Are you looking to increase sports club membership for your team this season? Membership sales are essential to the ongoing success of some clubs. It’s important to attract new members and retain existing members with great membership options that offer your fans value for their buck.
You may have noticed that sport is a wonderful way to connect fans and members with others that share their enthusiasm for sports and their favourite team. Fans help to boost morale and continue to support their team’s players even on their “off” days. We all know how “off” days feel!
If you’re ready to get the ball rolling with your membership sales, these five simple steps will help to encourage people to sign up with your club!
1. Offer Discounts On Annual Memberships
If the aim is to get people to join on a longer contract, make their decision that much easier by offering discounts for an annual membership. Everyone loves a bargain!
For example, instead of the monthly $50 fee for joining your sports club, the annual fee could be $480, which is a $10 monthly discount. Members would save $120 for signing up with you for a year. That’s the sort of offer that appeals to people who want to sign up but want to see that it’s cost-effective.
It’s also the sort of offer that won’t get sports fans into too much trouble with their other half for spending too much money!
2. Promote Your Club On Social Media Platforms
Consider a targeted digital marketing approach on social media to gain traction for your sports club. According to DreamGlow, over 50 million small businesses use social media platforms like Facebook to connect with their customers.
One of the greatest benefits of using a social media platform (or multiple) is that it’s more cost-effective than traditional marketing strategies. Content marketing produces up to three times the amount of leads compared with traditional outbound marketing and even costs up to 62% less in most cases.
If you’re not too comfortable with digital media and the online world, don’t worry – you are certainly not alone there! You might be able to employ a member to help out with your social media strategy! A free annual membership in exchange for working on your club’s social media marketing campaign for a couple of hours a week doesn’t sound like a bad idea.
3. Provide Members With Fun And Valuable Promotional Products
Make your club membership stand out from the rest. “Freebies” are a strong marketing tactic used by some of the biggest brands in the world.
McDonald’s, for example, offer limited edition drink glasses when customers buy a medium or large quarter pounder meal. They also run their annual McDonald’s Monopoly game, where customers have a 1 in 4 chance of winning free food, amongst other goodies.
In case you were wondering, McDonald’s still gives out free toys with any Happy meal!
Promotional merchandise and printed promotional products are a no-brainer! Consider giving away merchandise on sign-up so that fans have an alternate exciting reason to join your club as a new member. Something like a scarf, hat, or t-shirt with the team colours would be a great promotional giveaway to include in your marketing strategy.
4. Put The Membership Fee To Good Use
People like to know where their money is going. So while the membership might cost them $100, it’s important to share with new and current members where their money is going other than the obvious answer of “out of their pockets”.
Yes, it usually goes to the club to improve buildings and services and to maintain infrastructure. But what if some of the profit made from membership sales goes to local businesses and project development in the local area?
Show members that their money contributes to worthwhile projects that add meaning to their sign-up. Add that to your social media content or your club website while you’re at it!
Many sports clubs also host annual events for the members to network and connect as well as meet the players. Famous guest speakers at annual events with membership-only attendance are also an attractive strategy to consider.
Be sure to choose a sports influencer of relevance, though. I can think of nothing worse than having a professional Carlton AFL player guest speaking at an event for Richmond members…
5. Ask Members To Be Brand Ambassadors
This season, boost your sports club membership by asking your existing members to be brand ambassadors.
Brand ambassadors are a proven strategy to heighten awareness, improve brand image, and strengthen customer loyalty. They provide third-party credibility and word-of-mouth advertising to bring their own personality to the club. If you don’t know how effective word-of-mouth marketing is, read the stats!
According to Pixlee, 71% of marketers interviewed in a study said that brand ambassadors are the most effective form of influencer marketing.
When selecting brand ambassadors, keep in mind that your club’s image is very dependent on its members.
The Importance Of Attracting New Members To Your Club
While retaining existing customers is essential for any business, increasing sales by attracting new members is equally important.
Attracting new customers allows you to access relevant information, like what attracted the latest members to sign up with your club. Other than your fantastic customer service, of course.
New memberships also mean your club is growing.
Growth is vital for clubs to surpass their competitors, satisfy their customers, and achieve long-term goals. While there are numerous ways to grow a sports club or a business, increasing sports club memberships is one of the most efficient and effective ways to achieve this.
Get your sports club on board with these five simple membership-enhancing steps today!
Lynn Martelli is an editor at Readability. She received her MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University and has worked as an editor for over 10 years. Lynn has edited a wide variety of books, including fiction, non-fiction, memoirs, and more. In her free time, Lynn enjoys reading, writing, and spending time with her family and friends.
