlins, Tropical Chevrolet, Keyes, and NFL players that played sports in the program as a youth. The teams have 3 good baseball fields to play home games and practice on. The fields include a batting cage and a pitcher s mound to warm-up or practice pitches on. All the teams are provided with nice uniforms and up to date equipment like helmets, bats, catchers gear, and baseballs. The weakness of the LCW baseball program is that the staff doesn t put in a lot of energy or effort to promote the baseball teams. The baseball program doesn t have enough players to be a year round sport because most of the kids are interested in playing football in the fall. On each baseball team you have some advanced players and the other players are intermediate player. The baseball coaches are only volunteers so they are not paid coaches, and they are not certified or elite coaches. External Environment Analysis LCW baseball program has the opportunity to make Little League Baseball fun and popular like Pop Warner Football is in the Liberty City community. If the baseball program can get a lot of kids interested in playing baseball the program can become a traveling team. LCW can hire and pay elite coaches to train the players into an advance team. Also the teams will be able to compete in the All-Star season and maybe strive for the Little League World Series. The threat on the LCW baseball program is that the kids that are interested in baseball will not see baseball as fun no more and would want to try another sport. Parents can take their child to another league or team. More importantly the LCW baseball program can be discontinued due to the lack of players. 5

Competitive Analysis The market for youth baseball is not competitive in the African-American communities of Miami-Dade County. In the market I can say that LCW baseball program is position as the leader. The baseball teams who we play against in our league are struggling with the same problem getting kids interested in playing baseball. In Miami baseball is popular in the Hispanic communities, the suburbs, and in the Miami Beaches. I recognize that LCW baseball program is competing within the organization with LCW youth basketball. Once LCW football season is over in December some of the same kids will switch over to basketball in January. Some will start running track for Miami Northwest Express (http://www.mnwexpress.com/) which is a traveling track & field team in Liberty City. That program has produced many Olympic track stars like Bershawn Batman Jackson, Tiffany Ross-Williams, and Brianna Rollins. Flag football is also another competitor in the spring season because the kids are more interested in playing football over baseball. Customer Analysis I observed the customers and the environment and saw that football is everything in Liberty City. Baseball is not cool to young athletes ages 10 to 18. In the community baseball is not a popular sport to play, and the kids peers look at them as a lame if they play the sport. Some think that baseball is a hard sport to play, and some are actually scared to get hit by a baseabll. When I did research on Major League Baseball according to USA Today, (http://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2015/04/14/mlb-diversity-percentage-of-africanamerican-players-remained- flat/25791993/) I found out it was only has 7.8 % of African- American players. That s only 68 players out of a total 868 players. Less marketable and unrecognizable players compared to NFL or NBA players is one reason why MLB is not popular in African-American communities across America. Most young men from poverty stricken neighborhood in Miami see football as an outlet to get their families out of the ghetto. It seems like parents wants their sons to be the next NFL star so in the spring season their child is playing flag football or just training in the off season preparing for the up incoming football season. According to Fan Duel, (https://www.fanduel.com/insider/2014/09/19/where-do-most-nflplayers-come-from/) Miami is number one of all cities in America for producing the most NFL players. NFL players like Antonio Brown from the Pittsburgh Steelers, T.Y. Hilton from the Indianapolis Colts, and Teddy Bridgewater from the Minnesota Vikings just to name a few. Every single year college football programs visits high schools in the inner-cities of Miami-Dade County to recruit athletes to their universities. 6

