MARKETING IDEAS ON HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR BOWLS CLUB
This manual is provided by Bowls USA to its member clubs as a practical marketing tool to help promote bowls clubs and the sport of bowls. It is adapted with permission from a Bowls Australia document, with thanks to BA. Please contact Neil Furman with questions or requests for additional assistance: [email protected]
IPLANNING
Form a marketing/membership committee.
The committee should represent all interests in the club, including social and competitive bowlers. It should comprise the ‘movers and shakers’ in the club who will get things done. There should be a coordinator/marketing officer and a small (3-6 member) team that may or may not include a club coach, a new member, both genders, members with specific marketing skills, etc. The committee may request a budget from its club board.
Assess your membership
It is a good idea to assess and understand the makeup of your members:
Consider information about your local community
Analyze the demographics of your community or suburb, i.e. predominance of retirees, young families, schools, sports clubs, ethnic groups and so on.
Conduct a SWOT analysis
A SWOT analysis is a useful tool to analyze your club’s potential by identifying Strengths and Weaknesses, and looking at your Opportunities and Threats. For example:
* Strengths:What do you do well, what are your advantages over other clubs or other activities, what do you do differently. Take a look at your location, activities your provide, tournaments or events you stage, condition of your greens, clubhouse facilities. Is your club people friendly? Is it friendly to youngsters? Is it progressive in its thinking? Does it have good parking and facilities? What about social events?
* Weaknesses:Examining the same set of criteria, what could be done better? What aspects of your club operations are done poorly? What should be avoided and what is the cause of most of the complaints received by the club etc. Are your greens poor? Is the club easy and safe to access? Lots of club politics? Is the game too slow? Do your members support your events and do they help attract new members?
* Opportunities:What are good opportunities facing your club? Analyze the trends in your community and groups that may be a good fit for the sport of bowls. Think about targeting schools, sports clubs, corporate groups, certain businesses or industries, special interest/hobby groups. Opportunities may include adding special interest days where your members are involved and bring people in, sport awareness/challenge days, open houses, social activities, better member communications such as newsletters, alternate activities such as bingo, card nights, bocce, etc.
* Threats:What obstacles does your club face? What are other clubs doing better than you? Are there financial problems or issues with your location? Is your local community changing in a way not conducive for bowls? Is your membership aging too fast? Analyze whether a nearby club is attracting more members, other sports and activities that are threats to new or existing members, the image of your club and the sport of bowls, lack of member involvement, lack of coaches, umpires, markers, lack of attendance, lack of club events etc.
Once you have evaluated these issues relating specifically to your club, you can begin to ask yourselves where you stand as a club. Evaluate your finances, facilities, events and membership in totality. Establish goals you would like to achieve in the next three years. This will help you establish a new membership drive, who to target and so on.
IIDECIDE ON ACTIVITIES
After assessing your membership and local community, decide which groups to target. You can then find activities that match those particular groups. Ask your committee members to bring ideas to your marketing meetings about a membership drive. If necessary the committee can vote on which activities have the highest priority. In evaluating this, you may wish to visit other sports clubs, visit and evaluate other bowls clubs, and identify what has worked well or badly for you in the past.
Some ideas for club activities to attract members may include:
Consider the cost of the activities you decide upon, to include sponsorships, club funding, and revenues from events or activities.
Develop a welcome package for your club
Here is a list of suggestions for a welcome package for your new members:
- Bowls USA materials including our new cap or visor, Bowls USA lapel pin and membership card (all new members should automatically be members of Bowls USA)
Here is a checklist of ideas for marketing your chosen activities:
Develop an action plan listing all the actions, who is responsible for them, and when they have to be completed. Your list may include the following among other things:
For the new bowler, hand out a welcome packet. Contact people who registered but did not show up. Ensure that a coach is available and follow up for next coaching session. Encourage people to practice and to have fun. See attachment for ideas on how to make the first bowls lesson fun – use objects, toys, obstacles instead of jacks, with a rink-to-rink fun course. Invite people to become members after approximately their third lesson. Organize beginners games after the coaching lessons. Provide information on where to buy bowls, what to wear etc. Process a membership form. Introduce beginners to each other. Introduce beginners to the club schedule, events and competitions. Encourage beginners to book follow-up lessons. Allocate a mentor and or coach to each beginner.
