Ways to promote your club

A. Poor community awareness of calisthenics

In December 2001, research was conducted into the level of community awareness of calisthenics in Victoria. It revealed that 90% of people had heard about calisthenics but most could not adequately describe it. Therefore the community largely is unaware of what calisthenics offers. It could be that if your community is unaware of calisthenics, then the traditional advertising methods of newspaper ads will go unnoticed. They are not good at educating the community, but only identifying a club.

We encourage clubs to adopt the following activities to increase awareness of calisthenics. You may not receive new members directly but they are essential in introducing the elements of the sport to others.

Demonstrations
Try demonstrations at:

• shopping centres
• school fetes
• community days
• kindergartens
• exhibitions in your area

These take energy and organisation but the girls love doing them and they certainly create interest. Always have plenty of brochures on hand to give out to interested people.

Bring a friend day
Research also revealed that 70-80% of new recruits joined as a result of a referral from a friend or relative. Try a special day where each team member brings a friend to class. Offer a sausage sizzle at the end and handout brochures about your club.

Generally, the decision for a child to participate in a sport is made by the parent. So try inviting the parent to the class and the function afterwards.

B. Advertising methods

The research also revealed that most mothers look for a junior sport which provides:

• social interaction
• enjoyment
• exercise

In addition, in calisthenics specifically, the following features appealed and did not appeal:

Appealing features	Non-appealing features
dancing singing performing on a stage modest costumes variety of items	strictness competitive intense training push on over-achievement marching

This then provides marketing angles in any newspaper advertisements and fliers.

In addition to the traditional advertising in the local paper at the beginning of the year, clubs could consider the following different and cheap ways of promotion. Although the ideas presented below require little money, they do require time and energy, but through the efforts of a committee, the work load would be spread.

The list is by no means exhaustive and if you have any other ideas, please contact Sharon at CVI so as your idea can be included in next year's manual.

Newspaper articles
Local newspaper articles are always a cheap way of advertising your club. Find someone in your club who can write some articles about achievements of your club. These could include winning a State Title or Ballarat competition, club girls winning solo competitions, or club girls being selected for the State Team, or a special event at your class.

Newspapers are very selective about the articles they print but keep submitting them - perhaps 3-4 per year. A certain percentage will be published, and for every one that is not, it means that you are closer to the one that is printed.

Fliers
At the beginning of the year, prepare a flier about your club, and provide each club girl with 2 copies and ask her to put them up on the notice board in one of the following venues:

Shopping centre Supermarket School Kindergarten

Health Center Community Center Play groups Libraries

The work load is then reduced for the administrators and the notice can go far wider than one person can manage.

Fundraisers also being promotion days
Sausage sizzles and car washes are also great ways to promote your club. Have your girls dressed in tracksuits and have balloons in your club colours scattered around. A display board close by will also attract attention.

Static displays in shopping centres
Shopping centres are responsive to requests from clubs for visual displays.

School newsletters
Schools will often allow you to send home a newsletter with their pupils. You will need to pay for the printing and there may be a small collation charge. This has been quite successful for some clubs, but again, it will only work if the school community is aware of calisthenics.

Your club will be advised if a School Start Program is being offered in a school in your local area. We strongly urge a representative from local clubs to attend the session and hand out fliers at the demonstration and again 1-2 weeks later.

Letter box drops
This can be a very time consuming and expensive way of advertising your club. It will only work if you know that there is a high density of children in your local area.

Yellow Pages
Make sure your club has the free listing in the Yellow Pages.