Marketing Goal My marketing goal for LCW is to increase baseball participation, keep the baseball program sustainable, and to re-brand the baseball program. LCW offers different age groups for baseball from ages 4-14 years old. The number of youth participation on each team is usually 15 to 17 players on the tee-ball team, coaches pitch, and fast pitch. When the kid reaches junior boys (age group 11-12), and senior boys (age group 13-14) the youth participation number drop to like 9 to 10 players on each team. If one or two players decides not to show up to a game then the team usually have to forfeit their games. Furthermore, I will like to sustain the baseball program at Liberty City because it was the first sport that the Liberty City Optimist Club service to the community. I want to sustain the program to keep Coach Sam proud because he will be turning in his grave if he saw how the baseball program has fallen off. I also want to sustain the baseball program because it gives kids another option to play a different sport. In addition, I want to re-brand the baseball program to show people in the community that baseball is great sport and could be rewarding. I want kids to still be able to be physically active through baseball if they chose not to play any other sport in the spring season. I want parents to see that baseball is fun and safer than football. In baseball there is a slight chance of a youth or adult athlete getting a concussion, breaking bones, and tearing ligaments playing this game. Marketing Strategy My marketing strategy for LCW is to increase awareness and attract interest in the baseball program. In the past the organization just advertises baseball registration by word of mouth because at one point the baseball program had brand loyalty. Since the brand has fallen we will now use Grassroot & Swarm marketing to really reach our customers. LCW will advertise the baseball program, baseball registration, free baseball clinics, and our baseball games through Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, flyers, posters, banners, brochures, and the newspaper (Miami New Times). LCW will use penetration pricing strategy along with bundling for baseball registration. The registration is $65 dollars and it includes baseball cleats, a baseball glove, a cap, and a sports bag. This promotion will take the stress off the parents so they don t have to go to different sport stores to spend money on expensive baseball products. 7

Marketing Tactics My market tactic for the 2016 Baseball season will be free baseball camps and clinics with the Miami Marlins, Miami Hurricanes, and Florida International players at Charles Hadley Park. The clinic will be teaching and coaching the youth athletes the fundamentals of the game. The professional and college players will coach the players on how to bat, pitch, catch & field. The professional and college players would teach the LCW players about team work, sportsmanship, and the benefits of playing baseball. The events will have free food for every person who attends the camp. Also the events will host a fun Homerun Derby contest for parents or adults who think they can hit more homers than anyone in the contest. Billy the Marlin, Sebastian the Ibis, and Roary the Panther will be present at the events, and there will be raffle prizes that you can win. Throughout the baseball season LCW will take groups of kids to the Miami Marlins baseball games. Letting the kids see the inside of the brand new stadium will be a great experience. Letting the kids feel the atmosphere of a Professional baseball game will expose them to a different sport. This tactic will be able to show my target market that baseball is a cool and fun sport to play. In the process maybe the LCW baseball program can produce future MLB players. 8

Implementation and Control Tactics Date Cost Flyers (Baseball Registration) November 1, 2015-January 1, 2016 $ 150 Facebook, Instragram, Twitter November 1, 2015-January 31, 2016 Free (Baseball Regristration & Practice) Vinyl Banners November 15, 2015 $ 320 (8 Banners) Newspaper Ad (Baseball November 16, 2015 $ 1500 at Charles Hadley Park Regristration & Free Clinic) Players Receive free cleats, glove, December 4, 2015 $0 Paid for by Sponsors cap, and sports bag Baseball Clinic December 5, 2015 Free hosted by Miami Marlins Facebook, Instagram, Twitter December 28, 2015- January 8, 2016 Free at Charles Hadley Park (Free Baseball Clinic) Baseball Clinic January 9, 2016 Free hosted by Miami Hurricanes Facebook, Instagram, Twitter January 25 February 5 Free at Charles Hadley Park (Free Baseball Clinic) Baseball Clinic February 6, 2016 Free hosted by FIU Facebook, Instagram, Twitter March 1, 2016 Free (Baseball Schedule) Posters (Baseball Schedule) March 4, 2016 $ 500 Facebook, Instagram, Twitter March 14 2016 July 1, 2016 Free (Season Game Results) Miami Marlins Game vs. Tigers April 6, 2016 $ 1500 ($ 25 Group Tickets) 60 PPL Facebook, Instagram, Twitter April 11, 2016 Free Hosted by LCW (Free Baseball Camp) Miami Marlins Game vs. D-Backs May 3, 2016 $ 1500 ($ 25 Group Tickets) 60 PPL Miami Marlins Game vs. Pirates June 1, 2016 $ 1500 ($ 25 Group Tickets) 60 PPL Miami Marlins Game vs. Reds July 9, 2016 $ 1500 ($ 25 Group Tickets) 60 PPL Total: $ 8470 Evalaution This plan will be successful be because my target market will be aware of when registration starts and ends. Spectators will be able to show support because they will know when our games are by posters and social media. The community will be interested and our free baseball clinics and camps because they will be able to eat free, meet and get autographs from MLB and college baseball players. Also the LCW players will be able to experience Major League Baseball games and share there experience with their friends. Those tactics should arouse desire from my target group who would want to start or continue to play baseball for the Liberty City Warriors. 9

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