Grassroots Sports Branding #1

As a member of a sports team, you are probably thinking isn’t branding just for big corporates? We barely have time to cut the oranges, let alone implement some lovey-dovey branding strategy.

Branding is about building an identity for your club. It is not only about how others see your club but how those within the club see it.

 It is the very makeup of the club and vital to every part of it. Branding is not just your colours and logos, or your mission statement and club values. It flows through to the volunteers, the players themselves, and the wider community.

Branding is how you are perceived internally and externally. It is how people feel when they think of your club

 What is the purpose of your club and how is this being portrayed?

 This series of articles won’t tell you what your club should stand for nor is it a detailed branding strategy. Instead, it will be full of practical tips and learnings; ideas that can be implemented quickly and easily, that can make a big difference to the club but are all linked by this idea of the brand. It will give you an introduction and insight into some of the factors that make up branding. But most importantly it helps to address the most frequent worries for any local club committee or executive:

• ·        Culture and success
• ·        Finances
• ·        Attracting volunteers
• ·        Recruitment and retention of players

External Relationships Committees and administrators at local level clubs are so often stuck in the day-to-day running of the club they often forget about the bigger picture. Hopefully, this series will help you to think a little more strategically. We know that resources at clubs are tight so don’t get caught in the detail.

Whilst deliberation is important, an action is imperative. A few ideas, to begin with, is to allocate time to write down what your current brand is:

• ·        What do we want to be portrayed as?
• ·        Are we portrayed like this internally? Externally?
• ·        Who is our target market?
• ·        Who is part of our wider community?
• ·        Is there room for improvement?

 If you think you can improve your brand or you are sitting on the fence then this series will highlight the importance and benefits of branding, things to watch out for and give you some examples of how you can improve your club. 

Sporting clubs are not immune to the old adage that money makes the world go around. How often do we hear the excuse that so and so team only won because they have the most money. That may be true, but you can’t change what they have, you can only work in your own backyard.

Finances are vital to every sports team, even the local mixed netball side. They need bibs, court hire, registration fees, balls and the list goes on. It only gets worse as you move through the grades. Too often in a sports club finances are a forbidden topic, something that is managed on a back of a napkin. Very rarely do clubs dig deeper than they have to. This is mostly due to time, pressures on a volunteer treasurer who has enough on their plate doing the basic bookkeeping, collecting registrations and stocktaking, than to have a proper strategic look at the finances.

Do you know your year-on-year results?

What is driving the growth in this and the decline in that?

Often these discussions lead to a very pointed debate on a particular line item rather than the overall picture. Branding is never contributed to these financial rises and falls, yet I am here to explain why it is a fundamental building block. Branding is essential to awareness, positioning, brand equity and financial stability. But in practical terms, its value is in the growth in sponsorship, profit on apparel and merchandise, and ability to attract new members.

So, as you read this first article in the series you should be thinking – is branding really contributing to our financial position at all? If we improved our branding would it really make a difference to our bottom line?

We acknowledge that sporting clubs are generally not-for-profits, but that doesn’t mean finances are not important. Let’s look at few ideas so you can easily improve your bottom line in ways that have lasting effects.

First tip for club managers. Ask yourself why the current treasurer was appointed? Most will say it is because he/she has bookkeeping experience – but guess what, you should want more than this. Is there someone within the club that has accounting or financial consulting experience?

I am not talking a share tip on investing in the next too good to be true tech start-up, I am talking about someone who has practical experience reading the balance sheet and making some recommendations. Now there are two common rebuttals to this, we don’t want to ask, or they won’t want to help. Well, guess what, these guys are smart, and they are often not afraid to tell you. Remember these guys are financially minded and will come up with ideas you haven’t thought of.