COMMUNICATION, MARKETING & MEDIA
Useful tips & advice for updating websites, social media & staying connected with members.
Staying connected with your existing membership network and growing this network is vital for any local footy club. In an increasingly technology dependent society, it is imperative for local footy clubs to also take advantage of current & emerging technology to build awareness about your club. Many clubs have been doing this very well for years. Here you find some guidance to help ensure you are on the right path. Check out this section to find some Position Descriptions for key roles that you should consider at your club.
Ideally, clubs will have each of the following roles filled within the club. Often, people will be daunted by putting their hand up to undertake a time consuming “Executive” or Committee role. Getting people however to undertake a specific task or role is easier and therefore appointing people to roles such as these listed below takes pressure off the remainder of the volunteers at the club. Having a Position Description for the role helps provides clarity for what is required.
Just undertaking a single task / role (compared to the more wide-ranging Committee role) is often referred to as ‘micro-volunteering’. This concept is covered under more detail within the volunteer recruitment section of this site.
Regular communication within your club (and to prospective club members) are vital to keep people aware of your club and the exciting things happening at your club.
Communications Plan
A communication plan describes how you will communicate with various groups and stakeholders.
A communication plan is different to a marketing plan as marketing plans involves the strategic planning to promote a club and its products, while communication plans are part of how the marketing strategy is executed. It identifies:
- Who you are communicating to
- What you want to tell them
- How you are going to tell them
- Who is going to tell them
- When they are going to be told
A communication plan helps keep the communication team on the same page and your messaging consistent. The plan also allows you to measure whether you’re meeting your objectives so you can continually improve your communication strategy.
Check out this Communication Plan and Calendar Template to assist you in setting out your plan.
Website
Club websites are very important as they can provide information for potential players, members and sponsors and can keep everyone up to date with the latest news and happenings of the club.
What should your website include?
First thing first, think about who your audience is and why they would come to your website. Reasons could include:
- Contact details
- How to register for the club
- Weekly match reports and results
- Details of the fixtures and next games
- Club policies, procedures and rules
- Volunteer and coaching opportunities
- Sponsors information
Once you have listed all the reasons, it will make is much easier to build out your website content. The Website Checklist can also help ensure you have all necessary information and website functionality.
Website Analytics
Websites also provide a whole range of statistics that can make your club website better over time and improve audience engagement. Google Analytics is a great tool that can track:
- How many people visit your website
- What they do when they are on your website – how long visitors stay on your website and which pages they are visiting the most
- When people visit your site and where they are located geographically (this will prove it is not just people from your local community really interested in your club
- Where did they arrive on your website from – Whether it was through a search engine, social networks, a link from another website or your email newsletter.
- How users interact with your site’s content – You can see how many users clicked on a specific link.
Website analytics can also give you information about how much web traffic your site is referring to your sponsors websites. This very valuable information can then be used in servicing existing sponsors and for upcoming sponsorship proposals.
Website analytics can also help you ensure you aren’t spending significant amounts of time producing content if there is little traffic or audience seeing it.
E-Newslettters (eDMs)
Email newsletters are a form of email marketing and are a great communication tool for clubs by broadcasting information to the audience on a regular basis.
Email newsletters can:
- Drive traffic to your website
- Engage your audience
- Reach those who may not be on social media
- Are easily shareable
- Promote club activities
- Highlight player, volunteer and club achievements
Regular segments in club newsletters can include:
- Volunteer Spotlight – regular recognition of club volunteers
- Coaches Corner – match day run down or tips for players and parents
- President’s Address – run down on club happenings or up and coming events
- Player Profile – fun facts or profile on players in the club
- Sponsor Profile – spotlight a different sponsor each month with limited time offer
Email Software
There are several free or cheap email newsletter software out there. A popular software package is Mailchimp that allows the user to easily create and save a template that is simply updated with the latest information and offers.
Using an email newsletter application like Mail Chimp will allow you to whip up email newsletters in next to no time.
The Law
The Spam Act 2003 (Cth) (‘the Spam Act’) governs email marketing in Australia, and the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) enforces these email marketing laws. The three main rules include:
- Consent
- Identification
- Unsubscribe option
Consent
Recipients must first have consented to receive emails before you can send them any email material. Consent can either be express (the recipient has deliberately opted-in to receiving emails) or inferred (there is reasonable expectation that they will receive emails after giving details to the club).
It is recommended when collecting personal details to provide a link to your privacy policy. A privacy policy will inform the user what you intend to do with their information.
Identification
The recipient needs to be able to contact the club sending the email. Therefore, you should provide your email or website address in your communication.
Unsubscribe Option
You must provide the recipient of the newsletter the option to unsubscribe from the emails. You must also present the unsubscribe instructions in a clear manner.
If you receive a request to unsubscribe, you will have to honour that request within five business days. You can add an unsubscribe link at the bottom of your email or get the recipient to reply to the email saying that they wish to unsubscribe.
More information about The Spam Act visit the Australian Communications and Media Authority website.
Marketing is vital to any club. It is the key process of researching and promoting your services and offerings to your target market. It's important that you use marketing to promote your club, brand and offerings - whether it be junior, senior, Auskick, women’s, coaching or volunteering opportunities.
Marketing assets for player recruitment can be found on this page of the website.
Marketing assets for volunteer recruitment can be found this page of the website.
As social media continues to grow and evolve, this is a vital component for clubs to stay relevant in a modern world. That’s not to say that traditional media still doesn’t have a place when it comes to helping the profile of a footy club.