As a new season approaches , there are so many different ideas, tasks, and questions zooming through your booster club management’s heads. It can feel overwhelming, thinking of an entire year of fundraising and programming for your booster club. How do you keep everyone informed? This is where the power of your booster club marketing plan comes into play!
The best way forward is with a simple yet strong plan. If you’ve been tasked with marketing for your Booster Club this year, this article can help you create an awesome booster club marketing plan.
Armed with a plan you can execute your strategies much easier. You can make sure that the community and student body is well aware of any and all upcoming booster club events, but you can also avoid bombarding your classmates, community, and team with flyers, over-posting, and (potentially) too many paid ads. There’s a happy medium and we’ll help you strike it!
Pick a Planning Buddy
The Booster Club marketing leader (possibly you reading this) is at the helm for making this year’s booster club marketing plan, but that doesn’t mean he or she needs to work alone. In fact, he or she may greatly benefit from having a second mind in the room when brainstorming.
Who to choose? Perhaps there is a certain member of the Booster Club who is also particularly savvy on social media, well connected within the neighborhood, or has previous experience advertising through the school or local media, he or she would be a great choice. Or maybe the club’s vice president has the time capacity to join in on a planning meeting, plus the experience of being in the club last year. Either would be an excellent choice…and if you’re feeling unsure, why not choose both?
Use a Calendar to Guide Your Booster Club Marketing Plan
A strong booster club marketing plan will encompass the whole year (summer breaks included). What we see far too often with high school clubs and interest groups is strong marketing at the start of the semester that tapers off towards the end as students become busier or the season draws to a close.
To avoid marketing burn-out each semester, you’ll want to enter the year with a holistic booster club marketing plan, so your social media posts, bulletin board posts, paid online advertising, and local co-sponsorships will be consistent and evenly dispersed. Obviously, you’ll want to increase your marketing leading up to major events, but month-by-month planning keeps your booster club from falling off the grid for some of the slower months.
To begin strategizing, you’ll want to write down the major events that will happen each month. This includes:
- Special school events (i.e. homecoming and prom)
- Activity related events (i.e. the beginning and end of the team’s season, award nights, and tournaments)
- Local community events (i.e. parades, local markets, and other large gatherings)
- Holidays (Make sure to note which days students are and are not in school)
- Societal events (i.e. student government elections)
These events can help anchor your strategy and planning around them can help you create even marketing rhythms.
Your Booster Club Marketing Plan Should Include Marketing for Major Events
Every month or two your Booster Club will likely host or co-host some major event. It’s difficult to stress how important marketing is in the success of fundraising–if no one knows a fun run is happening, how will anyone sign up for it?
Therefore, you’ll want to make a thorough booster club marketing plan so you can execute a strategy to hype people up before the major events! Here are some ideas:
- Place an advertisement in the local newspaper, while this may seem old-fashioned, it could have excellent results in reaching a wider crowd
- Instagram countdowns: If the event is happening on a Friday, plan to begin posting countdowns Monday of that week on your Booster Club’s official account. You can even create a colorful grid to appear on your feed. This will create anticipation and excitement for the Club’s followers
- Design and print flyers to hang around school hallways and post on community bulletin boards in coffee shops or ice cream parlors
- Reach out to local businesses to see if they would be interested in a co-sponsored event or would be willing to help you advertise in any way
- Choose a booster club member to livestream the event (using Facebook live or a collection of Instagram stories), to increase its exposure and provide a way to donate online or remotely for those who may be watching from home
- Post a recap after the event on social media: Include photos, thank yous, and statistics on how much was raised
These marketing strategies can help you make the most of your club’s major annual events and increase its exposure!
Filling the Gaps in Your Booster Club Marketing Plan
You’ll want to stay on peoples’ radar, even during weeks and months with no major events. Here are several creative ways to remind people of your club’s existence, even when things are slow.
- Use the Booster Club’s official Twitter page to give birthday shout outs to members of the leadership team (President, vice president, treasurer, and…yourself?)
- Ask the school’s newspaper to run a ‘Season in Review’ story about the booster club’s highlight’s from the previous semester
- Post #ThrowbackThursday pictures from games and rallies during the peak of the season on Instagram
- Create a Venmo fundraiser where half of the donations received will go to a local animal rescue shelter, food pantry, or scholarship fund
- Host an interest meeting that is open to the whole student body at the start of each semester (not just each year). Transfer students may be interested in joining!
Consistent marketing will help your classmates, community, and neighbors get to know the club’s mission, members, and activity. If the student body thinks of the club as a familiar face, they’ll be more inclined to attend the events and donate.
In Summation
Having consistent, on-brand, and energetic marketing will help familiarize others with your booster club, giving them reason to trust it. It’s important that your booster club marketing plan is organized month-by-month to keep an even marketing rhythm throughout the year–you do not want to overwhelm your classmates and community right before a major event nor fall off the grid in the weeks between events. In the long term, increasing marketing (and doing it well) will increase the club’s annual revenue.
