Should Your Tennis Club Marketing Change Due to the Pandemic?
Tennis club marketing strategy is much like tennis match strategy - it does not work the same way for every person and it does not work in every situation. The results you get from your marketing campaigns today, good or bad, will not necessarily be the same in six months or a year.
For example, we went back and read our original marketing plan from 2015 (the year when Resourcely Marketing started) - those ideas and goals felt so outdated, and although they were good at the time, they would not have served our company any good today.
So, to answer the question, yes - your tennis club marketing should change, but not just because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
So when should your tennis club marketing strategy be reviewed and changed?
I am glad this question was asked. As you probably know, marketing plans and business plans are typically educated guesses or informed assumptions. Frequently the results we achieve are very different from those plans. Below are a few reasons that call for a tennis club marketing strategy review.
1. Search engine algorithm changes
Search engines like Google can read, index, and rank websites according to their automated algorithms. Those algorithms periodically change and become more sophisticated in order to encourage businesses, bloggers, and content writers to publish higher-quality content that readers can value, learn, and use.
2. Products and services have changed
Products and services can become outdated or new versions of them might appear. If that is the case, the marketing strategy should be reviewed so that you can incorporate plans for pushing out that new product or service you offer.
For example, if you own a tennis and fitness club but you decide to replace the fitness center with a pool, your target demographic would likely change, which would call for a marketing review.
3. Users or customers have changed
The lockdown and pandemic have certainly changed the way people live and absorb information, how they shop, and they entertain themselves. If your customer base has changed, so should your marketing (e.g. you end up teaching more lessons online as opposed to on the court, and you notice that a younger crowd is the one taking more of your lessons).
4. Company restructure
A major company restructure should trigger a marketing plan review. Those types of major changes could involve management changes, reallocating resources to different parts of your tennis business, selling assets, financing decisions such as refinancing or filing for bankruptcy. This type of restructuring can affect all aspects of operations, including marketing, so review and revision of your marketing plan would be due.
5. The campaign has been completed or is not working
If a marketing campaign is due to end, it is best to evaluate how well it was completed and whether it achieved its goals or not. Marketing analytics is a good place to start. Use this information to revise the specific types of marketing activities and decide whether you should continue pouring time and effort into the same ones.
If your tennis club marketing activities did not meet your objectives or completely fail, then it is time to update those and avoid keep taking hits. On the other hand, if your marketing efforts are succeeding or even exceeding your goals, then you may want to ramp up your investment into those. For example, if you have been doing online advertising for the first time in the last few months, and you have determined it has been successful, you can revise your marketing plan and budget to include more online advertising and less of, let's say, social media activities.
6. Your budget has changed
It is highly unlikely that a business would have the same marketing budget every year. Factors such as revenue, wages, and bills affect how much you can spend on your marketing. Also, the cost of marketing could change as well.
One of the questions to ask is "Was I able to stay within my marketing budget at the end of the year?" The answer to that question will play a big part in building your marketing plan for the coming year.
What if my business changes at a very fast pace?
If your business changes very quickly, it is important to set more frequent review intervals - for example, once every month or every quarter. In such cases, regular meetings with the key employees need to be set up to review your tennis business' marketing plan and make revisions.
The entire point of your tennis club marketing should be to ensure that your target audience (aka. buyer persona) knows that you and your tennis program exist. If you want to become good at it you must keep track and evaluate your efforts.
Monitoring and analyzing your marketing campaigns constantly is a must in order to know whether things are working or not and before they become a loss. Approaching your marketing plans with the mindset that they are dynamic and are frequently impacted by forces that are out of your control will ensure that they stay current and successful.
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Tennis Club Marketing 101
Marketing Ideas for Tennis Club Owners, Managers, and Coaches.