Sports Then and Now

Pixabay. CCO Licensed.

Looking to recruit new members for your sports club? By investing in some marketing, you can spread awareness of your club and get more people to come along. Here are just a few different ways to promote your sports club.

Get on social media

Social media is one of the best tools for connecting with people in your community. Start by setting up pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You can then posting updates and news to get people interested in your club. This could include pictures and videos (with the permission of your club). Promoted posts and ads are a great way of connecting with strangers – Facebook is ideal for this as you can target your ads at people local to you. Make sure to also invite all your friends, family and current club members to join your page so that you’ve got a sizeable following.

Print flyers

You can also try posting flyers through people’s doors as a way of recruiting new members. It’s best to hire a professional company to design and print off your flyers. You should then plan out the best neighbourhoods to post your flyers (if you run a kids sports club, it may be beneficial to target areas where there are lots of families living). You can also pin up flyers on public noticeboards and hand them out to passers-by in strategic places.

Get in touch with local media

A feature in your local newspaper could be a great way to promote your club. Events like competitions are often newsworthy – even if there isn’t space in the physical newspaper, they may be able to run a feature online. Alternatively, you could try contacting your local newspaper’s advertising co-ordinator so that you can feature an advert for your club in the paper.

Try vehicle branding

If you’ve got a car, you could also turn this into a moving billboard for your club. Vinyl wrapping is a popular way of adding branding that doesn’t involve making any permanent modifications to the bodywork. You can even look into private plates for sale and find one that relates to your sport or team. It could help people in your community to become more aware of you and your club.

Ask your club venue to do some promotion

If your club is based in a sports hall or a school, consider asking the venue to do some promotion for you. This could include putting up posters or sharing posts on social media. Most venues will be willing to do this for free.

Give rewards to members that invite friends to join up

You can also encourage your current members to find new recruits by offering rewards as an incentive. This could include a free month’s fees to any member that manages to recruit someone else. Alternatively, you could offer to buy equipment for them or simply offer a gift such as sweets (useful for encouraging kids).  

Get networking

Going out and meeting new people can sometimes be the best form of marketing. Through word of mouth, you can spread the word of your club and get more people to join. There are all kinds of places in which you can build valuable contacts. Joining a local business or community group could allow you to meet influential people in your area of whom you can talk about your club with. Local weddings and birthday parties can also be great places to meet people.