Black Mountain Recreation & Parks

Grey Eagle Arena

Marketing Plan

Fall/Winter 2011

Executive Summary

At times of fiscal uncertainty, like the present day, it is critical to understand that every

angle of every program and facility must be examined to use the taxpayer’s money wisely. It is

because of this need that we have generated a marketing plan to attempt to best develop Grey

Eagle Arena as a revenue generating entity. With this plan we have clearly laid out our goals

and objectives for Grey Eagle Arena while keeping our overall department mission in mind. We

have carefully analyzed our strengths and weaknesses and have planned accordingly. We have

also analyzed our current customers and the customers we hope to attract by researching

trends in participation. With this research we have established marketing strategies and tactics

to implement and achieve the goals that we have set forth. We have also established a detailed

action plan and budget to keep us on target with our timing of ads and the cost of them as well.

We have also developed an evaluation process to give clarity to the overall success or failure of

this plan through time. Thank you and we look forward to seeing you at Grey Eagle Arena.

Table of ContentsIntroduction …………………………………………………………………….. 1

Situational Analysis…………………………………………………………… 2-5

Marketing Goals and Objectives……………………………………….. 6

Marketing Strategy…………………………………………………………… 7

Marketing Tactics…………………………………………………………….. 7-8

Implementation & Control ………………………………………………. 9-10

References ……………………………………………………………………… 11

Appendices ………………………………………………………………………………… 12-17

I. Introduction: Black Mountain Recreation & Parks

Mission Statement: The Black Mountain Recreation and Parks Department, in partnership with our citizens and with respect to our environment, will provide community-based recreation programs, wellness opportunities, facilities, and services to enrich the quality of life in Black Mountain.

Background Information: Black Mountain has a population of approximately 8,000 people. It is a small town located in western North Carolina approximately 15 minutes from Asheville. Black Mountain Recreation and Parks was formed May 10, 1982. One of our Department’s primary goals is to expand recreational opportunities for citizens of Black Mountain. With this in mind, we purchased a defunct sock mill in 2004 with hopes of developing it into a recreation center. The building was built in the early 1950’s and was known as the Clevenger Sock Mill until 2002, when the company closed its doors. The facility was renovated in 2005 and in 2006 opened as Grey Eagle Arena, an indoor soccer facility. There has been very little done in terms of marketing the leagues and facilities. Most of the marketing to this point has consisted of flyers, word of mouth, Facebook, and very limited print ads. There has been no establishment of any target markets other than advertising with the intent of attracting young people. The organizational philosophy in regards to marketing is basically to do everything you can that does not cost any money. Our entire advertising budget for 2010-2011 is $1800.

II. Situational Analysis

A. Internal Analysis

Strengths

New Facility – Our facility was remodeled in 2006. It is complete with heating and air conditioning, turf grass, glass panels for viewing and a state-of-the-art scoreboard.

Professional Staff – The primary league coordinator has been running adult sports leagues for 13 years and was also a soccer player. Our three referees have a combined 60 years of experience and were/are also soccer players.

Strong Youth Recreational League – Our recreational youth indoor league has grown to over 100 participants in just three years. It is the only recreational indoor soccer league in the county and is beginning to draw players from other areas.

Weaknesses

Limited Budget – We have a very limited advertising budget and this could be a potential detriment to efforts to reach our target markets.

Location – Our Indoor Soccer Center is approximately 15 miles from Asheville, a major population center for our region.

Lack Direct Contact with Players – We have very few adult teams currently and we do not have direct emails to all of the team captains that our competitor does. Establishing an email database will be a key component in successful leagues.

B. External Analysis

Opportunities

High Soccer Interest Locally – Asheville Buncombe Youth Soccer Association (ABYSA) and McDowell County Soccer Programs have over 2000 players ages 6-18 within 30 minutes of our Indoor Soccer Center. There is also a strong adult outdoor soccer program run by Asheville Buncombe Adult Soccer Association (ABASA) that has 56 teams and nearly 1000 members.

