Sports Marketing Trends Explained [With Examples of Sports Marketing]

In 2024, there were nearly 80,000 sporting goods stores in the USA. It’s a crowded marketplace, which is why many sports brands use the latest sports marketing tactics to stay ahead of the competition and front of mind with customers.

Here, we explore the sports marketing trends shaping the industry to help you forge an engaging and effective marketing strategy for your sports store.

10 Sports Marketing Trends Shaping the Industry

Here are ten key trends shaping sporting goods marketing in 2025. We share innovative and effective examples of sports marketing for each trend, too.

1. Personalization and Customization

Sports brands are moving beyond a one-size-fits-all marketing approach and are instead personalizing them to customer needs, priorities, and expectations.

Use customer data to personalize marketing materials, website experiences, and product options to drive greater customer engagement and loyalty. Or, customize products to perfectly match a customer’s requirements and personal taste.

For example, Salomon offers customized running shoes. Customers can create a unique shoe design, choosing colors and materials for each part of the shoe, and even adding their own initials. They can also choose shoe parts that support their running style and frequency.

2. Product Recommendation Quizzes

Product recommendation quizzes are another big sports marketing trend for 2025 — and an increasingly popular interactive sports marketing approach.

A product quiz helps customers find their ideal product by answering questions about their needs and preferences. They also collect user email addresses and zero-party data to support your retargeting efforts. 

Poseidon Bike, for example, uses a product quiz to help customers find the right bike type and size. The result page provides a detailed overview of the recommended product, including key features, frame size, wheel size, suspension, bar drop, size, and more. 

By providing all of this information, Poseidon Bike helps quiz takers make a purchase decision and enjoy a simple, streamlined shopping experience.

3. User-Generated Content

Next on our list of sports marketing trends is user-generated content (UGC).

UGC acts as a trust signal, showing prospective customers that your brand and products are desirable. It also helps create authentic and relatable marketing content that resonates well with customers.

For example, Adidas invited women in Dubai to post pictures of themselves engaged in sporting activities on Instagram using two bespoke hashtags — #ImpossibleIsNothing and #adidasDXB. The UGC was then displayed on two LED-powered billboards in Dubai.

The results of this UGC sports marketing strategy? Adidas saved on their marketing budget, created engaging marketing content, and built loyal relationships with the women from the campaign. This type of interactive sports marketing produces excellent results.

4. Retargeting Emails

Retargeting customers through email marketing effectively re-engages shoppers and encourages repeat purchases. 

Stix Golf uses its product recommendation quiz and Klaviyo integration to capture customers' email addresses and automatically add them to a mailing list. They then use the zero-party data captured by the quiz to create personalized marketing content that resonates more effectively with customers and drives conversions.

5. Loyalty Programs

Loyalty programs have long been a fixture of marketing strategy. They’re known to drive repeat purchases and improve lifetime value. But in 2025, sports brands are going beyond basic loyalty programs to drive customer engagement and brand affinity.

Brands are using gamification, including point systems, badges, and leaderboards, to make loyalty programs more interactive. They’re also rewarding repeat purchases, friend referrals, and social shares with discount codes, early access to new products, and VIP-tier perks.

Rapha has a subscription-based loyalty program, Rapha Cycling Club, which combines traditional rewards — like early access and discounts — with real-world benefits. Loyalty club members can access a community of fellow cyclists, group rides, and a global network of Rapha Clubhouses. 

By helping customers build connections with like-minded cyclists, they create an emotional connection that builds an even stronger relationship between customer and brand.

6. Streamlined Shopping Experience

A streamlined shopping process is another key sports marketing trend. It creates a convenient and positive experience for the customer, while speeding up the purchasing process and encouraging more sales.

Physical stores have reduced hurdles to purchase with easy-to-use self-checkouts, while Shopify features like one-click purchasing or saved payment methods make it easy for shoppers to quickly complete their purchase online.

Hexlos, a sports brand selling security equipment for bikes, have streamlined the shopping experience in their product recommendation quiz. Instead of a quiz result page, users who complete the quiz are automatically redirected to the checkout page, where the recommended items have been added to their cart. Users can simply check out to complete their purchase.

7. Unexpected Collaborations

Unexpected collaborations create buzz around your brand, surprising your audience and sparking conversation.

Sports brand Nike, for example, has a long-standing collaboration with Jacquemus, a luxury French fashion brand. Together, these brands create distinctive menswear and womenswear, inspired by Nike’s history. The collection blends sport and fashion and is more affordable than standard Jacquemus products.

Both brands sell collaboration products on their online stores, and both promote the collaboration on their marketing channels. With this partnership, Nike elevates its products and makes them more accessible to new audiences.

8. Limited Editions

Scarcity is a tried and tested marketing tactic, which is why limited editions are the next sports marketing trend on our list.

Having a limited number of exclusive products encourages customers to engage in emotional decision-making and incentivizes immediate purchases.

A few years ago, Asics launched its limited edition K0100 series. Designed to mark the 100th birthday of the company’s founder, just 1,918 products were made in honor of the founder’s birth year. This compelling story drove emotional engagement and helped the campaign feel intentional, not arbitrary — customers understood why the products were limited edition, which enhanced their perceived value.

A successful limited edition campaign strengthens brand identity, captures audience attention, drives organic sharing, and supports premium pricing.

9. Virtual Try-Ons

VR and AR continue to make a big splash in the sports marketing world, bringing the in-store experience online.

For example, motocross and mountain biking brand 100% specializes in eyewear, goggles, gloves, helmets, and clothing. With their Virtual Try On feature, shoppers can use their smartphone camera to “try on” different products. Despite not physically handling the product, customers can then confidently make a purchase.

Virtual try-ons and similar VR technology also establish your brand as modern, tech-forward, and customer-centric because you’re using the latest technology to improve the experience for your website users.

10. Visual Marketing

100% doesn’t just use a virtual try-on as part of its sporting goods marketing. Their website also hosts a highly-visual product recommendation quiz. These images not only engage quiz takers but help guide them to the correct answer option, making the final product recommendation more accurate. Customers are then more likely to make a purchase.

Enhance Your Sports Marketing Efforts with VQB

When marketing sporting goods, it pays to stay up to date with the latest sports marketing trends. You may also like to take inspiration from these examples of sports marketing and incorporate a product recommendation quiz into your strategy.

With the VQB platform, you can design, launch, and manage branded product recommendation quizzes in minutes. You can also integrate with your email and SMS marketing software to deliver effective and joined-up marketing campaigns.

Take your sports marketing to the next level. Create your first product quiz today with a VQB free trial.

Sports Marketing FAQs

What Is Sports Marketing?

Sports marketing is any type of marketing activity designed to support the promotion of a sports brand, event, or team. 

What Are the Benefits of Sports Marketing?

Sporting goods marketing helps your brand to:

• Boost sales and revenue

• Raise brand exposure and awareness

• Build a community and drive customer loyalty

  
  

Ultimately, if you’re not marketing your sporting goods brand, you’re failing to attract new customers to your store. Sports marketing is crucial part of your marketing funnel to get your brand in front of new audiences and grow your customer base and revenue. 

What Are the Top Sports Marketing Trends?

The most popular sports marketing strategies include personalized products, UGC campaigns, loyalty programs, limited editions, virtual try-on technology, and product recommendation quizzes.