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Running an after-school, breakfast or holiday club is fulfilling and valuable, but it’s also important to stand out from the competition and attract new customers to keep growing. Keeping things fresh through marketing, new ideas, and collaborations are just a few ways to ensure your after-school club stays sustainable. You might also want to consider what’s missing in other clubs and look for opportunities to fill those gaps.
Another great way to expand your reach and bring in more customers is through discounts and promotions. Not only are they effective in drawing in new attendees, but they can also help nurture your current ones, making them more likely to renew.
Keep reading to learn more about the power of discounts and promotions, along with some tips and strategies to help you implement them.
Understanding the Value of Discounts and Promotions
Making It Affordable: By increasing accessibility, you can reach a broader demographic, bringing in more children who can benefit from your club.
Building Loyalty: Strengthening relationships with your current attendees encourages them to stick with you, while also fostering a sense of community.
Encouraging Early Sign-Ups: Offering a promotion for early sign-ups helps with planning and keeps you prepared. Plus, it gives you a clearer idea of how many more spots you need to fill and how to reach your goal.
Types of Discounts and Promotions
Early Bird Discounts
Offering a discount for early sign-ups is an effective way to create a sense of urgency, motivating parents to secure their bookings while helping you plan more efficiently (especially for holiday clubs). For example, you could offer 20% off for sign-ups before a certain date. By promoting this offer in newsletters and across your social media channels, you’ll generate excitement and buzz around your club.
Referral Programs
Referrals are an excellent way to boost attendee retention, as both new and existing customers can benefit from the promotion. The reward could be a discount or even a free month. Referrals tap into the power of community and word-of-mouth, which often proves to be more trustworthy than traditional marketing methods.
Bundle Offers
Offering multiple sessions in a single package at a reduced rate not only guarantees attendance but also helps build long-term connections. Adding bundles to your website is an effective way to spread the word and makes booking more convenient for your customers.
Seasonal Promotions
Keeping things fresh and seasonal adds excitement while helping attendees look forward to the upcoming seasons and school year. This approach aligns with family schedules and creates anticipation. Seasonal promotions are most effective when highlighted on your website and promoted via all relevant channels such as community boards, family magazine listings, newsletters, and social media to ensure broad visibility.
Exclusive Customer-Only Benefits
Offer exclusive benefits to your regular attendees to build rapport and encourage repeat business. These could include early access to bookings, special events, or even a free session. Sending personalised emails or letters to your valued bookers can enhance their perception of your club, making them more likely to recommend it to friends and family.
Trial Periods and Open Days
A trial is a fantastic opportunity for potential attendees to see if the club is the right fit for them while allowing you to highlight what makes your club unique. A no-commitment experience lowers the barrier for new parents and increases the likelihood they’ll recognise the value. Promoting this offer through schools reaches parents when they’re most engaged.
Marketing and Communication
Having offers and promotions is brilliant for your club and getting them noticed is the next step.
Digital Marketing: Use email newsletters and social media channels to promote your offers. Most importantly, make sure that your website is up to date and link all your promotions to it. This will allow you to see and measure results of promotions via relevant website analytics tools.
Community Engagement: Speaking with other parents and partnering with local schools to get the word out is highly effective (via their newsletter or by providing them with posters or leaflets).
Clear and Concise Messaging: Make sure your offers and promotions are clearly outlined, with all terms and conditions stipulated.
Measuring Success: To determine how effective your promotional strategies are, it’s important to track metrics such as new sign-ups, retention rates, and overall revenue growth. This data can help guide your future marketing efforts and tailor your promotional offerings accordingly.
Building a Loyal Customer Base: Attracting new attendees is important, but equally crucial is retaining your current ones and building a loyal customer base. Providing a high-quality experience to parents and children, fostering a sense of community, and maintaining regular communication can help you turn new parents into long-term customers.
Discounts and promotions are a powerful strategy to gain more customers at your club. By understanding your audience, offering compelling discounts, effectively communicating these promotions, and measuring their impact, your club can grow its customer base. Tailor each of these strategies to fit the unique offerings and goals of your club, ensuring that the offer is not only successful but also sustainable in the long term.
With Kids Club HQ, offering and processing different types of discounts is easy. Try it today with a free trial or let us tell you more via a demo.