In a competitive global sports and leisure marketplace, nothing matters more than performance and results. The same applies to sports copywriting. Sports copywriting has evolved over the past two decades. While still capturing the emotions that sporting moments produce, modern sports brands no longer just focus on their product or service. They might still provide what you need to climb a mountain, sink a 30-foot putt, run a triathlon or sweat it out in the gym, they promote the lifestyle that surrounds them – a sense of being part of a global movement. Sports brands don’t just inspire us to do something. Instead, through compelling and captivating storytelling, their messaging is aspirational, telling us if we carry their logo we belong to a team. At the heart of these messages is an emotional connection with an identity. To tap into those aspirational messages, sports branding needs to create a powerful vision of who we’ll become and where we can go.
Sports copywriting encompasses a huge interest area, from mainstream sports such as football and cricket, rugby, tennis, and golf, to the less publicised sporting pastimes of lawn bowls, badminton and cycling. Carrying your aspirational message with energy and dynamism means brevity – packing a punch in just a few words. The language should be edgy – gripping, inspiring, bold, impactful and provocative. The kind of motivational language that sparks dreams and drives action. By using energizing, exhilarating words, you’ll get your readers’ pulses racing and hearts pumping. You’ll place them in their own future. Don’t be afraid to repeat powerful messages and maintaining a distinctive and immediately recognisable tone of voice. Try the branding test – if you take the brand name away, can you still tell who’s speaking? Each sport has its own glossary of terms not to mention vivid descriptions of sporting moments and a raft of analogies and puns
When you’re selling something based on aspiration, you need to know who you’re talking to. For sports brands, the audience’s values, desires and lifestyle choices are as important as their demographic profile. You need to unravel how their brain works and what motivates them to play that sport? What does it represent to them? What role does it play in their lives? Tap into those underlying drivers, and you’ll be speaking in words your customers can relate to emotionally. Reflect their own language right back at them. Use storytelling to tap into their goals and pleasure points, and harness values like bravery, strength and togetherness. Use the power of ‘you’ (addressing the reader in the second person) and speak in a way that makes the reader feel like you’re having a casual one-to-one conversation.
With any product or service, the most influential copy leads with benefits, not features. No one knows what ‘4000 individual pockets of air’ means to them. But if you talk about injury-reducing, ankle-cushioning air support you’ll have given them a tangible benefit that means something to them. Get those benefits upfront so they can’t be missed. Finally, inject some science into your content and build your strategy around aspirational search terms as well as practical ones. Think ‘how to become an athlete’ as well as ‘how to run faster’ and ‘comfy tennis shoes’. Build a community around your product that people want to join. We’re social animals, so nurture a shared identity with brand ambassadors.
- Sports retail
- Sports manufacturers
- Sports coaches and trainers
- Sports clubs and teams
- Sports betting
- Sports nutrition
- Sports tournaments and competitions
- Sports associations and federations
- Sports media and publishing
- Sports events organisers
As a former national sports journalist and a sports copywriter for over 20 years, I have the experience to help you capture the essence of your brand, product or service and the imagination of your audience. Get in touch to discuss how inspirational sports copywriting can help you hit the back of the net.