In addition, send letters of thanks to sponsors and anyone else who participated in assisting or promoting the event for you. Publicly thank those members who helped. Promote the role of the club coach and the mentor. Welcome new bowlers to the club when they arrive to play their fist game. Monitor and evaluate the progress and attendance of your new members. Keep track of the numbers of new bowlers to assess the success of each event you organize.
Evaluate the activity: Collect and collate the responses from the event participants. Have the committee brainstorm what worked and what didn’t. What should you do differently next time? Continue to follow up with participants and new members!
Be creative. Be progressive. Think out of the box. Focus on developing an image of the sport of bowls that will fit with your community and also keep up with our changing society and all its competing activities.
Please contact Neil Furman with questions or requests for additional assistance: [email protected]
This manual is provided by Bowls USA to its member clubs as a practical marketing tool to help promote bowls clubs and the sport of bowls. It is adapted with permission from a Bowls Australia document, with thanks to BA. Please contact Neil Furman with questions or requests for additional assistance: [email protected]
IPLANNING
Form a marketing/membership committee.
The committee should represent all interests in the club, including social and competitive bowlers. It should comprise the ‘movers and shakers’ in the club who will get things done. There should be a coordinator/marketing officer and a small (3-6 member) team that may or may not include a club coach, a new member, both genders, members with specific marketing skills, etc. The committee may request a budget from its club board.
Assess your membership
It is a good idea to assess and understand the makeup of your members:
- Numbers (male/female)
- Age groups
- Longevity of membership
- Social or competitive numbers
- Proximity your members live in relation to your club
- Why did your members join your club as opposed to another club
- What other sports or activities do your members participate in
Consider information about your local community
Analyze the demographics of your community or suburb, i.e. predominance of retirees, young families, schools, sports clubs, ethnic groups and so on.
Conduct a SWOT analysis
A SWOT analysis is a useful tool to analyze your club’s potential by identifying Strengths and Weaknesses, and looking at your Opportunities and Threats. For example:
* Strengths:What do you do well, what are your advantages over other clubs or other activities, what do you do differently. Take a look at your location, activities your provide, tournaments or events you stage, condition of your greens, clubhouse facilities. Is your club people friendly? Is it friendly to youngsters? Is it progressive in its thinking? Does it have good parking and facilities? What about social events?
* Weaknesses:Examining the same set of criteria, what could be done better? What aspects of your club operations are done poorly? What should be avoided and what is the cause of most of the complaints received by the club etc. Are your greens poor? Is the club easy and safe to access? Lots of club politics? Is the game too slow? Do your members support your events and do they help attract new members?
* Opportunities:What are good opportunities facing your club? Analyze the trends in your community and groups that may be a good fit for the sport of bowls. Think about targeting schools, sports clubs, corporate groups, certain businesses or industries, special interest/hobby groups. Opportunities may include adding special interest days where your members are involved and bring people in, sport awareness/challenge days, open houses, social activities, better member communications such as newsletters, alternate activities such as bingo, card nights, bocce, etc.
* Threats:What obstacles does your club face? What are other clubs doing better than you? Are there financial problems or issues with your location? Is your local community changing in a way not conducive for bowls? Is your membership aging too fast? Analyze whether a nearby club is attracting more members, other sports and activities that are threats to new or existing members, the image of your club and the sport of bowls, lack of member involvement, lack of coaches, umpires, markers, lack of attendance, lack of club events etc.
Once you have evaluated these issues relating specifically to your club, you can begin to ask yourselves where you stand as a club. Evaluate your finances, facilities, events and membership in totality. Establish goals you would like to achieve in the next three years. This will help you establish a new membership drive, who to target and so on.
IIDECIDE ON ACTIVITIES
After assessing your membership and local community, decide which groups to target. You can then find activities that match those particular groups. Ask your committee members to bring ideas to your marketing meetings about a membership drive. If necessary the committee can vote on which activities have the highest priority. In evaluating this, you may wish to visit other sports clubs, visit and evaluate other bowls clubs, and identify what has worked well or badly for you in the past.
Some ideas for club activities to attract members may include:
- Open house days
- Short mat demonstrations in local shopping centers, activity centers or schools
- Fun days
- Barefoot bowls days
- Evening or night bowls
- Theme days (kids/family/co-workers/corporate/holidays)
- Challenge days against other local sports groups (golf, tennis, ten pin etc.)
