The International School of Sport held a virtual talk entitled "Public Relations in Sports," given by Alejandra Maffey Tarazona, General Director of NETA Agencia Deportiva.
Alejandra shared with the audience some of her experience in public relations applied to the sports industry. She also talked about her work as Director of NETA Sports Agency and as representative of the Olympic athlete Donovan Carrillo, a figure skating participant in the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games.
She then explained the growing inclination towards public relations as a promotional and branding tool compared to advertising. And how this discipline can satisfy the demand for a sense of community and closeness to a target group.
"I am convinced that sports marketing goes hand in hand with public relations because of the power it has to bring you closer to your audience," she said.
She also mentioned some of the challenges she faces as an athlete representative, including making the sport's culture visible, finding spaces for dissemination, and raising budgets and shared some of the advantages of using public relations as a tool to solve them, emphasizing the patience and continuity that a job like this entails and the importance of organization and strategy within marketing.
She also focused on the consulting and resource management side and described what a representative's work entails and how creating a "personal brand" encompasses aspects of communication and advertising with a human perspective.
At the end of the event, Alejandra called on the attendees to continuously educate and inform themselves, mentioning that being constantly updated is key to learning new techniques and tools. She also highlighted the importance of specialization in this marketing sector. Finally, she extended a general invitation to follow the progress and support national athletes.
