New players are the lifeblood of any local sports club. Without sign ups and supporters, your season might end prematurely.
You can fix this with a dedicated marketing program!
It takes a bit of effort from club managers and volunteers, but marketing your sporting club helps spread the word in the local community. If you’re looking for new players, sponsors, supporters and members, we’ve got some tips on how to reach the right audience.
In this article, we’ll offer 9 marketing tips for promoting your local sports club, and some of the things you’ll need to consider along the way.
9 Marketing Tips for Promoting Your Local Sports Club
1. Go Old School With a Letterbox Drop
It can be tough to know where to start with promoting a sports club, so let’s keep it simple with a letterbox drop.
All you have to do is design a small, one-page flyer that includes your branding, the sports you offer and the types of players you’re searching for. You could also extend an offer such as discounted sign ups or free merchandise to encourage people to take the leap!
2. Build Out an Email List
For a more high-tech solution, it’s a good idea to start building out an email list you can use for marketing. It’s simple – you can use online forms to collect email addresses from your players, their families, and from anybody who’s interested in signing up.
You can then use these email addresses to send out newsletters, marketing emails and reminders about sign-ons and try-outs.
Email marketing is affordable and effective. It can take a bit of time to build out your mailing list, but it can become one of your most valuable marketing tools!
3. Turn Your Sporting Field Into Signage
If you have large sporting fields or courts, you have a huge opportunity to market yourself with sports signage.
Sports signage is all the signs you see lining the oval of your local football club. These signs often show the club’s own branding, as well as the branding of local businesses and sponsors.
These types of signs are simple outdoor signs. They’re printed and cut from plastic or metal that can be hung from almost any vertical surface.
For an even bigger impact, try adding illuminated signs to your field and clubhouse – these provide 24/7 advertising, and they’re extremely eye-catching to the local foot traffic.
4. Get Local Businesses Involved
Most sports clubs need sponsorships to thrive, and local businesses are your best bet.
Small and local businesses often partner with sports clubs as part of their own marketing campaigns. They’ll sponsor your sports club, and in return you’ll place some of their branded signage around your clubhouse or field.
This could be as simple as installing outdoor signs around your oval. You could also reserve space inside your clubhouse for sponsored window and wall signage. Don’t forget to ask your sponsors if they’ll place some of your club’s promotional signage around their premises.
5. Advertise Through Local Schools
Is your sporting club primarily for youngsters? Schools are your best asset!
Schools are always looking for ways to keep their students active. Try getting in touch with local principals to see if there are any opportunities for advertising to their students.
You could opt for something simple like placing an ad in the school newsletter or on their website. If you want to go further, you could also ask about installing your signage around the school, participating in sporting days, or conducting PE classes with the students.
6. Stay Active on Social Media
If we’re talking about free ways to promote your local sports club, social media is hard to beat.
Make sure you’re staying active on platforms like Facebook and Instagram. You can post the results of games you played, photos of recent matches, the details of social events and much more.
We recommend posting a few times per week if you can, and don’t forget to respond to comments, answer messages and keep your details up to date.
7. Design Some Club Merchandise
Every team needs a uniform, and it doesn’t hurt to have merchandise that the rest of your members and supporters can purchase.
Offering simple pieces of merchandise – like t-shirts, hats and bumper stickers – is a great way to spread your brand in the local community. You can make this merchandise available for purchase, or you may prefer to give it away so that your members are more likely to wear your brand.
8. Host an Open Day
Hosting an open day encourages the locals to visit your club and get hands-on with their favourite sports. They’ll also be able to meet some of your current members, check out the facilities and see if it’s the sort of club they’re looking for!
Inviting locals to an open day is usually the last step in your marketing plan. Once you’ve built an email list, updated your signage and built some relationships with local businesses, you can start planning the big day.
Don’t forget to make it an event! Consider operating market and food stalls, giving away club merchandise as prizes, or offering discounts for members that sign up on the day.
9. Update Your Clubhouse
Once you’ve started to generate a steady stream of new players, it’s time to reinvest your money into the club. Updating the clubhouse is a big job. But it’s one that will pay off in the long run!
You can start simple with a fresh coat of paint and some new signs. Reviving the signage around your club will make a big impact on the look and feel of the space, and it helps to catch the attention of passersby.
If you want to make a real impact, we recommend using the outside of your buildings too. Large-scale wall murals and signage are a great way to showcase your branding, and these types of signs are impossible to miss.
Promote Your Local Club with Sports Signage from Signs Brisbane!
Promoting your local sports club doesn’t need to be a major effort! Each little step you take will make an impact and help increase enrolment in your programs.
Updating your signage is one of the most effective tactics for marketing your club. New signage looks fantastic and it makes your brand stand out – and that’s crucial if you’re trying to reach new players.
The team at Signs Brisbane are experts in sports signage. We offer all types of indoor and outdoor signage for sports fields and courts. If you need signs for your clubhouse, around your oval, or a giant light up billboard for your driveway, we’d love to help!
We take the work out of designing signage for your sports club. Our design service can use your branding, logos and colours to create something eye-catching and utterly unique.
You can browse our Brisbane signage options online, or contact us to start designing your sports signage today.