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Sports Facility Marketing

Spring Break Camps

Spring Break Camps

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Benefits of Spring Break Camps

Sports facility owners, did you know hosting spring break camps can make you a hero?  With spring break right around the corner, hundreds of kids will be home from school for a week and looking to have some fun!  Many parents, though, still have to work and are in need of a solution. 

This is where your sports facility can save the day!  Spring break camps are extremely popular for families with school-aged children.  Your facility provides kid-friendly entertainment during the day and you an opportunity to generate additional revenue. 

To maximize revenue potential, keep your camps generic and centered around fun rather than limiting yourself to a specific type of athlete.   Offering a generic “multi-sport” camp for younger ages allows you to appeal to a broader audience. 

Start here, then expand your camp options to target more specific audiences if you’d like.  For example, some facilities create a sports-specific camp, but limit this to an older, more mature age group.  These are great for athletes preparing for tryouts, wanting to stay sharp in the off-season, or getting some extra practice during the break.

Consider Your Space and Instructor Availability  

As a general rule, 15 campers to every 1 instructor is the maximum ratio, but this can vary depending on the type of camp.  For “generic” camps, a higher kid-to-instructor ratio may work better to allow games and activities to be more engaging.   

For “sport-specific” camps, both clients and instructors may prefer smaller ratios so attention to form and skills can be a top priority.  The amount of student-to-instructor training in these camps can have a significant impact on its appeal. 

Camp Duration

Keep in mind the duration of each camp when choosing your enrollment numbers.  Depending on your space and instructor availability, you may choose to offer camps for a full week, every other day, or offer morning and afternoon sessions.  Some eSoft Planner clients even allow campers to decide how many days to attend during the week.  

Price

All of these variables — limiting enrollment, space and instructor availability, duration — impact pricing for your camp.  In addition to the cost of space, instructor pay, etc., consider any “behind the scenes” costs.  Items like t-shirts, water bottles, and bags are great for marketing, but also add to your cost. 

And because you’re planning in advance, you can offer an “early-bird” discount to draw attention and increase appeal.  Also, don’t forget to create a sense of urgency — “early bird pricing ends soon!”.  Planning in advance makes scheduling easier and gives you much-needed flexibility.

Now is the time to reach parents; so build a plan and promote, promote, promote!

Learn More About eSOFT PLANNER
eSOFT PLANNER is flexible, affordable, simple, and perfect for small business owners.  Request your free demo today to see how we can help you consolidate effort, save time, increase revenue, and grow your business.
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Social Media for Sports Facilities

Does Your Sports Facility Need Social Media?

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How Can Your Sports Facility Utilize Social Media?

Social media should play a big role in your sports facility’s marketing plan. Is it worth a smaller facility owner’s time and resources to stay up to date on social media?

The answer is yes! Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn are excellent resources to instantly notify customers of happenings at your facility — in real time. And Instagram and TikTok are opportunities to explore and engage with customers through photos and videos.

What are some ways you can benefit from utilizing social media to promote your sports facility?

The More You Give, the More You Get Back

Most computer savvy consumers expect business-to-consumer businesses to have social media pages. Well-maintained social media spreads your message and adds legitimacy to your brand — even if you don’t have thousands of fans.

In fact, many sports facilities rely on their Facebook pages even more than websites to reach customers online. Facebook’s user-friendly pages are guaranteed to be updated and accessible, they’re easy to find in an online search, and they’re free to create.

The more effort you put into your social media marketing, the more you’ll get out of it. Spend 20 minutes every few days updating your Facebook and Twitter pages. Take photos of your employees enjoying their workday and videos of customers having fun — it humanizes your company. You can use TikTok to add unique effects and music to spice up a video. Even a little effort can significantly increase your chances of making a sale.

Don’t hesitate! Get started so you’ll adjust to the routine of posting content. You can try more sophisticated strategies once you’re more comfortable.

