Engage your club community
If you’ve been following our posts, your recruitment drive should be well underway by now! As you progress, you will attract a mixture of new members and returning athletes from previous seasons. Your social media marketing, listings and ads will be drawing in newbies.
Now you can start to take a direct approach to engage last year’s players, giving them all they need to sign up this season.
This series of posts is designed to allow you to not only have an effective recruitment campaign for your sports club, but to show you how you can use marketing, advertising and social networks to your advantage.
Not only will this swell your numbers, but as your returning club members start to get excited about the upcoming season, their enthusiasm will rub off onto others — authentic word-of-mouth marketing should give registration a boost.
Amplify their impact with smart use of social media, throw in some conversation-starters like interesting feedback questions, impulsive opinion polls, and so on; with these meaningful but fun actions your recruitment drive will keep itself relevant.
5.1 Reach out to last year’s squad
Not only are they likely to enroll at the club for the coming season, but last year’s squad are also some of your greatest ambassadors. As they talk to friends, classmates and family about their experience, they’re ‘selling’ the club in a way money can’t buy. Capitalize on this word of mouth marketing with these ideas.
5.1.1 Confirm registration details and deadlines
Make it easy for last year’s players by sending them an email message with enrollment details and timeline. State clearly in the subject line that action is required, and add a simple call to action. Include important details like training times, fees and a link to your website for online registration.
You can make it easier to communicate with last year’s team by importing the member list into Sportlyzer and sending messages to everyone at once.
5.1.2 Create urgency
Improve your response rate by clarifying your deadlines.. Make it clear in your message that returners must confirm their spot for the upcoming season by a specific date, or it will be released to the waiting list. Offering preferential fees to those who sign up early also encourages prompt action.
Continue to promote your new program with follow-up messages to potential returners reminding them of deadlines and charting the progress of registration. An example of an effective call to action might be “Register now – 70% of spots are already taken!”
5.1.3 Incentivize introductions
Last year’s squad can be your most powerful ambassadors. Ask them to talk to friends, classmates and siblings about joining the club.
A study shows that 77% of people trust recommendations from friends when they are considering a purchase or choosing a brand. These positive personal stories are also what will draw people to your club or team. Make it even more effective by offering an incentive for the squad member who introduces the most new joiners. Free club merchandise or a discount on fees would be a welcome reward for your more active club members.
5.2 Get people talking
If you have been following our action plan, then you should already be posting regularly on social networks. Start a conversation among your club community to increase the reach of posts and get them seen by more people.
5.2.1 Start a social media conversation
Ask your club community to send or share their favourite images, wins and memories from last season. When they do, don’t forget to ‘like’, share and comment on their responses. The warm and fuzzy feeling you get when someone ‘likes’ your post is an acknowledged psychological effect; so click ‘like’ to help your squad feel good and to raise your club profile.
Create a light-hearted debate by asking athletes to share their funniest moments, nominate community members for Oscar-style awards, or run a caption contest for amusing images of last season. Offering a prize of club kit to members who ‘like’, share or retweet messages announcing the opening of registration can also give your recruitment drive a boost.
To take your online conversations a bit further, don’t be afraid to publicly ask your community for help and advice! Having a shared sense of responsibility for the club and its future empowers members to passionately promote your activities.
5.2.2 Make social networking easy
Scheduling posts to Facebook and Twitter can feel time-consuming, but these tasks are made much easier with a tool like Hootsuite or Buffer. Simple packages are available for free, or if you need something with more functionality, you can get a 50% discount on Buffer for non-profit clubs.
Invest some time writing and scheduling messages every week, and then simply watch them automatically post at the time you choose. By planning in advance, you can check that your messages have a natural ‘flow’, counting down to deadlines or confirming the progress of registration as the season approaches.
5.2.3 Promotional merchandise works
If you chose to involve your club in designing club merchandise, as suggested earlier in our plan, then your community will already be excited about getting their hands on your new branded merchandise. You can sell it, or offer it as prizes and even give it away to increase exposure for the club.
5.3 Hand out some swag
Give last year’s squad a promotional t-shirt and ask them to wear it during the registration period. Don’t forget to use our handy hints here, and include your website address in your design to make it easy for potential new joiners to sign up. Other small-but-useful merchandise – such as stickers, pens or small pieces of sports equipment like whistles or balls – can also be an effective way to get your club name out there.
5.3.1 Promote your club with merchandise sales
Merchandise sales can increase exposure for your club, as well as being an effective way of growing revenue which can be reinvested into club growth and facility development. Club kit, jackets and bags can be sold to your community either by simply asking athletes to bring cash to training, or by enabling online sales to allow you to take payment more easily. You can add PayPal buttons directly to your website to make payment easy for your club community.
Offer ‘bundle packages’ or multi purchase discounts to encourage sales, and make sure people know you have a limited supply (‘when it’s gone, it’s gone’). Share these messages regularly through social media for greater impact. Nearly two thirds of retailers say that Facebook is the best social media channel to promote sales, so make sure your scheduled messages show off your merchandise and make it easy for members to purchase.
Summary
Engaging your club community and getting them involved in your recruitment drive can be great fun and will certainly make it more successful. The activities suggested above can be taken on and shared among volunteers, leaving coaches and club managers to focus on welcoming their new athletes and preparing for the season to come.
What’s next?
Our final post will guide you through community outreach, in-person appearances, and suggestions for planning and hosting a fun event where newcomers will sign up for your team or club.
Downloads
Get the full e-book from here: Promoting a youth sports club
Related posts in the series
1. Preparing for the recruitment campaign
2. Create and optimize club website
3. Effective advertising campaign
5. Engage your club community (current article)
6. Final outreach + registration
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