6 Ways To Grow Your Tennis Club Membership

Attracting new prospective members is one extremely important activity that tennis club managers try to keep doing regularly. Without new members a club can go into a stagnation state where it's always the same people showing at tennis events such as tournaments, socials, ladders and lessons. This can become somewhat boring to current members as they are always playing the same people and are not developing new friendships. Your top players may also start feeling they are not challenged on the court and move on to another club.

As a club manager (or head tennis professional) the first step is to sit down and answer few questions:

• Are always the same people attending your events?
• Has membership grown in the past year?
• Do your students and members look bored during your tennis events?
• What would be the reason for people to join your club? Can you write down all the benefits you offer for club members?

After you've answered those questions and before you spend your money on advertising, make sure you exhaust the free or low-cost possibilities. Below you can find few creative ways to attract new tennis players to your club, which will not break your budget. Those options may take some of your time, however, if done correctly, you'll be able to enjoy the long-term benefit and returns they provide.

1. Create a great modern website

Websites are necessary for businesses to succeed. Having an attractive, regularly updated and informative website will attract more new visitors to your business and convert them into leads (and hopefully to customers). If you google your competition you will notice that many tennis clubs still have an outdated website. Imagine the advantage of a user friendly, mobile-friendly and informative website! You’ll certainly beat the other tennis clubs in your area at the online presence competition.

2. Start blogging

When done well, a blog can be a marketing powerhouse because it offers you the opportunity to communicate directly with potential customers and drive traffic to your tennis club’s website. Blogs can be shared on social media by you and your current members, and therefore, reach more potential clients. In order to be successful with blog marketing, you need an organized and consistent publishing process. You will also need creative topics to write about.

3. Be active on social media

Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn are currently the most popular social media channels. It’s a great place to post great education content, post videos, news and promote events such as tennis mixers, tournaments, classes and lessons. Through great content you keep your new and current customers engaged and drive traffic to your website. All social media channels are free. All you need is time and consistent publishing.

4. Create a YouTube channel

YouTube is another social media channel and can be used to attract brand new clients and engage your existing ones. YouTube is one of the largest search engines and posting videos will allow you to provide content in a different format for your audience to enjoy. YouTube channels are free to use and can play a vital role in the growth and expansion of your tennis club. With the development of smartphone technology you no longer need a full video production team to make a good video. There are many types of videos you can create and post: short instructions on technique, tennis drills, showing your facilities or pro shop...the possibilities are endless!

5. Start link building

Link building happens when other websites provide a link to your own. Here is an oversimplified explanation of the importance of link building.

Search engines constantly look at the number of links pointing to your website. Having many established and legitimate websites link to your own determines the “quality” of your web page and you get higher ranking on Google. But why is getting a high rank on search engines so important? If you rank on the first page of Google more people will have a chance to find you because your website would be one of the first ones they'll see during their search. In addition, the more websites link to yours, the more website exposure (traffic) you will be getting. And large amounts of traffic is exactly what you want! Then, if you succeed in capturing your visitors' interest, you'll likely turn them into leads and customers.

6. Start sending email newsletters

The newsletter is an important tool to spread news, maintain excitement about being a member of your tennis club and pass important information such as event dates, tournament schedules and reports.  In addition to that, you show your members that you care for them by investing your time to produce a newsletter. Electronic newsletters are also easy to share via email or social media, therefore, they allow you to reach a crowd larger than your current club membership. In addition, they are trackable via analytics, which can give a great insight on what people like reading about.

The ideas listed above are just few low-cost options of boosting your club's membership. Some of them may require willingness to learn new skills. If no one in your club knows how to create newsletters or effectively use social media you can hire a marketing professional. Sometimes paying someone to do that may end up cheaper in a long run. Just make sure they understand your business and industry. If you focus on long-term growth instead of the bottom line ($$), the increased participation and membership will solve the money issue.