Questionable Reputation by Other Center – Asheville Indoor Center has a reputation as a money hungry organization that overcharges players/teams. They also are not professionally run an example of this would be to add a new team two weeks into the season for more revenue, change schedules around and not notify any of the teams that this had happened.

Threats

Alternative Programs – At the same time that the Asheville Indoor Center has given us an opportunity to get into the market by not consistently satisfying their customers they are also our biggest threat to the success of our Indoor Center. They currently have 62 indoor soccer teams compared to our 15.

Alternative Activities – We will also be competing against other activities. Other activities with strong followings include Flag Football and Basketball. We actually have our own basketball program that is a threat to our indoor soccer league although we have structured it in such a way that kids are able to participate in both, but many choose one over the other. There are fourteen other youth and adult basketball leagues within 30 minutes of our location.

C. Competitive Analysis

Asheville Soccer Center - $75/Player minimum 8 players – Adult Teams$625/Team – Youth Teams8 Game Season plus end of season tournament

Greensboro Sportsplex- $60/Player – Adult Teams$495/Team – Youth Teams6 Game Season plus end of season tournament

Pavilion (Greenville, SC) - $500/Team – Youth and Adult Teams8 Game Season plus end of season tournament

Cool Sports (Knoxville) - $600/Team – Adult Teams$650/Team or $70/Player – Youth Teams8 Game Season plus end of season tournament

D. Customer Analysis

We do not have demographic information on our current customers. That is a work in progress for us as we are attempting to go to online registrations and user databases that will allow us to access and analyze this type of information. The only information that I can provide in regards to current customers are the general age ranges that our customers fall into. Right now we have 33 participants in the 5-7 age range, 32 participants in the 8-9 age range, and 35 participants in our 10-12 age range. We also have one co-ed league that ranges from players in their early twenties to players in their mid forties. Most of our current participants are Black Mountain residents.

The table below illustrates the market segments that we have selected as our targets for this marketing campaign. The following research was also done to compile and analyze the data to be able to identify which markets would be the best fit for our targets.

In 2009, there were 13.6 million players that were involved with soccer, 5.1 million of those participants played more than forty days per year (National Sporting Goods Association, 2009). Of those 13.6 million players 56.9% of them were male and 43.1% of them were female. Continued gender equality in the sport will allow the sport to continue to expand at an ever growing rate.

One trend that I noticed was that the overall percentage of participants in the younger age groups has been steadily declining. For example, in 1993 44.2% of soccer players were in the 7-11 yr old age range, while today only 37% of players are in that age-range (NSGA, 2009). I believe that this is due to the fact that participants are becoming lifelong players. Proof of this can be seen in the age 35-44 age group. In 1993, this age group made up 6.1% of the 10.3 million soccer participants, which is approximately 628,000 players. In 2009, the 35-44 age group comprised 10.3% of the 13.6 million participants, which would equate to approximately 1.4 million players (NSGA, 2009). By more than doubling the amount of players, it shows that soccer can be a lifelong sport that can contribute to healthier lifestyles even in older age.

The latest numbers that I was able to locate for consumer expenditures were from 2006. There was 74.3 million dollars spent on purchasing soccer balls and 218.5 million dollars spent on soccer shoes (NSGA, 2009). Expenditures on soccer equipment will continue to rise with the continued increase in participants that appears to be headed for more growth. One number that was notably absent from the expenditure figures was the actual dollar figures for money spent on participation. I believe these numbers would dwarf the 292.8 million dollars spent on equipment. These numbers would be especially hard to collect because of the multitude of organizations, both public and private, that provide soccer leagues.

