Promoting and Marketing Your Community Games

Bring the inspiration of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to your community

Programme

• Introductions• Links to London 2012• What are marketing and promotion?• What to say to key audiences• How to reach key audiences• Producing a marketing plan• Help and support for you

Outcomes

• By the end of the workshop, you will be able to:• Understand the links between Community Games

and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games• Understand how to reach the key audiences and what

to say to them• Produce a marketing plan for your Community Games• Identify where to go for additional help and support

What are the links with London 2012?• The programme was originally created in 2010 as a

Legacy Trust UK programme in the West Midlands to bring the spirit of London 2012 to the region and to leave a legacy

• The Wenlock Olympian Games provided the inspiration – part of the country’s unique Olympic heritage

• Thanks to funding from the Cabinet Office Community Games is now a national programme

• Awarded the London 2012 Inspire Mark for the toolkit, website and centrally produced resources

Olympic and Paralympic Values

• Olympic Values• Excellence• Friendship• Respect

• Paralympic Values• Determination• Courage• Inspiration• Equality

Links to London 2012

• Having a parade as part of an opening or closing ceremony

• Featuring a range of Olympic sports• Getting teams to compete representing other

countries• Organising craft activities such as making an

‘Olympic torch’ or designing an ‘Olympic’ poster• Theming your Games on the Ancient Olympics

What is Marketing?

• Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably

– Chartered Institute of Marketing

• Marketing is matching what your Community Games is offering, with what your target markets – volunteers and participants – need and want

What is Promotion?

• One of the four ‘Ps’ of the marketing mix – the others being product, place and price

• All about communicating – your Community Games information – in a way that your target markets will find attractive

• The benefits of what your event is offering need to be communicated in a way that matches the interests and requirements of those target markets

How marketing communications works

Making potential volunteers, participants and spectators aware of your Community Games

Promoting the opportunities and benefits of your Community Games to individuals of all ages, families,

groups of friends etc.

Showing people how they/their children can benefit from participating in a Community Games – some will then want

to be a part of it.

Harnessing their desire by telling them how they can be part of their local Community Games

Awareness

Interest

Desire

Action

Segmenting the market

• Segmentation – dividing the market into discrete ‘clusters’ or ‘segments’

• The people in the segments have common characteristics– This allows us to group them together

• Simple ways of segmenting:– Age– Gender

Reasons why people volunteer at Events• Enjoying the excitement of events• Not having the time for a long-term volunteering

commitment• Having particular event-related skills• Wanting to gain event management experience• Wanting to improve their CV without making a

regular commitment

Reasons why people might come along to a Community Games• To try something new• To try something they have not done for a long time –

maybe not since school• To do something with friends/family• To get to know local people/find out what is going on

locally• To compete in an activity they are good at• To do something that sounds exciting• To take part in an event connected with London 2012• To watch a family member/friend compete

What to say to your audiences

• Products have Features and Benefits:– A Feature is a part (normally a technical element) of the

(Community Games) offer, e.g. a range of come and try activities

– An Advantage is what it gives you, e.g. the opportunity to try many/a number of new activities in a day

– A Benefit is what it delivers, e.g. the chance to find an activity you like free of charge

• People don’t buy features, but benefits • Provide proof – quotes from participants/volunteers• To find the benefits, run the ‘so what?’ test

What to say to your audiences

• Put the benefits in order– Which benefits will have most appeal?– What will have less?– Which is the main benefit?• The one that will be most likely to have most appeal• The one that will have the most impact

• Take the main benefit and turn into the Games’ overall ‘offer’

• Convert this offer into a ‘powerful’ headline

How to reach your audiences

• Flyers• E-marketing• Advertising• Press releases• Posters• Word of mouth• Associated events• Websites• Social marketing

What to include in your promotions• Essential information to include:– The benefits– The proof – When, where, how much?– Clear call to action– Defined time limit

Producing a Marketing Plan

• Objectives:– To recruit x volunteers– To attract x participants– To attract x spectators– To achieve x level of media coverage (press, local

radio, regional TV)

Producing a Marketing Plan• Note the objective• List all the tasks that would be involved in completing it (in

any order)• Roughly order the tasks into time based sequence• Identify who will lead and when each task will need to be

done by (some tasks can be performed concurrently) • Assign some resources if appropriate• Add in success measures• Schedule them as accurately as possible to fit with the

overall Community Games project plan

Producing a Marketing Plan

Objective:No. Task Who When £ Success

Measures

(CSP) Perspective

Support Programme

• The website – www.communitygames.org.uk – with lots of helpful ideas, resources and templates• A page for your Games on the website

• The toolkit – any updates will be available to download from the website

• CSP Lead Officer• Organising Your Community Games free workshop• A regular newsletter with information and news on

what’s happening elsewhere

Support Programme

• A page for your Games on the website• 400 personalised postcards for your Games • 10 personalised posters for your Games• T-shirts for your volunteers• Certificates and stickers for your participants• Leaflets to give out to direct participants to the survey

– they could win £100 of high street vouchers• The loan of banners and bunting for use at your

Games

OutcomesBy the end of the workshop, you will be able to:• Understand the links between Community Games

and the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games

• Understand how to reach the key audiences and what to say to them

• Produce a marketing plan for your Community Games

• Identify where to go for additional help and support

Summary

• Make use of the Community Games toolkit• Access the Support Programme• Share your ideas and challenges with other

Community Games via the website

GOOD LUCK!