Running the market (Coaching Edge, August 2014)

Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, local press, flyers, posters or press adverts, there’s no shortage of the ways in which you can spread the word about your sporting event. Unfortunately, anyone and everyone with a business knows this only too well, and on a daily basis we’re bombarded with an array of marketing messages online, on the streets, even at home waiting for us on the doormat.

With such a dizzying array of trades vying for the public’s attention – and the bewildering marketing options available to you – it can be tricky to advertise your own event on a shoestring budget, but this article will outline how you can gain the edge.

Understandably, after planning your activity’s schedule, setting training goals, organising transport and equipment, briefing assistant coaches and doing actual coaching, it’s easy to treat marketing like an afterthought. To make matters worse, there is no one-stop solution when it comes to reaching your local target audience on a limited budget; after all, who has a wallet thick enough to stump up for billboards and regional press adverts?

As Communications Officer for the Leeds Softball Association, it’s my job to promote and spread softball throughout Yorkshire on a thrifty budget. As a niche pursuit, we’re easily the go-to organisation for the sport in the region. However, if you’re involved in more popular games such as football or hockey, there may be several local and regional clubs fighting to recruit the same new blood you are.

It can seem really easy to get a few flyers printed out, stick a Wall post on Facebook and rely on general word of mouth to help promotion and garner interest. However, it’s important to maintain a friendly marketing presence, both online and in real-life, to really get your club’s name out there, and with some forward-planning and consistent campaigning, you can tailor your organisation into the leading local brand to enjoy your sport.

Print
Think print is dead? Think again: printed medium is a classic and it’s going nowhere. However, gone are the days when you can get results from a ten-minute job on a leaflet typed in Comic Sans with a fuzzy black and white photo. Contemporary posters and flyers are more visually-led to catch the eye amongst the myriad of other printed material on walls, with greater emphasis on working lettering into well-compositioned sports photography.

To make an attention-grabbing advert, you’ll need the right tools to help you craft one. Adobe InDesign is an advanced publishing and design program that’s relatively easy to pick up if you generally know your way around basic software like MS Publisher and PowerPoint. While full versions can set you back several hundred pounds, you can now download InDesign CS2 without the need for a serial number on the Adobe website.

Once installed, feel free to play around with the drop shadows, text effects and different fonts. It may seem a little daunting at first, but with a little patience and some trial and error, soon you’ll be crafting some wall-worthy creations.

Supermarkets are excellent venues to put posters up in – most large outlets have community noticeboards and plenty of foot traffic. Be aware however, that where some offer to put up notices for you at no cost, this doesn’t oblige them to do so immediately (or even at all), especially among the more laissez-faire of customer advisers. Best thing to do is to return back in a couple days to check if it’s actually been pinned up, preferably with a spare copy if it’s been mislaid somewhere.

Other venues you can put your posters up in are local community halls, leisure centres and shopping malls. Besides posters and flyers, you should also look around takeaways, libraries, pubs and cafes to see what local magazines are circulating. Some will allow you to place small classified adverts for free – although this writer is of the opinion that younger audiences shun free local magazines in favour of other media.

Digital
The online universe opens up a real bazaar of different marketing tools and opportunities. While it may seem a daunting place for a coach to advertise events in, it’s particularly useful once you get the hang of regular digital marketing, plus it offers a forum to house all your information in one easy to access place.

Website
Websites are the becoming the ultimate online business card, with many professionals adopting one to peddle their wares. Fortunately for the technophobic, it’s easier than ever to set up your own.

First you’ll need a web address. Try sites like GoDaddy.com or One.com to see which names are available – where possible you want something simple, easy to remember and relevant to your sport and location or club name. www.ManchesterFootballAcademy.com would be an ideal example.
Prices vary for domain registration, but most are around £15 per year. Next is your hosting, which saves your text and images on an online server ready to be accessed by a web user. Costs vary again, but are affordable and deals can be struck with combined domain registration and hosting.

Finally, you’ll need web design templates to help you build functionality. Many customisable and pre-built templates should come part and parcel with web-host packages – these are relatively straightforward to amend using their own design wizard. Most sites offer support when needed, but you should be able to create a modern-looking site without much handholding.

Remember to keep your website updated with news, events, training regimes, club philosophies and contact details.

Gumtree
It’s free and easy to place an advert on Gumtree, and placing adverts in your local site’s Sports Team or Community notices is one of the more reliable ways to get outside interest. Handily, there are a range of purchasable options such as making your advert more prominent in the listings or having them featured for a short amount of time.

When completing your advert, try and include some diverse pictures of your sport and some pre-written template text you can copy and paste in. Better yet, if you’re able to, upload a video introducing your sport and your organisation – this massively helps with providing a warm welcome to the more timid players out there, convincing them to give your club a try.

Facebook
Facebook is your main bread and butter when it comes to digital marketing. You should already have a Facebook Group or Page to act as a digital home for your club, containing training updates, news on special events and a forum for members to post queries. You should even try and include amusing pictures or videos from around the web (as long as they’re relevant), which will help with public engagement.

Creating regular Facebook Events for special sessions will help advertise your meetings and ensure your members don’t double-book themselves. You should also encourage current players to drag a friend along to these and share the event on their own Facebook Wall – help incentivise this by running promotions, such as offering free sessions for members that bring one or more new participants.
It’s particularly helpful to write short session previews on Events so attendees will know what to expect. Try to make people aware of any special beginner events you might be planning on running, so that rookies are more inclined to come along.


Twitter
Despite its casual appearance, Twitter is a massive online landscape with a lot of buzz around it – not just a magnet for One Directioners. See how its #hashtags and ‘@’ usernames have invaded many television programmes and print media.
Just like web domains, choose a username that’s simple and describes what and where your club is perfectly, though this time you are restricted to 15 characters. Treat your tweets just like public engagement – don’t just remind people of training sessions and special events in 140 characters – offer up regular training tips, motivational advice and the odd humorous link. Use hashtags when relevant, e.g. #leedssoftball – this brings up your account and tweets in relevant Twitter searches.

It’s also useful to side with a national organisation of your sport, or a bigger local account that can boost your Tweet views if you ask them nicely to retweet you.

For those planned sessions that get lucky enough to expect a huge turnout for – be wary and double-check the occupancy with your venue manager or groundsman: almost all will have a maximum number of people on or inside their premises for health and safety reasons. Encourage new attendees to RSVP or register their details so you get a solid grasp of how many people are anticipated to show.

Good marketing that will give you an edge is all about utilising visible campaigns, engaging content and maintaining a strong presence whether on the digital frontier or in real life. Remember to use these tips to keep your current members well-informed and up-to-date, as well as to ensure a healthy supply of fresh faces at your sessions and special events.