How small businesses can cash in on the world cup

The World Cup is now in full swing, with goals and entertainment from the best football players in the world.

While many employers in the UK may be nervous about the 250,000,000 estimated man-hours lost to the distraction to the World Cup, other bosses are looking to compensate by tapping into the corporate opportunities the show thousands of miles away in Brazil has to offer.

While large one-off events are usually associated with large corporations such as McDonald’s and Nike, small businesses in the UK can also gain financially from the £6.5bn expected to be generated during the biggest football tournament.

Attended by hundreds of thousands of fans and watched by millions around the globe on TV, the World Cup is an excellent one-off occasion to showcase your company brand, and here are three ways your business can take advantage:

Be social

The 2014 World Cup will be the most social sporting event ever, already mentioned more than 19 million times on blogs and major social networks according to predictions from the Adobe (ADBE) Digital Index, is providing small businesses an opportunity to have their say. While the large brands have paid millions of pounds to become official World Cup sponsors, SMEs can produce blogs, engage with fans on Twitter and Facebook by posting World Cup trivia and funny facts, as well as provide an app profiling the tournament.

Adapting your products/services to feed off increased consumer spending

As the England team readied to take on Italy, pubs and bars across the country were packed to the rafters. But they were not the only ones to adapt their services to fit in with increased consumer spending. Nightclubs, restaurants and sports centres set up screens for fans to watch the game for free, providing drinks and food to generate revenue. Additionally, offering services such as face-painting or selling football-related merchandise like flags and t-shirts are all further ways of maximising income. Interestingly, virtual receptionist company Moneypenny has sought to gain new customers by offering its services in answering calls on behalf of UK clients in the evening, when all the World Cup games are being played.

Have a broad World Cup-specific marketing campaign ready

While companies must be careful not to infringe any trademarks or copyrights of FIFA, their corporate marketing affiliates or the footballers, small businesses should market their World Cup activities as widely as possible. Posters, emails, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook are all cost-effective methods of making sure your message gets across to as many people as possible.

Get all the latest updates on the World cup so far and track how your team are doing through the official FIFA World cup website.

Jermaine Haughton is a journalist and digital media professional.