5-Step Marketing Guide for Youth Sports Clubs
As a club leader, it can be difficult to stay on top of your club’s marketing efforts when you are busy juggling everything from team rosters to coach staffing to communications and more. To make this process easier, Sprocket Sports has put together a simple 5-Step Marketing Guide to help you get the most out of your limited time.
Optimize Player Experiences
If your players and parents aren’t happy, you’re wasting valuable time and money on marketing. Put simply, there’s no point in attracting new players to your club if they are going to have a negative experience and leave. Watch the Sprocket video “The Top Two Drivers to Increase Retention” to learn about the top two drivers to improve player experiences and increase retention.
Enhance Your Website
Most club websites are outdated – cumbersome for families to use and difficult for administrators to manage. If you think yours could use a refresh, here are our top tips:
- WHY US?: Tell prospective customers how you’re different from the competition.
- HIGH QUALITY PHOTOS & VIDEOS: Invest in a professional photographer to capture players and coaches in action.
- LESS IS MORE: Don’t lose customers with information overload and sprawling websites.
- MAKE IT REAL: Add customer testimonials to your website and let them tell their story.
Create a 12-Month Marketing Calendar
Don’t wait until April to figure out how to attract players to May tryouts! It might sound overwhelming, but if you break it down now into manageable steps, you’ll save yourself a lot of headaches down the road. Download our 12-Month Marketing Calendar template.
Build Brand Awareness & Attract New Players
- VIDEO: A well-produced video can capture the essence of your community and highlight what differentiates your club from the competition. Be sure to break long videos down into shorter clips that can be used for social media.
- ADVERTISING: Whether it’s social media, local news, flyers at the local Starbucks, or good old-fashioned lawn signs, it pays to invest in a mix of advertising to ensure you reach your audience. Keep your messaging to the point and highlight your best features.
- SOCIAL MEDIA: Posts and ads on Instagram and Facebook are the leading outlets to reach parents. Use your best photos and videos to create a consistent stream of posts representing all teams. Encourage your families to post too – the most effective marketing happens when your customers are doing it for you!
- SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION: SEO optimizes your visibility online, meaning more traffic to your website and more opportunities to convert prospects into customers.
Cultivate Your Player Pipeline
In order for your club to grow and flourish, you need a systematic plan in place to attract new players each season. Here are the key elements of a good plan:
- BUILD A PROSPECT DATABASE THROUGH "SAMPLING": Offer multiple opportunities to “sample” your club’s coaches, teams, and community through camps, skills clinics, “Bring a Friend Day” practices, private training sessions, etc. Be sure to plan and advertise well in advance and add names of all participants to your prospect database.
- CONNECT WITH PROSPECTS & FOLLOW UP: Start by making sure all prospective players have a positive experience at your sampling events. Assign a coach, director, or player to each prospect to give a personal “welcome” and encourage them to sample more events or tryout for the club.
- TRACK YOUR PROSPECTS: It’s easy to let prospective players fall through the cracks if you don’t have a system in place to track them. Make sure someone is responsible for cultivating the lead and, hopefully, turning the lead into a new player!
- MAKE IT SIMPLE: Ensure that it’s easy to register for events, camps, and tryouts and that all logistical information is clearly communicated to prospective families.