What Is Marketing?
Marketing is the process of matching what your club offers with what various customers want. It’s about selecting the most attractive and relevant features and communicating these consistently to your current and your potential customers.
Does your club offer great facilities, a family-friendly environment, on-field success, experienced coaches, professional management….? These are all messages you can use to market your club to your target market.
Why is marketing important?
Information from Bowls Australia Club Support
The most important ingredient of any club is its members. Clubs can’t rely on prospective members simply arriving at their door. Clubs need to use marketing techniques to attract new members and to engage in ongoing communication with them to ensure they are receiving the services they expect.
Through the development of a marketing plan a club can:
- Identify what aspects of your club ‘sell’ – what facilities, services, advantages do you offer, are you known as a strong club, a supportive club (i.e. can you “trade” on your name?
- Determine who your potential customers are and what they may be interested. We all know bowls is a game for all ages, so you need to know what might attract a 25-year-old to your club versus someone in their 50’s.
- Look at the different ways to communicate these messages. Paper based marketing is now almost a thing of the past. While you may still have members who prefer to communicate this way, attracting new people to your club is likely to require digital based communication.
Although marketing can be perceived to be expensive with no guarantee of an immediate return in revenue, it is important in the modern day, just as in all business, that clubs set aside some money specifically for marketing.
The more people who know about your club, the more opportunities that might come your club’s way. Marketing and communication initiatives are also a good way to acknowledge and thank club volunteers, members, sponsors and other community partners.
Communicating your marketing message
There are a number of ways to deliver these messages, including the club website, event presentations, meetings, noticeboards, newsletters, emails, SMS, media releases, local and community newspapers and radio, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and other community forums.
The key is for communication to be regular, and not just interacting with your members. Engage with prospective members by ensuring your local community is aware of your club and its activities.
Another important consideration is for the club to meet the needs of all their customers (WHO = members, guests and visitors) by understanding WHAT people want to know about, and the WHEN and HOW they want to receive that information. This is particularly important when needing to deliver messages to customers about events, competitions, facilities or club announcements.
Below are links to various marketing/communication examples:
Email enquiries@bowlswa.com.au if you would like a demo version