Your sports events give young people opportunities to grow, learn, make friends, and have fun.
Wouldn’t it be great if more athletes and families knew about your program? By raising awareness of your events, you could expand your reach, raise the level of competition, increase registration, and give more kids a chance to play.
Sports event marketing can help you get there.
But many organizers hesitate to invest their time and money in marketing. They wonder “what if it ends up costing a lot?” and “how can I ensure these efforts pay off?”
In most cases, marketing youth sports events doesn’t need to be a costly investment.
The key is to lay the groundwork for success. First, know where to find your target audience. Next, understand the value you offer in shaping the lives of young athletes. Finally, nail the execution with our 9 top plays for getting the most from sports event marketing campaigns.
We developed these best practices after helping youth sports organizers deliver over 61,000 events for more than 1 million teams. Analyzing what works (or not) has given us a keen understanding of what it takes to grow youth sports event programs.
Ready to drive registrations through the roof? Let’s get started.
9 Ways to Market Your Youth Sports Events
1. Know your audience
Before kicking off a marketing campaign, take time to identify the people you want to reach. What are their interests, lifestyles, and demographics (age, location, income, education)?
This intel will save you time and money. The better you pinpoint your target audience, the greater the impact you can make with the same budget.
Dive deep to understand parents’ hopes and concerns and address them directly. Typically, parents want to know a sports program offers opportunities for skill development, physical activity, character building, and personal growth. Also, highlight your safety measures and coaching staff. Testimonials from other parents add credibility and trust.
Kids, of course, have different agendas. Highlight the fun, competition level, camaraderie, and sense of accomplishment they can have by participating in your event. Enliven your marketing with photos and videos of joyful players.
2. Build your brand
A strong brand identity makes your sports event program more memorable, so you increase your chance of attracting participants and supporters.
Make it easy for people to associate your brand with the excitement and fun of youth sports events.
Create a logo, tagline, and consistent visual elements to show off your brand personality.- For indoor events, showcase your brand outside the venue.
- Grab attention with banners, signs, and inflatables.
- Inside the venue, create a sense of arrival with hanging banners, tabletop signs, branded buttons, tee shirts, and hats for staffers.
3. Create a website
A great website pays off in spades by increasing efficiency, sign-ups, and sales.
For best results, follow these podium-worthy plays:
- Build a visually appealing, mobile-friendly site that’s easy to use.
- Share comprehensive info about your event and put contact details out front.
- Create a clear call-to-action to register for the event.
- Also include FAQs and testimonials from satisfied parents.
- Add videos and photos of young athletes and families having a fabulous time at sports events.
4. Make event registration a breeze
High-performing event websites offer easy registration and payment options.
Build a brief event registration form with clear instructions and customizable fields. Did you know 18% of online shoppers abandon their carts if checkout takes too long? Make enrollment simple on different platforms for busy parents on the go.
5. Finish fast with tournament directory sites
List your events on youth sports tournament directory platforms like Tourneyboard. This free solution provides a one-stop resource for youth sports events across the U.S.
Unlike other search platforms, Tourneyboard lets you filter by date, region, state, division, and more. Athletes, parents and coaches can find competitive tournaments, get complete registration details, and plan their season in minutes.
Tourneyboard also makes it easier than ever to spread the word. Add your tournament, league, clinic, camp, and other sports events to this free listing service. Include vital details like location, costs, and event registration link so parents can find you and sign up their favorite young athletes in a flash.
6. Knock it out of the park with social
What’s your favorite social channel - Facebook, Instagram? Find out which ones your audience prefers. Then, use the same platforms to engage sporting families with photos, videos, and info about your events.
Post regular updates and make content simple, visual, interactive, and fun. Behind-the-scenes looks at teams and organizations are popular. So are player profiles highlighting successes on and off the field.- Get parents, coaches, and players in on the action. Encourage them to tag your organization in their posts to expand engagement and reach.
- Your attendees are tremendous assets. Are a few of them super influential on social media? Consider offering them tickets, merch, and a link to share on their pages. Enlisting support from micro-influencers in your target audience is an easy way to gain exposure and pump-up participation.
- Another smart move: Identify local athletes and sports personalities who align with your organization. Invite them to become brand ambassadors to build engagement.
7. Stick with what’s tried-and-true
Email is one of the best ways to promote your events and stay in touch with your people.
Why? Because it works. Email marketing has a return on investment of $36 for every $1 you spend.
Follow these best practices to get the best bang for your buck.
Be mobile-friendly: Today, 81% of people prefer to open emails on their smartphones. Make emails mobile-friendly to give event registration a boost.
- Get personal: People are 26% more likely to open an email if it has a personalized subject line, so include the recipient's name and their child's sport. For example: “Baseball tryouts this Saturday, Jason!”
Modern tournament management software like Playbook365 provides communication tools with plenty of custom fields, making it easy to speak to each prospect’s needs.
- Rocket efficiency: No need to spend time writing new emails for every announcement, reminder, and update.
For instance, Playbook365’s communication tools offer attractive templates with time-tested layouts and drag-and-drop capabilities. You can create professional-looking email and text messages with custom sections that engage different audiences in a couple of clicks.
Choose from dozens of ready-to-go templates or create your own. Once you have your template, you can clone and reuse it again and again.
8. Hit the target
Email list segmentation improves your game. Segmented emails drive 30% more opens and 50% more clickthroughs than unsegmented ones. Impressive, right?
Use an event email marketing platform that gets the right message to the right people with robust filters:
- Members of a division, age group, or region
- Staff, officials, coaches
- Players, parents, volunteers
- Event type like tournaments, tryouts, competitions, or camps
9. Own your own backyard
What type of events does your community host?
Put your organization front and center in parades, sports expos, and charitable events. Set up a booth at local festivals, offer fun activities, and distribute promotional material. You’ll spread the word about your program and build valuable relationships community-wide.
Sprint to the head of the class
Fast-track success by working with schools and school systems. Your target prospects are together nine months of the year and value time with their friends. Host fun after-school clinics to showcase your program to interested families.
Give it a trial
Discounted trials present an all-around win. You introduce your program to new prospects, and parents get to see if it’s a fit for their child. Offering discounts is easy with modern sports event management software. Simply create coupon codes for flat rates or discounts. Then, customize date ranges, and you’re good to go.
Cross-promote
Do basketball players also like baseball? Do most hockey players play soccer in the offseason? Cross-promote your programs with other local youth leagues to reach a wider audience. Successful collaborations benefit players and bring new talent into the fold.
Drive referrals
Rewarding current players who refer friends is an easy way to grow events. Playbook365 makes it simple to incentivize referrals with extras like registration discounts and team merchandise. You’ll motivate current players to recruit their friends and level up customer retention by making your program more fun.
That’s a Wrap
This article shares winning plays to help you:
- Build brand awareness
- Generate quality leads and referrals
- Drive registrations
- Grow your events
Ready to run trophy-worthy sports event marketing campaigns?
Find out how Playbook365 can help you promote your youth sports program and fill it with players and families who can’t wait to show up for your next event.
