Using Sport to Market Your School

Neil RollingsAMDIS Conference 2011

Do you believe?

• Sport is a major factor in people choosing independent schools?

• Sport can be a major factor in choosing which independent school?

• It is a misconception that sport only contributes to the recruitment of pupils who are able in sport

“Sport is a factor which elicits some of the strongest expressions

of parental dissatisfaction”

What do Customers want?

Elite SportMiddle Ability

Low Ability

Curve of Normal Distribution

Low ability Mid ability High ability

Marketing is not just the promotion process

Marketing is everything you do

Measure how appealing your school sport is to:

• Potential Internationals• Keen and able sportsmen / women• Keen but not able• Not able and not bothered

Do you know what you are promoting?

Axes of School Sport

• Choice/Compulsion• Performance/Participation• Focus/BreadthCan you satisfy all constituencies?

Is the Mission clear?

Is there a feedback loop?

What is your Target offer?

Where you are, and where you want to be, are a reflection of your

targets

Targets: How do you measure success?

• Win Daily Mail Cup/National Sevens• Top 10 girls’ hockey in England• Top 3 in Oxfordshire• Win 50% of games in all sports• Have 70% of pupils playing in school matches every

Saturday• Have all pupils being meaningfully active 3 times

per week• All pupils can swim 100m of a recognised stroke• All girls can run a mile in under 9 minutes

Statistics

Use statistics to give credibility to aimsUse statistics to sell the future

The Visitor Experience• FAQ• Touring pupils• Specialist information• Visual impact• Is it saying what people want to

hear?

Overseas Pupils?• Avoiding the Games Ghettoes• Come for English games, or cultural

preferences accommodated?• Accuracy of information at point of sale• Same principles of entitlement as British

pupils• Communication

What are the Promotional Mechanisms?

PartnershipsPublic Relations

Positive Partnerships

Partnerships v Rape and Pillage(What can you do for them?)

Partnerships are between people not institutions

Partnerships with Whom?• Feeder school heads• Feeder school staff• Parents• Local clubs• Professional teams and academies• Counties/representative squads• Governing bodies

What have you got that they would like?

• Facilities• Expertise (coaching/refereeing)• Former pupils (news of)• Organisational capacity• Hospitality

Importance of Outreach Programme

Public RelationsHow do we draw attention to what we are

doing?

“The purpose of PR is to inform and persuade”

Who are you trying to inform and persuade?

What means will you use?

Sports Prospectus

Parental Presentation

Website

Press Coverage

What message is your PR attempting to convey?

What information?

What persuasion?

What do you want people to conclude about sports provision at your school?

Are all your messages consistent?

Does your website work for you?

What is the method by which news information is collated and distributed?

Today’s news is tomorrow’s chip wrapping

When?

By Whom?

Create Efficiency

• What we are aiming to do• What we are actually doing• What people know about what

we are doing