Promoting your judo club

What methods have you used to bring in new members to your judo club?

What worked and what didn't?

Holding an Olympics helped a bit, it seems. not sure how long it will last.

Ragster wrote:Holding an Olympics helped a bit, it seems. not sure how long it will last.

So how can we get the most out of the olympics effect?

My club is held at a Rec center. The rec center sends out fliers to the community 3-4 times a year. But word of mouth works best for us. For years we tried "bring a friend to class night" the week before the new session started, which worked well, but we wanted more.

So, i hired bounty hunters! Funny, but true! A whole judo club of bounty hunters! Here's kind of how it works: the rec center gives the club a kick back per head in the class. If you bring in a friend who stays the entire session, the club will give you the kick back OFF OF THE NEXT SESSION! So, student A brings student B. Let's say they pay 50 each = 100. Sudent A and Student B both stay the entire session. The kick back is for sake of ease 20% = 20. Student A signs up for the next session and pays 30, hopefully Student B signs up again, too.



This is pretty close to how it works. We usually get about 10-15 new people per session. Some stay, some don't. We have about 100 people in the club. We run the promotion about twice a year. We don't run it for the kids program.



heikojr

A website and facebook page. In this day and age there is no excuse for a lack of internet or social media visibility. If done right they can be incredible effective in terms of return for time and effort (facebook is free and the website can be done very cheeply and easily).

This site will get you started:

http://www.copyblogger.com/

Okazi wrote:A website and facebook page. In this day and age there is no excuse for a lack of internet or social media visibility. If done right they can be incredible effective in terms of return for time and effort (facebook is free and the website can be done very cheeply and easily).

This site will get you started:

[url=http://www.copyblogger.com/

http://www.copyblogger.com/[/quote[/url]]



Yes, I have had great success with our website, haven't ventured into face book though.

I echo the website. Coupled to word of mouth and flyers sent out with the website details.

I also have arranged some local weekly newspaper reporters to do short articles containing contact details. The local papers are always looking for interesting content and sometimes all it takes is to contact them.

My little generic site looks like this:

http://www.saizenjudo.wozaonline.co.za/

I have found that to make the website effective it has to be kept up-to-date and enquiries must be replied to promptly. A neglected website is a huge turn-off for prospective newbies.

Our club is a new club opening within the next few weeks. We haven't even opened yet and have got media attention and lots of interest in the area. People are literally kicking our doors in to come and join up. This hasn't just happened by sitting back and expecting people to come, we have had to put hundreds, if not thousands of man hours in to its development so far.

We have had meetings with the local council, local sports trusts, local sports council, our local MP, local groups including disability partnership, local initiatives, YMCA, girl specific groups, rugby clubs, hockey clubs to name a few. We have even gone to our local college/university to the students doing sports based subjects.

Whenever our players have done well in competitions, we have informed the local newspapers so they can do an article. This works, trust me. Journalists love 'stories' falling on their lap, it saves them the hard work!

On top of this we created our club Facebook page and group, created a club twitter account and did our own free website. There are loads of platforms out there for website, but we used 'Weebly'. Simple, effective, loads of designs and goodies that you can add in. Link your facebook and twitter to your blog, all that good stuff. Its so simple its unbelievable. A 4 year old could do it. Plus using a free website host means that you have complete control of the content.

We bought the website domain from www.freezone.co.uk but there are plenty other domain providers that you can purchase your website from. Ours cost about £5. No need to get the hosting package, as Weebly is the website host. You just go in to the settings in your Freezone and set it up to send to your Weebly.

Hope thats not too complicated or exhaustive and maybe answers your question.

Thanks mate for the reply,

Sounds like Leigh Judo Club has done a good job of poromoting itself. As it all unfolds can you let us know through the forum which of your methods is getting the best results and it how is all going. I know that for Victoria University/St Albans Judo Club the Club Website (Cost nothing with Google Sites) has worked well, as have posteres around campus and the Universities website. All of these have required minimal work for maximum gain. I have found that a rapid response to enquiries is required and personal attention when they turn up at the club for best results.

[quote="Judo Dad"]

Okazi wrote:A website and facebook page. In this day and age there is no excuse for a lack of internet or social media visibility. If done right they can be incredible effective in terms of return for time and effort (facebook is free and the website can be done very cheeply and easily).

This site will get you started:

http://www.copyblogger.com/[/quote]



Yes, I have had great success with our website, haven't ventured into face book though.

Hi Judo Dad,

You may want to consider not only using Facebook but Twitter as well. I think both of these social media web sites are superior to the traditional web page.

Dave R. wrote:Hi Judo Dad,

You may want to consider not only using Facebook but Twitter as well. I think both of these social media web sites are superior to the traditional web page.

Good advice.

Again, try a free website platform (like Weebly etc) that can incorporate your Facebook page and Twitter account. Any updates we create from our blog on the site goes direct to the club facebook page and twitter account. It doesn't have to be important, as long as you are staying active, and continuously in the media.

Regards

[quote="Dave R."]

