The latest Club Marketing up-date has been released by Ash Holding, the Marketing Manager
Community Events
Though the Club already has one of the highest attendances in the National League South and attendances have increased every season since our arrival at Grosvenor Vale, we are looking to further boost these crowd figures, through a number of events and promotions, which will continue to increase the awareness of the club in the local area.
The Club continued its attendance at the Ruislip Manor Fun Day in July, for the first time co-ordinating the event with the Supporters Club, Youth, Ladies and Social clubs. The objectives on the day were to promote the club’s ‘One Club vision’, to increase awareness of the club’s presence in the local community, to add potential new fans to the club’s database and to gain new supporters. A number of attractions and fun competitions were set up to attract as many families as possible to the stall.
The day was an overall success with the club gaining a large number of contact details from potential new supporters who are interested in following the Stones. Free tickets were given to all of those who submitted their contact details to our database. The work carried out would not have been possible without the dedication and co-ordination of the Wealdstone FC Supporters Club, in particular and all other parts of the Club.
The Club plans to attend other community events during the pre-Christmas and early Spring periods, together with participating in local business expos, for example Hillingdon Business Expo 2016, to help promote the club within the local community.
Matchday Promotions
Kids Go Free – On the recent Bank Holiday match on 31st August against Bishop’s Stortford, the club allowed free admission to all Under 16’s, as we continue to try to drive new support amongst young people in the local area.
Remembrance Day Weekend – On Saturday 7th November, Wealdstone host Gosport Borough in a National League South fixture. Over this weekend the club will welcome members of the Armed Forces from the local airbase RAF Northolt, who will be given free entry to the game. The club has had a relationship with the Air Base for some years, including using their facilities for first team training. We are looking to deepen this relationship further, hosting members of the Armed Forces and giving them more opportunities to become part of our family, especially with the offer of half price tickets for all future home league matches this season.
HA4 Promotion – Following on from last season’s marketing drive encouraging local residents to attend matches, we will be promoting the club in November with discount prices for those living in the HA4 postcode district. This season, we will be supporting the campaign through an advertisement in the My Ruislip Magazine. With a circulation of over 8,000 and a coverage which includes South Ruislip, Ruislip Manor, Ruislip Gardens and part of Eastcote, this provides us with a great opportunity to further integrate our presence with the local population.
Schools & Colleges Engagement Strategy
Over the past couple of months the Club has begun to form partnerships with primary and secondary schools in the local area; providing coaching, free tickets, Community Trust Sports Programmes, etc. We believe this is an area of engagement which can develop and grow quite rapidly. Preliminary discussions have been held with Warrender Primary School, Ruislip High School, Bishop Ramsey C of E School and Uxbridge College. The schools have been receptive to our ideas to support the national curriculum through practical activities, whether this be football-related maths courses or helping to develop an interest in playing football. By February 2016 there will be the opportunity for youngsters in the local community to receive coaching from members of the Wealdstone FC squad and coaching staff.
Ruislip Social Club
The Club’s Marketing team have begun to work alongside RSC to support the social club in the areas of promotion, marketing and communication. We will be helping to promote upcoming social events, revamping the website and marketing the venue’s facilities through social media channels. In order to generate further revenue, we will be looking to promote RSC as a meeting and conference venue for local businesses, charities and community organisations.
Club Databases
The different elements of the Club work with many different spreadsheets of members, supporters and partner organisations. At the last count, there were nine files and lists being maintained across the main club, WFCSC, Wealdstone Youth FC, Wealdstone Ladies and RSC. Work has begun to clean the data on the various spreadsheets, after which we will move to integrate storage and access, primarily for the purposes of maintaining regular contact with customers.
E Newsletter
The new Wealdstone FC e newsletter will provide the club with another platform on which to engage with supporters. Work has begun in earnest on design, content, staffing, sponsorship, advertising and mailing lists.
The newsletter, which it is hoped will be published and mailed on a fortnightly basis starting in December 2015, will provide supporters and subscribers with match previews, exclusive video content, player interviews, club shop offers, event information, a ‘get involved’ section and Ladies and Youth team content.
Social Media
From November 2015, our social media channels will begin to provide exclusive content for followers with our ‘behind the scenes’ video packages, showing aspects of the club’s operations not normally seen by the general public. You will be able to read about the development of social media communications within the Club in next week’s programme.
Matchday WiFi
The Club is in discussions with a major telecoms provider with a view to providing improved internet coverage and connectivity around the ground on match days. Matchday WiFi is a logical next step in terms of improving our facilities and capabilities for staff and supporters.
Finally, we are looking for two or three supporters to come alongside the Marketing team in the coming months to assist us in the areas of matchday experience planning and e-newsletter content and editing. We would basically like to tap into your experiences of attending home and away games and act as a sounding board for some of our future development ideas. If you would like to get involved, we would love to hear from you! Please come and find me near the enclosed players’ entrance on match days or contact me at ash.holding@btinternet.com.
Ash Holding
Marketing Manager
September 2015
