I
was shocked at how much time and energy it has taken, and continues to take, to market and promote my
business. In a small town of just 100,000 peo-
ple, I didn’t think it would be so dif- ficult to become known and to build my business. I allotted about $500 per month in my first year’s budget for marketing and advertising. But I found that the money disappeared very quickly, and that I was always pulling money out of other budgets. I do everything I can think of –
I drop flyers, visit schools, I’m on Facebook and Twitter, I’ve given away over 2,000 free passes, I have a huge sign in front of my facility, I’m on the main street, and the van that I drive all over town, is wrapped in my branding message. But four years later, people still come
in and say, “This is a great place. I’ve never heard of you.” It’s taken me time to figure out
which strategies work and which ones don’t. As a busy entrepreneur, I’m al- ways looking at my phone to get the latest news. I find that my target audi- ence – parents with young children – does the same thing and that they don’t necessarily read the newspa- per from front to back. Therefore, on- line marketing via Google, Facebook, Groupon, etc., has been the most effective. Successful marketing ventures so
far include manning a booth at our town’s annual RibFest event ($300 for the three day event), an annual Mompreneur event ($100 for the day) at our local community centre and a Breakfast with Santa event that sup- ports our local hospital (no charge be- cause I donate free play passes to my facility). Once I figured out the best market-
ing avenues, I realized that I couldn’t just continuously promote the same programs. So I spend lots of time rein- venting them. I’m constantly adding new classes, promotions and specials (like birthday party specials with free loot bags), new equipment, rearranging the equipment, etc. Even the kids get bored if things are always the same. If you’re stagnant and not constant-
ly presenting new ideas, people forget about you or move on to something else new and exciting.
My advice to new club owners: 1. Don’t count on word of mouth
marketing. Allocate as much money as you can toward marketing and adver- tising. Realize that marketing is always ongoing even for the most-established businesses. 2. Create a spreadsheet to track what’s working and what isn’t. For
example, I discovered that flyers deliv- ered by Canada Post work well for me, but in stores they just collect dust and get thrown out. 3. Delegate to professionals. If
you have the funds, hire a market- ing company. At the very least, hire a graphic designer to create your fly- ers. FBC
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