Judo Dad wrote:

Okazi wrote:A website and facebook page. In this day and age there is no excuse for a lack of internet or social media visibility. If done right they can be incredible effective in terms of return for time and effort (facebook is free and the website can be done very cheeply and easily).

This site will get you started:

http://www.copyblogger.com/[/quote]



Yes, I have had great success with our website, haven't ventured into face book though.

Hi Judo Dad,

You may want to consider not only using Facebook but Twitter as well. I think both of these social media web sites are superior to the traditional web page.

OK OK I will have to get with the 21st Century. The club secretary is a Librarian so I will get him to coax me through it! The only thing is we are growing at a nice rate and if we add Facebook or twitter it might start an avalanche! For the life of me I don't know why other clubs in Australia are struggling.

BTW: I have done a bit of a review and I have found that the posters we use are not to be discounted as a recruitment tool. We have the ones where there are little tear of strips with contact details on the bottom. Low tech but effective. The tear of strips are less costly and more environmentally friendly than printing up lots of flyers.

Facebook, Twitter, Pintarest

Look at who you have now and where they come from. Market to similar groups. T-shirts and the like can be great - they can be revenue producing, or you can use them for awards for "not missing a practice all semester" or something. When a student wears his/her t-shirt around, then s/he's a walking billboard.

But, do take advantage of those groups nearby who could benefit from judo. Boy Scouts offer a judo merit badge. ROTC might send people your way. Get in good with school counselors, juvenile probation, teachers, etc - most have a few students who would definitely benefit.

If a new club, have an open house.

Participate in your surrounding community - march in parades, do demos on Founder's Day, sell bakery goods for a cause (wearing Dojo t-shirts), ring the bell for the Salvation Army (they're always looking for groups to take a couple hour shifts here and there, and it's another opportunity to wear your t-shirt in public as a group). Put out media releases after shiai. Talk with your newspapers and tv stations and see what they need to mention your students in their sports briefs.

Stacey wrote:Facebook, Twitter, Pintarest

Look at who you have now and where they come from. Market to similar groups. T-shirts and the like can be great - they can be revenue producing, or you can use them for awards for "not missing a practice all semester" or something. When a student wears his/her t-shirt around, then s/he's a walking billboard.

But, do take advantage of those groups nearby who could benefit from judo. Boy Scouts offer a judo merit badge. ROTC might send people your way. Get in good with school counselors, juvenile probation, teachers, etc - most have a few students who would definitely benefit.

If a new club, have an open house.

Participate in your surrounding community - march in parades, do demos on Founder's Day, sell bakery goods for a cause (wearing Dojo t-shirts), ring the bell for the Salvation Army (they're always looking for groups to take a couple hour shifts here and there, and it's another opportunity to wear your t-shirt in public as a group). Put out media releases after shiai. Talk with your newspapers and tv stations and see what they need to mention your students in their sports briefs.

Great Ideas, I will renew my efforts to get some T-Shirts done.
BTW: The Club Secretary is going to set up a facebook page but were giving Twitter a miss for now.

Judo Dad wrote:What methods have you used to bring in new members to your judo club?

What worked and what didn't?

They say that there is no such thing as bad publicity. IF that's true try bar b q'ing your most unpopular student? Just imagine the publicity mate!
Mike

Stacey wrote:Facebook, Twitter, Pintarest

Look at who you have now and where they come from. Market to similar groups. T-shirts and the like can be great - they can be revenue producing, or you can use them for awards for "not missing a practice all semester" or something. When a student wears his/her t-shirt around, then s/he's a walking billboard.

But, do take advantage of those groups nearby who could benefit from judo. Boy Scouts offer a judo merit badge. ROTC might send people your way. Get in good with school counselors, juvenile probation, teachers, etc - most have a few students who would definitely benefit.

If a new club, have an open house.

Participate in your surrounding community - march in parades, do demos on Founder's Day, sell bakery goods for a cause (wearing Dojo t-shirts), ring the bell for the Salvation Army (they're always looking for groups to take a couple hour shifts here and there, and it's another opportunity to wear your t-shirt in public as a group). Put out media releases after shiai. Talk with your newspapers and tv stations and see what they need to mention your students in their sports briefs.

By the time you read this post my club will be on Facebook.
I will make not of the number of enquiries we get and let you know how it goes.

Law and others are making a big deal out of Pinterest and using it for the creation of buzz and business. George Takai (Sulu from the original Star Trek) is the only person I know making good use of Pinterest, and I do like browsing his stuff.

Anyway, has anybody tried Pinterest? How can it be used to promote Judo or your judo club?
http://pinterest.com/

We did it, were on Facebook, I even sorted out my login

If you have a web-site, make sure are listed in Google Places. Not all other Judo clubs, will have done this, so it may give you a...umm..leg up.

Von_Adams wrote:If you have a web-site, make sure are listed in Google Places. Not all other Judo clubs, will have done this, so it may give you a...umm..leg up.

A very good tip, but remember, hansoku make for a leg up!

St Albans Judo Club, (Victoria Australia) have just launched a new website. Check it out at
https://sites.google.com/site/stalbansjudoclub/