Sports serve as a common interest for people from all walks of life and bring communities together unlike anything else. As with our other main initiatives (schools and churches), sports play a large role in families’ lives, whether through children’s participation in community leagues or through attendance at local school or pro games. Being part of and supporting local sports teams are great ways to get the Pizza Ranch name in front of our key target audience. Supporting these teams and organizations identifies you as a team supporter, which in turn will help make those families think of Pizza Ranch when deciding where to go eat. Many of the programs we discussed in the previous sections are applicable to sports teams. Fundraising, concessions, catering, community room use, and appreciation events are all tactics that can connect, help, and grow business from sports organizations. In this section, we will discuss a few programs that are unique to sports and how to execute those programs.
As you look around your community, you’ll see many potential sports organizations to choose from. Before you start contacting them, first ask yourself, “What am I trying to achieve?” Do you want to build awareness of the Pizza Ranch name? Do you want opportunities to showcase our products? Both? Whom you choose to align yourself with should reflect what you want to achieve. Consider your target audience. Looking at your current customer base is a good way to start. These are the types of people who already like our product, and trying to attract more of them is a great strategy. However, you can also look at an audience that you don’t already have but whom you want to start selling to or engaging better with.
This program is intended for teams with younger players. Coaches receive coupons for free kids’ buffets to hand out to players as rewards for good behavior, play, etc.
This program is specifically targeted at teams that have school-age children. You can execute this program across an entire league or team by team. Here is a list of teams/leagues with some of the potential contacts at each:
This program can be executed on a league-wide basis, but it is generally done team by team. Your best successes will come from generating contact with the coaches themselves. Once you’ve identified your targets, there are many ways to approach them:
As part of your initial process of getting to know your RTZ, you should have identified teams and coaches that would be interested in the Coach Rewards program. Simply send the following letter to these organizations, and follow up with a phone call.