Developing a marketing plan. 19 th June 2013

Transcription

1 Developing a marketing plan 19 th June 2013

2 Overview of content This seminar will cover the following: 1. Brief introduction to Club Leaders 2. Marketing and marketing plans 3. What your club has to offer 4. Your target market 5. Communicating what you have to offer effectively 6. Knowing if it s working 7. Recap and top tips 2

3 Introduction to Club Leaders 3

4 Introduction to Club Leaders Club Leaders background Part of the Places People Play Olympic legacy programme Uniquely focused on helping club leaders on business aspects of club Tailored for sports clubs Delivered by PwC working with Sport England Available to all clubs and it s all free! What s going on Where to find us Available to fewer clubs Mentoring Seminars Leaders Online Resources Available to all clubs 4

5 Marketing and marketing plan 5

6 Marketing What do we mean by marketing? 6

7 Marketing A definition: The management process which identifies, anticipates, and supplies customer requirements efficiently and profitably Or another way... How you communicate what you have to offer with who your potential customers are 7

8 Marketing plan What is a marketing plan? A plan of what, to whom and how your club is going to market itself Benefits of having a marketing plan: Adds more structure to what you do Makes the most of your time Is value for money Enhances your club s reputation 8

9 Marketing plan - framework The following framework may help: What does your club offer? Who / what is your target market? How do you communicate this effectively? How do you know it s working? 9

10 What your club has to offer 10

11 Situation Analysis Before developing a plan to help achieve your vision it is important to conduct some form of analysis to consider Where you are now? External Analysis (MACRO) Wider factors S W External Analysis (MICRO) Local influences O T Internal Analysis Your club 11

12 What does your club offer Quality coaches Good facilities Club Mark accredited Social events Sense of community Available to all ages and abilities Good development Accessible Facilities Available at right times Friendly, welcoming people Right price of membership Competitive Your overall club offering should align to your vision 12

13 Situation analysis: SWOT Strengths: What does your club do well? Weaknesses: What could your club improve? Internal External Opportunities: What opportunities could your club exploit? Threats: What are the threats to your club? 13

14 Exercise - SWOT EXERCISE Do a SWOT analysis for your club 14

15 Vision - examples A vibrant, healthy and progressive club that thrives on providing enjoyable tennis playing opportunities. Promoting and encouraging the playing and enjoyment of tennis for all ages, abilities and backgrounds for the community and the visiting public. To give good quality instruction in a safe and friendly atmosphere with well trained and highly motivated staff. To cater for any standard of client, so enabling all abilities direct access to this great sport and pastime, all of which is set in the beautiful countryside of Wiltshire. XX RFC is a community sports club driving rugby success, sporting participation and performance across all ages, genders, and cultures within our community, ensuring an enjoyable experience for members, families and our sponsors both on the pitch and in our community. XX Riding Centre is British Horse Society approved and offers superb equestrian facilities, well schooled horses and ponies and top class tuition at its 25 acre site in the heart of east London. 15

16 Vision Exercise Exercise Draft the vision for your club that you believe in and are proud to share with your members 16

17 Your target market 17

18 Who / what is your target market? You need to ensure you match what you offer to your potential members, whilst ensuring you still meet the needs of your current members. What does your club offer? Who / what is your target market? How do you communicate this effectively? How do you know it s working? 18

19 Current members What does your current membership look like? Why do they come to your club? How can you break it down? For example: Age Locality to club within 5 miles Participation level social Reason for joining keep fit meet friends Sex female Marital status married Do they have children? yes Employment professional How did your members find out about your club? 19

20 Potential members Do you want more of the same type of member? Are there any other groups outside your current membership that could benefit from your club? How many new members can your club manage? You can research potential members via a number of channels: Talking to current and lapsed members Researching other clubs Holding open days / events Using the Sport England Market Segmentation tool 20

21 Identifying your objectives When developing a marketing plan you should identify the objectives of what you are trying to achieve by being SMART : Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Timely General: Grow our membership SMART: Increase our competitive membership by 10% over the next year 21

22 Communicating what you have to offer effectively 22

23 Letting people know what your club has to offer Now you know who you want to tell, and what you want to tell them, the next step is to figure out how to tell them. Bear in mind that different groups of people will be best communicated through different channels. What does your club offer? Who / what is your target market? How do you communicate this effectively? How do you know it s working? 23

24 Exercise your offer Elevator Pitch Imagine you are stuck in an elevator, and asked about what your club offers...this is someone who you club is targeting a potential member or sponsor perhaps... What would you say? 24

25 Marketing channels The following are a mix of channels that sports clubs could consider: Events Word of mouth Local Media Sponsorship Tactics Piggy Back Marketing Club website Social Media Leaflets / Posters 25

26 Tactics: Sponsorship Sponsorship is a two way thing. In return for funding or services, you need to be able to provide value to the sponsor. What you can offer them? Logos printed on your: Kit, equipment, minibus, sideline banners Their logo on your: Website, headers/ footers, Letter heads Mention the company name in any events, team publicity, and end of season reports Hold an event under the name of the sponsor: E.g.: The Generous Pub Co. Cup Hold an event at your sponsor s venue What they can offer you? Finance- in return for promotion Kit, with their logo or company colours Discounts e.g. money off equipment or supplies ordered from a specific shop, a reduced admission price to events when taking all of your club or society along, or a discount when hiring specific services or facilities Facilities or a venue to host events 26

