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Wed 28th February7 - 9pmSeminar Room, Aberdeen Sports VillageAB24 5RU Club Sport Aberdeen are pleased to confirm details of our first face to face event of 2024!  We are pleased to be partnering with SPEAR physiotherapy to deliver the following programme for clubs: A short update from Club Sport Aberdeen, including proposals to simplify the affiliation process for clubs. This will include the opportunity for clubs to feedback on the proposed changes, ahead of the Club Sport AGM later in 2024. One hour workshop delivered by Karen Young, Partner at SPEAR Physiotherapy focusing on:"...looking after growing young athletes..." Update on the North East Youth Sports Panel, including recruitment opportunities from affiliated clubs Opportunities to network with key partners such as Sport Aberdeen's Community Team, ACVO and others This event will be FREE to all members of Club Sport Aberdeen affiliated clubs.

Nominations are now open for Aberdeen's Sports Awards 2024!Aberdeen's Sports Awards celebrates and recognises the wealth of sporting achievements and contributions made by local athletes, volunteers and clubs in encouraging individuals to be active. Do you know a sports person, club, team or supporter who deserves to be recognised?AWARD CATEGORIES: Adult Community Coach / Volunteer of the Year Community Sports Project of the Year Club of the Year Inspiration Award Lifetime Achievement Performance Coach of the Year Sports Achiever of the Year Student Sports Achiever of the Year Team Performance of the Year Veteran/Masters Sports Achiever of the Year Young Coach / Volunteer of the Year Young Sports Achiever of the Year School Innovation Award NOMINATE HERE!!!

Marketing Tips for Clubs Here are some simple, practical hints and tips that you can use, or not. The marketing and communications landscape, along with technology and consumer habits is ever changing; but some principals remain true and through my career and experience to date, I hope you will find at least some of this useful. If you have any further questions or anything please feel free to add me on LinkedIn or email me: sarah.mccoll@afc.co.uk Figure out who you want to speak to and how best to reach them:·       Businesses – LinkedIn·       Adults – Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter·       U18s  – Snapchat, TikTok, Tumblr, Vine, YouTube, Instagram, (Twitch, Reddit)Have a key message and repeat it, repeat, repeat, repeat!Use your networks, your members networks and channels, your friends, events, and spread that message. Give your members, volunteers, staff the tools and encouragement / motivation to help share your messaging. Provide the phrasing, the images, hashtags and links to use in their posts, or ask them to share your main posts. You could even have rewards and prizes for those that get the most engagements or enquiries / new members etc.Use emotive language, personalise where you can and ensure you’ve a ‘call to action’ – be clear about what you’re saying and what you want the audience to do:·       We have a new website = You need to check out our new website, click here to ensure you don’t miss out!·       Tickets on sale, 01224 584373.  = Secure your family tickets now, call 01224 584373 and quote DEAL to save 5%.Have a key message and repeat it, repeat, repeat, repeat!Data is your friend, don’t be scared of it. GDPR has likely scared many organisations, especially those with volunteer marketers, but as long as you seek permission and store individuals data securely you need not overly worry. GDPR strengthened many of the regularions that were already in place so if you try to the best of your ability to adhere to the rules, protect individuals data and seek appropriate permissions then a good data base of contacts, who want to be contacted, is an excellent tool. And the data on engagements such as email opens, website visits etc. can help guide your marketing and communications to reaching more of the right people.Email marketing, with a good database to communicate to this is an excellent way of ensuring your engaged audience stays up to date with your latest message and objectives.  Have a key message and repeat it, repeat, repeat, repeat! Mobile is key – it’s the main way information is accessed so think about how things look and work on different types of mobile devise.Video is a must: There’s been an explosion of growth in video on social media in recent years. Views of branded video content have increased 99% on YouTube and 258% on Facebook between 2016 and 2017. On Twitter, a video Tweet is 6x more likely to be retweeted than a photo Tweet. : https://www.wyzowl.com/video-social-media-2019/ Time is likely an issue, so plan things wisely and find tools to help. The longer you push a message out in the lead up to an event for example, the more likely it will be seen, it will be acknowledged and it will be acted upon. Plan early to get your messages to your audiences and schedule posts in advance through tools suce as Hootsuite to help maximise your time and efforts.Have a key message and repeat it, repeat, repeat, repeat!PR – PR is simply sending your message to the press hoping that they’ll run it as news. To maximise the chances of your story being picked up here are some tips: 1.       Tailor your headline / angle to the publication you want to pick it upo   Evening Express – community and people focused, fun and family: eenews@ajl.co.uk & eesport@ajl.co.uko   Press and Journal – industry, business, more mature: pj.newsdesk@ajl.co.uk & pj.sport@pressandjournal.co.uk If you know the edition area of the P&J the story is relevant to – add this in the subject 2.       Say what you want to say quickly and clearly – look at how news stories are written – take a selection of stories on BBC News for example, you can almost read only the first few sentences and you already know all the essential information about the story. Cover your essential info first and the rest of the article is simply adding depth, context and detail to it.3.       Send a good photo with the press release.Helpful links:https://blog.pitchero.com/17-tips-for-marketing-your-sports-clubhttps://www.goraise.co.uk/blog/sports-club-marketing-guide/https://help.hootsuite.com/hc/en-us/articles/204598140-Quick-start-guidehttps://www.themeboy.com/blog/9-effective-marketing-ideas-sports-teams-sporting-events/

After much preparation by the club’s volunteers and a significant application process, on 13 May 2020 Aberdeen Amateur Athletic Club (AAAC) was added to the Scottish Charity Register as a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO).According to Club Manager, Brian Pahlmann, the committee’s decision to change from a Community Amateur Sports Club was made to provide further protection for the club and its members by being incorporated, further tax advantages, and hopefully, more fundraising opportunities.Commonwealth Games medallist and club president, Mark Davidson, stated “there appears to be somewhat of a trend among athletics clubs and other sports clubs becoming SCIOs.  While AAAC should not just follow the crowd, AAAC has a tradition of being progressive and a leader among athletics clubs.  There may be no current or urgent reason for AAAC to change but doing so could create opportunities for the future.  Despite being nearly 70 years old, being a SCIO might also improve the club’s sustainability.”These advantages and opportunities may prove especially beneficial as sports clubs react and adapt to the coronavirus and the likely new normal in its wake.Aberdeen Amateur Athletic Club typically hosts training sessions on Monday and Wednesday evenings at Aberdeen Sports Village for athletes aged 9 years and up.  The club also has plans to expand its training offerings into the community as well as its disability athletics programmes.