Transcript Document
Marketing support for Sportivate delivery partners to promote Sportivate programmes by detailing some of the ideas and tools that you can use to help you to attract and retain participants. Incentives The reasons for offering incentives to participants and coaches all boil down to • Publicise • Attract • Retain • Sustain Why not try different incentives for Participants and Coaches Free Stuff Reward coaches Everyone likes free things- t-shirts, discount card for exit route, shopping vouchers etc. But only offer them out if participants reach the retention requirement If your coach if delivering a exceptional service- apply for coaching bursaries so they can progress to the next level. Develop your participants Offer your participants leadership training so they can develop their skills …maybe they could lead the session? Retention prize draw Any Sportivate participants who reach the retention requirement will automatically be entered into a prize draw to win a prize Facebook - session photographs We will encourage coaches of Sportivate sessions to take photographs of participants during activities and send them to us to put on the Sportivate – Get Berkshire Active Facebook page. We want to encourage participants to look for photographs of themselves and their friends. As an incentive to coaches, we will run this as a fun competition with prizes given for the best photographs sent to us. Prizes will include vouchers to access CPD training workshops on NE Course Finder. Posters A4 posters displayed in amenities/facilities regularly used by the target audience, to advertise and publicise your activities/services. Benefits Increasing awareness of your sessions by communicating to your target audience in places they use regularly. Action can be prompted by including telephone numbers, email addresses and website addresses. It is not expensive to use posters that have already been designed and printed by Get Berkshire Active. Note Someone from your organisation will have to contact the locations and arrange for the posters to be put in place. At a later date, the venues should be visited to ensure the posters are still in place or renewed as necessary. Press Releases Press releases can be sent pre or post event. The aim of a pre event press release can be to inform the reader in order to encourage them to attend an event, or it can be to inform the journalist that there is a photo opportunity. Benefits If used, your story will appear as a news article and will therefore have the credibility associated with a news story written by a journalist, as opposed to a paid-for advert and it’s free exposure. Articles that appear in the local press are not only seen by potential customers, they are also read by parents, teachers, those working in local authorities, voluntary groups and more. Therefore it gives you the opportunity to raise awareness, raise profile and increase recognition. How to do it? You will need to decide the theme or ‘hook’ of your story. There are all sorts of themes that you can use to gain press coverage, such as: launch of a new project - completion of a project - 100th/1000th participant - Individual achievements Disadvantages - You cannot guarantee that the story will be used. - It is up to the journalist what elements of the story they include and what they leave out. - You cannot control when the story will be featured. Note Although journalists rely on press releases they receive far more than they can use. If your press release doesn’t catch their eye or is not presented suitably, it will become one of the 90% that are not used. Press Releases How to format a good press release Your Logo (if you have one) Headline- needs to summarise but be short and snappy 1st Paragraph - This is one sentence to get the attention of the reader. A teaser to keep on reading e.g. “Talented young sport stars are being given the chance to become Paralympians of the future.” 2nd Paragraph- This is the most important. It must contain the five W’s – Who, What, Where, When and Why. In general an editor or journalist will cut an article or press release from the bottom upwards. So the essential information needs to come first. Plus the journalist who you send the press release to will only read this far initially, if they aren’t caught by the story at this stage it will go in the bin. 3rd Paragraph- This paragraph should give more detail on the subject of the story. 4th Paragraph- A quote from the main subject of the story, e.g. the participant or the coach. 5th Paragraph- Further information. Perhaps a bit more background on the subject matter, project, or how things came about. Final paragraph- A quote from a manager to give a corporate message. Or a quote from an independent party e.g. a quote to say how important this new development is. Note Use a photograph- If you have a good quality photograph to accompany your press release, it should be sent at the same time and provide a descriptive caption. Ends Notes to editors - Contact details should be given at the bottom of the page in case the journalist requires additional information. Occasionally it might be necessary to provide some background details to the editor/journalist. This should not be part of the actual press release. Sporting Champions Sporting Champions is a Sport England initiative brining world-class athletes face-toface with young people and young adults to inspire and motivate them, at no cost to Sportivate deliverers. A tem of current and retired elite athletes have been recruited based on their wealth of experience and enthusiasm for sport as well as their ability to work with young people and young adults with the aspiration of increasing participation in sport. The scheme is aligned to the Sportivate programme. The scheme offers CSP’s and partners the ability to access a series of free visits to support their delivery and increase the likelihood of growing the participation base, retaining young people and young adults throughout their Sportivate coaching programmes and successfully transition them into sustainable club sport. All of the champions are high achievers in their chosen sport an between them hold 49 Olympic and Paralympic medals, 86 World championship medals and 61 Commonwealth medals! Social Media Grass roots sports promotion has always relied on word of mouth at its core. This is what makes the use of social media so suitable for Sportivate – social media amplifies word of mouth by making it easier for people to pass on your message as their own. For Sportivate, success in social media isn’t about Sport England, CSPs or delivery partners “broadcasting” to participants. Success comes when participants talk with each other and in doing so are spreading the word about our Sportivate programmes. Through social media you can pass on information, photographs, videos, comment and ask questions. However the great feature of social media is that it promotes conversations and dialogue. You can use it to encourage participants to talk to each other by seeding conversations, curating content and responding to questions. Note There are many different social media platforms – find out what works for you. But don’t be afraid to ask us for help. Food for thought? Top tips for marketing your Sportivate sessions - Know your target market- what is the best way to target the age group you want? - When using social media- remember its “social” for a reason try to keep things light-hearted and entertaining- more people will interact with this type of post. - If you have leaflets or posters, make sure they go in places your target market will see- schools, colleges, bus stops, youth clubs etc. - Build relationships with your local press contacts- when you have a press release you want shouted about, email it to them and follow it up with a phone call.