Aylar Sefidgar - Department of Sport Management. Faculty of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Tabriz.Tabriz/Iran
Sadaf Hesari - Department of Sport Management, Sport management. Farabi Campus. University of Tehran, Qom, Iran
Ali Saberi - Department of Sport Management, Sport management. Farabi Campus. University of Tehran, Qom, Iran
Rohollah Nikosokhan Sedghi - Department of Sport Management, Sport management. Farabi Campus. University of Tehran, Qom, Iran

Today, the birth of sports brands and businesses is increasing, and each of them is trying to increase the popularity of their brand. In this regard, the aim of this research was to examine the effect of using word-of-mouth marketing on the identity of sports brands. This research was (semi-experimental in terms of practical purpose and in terms of data collection method). The subjects were divided into two experimental and control groups, each with a population of ۲۰ people. Data analysis was done by covariance analysis. Also, the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to check the normal distribution of the data, and the Lune test was used to check the homogeneity of variance. The tool for data collection was the brand identity questionnaire of Coleman et al. (۲۰۱۱), whose Cronbach's alpha was ۰.۷۶. The statistical population of the research included customers of sports brands, three of which were selected through available sampling. The results showed that the use of word-of-mouth marketing had significant effect on the brand identity of sports businesses. Also, the hypothesis of brand identity provided positive results (Also, all of the hypothesis of brand identity presented positive results). As a result, customers of sports goods buy more based on the recommendations of others due to the different quality, average price, and high variety. Therefore, word-of-mouth marketing is very important in this matter, and this makes customers use the experiences of buyers.

word-of-mouth advertising, Brand, Brand Identity, sports business