How to Market your Events with Upper Hand

Contrary to the voice Ray Kinsella heard in Field of Dreams, just because you build it doesn’t mean they will come.

You’ve worked hard to build intentional programs and run well-executed events. But, you need to make sure they’re seen by (the right) people!

To do this, it is important that you do not neglect your marketing strategy.

When using an athlete registration software like Upper Hand, there are ways to utilize the app to help you communicate with and share information to your clients. That’s what we’re going to dive into today. Let’s get started!

Finalize your Event Details

The first step to marketing your events on your Upper Hand youth sports registration software is to fill in the Marketing Information of your Event Details. The event page is your “hub/ home base,” so the page should include all pertinent information for the event. From a marketing perspective, you should use this as an opportunity to sell your offerings to your clients. Some example of things you should include are the following:

• A preview of the program, including a high level overview of what will be taught or learned, or specific skills that will be targeted.
• The event instructors and their backgrounds – get athletes excited about the opportunity to work with you and your staff!
• Any additional information about the day’s agenda, for example how the day will run, or important check-in details.

5 Ways to Market your Offerings with Upper Hand

Now that you’ve finalized all of your event details in Upper Hand, it’s time to share the programs with your athletes and prospective clients.

1. Share a link on your website and social media platforms

One way to market your Upper Hand events is to embed the links on your website or share on social media. Upper Hand makes it really easy to share your offerings with your current and prospective clients.

To share all of your active, non-private events, you can easily grab the URL from your “Browse Events” tab. Or, you can direct them to a specific event type or event to get registered.

Once you’ve copied this URL to your clipboard, you can include it under a button on your website or share on social media, for example on your Facebook or Instagram pages. When clients click on the link, it will take them to that respective page within the sports registration software.

2. Send a marketing email from the software

Another way to reach your athletes is to send a marketing email from the software. Specifically, marketing emails provide a great way to connect with your contacts that have not yet signed up for the event.

Marketing emails allow you to share “direct access” to upcoming events, by allowing you to send an invitation to contacts to register. This helps you to “personalize” your athletes’ experience with your brand.

In addition to tailoring your communication, marketing emails also present an opportunity to re-engage inactive clients. These athletes may not regularly browse through your event offerings, so sending them an email with a link to the registration page will encourage them to return.

Learn more about how to send a marketing email with Upper Hand here.

3. Communicate with your event roster

In addition to reaching out to non-registered athletes, Upper Hand also empowers you to communicate with your event rosters. Here is how you can send an email to an event roster through Upper Hand:

1. Navigate to the Event Details
2. Click the message bubble icon
3. Set the date and time you’d like to send the message
4. Craft your message
5. Press send!

How can you utilize the message attendees feature? This functionality is great for sending reminders to your attendees prior to the event. For example, “Don’t forget to bring your cleats to tomorrow’s session.”

Or, say you have a fall clinic and a spring clinic. You can go into the past season’s clinic, and send a message to that event’s roster saying “We’re going to run another clinic this season, sign ups will start on Monday.” This allows you to target that specific group of people and encourage them to participate in additional programs.

4. Send out a banner announcement

Just as you can send an email to the masses, you can also send an announcement to all of your contacts in the form of a banner announcement within Upper Hand’s sports software. To announce a new program or clinic, you may also consider adding an announcement, which will pop up upon login to the software.

“Attention High Schoolers! We will be offering a new Basketball Skills Clinic on Wednesday, December 21. Spots are limited, so sign up today!”

5. Utilize the Contacts Report to Re-Engage Inactive Members

In addition to communication, you can also utilize Upper Hand to make more informed decisions when it comes to marketing your brand. Specifically, you can utilize the Contacts Report to gain a better visual of who your clients are and where they are coming from.

First, you can reference the Contacts Report to truly understand where your clients are located. If you notice that a lot of your clients are coming from a particular area, you may consider running a new clinic in that area, or opening a second location. Alternatively, if there is a geographic area that is just starting to grow in population, you may look to promote your offerings or talk to area schools to try to grow your reach in that area.

Additionally, you can also see the last time your clients have logged into the sports software. How can you use this information when marketing your programs? You can download the report of this client info, and send an email to those clients who haven’t logged into the software since a certain timeframe, inviting them back to train. Adding a personal touch is a great way to improve your brand loyalty.

Next Steps

When it comes to marketing your offerings, there are a number of ways you can engage with your current and prospective athletes. By putting your programs in the hands of the right people, and making it easy for your clients to register, you will be able to grow your business and expand your impact. With Upper Hand, the positive user experience coupled with the data insights will allow you to make smarter, quicker business decisions.