Soccer

13.6 million UsersAge Groups % Users Male Female

7-11 37.8% 19.8 18 12-17 23.8% 12.7 11.1 18-24 12.5% 7.8 4.6 25-34 9.0% 5.4 3.6 35-44 10.3% 7.1 3.2 45-54 4.5% 3.3 1.2 55-64 1.3% 0.4 0.9 65-74 1.0% 0.5 0.5

56.9% 43.1%Household Income

Under 15k 7.0% 15k-25k 4.0% 25k-35k 5.4% 35k-50k 12.1% 50k-75k 18.6% 75k+ 52.9%

We have identified the 7-17 yr age range as one of our key target markets. We believe that in conjunction with our current leagues targeting these individuals will give us the ability to grow our youth soccer program even larger. Another advantage of choosing this market segment is that it will give us the opportunity to keep these participants as they move into older age ranges.

The idea behind passing over the 18-34 segment is that this is going to be your most competitive group of players; they are going to be in better shape and have the most drive to compete to win. At this point for us not having the same customer base as Asheville it would be more difficult for us to get these leagues started. These players are going to be looking for the best and highest level of competition and without us having established leagues it is unlikely that they would abandon a currently competitive league for a less skilled league based on it being cheaper.

The logic behind not choosing the 18-34 segment is the exact reason that we have chosen the 35-44 segment. These players may choose a league based on price and not the supreme level of competition as their skills have begun to decline and will probably be looking for exercise more than competition.

The selection of our market segments based on income was that 70% of soccer players fall into the segment of $50K+ salary range. There are also a large number of Buncombe County residents that fall into this segment. Detailed in the map in the (Appendix A) is the average income of individuals.

III. Marketing Goals and Objectives

BMRP Organizational Goals

1. Provide the necessary tools (facilities and programs) for citizens to improve their quality of life.2. Staff to perform the required services to the level of quality expected by the citizens.

Value Proposition

Black Mountain Recreation and Parks will provide a high quality professionally run indoor soccer leagues at a better value than its competitors while providing a better environment for play and excellent customer service throughout.

Grey Eagle Indoor Soccer Facility Goals

1. Establish new image for Grey Eagle Arenaa. Increase awareness of Grey Eagle Arena

2. Increase Participation of Adult Indoor Soccer Program a. Increase market share of indoor leagues to 35%

3. Expand Youth Indoor Soccer Program to include out of area participantsa. Increase out of area participants by 25%

4. Increase usage time of Grey Eagle Arena a. Increase Grey Eagle usage time to 90% of capacity

5. Increase Revenuesa. Increase revenues by 50%

Current Programs at Grey Eagle Arena

1. Youth Recreational Indoor Soccer Leagues – Currently there are three leagues offered ages 5-7, ages 8-9, and ages 10-12. These leagues are all coordinated with fair play ideals in mind such as: individual sign ups so teams are not “stacked”, equal playing time (clock is stopped every 5 minutes for subs), and emphasis on skill development rather than game outcomes.

2. Start Smart Soccer Program – offered for children ages 3-5 years. The program prepares children for organized soccer in a fun non-threatening environment. Children participate in parent-child groups.

3. Adult Recreational Indoor Soccer Leagues – Currently our only league that has been successful is our co-ed league. We have also offered over 30 leagues, women’s leagues, men’s leagues, and competitive youth leagues.

4. Open Gym Soccer – This program is run on Friday nights with a drop-in rate of $5 for three hours of play.

IV. Marketing Strategy

1. Launch repositioning campaign to include generating awareness of soccer center and the leagues that we administer, alter any negative beliefs about playing in Black Mountain and explain positive benefits of playing in Black Mountain versus Asheville.

2. Locate and advertise to other local outdoor recreational soccer leagues (ABYSA, ABASA, and McDowell Soccer) to increase participation in both adult and youth leagues.

3. Initiate new leagues to be in direct competition with our competitor.4. Increase usage time at Grey Eagle Arena by offering promotions to increase usage.

V. Marketing Tactics

1. Co-written article of information to local newspapers (Asheville Citizen Times and Black Mountain News) of how our department is under new management and highlight activities that we currently have and new ones that we will be launching in the fall. This will be used as a starting point for our repositioning campaign.