6 Ideas to Increase Engagement

Need ideas for what to post? Here are a few basic ideas:

  • Allow your customers to “check in” to your facility, which displays on their own pages and is visible to all their friends.
  • Announce new programs and remind your customers of their sign-up deadlines. They’re more likely to see them in real time on social media.
  • Announce special deals and discounts! Remind users when they’re about to expire.
  • Start conversations by posting success stories and mentioning your customers. Tag them using the social platform.
  • Respond quickly to customer comments — especially bad reviews. You can learn from their feedback and make the most of an unfortunate situation.
  • Post photos and videos that your clients will want to share with their friends.

Scheduling Facebook posts is an efficient way to save time if you’re worried this will eat into other responsibilities. Facebook allows you to add several posts at a time and set the dates for when those posts will go on your page. If you use a professional email marketing program, you can also update Facebook and other social media accounts automatically whenever you send an email. If you’re already on Twitter, link the two accounts so you only have to make one update.

Find a staff member who is already comfortable with social media. They can handle these updates, or you can sit down with them so they can familiarize you with how it works. Involve your whole team by encouraging them to submit content for your pages.

For More Information

Are you still unsure of how to create and use social media for your sports facility? eSoft Planner’s team of experts have a breadth and depth of knowledge and experience to help optimize your social media platforms.

The sports facility staff and client scheduling software can also streamline your processes. You’ll have more time to connect with customers and reveal your company’s true personality through your social media presence. Click here and fill out the form to request a free demo.

Customers Talking to Sports facility customer service

Sports Facility Customer Service Development

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Easiest Ways to Improve Your Sports Facility’s Customer Service

If you want to keep customers coming back to your sports facility, you need three things in regards to customer service:

  • Deliver what they paid for: excellent physical training in a professional environment.
  • You need to invest time in marketing that will help you communicate and engage with your customers and keep them from seeking out your competitors.
  • You need excellent customer service, which means quick responses and a positive attitude whenever customers interact with you. Without this third element, your business cannot thrive — and your customers simply will not stay.

However, providing sports facility customer service the wrong way presents a more subtle threat. It can be a huge time sink, pulling you and your staff away from important tasks that make you a better business.

To protect your time as the owner, the best way to approach customer service is to figure out how you can make it as efficient as possible. In fact, here are a few easy ways to do that.

Automated Reminders

When we first launched eSoft Planner, it was one of the first completely web-based schedulers available for sports facilities. Automated email reminders have gone from being a cool new feature to a customer expectation.

Parents are used to receiving text and email reminders about all kinds of appointments — from haircuts to dental visits. These reminders can eliminate confusion or miscommunication over times or dates. They also encourage parents to reschedule appointments if necessary — ahead of time and according to your policies.

With the right software, these reminders happen completely on their own, with no additional work from your staff.

Web Inquiries

A great customer service experience starts before a client has spent a dime at your sports academy. As soon as a prospective client tries to contact you, they’re learning what kind of service they can expect. Your initial response can go a long way to landing them as a long-term client.

The most important things you can do at this early stage are:

  • Make your business easy to contact
  • Respond to inquiries right away

You probably already know that your business phone number should go through to a real person or a professional voicemail. Certainly, respond promptly to these messages.

However, these days many people prefer to reach out through email, a contact form on your web site, or even a message through Facebook or other social media. Make sure you’ve figured out who is responsible for handling web inquiries that come in at any time of day. If you’re using an email marketing program, you can even set up an auto-response. This can include a thank you message and other relevant information.

Adding a web form and creating an autoresponder requires little work. It is great for customer service and can result in many more new leads for your business.

Online Account Access

Improve the customer experience. In particular, give them the ability to self-schedule lessons online in a professional, secure portal. Online services are available 24/7, which is a level of responsiveness that customers now expect.

Your customers can go online to contact you or manage their account. As a result, you or your staff can spend the time you would have spent on the phone on more meaningful tasks, like client check-ins or big picture planning for your facility.

If you’d like more info about eSoft Planner, the web-based software that can help you automate much of your customer service, click here and request a free demo. Our clients receive custom, consultative training to learn best practices for customer management.