What sports marketing trends should the fight game look out for in 2024? – Ash Sports Media

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.