Promotional Action Plan

You have approval but the school can take it away just as fast if you fall beneath the requirementsof a team. Recruitment now is crucial. You can divide the tasks up within your community of involved parents. Here’s a timeline and suggested actions to take:

PREPARE FOR FALL

  • Ask to have a table at any back to school events or involvement fairs.
  • Advertise on your school’s social media that Sailing will have a table.
  • Advertise through your school’s newsletter, Friday folder, etc. that Sailing will be at the event.
  • Collect contact information including email, school if not obvious, and grade level of students and parents interested in Sailing
  • If the event has parents, lay out some flyers with basic information.
  • Once you have your contact list, enter it into an excel sheet so you don’t lose it. Email it to yourself as backup.
  • Send a thank you email to all who signed up and ask them to sign-up for the Fall Season the way your school wants you to sign up.
  • Advertise through the school that “sign ups” are available and how to do that.

PREPARE FOR SPRING

  • Ask to host an informational meeting at the school.
  • Advertise the meeting on your school’s social media.
  • Advertise the meeting through your school’s weekly newsletter, Friday folder, etc.
  • Email all existing contacts and team members inviting them personally to the meeting.
  • At the meeting, have a sign in sheet provided online to use and lay out the information sheet.
  • Add the names on the sign-in sheet to your contact list.
  • Send a thank you email to all who came to the meeting and ask them to sign-up for Spring Season the way your school wants you to sign up.
  • Advertise through the school that sign ups are available with instructions on how to do that.

HOSTING A MEETING

You want to hold a meeting for an upcoming sailing season. That great! Here are some steps to think about:

SIX WEEKS BEFORE THE MEETING

Work with your contact at a school to select a date early enough so you have a fighting chance with students interested in other sports. This meeting is going to be your informational meeting before you announce its time “sign-ups”. You need to start advertising to the masses. Try emailing something like this to all athletic directors, principals, dean of students, etc. district wide. Email this request on Wednesdays every week for 6 weeks before your meeting:

Good morning,

Many of you know about [school district’s name] Sailing. We are hosting a meeting to inform student and their parents about the sport of sailing. Here are some items for your newsletter to help us promote this. I have attached a PDF flyer, a JPG for your newsletter and some copy to go in a newsletter. We are hoping to promote this each week until the meeting so if you don’t have room in your news this week, you will receive another reminder next week. If you have any questions, concerns or having technical difficulties feel free to respond to this email.

Thank you very much for helping us promoting this great club sport.

- Your Name

Please consider posting this:

Did you know [school district’s name] has a High School Sailing Team?

Sailing is the fastest growing sport in Central Ohio!

If you are looking for a fun new sport to join, students and parents are welcome come to our meeting on [date] at [time] in the [location]. There, you will be able to meet some of the team and learn about the fast growing sport of sailing in Ohio. This spring/fall sport is open to all in grades 7-12th.

For more information, please contact [your parent representative’s email]

A MONTH BEFORE THE MEETING

You may have 30 names on your contact list you gathered from your fall events. Email all of those contacts and your existing team a message similar to this:

SUBJECT LINE: Let’s go sailing!

...Wait! It’s winter…

Actually, we are sending you this e-mail because you expressed interest in Sailing last fall at the TWHS Involvement fair. We are hosting a spring meeting to give you more information. Spring sign ups are starting soon.

Some things you may not know since the fall Involvement fair, our team did extremely well last fall! [add specific accomplishment]

We want to grow our team. So, if you are interested and want to hear more.

JOIN US!

[date]

[time]

[location]

Our meeting will cover all of the information you need to get started, answer any questions, and meet some of the other sailors on the team.

Please bring a parent or two, I’m sure they will want to hear this information too.

If you have any questions or can’t make the meeting, please reach out to [parent email].

TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE MEETING

You may want to consider asking the front office people who do the announcements to read a script like this:

If you want to try out something new… Give Sailing a try! Sailing is the fastest growing sport in Ohio! You don’t even need to own a boat. The sailing team is hosting their spring informational meeting on [date] from [time] in the [location of meeting]. Come and bring a parent.

PROMOTE SIGN-UPS

Send reminders for student to sign up for sailing by [date]. Reminders can be simple information for a school newsletter. Maybe something can be advertised on social media.