In the US, tennis and racquet sports clubs are growing more popular as we speak. Every day, dozens of clubs in your area are competing to be the best. With the competition growing fierce, it’s essential to set yourself apart from the crowd with an effective marketing strategy.
For tennis and racquet sports clubs, a good place to start is with a localized marketing approach. By creating marketing techniques that are specific to your audience, you can increase awareness, engagement, and membership at your club. Start by building up your content on social media, encouraging word-of-mouth marketing, and working with other businesses in your community to form partnerships. Let’s go step by step to learn how you can use these techniques to increase your club memberships and sales.
Social Media Marketing
Establish Your Brand
One great way to begin increasing awareness and favorability of your club is through social media. Creating social media accounts for your club can add a lot of value to your marketing strategy because most platforms are free to use and allow you to connect with your audience on a more personal level through a variety of opportunities for individual interaction. You can get started with popular platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok while making sure to concentrate your efforts on the platforms your audience favors.
Once you have established a presence on social media, figuring out each platform’s algorithm is an important next step. Most platforms will place posts closer to the top of users’ feeds based on how often they interact with an account. When you are creating content, think about what your audience would be likely to interact with. Below is a list of ideas you can use to initiate more interaction with your audience:
- Ask your audience questions on your posts and stories.
- Post polls on your stories.
- Create a contest where they have to interact with the company’s account to be entered.
- Start or use a trendy hashtag.
- Feature posts from other users that tag the company’s page.
Build Loyalty, Encourage Conversions
Once you have your audience’s attention and loyalty, you will begin to see more success in converting them into leads and new customers. Of course, it’s key to note that these steps should be repeated multiple times in order to consistently increase trust with your followers. As your followers begin to interact more with your content, they will have a better understanding of and interest in what your club offers.
With new, interested followers, your next step is to set yourself apart from your competitors. As you create content, make sure to point out the unique qualities that differentiate you from your competitors. For example, if you know your customers come to your club because you have newer equipment, make sure to capture it in a photo.
Another essential aspect of your content is to make a direct call to action. One way to do this is to add a link to your posts and profile that will take your audience directly to the membership page on your website. With engaging content, clear differentiators, and a direct call to action, you will have everything you need for an effective social media marketing strategy.
Word of Mouth
For most businesses, word of mouth is arguably the most effective marketing tactic. Word-of-mouth marketing does not have to cost much, and it is known to be the fastest way to bring in new business. This marketing method is effective because the positive personal experience of a prospect’s friend or family member can quickly establish trust between the prospect and your brand. Since it can take two years on average for customers to trust a brand, the value of such trust can’t be understated.
So, what can you do to get your current clients to start spreading the word? Start a referral program. A typical referral program incentivizes a client to recommend someone to your business by offering the customer some kind of discount for their role in bringing in new business. For example, if your client recommends a new customer and that person buys a membership, then the customer who recommended the new user could receive a discount of 20 percent on their next purchase with the company, a gift from your club, or another type of prize. To keep the referral program fresh in your clients’ minds, consistently give them friendly reminders about how much they can save if they refer a new client.
A referral program is a gift that keeps giving because it not only brings in new customers to your business but also helps you retain your current customers. In one study of businesses that employed a referral program, researchers found that defection rates fell from 19 to 7 percent in just one year. Using word-of-mouth referral strategies is a great way to establish trust and increase sales at your club.
Partnerships
Creating a partnership with another company that is closely related to but not competing with your club could also help you acquire new customers. By creating a partnership with a trusted company within your community with a similar audience to yours, you can earn the trust of the company’s customers, gain more resources to create new solutions for your customers, and even improve your SEO rankings, which can also help you earn new business.
When you create a partnership, you may choose to offer mutually beneficial deals to your customers. For example, if you create a partnership with a sports supply store, you might offer a deal to a customer for one free month at your club with the purchase of a tennis racquet or a 50 percent discount on a tennis racquet if they buy a membership from your club. Frequently send out emails, flyers, or texts to remind your clients of these deals.
However, one important detail to note is that you shouldn’t offer these kinds of discounts too frequently. If your customers believe they can get this kind of deal at any time, there’s no sense of urgency, and your customers will be less compelled to purchase your product or service. To get around this issue, you might choose to make the deal available only to the first 50 people who purchase a membership or tennis racquet. In any case, forming partnerships with other companies in a similar market as yours can help you gain new attention and customers.
If you are looking to increase membership and sales at your club, look no further than these three simple marketing strategies. As you begin to post new content on social media, create referral programs, and form partnerships, you can get a leg up on the competition and grow your business to be more popular and successful than ever before.
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