- Special days modifying the rules (e.g. playing sets, playing skins format, target bowls instead of jacks, rotate team positions)
- Attend sport expos
- Target specific groups e.g. school sports curriculums, social clubs, groups with disabilities, different ethnic or language groups.
- Encourage members and local groups to think of bowls for events…. Birthdays, Christmas parties, baby showers, anniversaries, staff parties.
- Darts, pool, bingo, card nights
- Seniors week
- Juniors week
- Singles week
- Couples week
- Vary the format of games for fun and a change of routine
- Establish a competition for new and inexperienced members
- Monitor the attendance of your new members and establish mentors
- Expand your leagues both internally and against other clubs
- Dances, social events
- Member trips and excursions
- Wine tastings
- Concerts, museums, exhibitions, day cruises
Consider the cost of the activities you decide upon, to include sponsorships, club funding, and revenues from events or activities.
Develop a welcome package for your club
Here is a list of suggestions for a welcome package for your new members:
- Bowls USA materials including our new cap or visor, Bowls USA lapel pin and membership card (all new members should automatically be members of Bowls USA)
- History of your club with pictures if available
- Details of events, with calendar and bowling times
- Information on tournaments at all levels – club, division and national
- Information on coaching
- Contact information for key club officials
- Club shirt or cap if appropriate
- Information about a mentor assigned to each new member if a beginner
- Information about social activities
- Bowls USA rule book on the sport of bowls
Here is a checklist of ideas for marketing your chosen activities:
- Prepare a promotional flier. Remember to include your sponsors if you have any club or event sponsors.
- Ask your members use the fliers to invite friends, family, co-workers or whomever are appropriate target groups for the activity. Make announcements at every club gathering as reminders.
- Drop the leaflet in your community, at businesses, chambers of commerce, hairdressers, medical offices, social clubs, community bulletin boards, sports clubs, gyms, shopping centers, wherever you are allowed to post a flier.
- Post notices in the local events section of your community magazines and newspapers
- Find out if your local radio will allow you an interview, advertisement or event announcement
- Make personal visits to local groups – bridge clubs, bingo, card players etc.
Develop an action plan listing all the actions, who is responsible for them, and when they have to be completed. Your list may include the following among other things:
- Before the activity, give reminders to people who have expressed interest, including parking information and what to wear
- Prepare an attendance register
- Appoint volunteers for the event
- Make sure club coaches are on board if appropriate and inform them of their duties
- Participant registration, including perhaps name tags and handouts
- Catering and refreshments if appropriate
- Availability and good condition of greens, with bowls and equipment
- Microphone if appropriate
- Safety controls
- A plan on how to get your participants on the green and the specific flow of activities
- Conduct casual interviews after the activity. How did they enjoy the experience? What can you do better? Book them for a future activity. Introduce them to a mentor or coach. Do not try and ram membership down their throat yet! It is too early unless they express interest.
- Develop a contingency plan or alternate date in case of bad weather
For the new bowler, hand out a welcome packet. Contact people who registered but did not show up. Ensure that a coach is available and follow up for next coaching session. Encourage people to practice and to have fun. See attachment for ideas on how to make the first bowls lesson fun – use objects, toys, obstacles instead of jacks, with a rink-to-rink fun course. Invite people to become members after approximately their third lesson. Organize beginners games after the coaching lessons. Provide information on where to buy bowls, what to wear etc. Process a membership form. Introduce beginners to each other. Introduce beginners to the club schedule, events and competitions. Encourage beginners to book follow-up lessons. Allocate a mentor and or coach to each beginner.
In addition, send letters of thanks to sponsors and anyone else who participated in assisting or promoting the event for you. Publicly thank those members who helped. Promote the role of the club coach and the mentor. Welcome new bowlers to the club when they arrive to play their fist game. Monitor and evaluate the progress and attendance of your new members. Keep track of the numbers of new bowlers to assess the success of each event you organize.
Evaluate the activity: Collect and collate the responses from the event participants. Have the committee brainstorm what worked and what didn’t. What should you do differently next time? Continue to follow up with participants and new members!
Be creative. Be progressive. Think out of the box. Focus on developing an image of the sport of bowls that will fit with your community and also keep up with our changing society and all its competing activities.
Please contact Neil Furman with questions or requests for additional assistance: [email protected]