How to Promote and Capture Your Sports Event

A great sports event does not just happen on the day.

It is promoted in advance, captured professionally in the moment, and repurposed long after the final whistle.

Too often, organisers focus heavily on logistics, permits, safety and timings, but underinvest in promotion and content capture. The result is a fantastic event that disappears 24 hours later.

If you want your sports event to grow year on year, attract sponsors and build real brand equity, here is how to promote and capture it properly.

How to Promote and Capture Your Sports Event (Before, During and After)

Step 1: Start Promotion Early

Promotion should begin at least 8 to 12 weeks before your event.

Early content should focus on:

• Announcing the event
• Highlighting the location
• Introducing the story behind it
• Showcasing previous years
• Featuring community involvement

If you are organising a running event, consider how participation growth trends such as those discussed in our UK Running Boom 2025 breakdown
https://floomcreative.co.uk/uk-running-boom-2025-marketing-trends-apps-consumer-insights/ can strengthen your messaging.

When we worked on endurance led fundraising events with Run Hunchman Run
https://floomcreative.co.uk/run-hunchman-run/ early storytelling around purpose, community and challenge helped build anticipation long before race day.

The earlier you build awareness, the more momentum you create.

Step 2: Build a Clear Narrative

The most successful sports events are not just dates in a calendar.

They have a story.

Ask yourself:

• Why does this event exist
• Who is it for
• What makes it unique
• What emotional experience does it create

This is where strong storytelling becomes powerful.

As we explain in Storytelling in Sport
https://floomcreative.co.uk/storytelling-in-sport/ audiences connect with emotion and purpose, not just performance stats.

For example, at Varsity Trip 2024
https://floomcreative.co.uk/varsity-trip-2024/

the narrative was not just skiing. It was community, competition, youth culture and shared experience in the mountains. That story shaped both the promotional content and the final film.

When promotion is narrative led, engagement increases dramatically.

We also did a welcome video.

Step 3: Create a Pre Event Content Plan

Before the event, you should have a structured content plan covering:

• Teaser videos
• Athlete spotlights
• Sponsor features
• Behind the scenes setup
• Countdown posts
• Email marketing
• Paid ads if budget allows

For Varsity Trip, this meant capturing pre event hype, sharing participant energy and preparing social first content to drive momentum across platforms.

For purpose driven events like The Hunchman Trust campaigns
https://floomcreative.co.uk/run-hunchman-run/ we focused on mission first storytelling to build emotional investment before the physical challenge even began.

This content builds anticipation and increases registrations.

It also creates early sponsor exposure, which adds value before the event even begins.

Step 4: Capture the Event Professionally

This is where many organisers underdeliver.

On the day content needs to be planned, not improvised.

A strong capture plan should include:

• Multi camera ground coverage
• Crowd reactions
• Athlete interviews
• Behind the scenes moments
• Sponsor visibility
• Drone footage where permitted

Professional sports videography ensures your event looks as good as it feels. You can see how we structure this on our Sports Videographer page https://floomcreative.co.uk/sports-videographer/.

At the Indy Autonomous Challenge https://floomcreative.co.uk/indy-autonomous-challenge/ a large scale technical motorsport event, aerial footage, dynamic tracking shots and structured interviews elevated the perception of innovation and global significance.

Without professional capture, your event loses long term marketing potential.

Step 5: Think Beyond the Highlight Reel

Most events produce one 60 second highlight reel.

That is not enough.

Instead, plan to create:

• A hero event film between two and four minutes
• Short social cutdowns
• Sponsor specific edits
• Vertical reels
• Photography packs
• Testimonial clips
• Registration ads for next year

For Hunchman Trust endurance events, we captured not just the run, but the emotional journey, interviews and community reaction. That long form documentary approach increased impact far beyond the day itself.

This approach transforms one day of filming into months of content.

Step 6: Maximise Sponsor ROI

Sponsors do not just want logos on banners.

They want measurable visibility.

To deliver sponsor value:

• Capture branded signage clearly
• Interview sponsor representatives
• Film sponsor activations
• Provide post event content reports
• Share sponsor tagged social posts

At Indy Autonomous Challenge, showcasing partner brands within a global motorsport context strengthened commercial credibility and international visibility.

Strong visual storytelling increases sponsor retention and long term partnerships.

If you are building commercial growth around your event, it is worth understanding how a dedicated Sports Marketing Agency structures event storytelling beyond a single highlight reel https://floomcreative.co.uk/sports-marketing-agency/

Step 7: Repurpose Content for Long Term Growth

The real growth happens after the event.

Use your captured content to:

• Open early registration for next year
• Run paid ads to past attendees
• Build hype for future events
• Create website hero videos
• Pitch sponsors
• Strengthen your social presence

The most successful events treat content as an asset.

For endurance events and university scale sports experiences alike, long form storytelling becomes a recruitment tool for the following year.