Here are some important marketing concepts to help you identify and use target markets to increase membership, raise funds and attract sponsors for your club.
Market research should form the basis of all marketing activities. It helps you get to know who your members (and non-members) are – and why a person would want to become a member or attend an activity. It also helps you understand the environment you’re operating in and about your competitors.
Market research can involve:
Your club should have an existing membership database. An analysis of this will reveal some basics about your customer and will also identify where new members are coming from. Also look for large groups of customers who have similar characteristics, live in the same geographic region or attend the same school, university or other institution.
Check the registration figures over the last 12-24 months. Do the numbers differ for different age groups? Have the numbers fallen? Is it gender differentiated? Is it geographic?
Research your local area for institutions, schools, organisations, sporting grounds and other facilities that may support your club. This will give you general data on age groups, education, marital status, income and interests within the local area.
If you require more detailed information about potential members, a good place to start is the Australia Bureau of Statics publications. Check your local library or go to www.abs.gov.au.
Find out why they joined your club. People join or not join for all sorts of reasons – social activities, the facilities, close to university or transport etc.
Find out why members don’t renew their registration.
Talk to neighbouring clubs and recreation centres about their membership base. Your association may also have information about members in different areas of the state and nationally.
If your plan is to attract a different market, talk to potential members about what would get them to join your club or attend an event.
Market research helps define your target market(s).
Put simply, marketing your activities to ‘everyone’ is inefficient. Not everyone wants the same thing and not everyone is alike. You’ll be wasting time and resources with this approach.
Target marketing focuses your marketing activities on groups of people (or target markets) most likely to become a member.
Target markets are essentially groups of people with common characteristics. Some simple ways target markets could be defined include residential address, sex, age group, occupation, education and interests. For example, children aged 5 to 12 years who go to school in a particular area could be a target market.
You can also more narrowly define target markets by using multiple or specific characteristics. This allows you to further focus marketing activities. For example, women under 40 years of age who are interested in abseiling.
So how do you select your target market(s)? Consider these factors:
Remember, you are looking to define who are your current target markets – to help make your marketing strategies more effective.
But you are also looking for potentially new target markets – to grow your membership.
How you position your club’s image and what it offers is important when targeting a potential customer or sponsor or producing an event.
Where your club stands compared to your competitors also helps a target market understand and appreciate the value and choice offered.
For example a person looking for a week night tennis competition will compare a club’s location, facilities, costs, reputation and time commitment with others in the area.
Here are some questions to ask to help position your club:
Marketing involves a combination of elements, commonly referred to in marketing terms as the 5 Ps. The research on your target market, what your club offers and where it is positioned within the market helps identify your club’s marketing mix.