27 Tactics: Piggyback Marketing Piggyback Marketing is when two or more organisations promote ones another s complementary (but non competing) products or services. As a sports club you may consider engaging with the following groups, as they may have an interest in promoting your club: - Schools. Colleges and Universities - Community groups - Local leisure centres - Council - Local businesses 27

28 Tactics: Working with the Media Is the story topical, timely and relevant? Plan ahead so your news stories relate to and capitalise on what the clubs plans to do over the next season. Do you have any events, competitions coming up that you want people to come along to? Have you had any successes you want to share? Let the local press know and they might even send a photographer along to capture your club in action. What is unusual or even more unique about this story? A good media story is unusual - people haven t seen or heard this before. That s why they will be interested - this is not familiar, not the same old, same old. There is an unusual angle or aspect, or a new creative element. Real news is all about people - news is created by and affects people. Celebrities and sporting personalities do of course attract media interest. But real people, who have done something heroic or extraordinary, who have an important or interesting story to tell are just as good, in fact usually better. 28

29 Tactics: Social Media Social media involves the building of communities or networks and encouraging participation. It is also a quick and effective way to keep interested parties up to date. Social media works best when there are real people, with genuine intentions and quality content behind every profile, tweet and tag. Do: Listen Don t: Criticise Be authentic Reveal (personal information) Credit others Misrepresent Be consistent 29

30 Tactics: Social media accounts For social media to be effective, you need to give users the freedom to openly communicate and share their views, experiences and ideas. However, you need to consider the risks of lack of control. There are pros & cons of open content (where you give your users and followers the freedom to post messages): Pros Increases visibility More engaging for users Open discussions can built trust Facilitates knowledge sharing Cons Open to negative comments Gives way to spamming Viewed as simply all push 30

31 Tactics: Major platforms Key facts: Twitter is a Micro-blog tool and platform Estimate s of use vary 140m active users worldwide / 10m in UK Allows a user to send a text-based message ( tweet ), up to 140 characters in length, to other users who have requested to receive updates from that user Users can post public or private (direct) messages to other users Do s Be yourself, be original Disclose who you work for / represent Participate regularly Be human and have fun (but remember it is a public record) Give credit to others Include links, photos and videos to keep things interesting Become an authority and provide value Don ts Metweet all the time think 90% about others / big ideas / resources and 10% about you Retweet without knowing what you are endorsing Tweet too much spamming people will turn people off Tweet not enough try several times a week if not daily. Creates a base and keeps interest 31

32 Tactics: Major platforms Key facts: Considered most popular social network on the internet Users expect you to interact with them more like friends than businesses Works best if you are happy to adopt a more flexible and friendly tone in your communication Can build a very strong and loyal following who will click, view and share your content so you reach continues to grow Do s Be yourself, be original Be friendly and show personality through your content Share business milestones like you would share milestones with family / friends Regularly post and share updates Don ts Ignore it your customers may well already be talking about you Just focus on the business and push out business content Forget to update regularly an out of date page looks like an out of date business 32

33 Putting your plans into action What are you going to do and when, and who is going to do it? Action Owner J F M A M J J A S O N D Agree plan with marketing plan with committee Run membership e-survey Flyer distribution Banner on sponsor s site Local media press Members e-shot Open day Schools visit Facebook/Twitter Evaluate plan 33

34 Exercise - planning Exercise Spend a short time listing what marketing actions you might do in your club and when 34

35 Knowing if it s working 35

36 How do you know it s working? What does your club offer? Who / what is your target market? How do you communicate this effectively? How do you know it s working? 36

37 Monitoring activities How can you track the success of your marketing? When new members join the club, ask them how they heard about you (e.g. Through a friend, open day etc.) Ask them what it was about the club that attracted them to you does your marketing show this When members leave, ask why are they moving to competition that is offering something else? 37

38 Analysing metrics Examples: Members at beginning of year Members at end of year New members % new members 27% 32% 7% Members lost % lost members 7% 6% 13% Marketing budget Marketing per new member

39 Recap and top tips 39

40 Recap What we have covered 1. Brief introduction to Club Leaders 2. Marketing and marketing plans 3. What your club has to offer 4. Your target market 5. Communicating what you have to offer effectively 6. Knowing if it s working What does your club offer? Who / what is your target market? How do you communicate this effectively? 40

41 Top tips Make sure what you have to offer matches with potential customers whilst considering the needs of existing ones Work out how you are going to monitor if your marketing is working Think of what budget you need at the beginning of the year Different channels work for different people you don t have to do them all Use people who know what they are doing (e.g. Social media) Remember it can take more time and money to get new members than retain existing ones 41

42 Further support Online modules Evaluating marketing options Developing a marketing strategy Toolkits & templates Managing the media, sponsorship, Local media Mentoring 42

43 Any questions?

44 TITLE Thank you and good luck! This seminar has been prepared to give general guidance for sports clubs as part of the Sport England Club Leaders programme. It does not constitute professional advice and you should not act upon the information contained in these slides without obtaining specific professional guidance. These slides are not to be used outside of the Club Leaders programme unless delivered in conjunction with Club Leaders or with the written agreement of Sport England. No representation or warranty (express or implied) is given as to the accuracy or completeness of the information contained in this publication, and, to the extent permitted by law, Sport England, its members, employees and agents do not accept or assume any liability, responsibility or duty of care for any consequences of you or anyone else acting, or refraining to act, in reliance on the information contained in this publication or for any decision based on it. The English Sports Council - Sport England