2. Standard Press Releases that include information pertinent to leagues including the following Who, What, When, Where, and How Much. (Appendix B)

3. Develop a promotion that can be included on flyer to give people one free admission to our Friday Night Open Gym if they bring the flyer to the open gym with them within one month of receiving it. (Appendix C)

4. Flyers will be taken to the Fall Adult Outdoor Leagues in Asheville (ABASA) and given to each team to initiate direct contact with players. Flyers will also be produced in Spanish to target local Hispanic players. Flyer will include free admission promotion to Friday Night Open Gym when the flyer is shown at entry to Open Gym.

5. Use reference pricing when establishing league fees to attempt to draw value minded consumers to our leagues without making them seem too cheap to be quality leagues. Our price will be $495 per team vs. $625 per team for youth teams and over $800 for adult teams.

6. Establish a multiple league discount for players that will be a $10 team fee reduction for a player that is on another team’s roster.

7. Partner with local sports radio (1310 Big Wise) for them to be our exclusive media sponsor for leagues. (Appendix D) In exchange for free radio spots for our leagues we will have a link on our league website, mention them in all advertisements, and give them a painted

sponsor board at Grey Eagle Arena. These ads will tout our multiple league discount for players.

8. Place small print ads in targeted local periodicals that coincide with appropriate identified target markets. The periodical that we plan on using for this are the Mountain Express (Appendix E) to go after the 35-44 market segment and WNC Parent (Appendix F) to go after the Youth Parents segment, both of these periodicals also target the $50K+ market.

9. Use social media outlets, specifically Twitter and Facebook, to generate awareness of Indoor Soccer Leagues.

10. Include in team information packs the benefits of playing in Black Mountain as opposed to Asheville that include discounts for Party Rentals, Practice Times, and Off-Peak rentals.

11. League to be offered: Co-ed Leagues (Fridays), High School Boys (Sundays), High School Girls (Sundays), Over 35 Men’s League (Thursdays), Men’s League (Mondays), Under 14 Boys (Saturdays), Under 14 Girls (Saturdays), Women’s League (Wednesdays).

VI. Implementation and Control

1. Action Plan –

2. Budget –

3. Evaluation – Establish an online program survey that will be e-mailed out to all

participants to make sure that we have achieved our customer service

promise and establish some qualitative parameters for which future programs can be judged.

Measure awareness and overall participation of Grey Eagle Arena by how many total players are in program after marketing plan vs. before marketing plan. This will include numbers of Open Gym participants.

Measure the amount of local participants in youth program that are Black Mountain residents vs. non-local residents. This will show us whether our out of area advertising worked or not.

Include on all registration forms how they heard about the program. This will measure what forms of advertisements reached the most people and which will be good to use the following year.

Compile data on total hours of use at Grey Eagle Arena before marketing campaign and after campaign. These numbers will be compared to overall availability of Grey Eagle to establish a capacity baseline.

Measure before marketing campaign vs. after marketing campaign revenue totals to see if we achieved our goals of increasing by 50%.

References

Asheville Soccer Center, (2011). Retrieved February 12, 2011 from http://asheville-soccer.ezleagues.ezfacility.com/

Cool Sports, (2011). Retrieved February 12, 2011 from http://www.coolsportstn.com/sports/soccer/adult-soccer/

Greensboro Sportsplex, (2011). Retrieved February 12, 2011 from http://www.greensborosportsplex.com/Sportsplex/programs/soccer.html

National Sporting Goods Association (NSGA), (2009). Individual sports participation reports – soccer, baseball, football, & basketball market research/demographics. Statistics retrieved January 17, 2011, from Sports Business Research Network (SBRnet) database http://www.sbrnet.com.www.lib.ncsu.edu:2048/

Pavilion, Greenville Recreation & Parks, (2011). Retrieved February 12, 2011 from http://greenvillerec.com/pavilion-2/indoor-soccer

APPENDIX A

APPENDIX B

APPENDIX C

APPENDIX D

APPENDIX E

APPENDIX F