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 up
o 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/
