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Relationship Marketing in Sport

Relationship marketing encompasses the notion of preserving customers through the success of long-term reciprocated contentment by an organisation and their customers. Sport businesses need to communicate and participate in discussion with their customers in order to create, sustain and improve relationships. Existing studies offer insightful information into relationship marketing and the general consensus that sport businesses can benefit from its use. In many situations, sports marketing affairs include some sort of relationship marketing, where clubs, organisations, fans and athletes have relationships with one another that are dependant on the successful management of those relationships. In order for sports businesses to be successful in their goals, they should view their customers as partners for life rather than here and now consumers, and attempt to understand their ever-evolving needs, desires and values. By doing so, sport businesses are able to maintain and enhance their fan base easier than through the more commonly used short-term transactions such as merchandise and ticket sales, with the use of social media enabling this to be practiced much more effectively.

Social Media and Relationship Marketing in Sport

Used as global communication and interaction channel, social media has changed the conventional offline business to customer relationship into a tool that enables customers’ engagement into an instantaneous and active back-to-back conversation. Customers are increasingly incorporating social media within their daily lives and using it as part of their communication mix. Today, sport businesses can use social media to actively listen to their customers, recognise and follow their specific needs and wants rather than use out-dated methods of data collection such as surveys and focus groups, which do not provide rich information to better understand customers. It allows sport businesses to keep their customers updated on the latest news and information as well as interacting with them on an individual basis. This instant, two-way dialogue available to sport businesses, which allows them to provide quality content within short time frames, can be seen as a form of competitive advantage. They are able to interact the way they want, in the way that they wish, through whichever medium they feel best. This gives sport businesses an added impetus to effectively utilise social media in order to provide their customers with the best possible experience and to expand their marketing abilities.

As well as sport businesses benefiting from the use of social media in the context of relationship marketing, customers also experience the same level of benefits. The constant interaction between sport businesses and their customers allows organisations to know and learn about each individual customer on a deeper level. As a result of this, customers feel a greater sense of value from the organisation and in return, offer a greater amount of loyalty. Social media enables sport businesses to involve customers in the marketing process by receiving feedback and ideas, which can then be implemented in future products and services. By doing so, sport businesses emphasise the engagement between organisation and customer, and reinforces the importance that customers hold in the brand building process.

Scoliosis Another form of secondary scoliosis is degenerative scoliosis, also known as De Novo scoliosis, which develops later in life secondary to degenerative (may or may not be associated with ageing) changes. This is a type of deformity that starts and progresses because of the collapse of the vertebral column in an asymmetrical manner. As bones start to become weaker and the ligaments and discs located in the spine become worn as a result of age-related changes, the spine begins to curve. The word 'de novo' is associated with this form of scoliosis as it means 'new', referring to the occurrence of the condition during later life.