How To Market a Sports Camp
This one is for all you professional athletes looking to make more money by leveraging your hard-earned skills. If you’ve ever thought of starting a coaching business, the strategy laid out below will help you find new clients and boost registration.
5 Steps to Fill Your Sports Camp
In 2014, I started a youth sports academy called “Overtime Football”. We ran that program for six years and bootstrapped to six figures using this exact customer acquisition strategy.
Let's break it down step by step based on what I did on my own journey.
Step 1: Showcase Your Skills
Every journey begins with a single step, right? In this case, it's showcasing your skills on the field.
Grab a few talented athletes, head to the field with a videographer, and record a workout session. Make sure you’re mic’d up! Capture the drills, the excitement, the speed, and the precision.
This workout needs two specific ingredients to get the job done.
1) Great Athletes - Make sure that the athletes you select to work with are the same or similar age and skill level to your target demographic. This is crucial because you want the people who see you coaching to visualize themselves working with you. You are showing them what it’s like to be under your leadership and, hopefully, the type of results they can expect to have after working with you.
2) Captivating Coaching - Include some eye-catching, creative drills in your session, and make sure you show off your coaching skills. If you’re a master technician, then get technical. If you’re a great motivator, then give the people some sound bites that will get them fired up.
Show off what you do best!
Step 2: Create Compelling Content
From this session, create two key pieces of content:
1) The Instructional Video - Here is your chance to give away some valuable tips for free. Share your coaching expertise, emphasizing the details that only a pro like you can provide. This is your demo, your showcase. Don’t hold back your best content. Give it all away! No one will know how great you are as a coach until you show them on video or in person.
2) The Hype Reel - Think of this as a fast-paced, attention-grabbing promo video. 30 seconds tops. This is your advertisement, something that leaves viewers wanting more. It’s all about evoking emotions - excitement, intrigue, curiosity, motivation, anticipation, and confidence.
Once you’re armed with these two videos, one short and exciting and another longer and more in-depth, then you’re ready to start building your marketing machine.
Step 3: Build a Landing Page
Now, it's time to take your content online. Start by setting up a simple, one-page website – a landing page.
Post your instructional video on the page alongside a form. This form is crucial for collecting leads. Keep it short and sweet: first name, email, and phone number. No need to complicate things.
Above the form write this exact sentence:
“Sign up for priority access to camps like this in your area.”
Tell people what value they can get by signing up on the form and don’t distract them with anything else. You want interested individuals to be able to easily sign up for exclusive access to camps.
Step 4: Social Media Blitz
Utilize the power of social media. Share your hype reel on platforms like Instagram, Twitter, or Facebook. Craft compelling captions with a clear call to action. Direct your audience to your landing page to “watch a recorded training session for FREE”.
Experiment with different approaches until you find a call to action that converts. And, don't shy away from paid campaigns once you identify what resonates best with your target audience.
Step 5: Grow and Engage Your Audience
As your list grows, engage with your potential camp-goers. Send out personalized emails, updating them on upcoming camps in their area. Gauge their interest and, if they're ready to commit, provide them with the necessary forms to sign up.
Remember, building a successful sports camp business isn’t just about being a popular player who played the game; it's about understanding the game of business.
If you're a pro athlete with a passion for coaching, why not turn that passion into profit?
Final Thought
This is just a quick rundown of how I'd kickstart a sports camp from scratch in 2024. If you're passionate about your sport and eager to share your skills, this might just be the game-changer you've been looking for.
If you found these tips helpful, let me know in the comment section or share this article with someone who would find it valuable.
Peace