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Grow attendance, increase media coverage, maximize fund raising
August 2010 Posts
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What's your story? You say that you are the underdog. Or maybe the veteran, the favorite or the new kid on the block. That's your status. Every team and organization has a story behind their status. If your supporters and prospective supporters know your status, big deal. (By "supporters" I don't just mean your team and their parents). Your story is everything that makes up your status. It is a story woven of the fabric of many, many stories within your program that happen over time. If I know your story- or, I should say, stories - then you're more likely to get me to get up and take action. Or show up at an event. Open my wallet. Tell a neighbor. Call the paper. Put a bumper sticker on my car. Wear a t-shirt. Talk to the guy in front of me in line who is wearing your hat. You see, the story is much more than you can get from the newspaper. It is more than what you can get from Sportscenter. It is more than you can get from a 5 page spread in Sports Illustrated. Your story is what you get to tell daily in digestible bites. Social media has given you the power to tell your stories; to create a following. That is why I say that social media is the great equalizer. Spin me a tale and I may stand with you.
Marketers talk about defining your "target" or your "target market". This helps us determine the means through which we will communicate with them. If it is 18-26 year olds living in California who have no plans to attend college then we will design a strategy much differently than if the target market were 50-62 year olds living in Pennsylvania who plan to retire. Pretty basic stuff... not splitting the atom here. As a coach, to reach your goals, you must identify your target market. First, you must determine what you are trying to achieve. Are you trying to grow your attendance, raise money, get more volunteers, increase student-body awareness or get more participants? Each is a different target market for which a different strategy must be defined.Let's use an example. You are trying to increase attendance at your home events by getting more of your student-body involved. You're not going to run an ad in the local paper announcing your event. But you might create a mobile marketing campaign where students can text the word "wrestling" to a number given to you by the mobile marketing service. This subscribes them to announcements that you make about upcoming events, fun promotions or where the in-crowd will be next Thursday night.Step 1: What do you want to achieve? (ex: stronger parent support of your program since most care only about football)Step 2: Who are the people that are going to help you achieve it? (ex: parents but also athletes and football coaches)Step 3: How do they act? What do they read? Where do they hang out? What motivates them? (ex: parents are concerned with the welfare and success of their child, football coaches care about the success of their players )Step 4: Create a win-win and talk to them about it. (ex: Demonstrate how you can improve the well-being of a parents child and a football coaches players through their support of your program with consistent and impactful communication like this or this through email, getting media coverage (pick up the phone!) and support of the football program.
I attended the National Wresting Coaches Association Convention over the weekend. A great event as usual. Mike Moyer is as passionate a wrestling person as you will meet. Out-going NWCA president Jim Beichner was right when he talked about how Pat Tocci and Tammy Tedesco have become nearly as driven as Mike. They work hard at what they do and they run a nice event. This year it was at Delray Beach, FL. The Marriott was immediately across the street from the beach, had a large and beautiful outdoor pool/patio area and, for the family types, was just around the corner from a huge playground.
