How to Increase Participation in Parks & Recreation

ACTIVE Network Company Confidential

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CHILD OBESITY RATES IN THE U.S.

7%

20%

1980

2008

*US Center for Disease Control (CDC)


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US HEALTHCARE COST % OF GDP

*Kaiser Family Foundation Report

7%

18%

1970

2010


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% LESS LIKELY TO COMMIT CRIME

70%90%

1 Activity

2 Activities

US Council of Mayors & Portland-area DEA


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OUR PURPOSEMAKE THE WORLD A MORE ACTIVE PLACE.

OUR MISSIONWE POWER THE WORLD’S ACTIVITIES AND CONNECT

PEOPLE TO THE THINGS THEY LOVE, WANT AND NEED TO DO.


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RECREATION INDUSTRY CHALLENGES

Community Engagement

Fiscal Responsibility

Active, Healthy Communities

Relevance & Impact


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INTERSECTION OF CHALLENGES

Drive to Healthier Communities

Excess Activity Inventory

Intersection Point is about solving:

Participation

Sustainability &Fiscal Responsibility


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HOW TO INCREASE PARTICIPATIONParks & Recreation Marketing


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HOW WILL WE DO THIS ?

Marketing Funnel


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PARKS & RECREATION MARKETING FUNNEL

Build an audience

Convert leads

Get customers


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Build an audience


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Convert leads


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Get customers


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Website


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Your website is the center of all your marketing efforts

― Have a memorable URL

― Guide all marketing efforts to your website & registration site

― Social posts, posters, mailings, program guide, etc.

― Avoid dated content

― Build from your customer’s perspective

― Write benefit-focused copy

― Cut down on clicks

WEBSITE PRINCIPLES


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THE 3 SECOND RULE

You have 3 - 5 seconds to persuade your participants to take action


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The visible space on a website before scrolling down

THE FOLD

Links above the fold

have an average of 36%

higher click-through rate

than links below the fold.

Chitika Study - March 2012


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The visible space on a website before scrolling down

― Include your most important call

to action

⁃ Register, donate, signup, buy,

subscribe

― Display a compelling graphic to

make a personal connection

― Cut down on menu options

― Avoid interruptions

⁃ External links, non-essential

information, clutter, too much text

THE FOLD


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― Unclear call to action

― Too many choices

― Too many distractions

CALL TO ACTION - IMPROVEMENTS

Create your heat map with Attention Wizard (not free)

http://www.attentionwizard.com/


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― Unclear call to action

― Too much text

CALL TO ACTION - IMPROVEMENTS


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One action

Use of web button

Prominent color

Button on top of

webpage

Online registration

increased by 17.6% in 6

months

CALL TO ACTION


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― Put your call to action at the top of the page

― Replace text links with buttons

CALL TO ACTION


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― Choose a color that stands out

― Keep space around your button

CALL TO ACTION


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― Use actions verbs rather than nouns

― Repeat your call to action on each page

CALL TO ACTION


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― A button can increase the

click through rate anywhere

between 20 – 200%

(Forbes.com)

CALL TO ACTION


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Website Marketing

Make sure your website URL is easy to remember

Check for dated content

Have a call to action above the fold

Replace links with buttons

Pick a button color that stands out

User verbs rather than nouns

Repeat the call to action on each page

CHECKLIST


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Email Marketing


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― 77% of consumers over the age of 15 prefer promotional messages to

their email inbox

⁃ Over direct mail, text messages and Facebook

― 80.8% of users report reading email on mobile devices

― 88% prefer to receive HTML emails vs. 12% who prefer plain text from

companies

― 65% prefer emails that contain mostly images vs. 35% who prefer mostly text

EMAIL STATISTICS

(Source: Hubspot Email Science Study)


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Why create lists?

1. Makes email content more relevant to the recipients

2. Helps increase open/click through rates

3. Shortens lengthy emails by allowing you to focus on fewer topics

4. Reduces number of unsubscribes

Connect the right people with the right content and you will find greater

success in your email marketing initiatives

LIST BUILDING


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Segmenting Your Lists

―Broad

⁃ Top-level categories: Fitness, Aquatics, Arts & Crafts

⁃ Age: Children, Youth, Adult, Senior

―Medium

⁃ Age + Broad Category: Youth Fitness, Seniors Aquatics etc.

⁃ Program categories: Baseball, Tae Kwon Do, Zumba

LIST BUILDING


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Segmenting Your Lists

―Detailed

⁃ Program Categories + age group: Kids soccer, Adult co-ed football, Teen

Swimming

― Instructor/staff

⁃ Keep your instructors/staff in the loop by forwarding them copies of your

outbound emails

LIST BUILDING


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Good or bad?

― 6 programs to get you fit this summer

― Summer time is here!

― Did you hear about our new fall programs?

― Only 2 spots left in our amazing fall fitness programs - register TODAY!!!

― Reserve your spot for these exciting new programs

SUBJECT LINES


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What you should be doing:

⁃ Ensure subject line is relevant to email content

⁃ Keep subject lines below 60 characters

⁃ Include CTA (call to action)

⁃ Add quantifiable measures in subject line

SUBJECT LINES


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Text, images & buttons

- Avoid multi-column formats

- Keep emails short & sweet

- Never forget about the topic at hand

- Your first paragraph should highlight the

most important points of your email

- Try to include a text link CTA as well as

a button CTA in top portion of your

email

EMAIL CONTENT


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Email Marketing

Build well organized lists

Broad

Medium

Detailed

Staff/instructor

Focus on subject lines that drive opens

Keep subject lines below 60 characters

Add a main call to action in the email

Build your emails in HTML

Keep emails short and sweet

CHECKLIST


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Social Media


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IT’S NOT JUST FOR THE YOUNG…

Source: The Next Web


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Facebook


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―Create content that engages users

―ASK them to engage!

―Post on a regular schedule

―Visual content gets higher weighting

― Interact

⁃ Respond to questions and comments


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Chicago Park District

EXAMPLES


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Arlington Parks and Recreation

EXAMPLES


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Spokane Parks and Recreation

EXAMPLES


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Facebook app to feature online registration

― Visit apps.facebook.com/redirectab/

― Download the app to your page

― Create a tab image with a call to action

― Feature it as one of your top apps

JUST REDIRECT APP


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Social Sharing


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Statistics

― 3.2 billion likes and comments are posted daily

― 72 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute

― 400 million tweets are sent per day

SOCIAL SHARING

Media Bistro – State of Social Sharing in 2013


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How to get started

― Put sharing buttons on these pages:―Blogs, news sections, registration pages, event pages, thank you pages

― Encourage sharing in your copy

― Get button packages

SOCIAL SHARING


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Return On Investment


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GOALS AND METRICS

Goal Metrics

Drive participation Shares, leads, registrations

Provide more value for sponsors Social impressions, social mentions

Provide excellent customer support Support tickets resolved, mentions responded to

Enhance the participant experience Feedback items, % return attendees

Build community Likes/followers, visits, number of posts

Build/strengthen brand Mentions, influencers identified, hashtag uses


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1. Impressions How many people are seeing the posts I’m making

2. Clicks How many visits I’m getting from each of my posts

3. Conversions How many people are registering, reserving, etc.

THE 3 ESSENTIAL DATA POINTS


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1,217 clicks/ 50,047 people saw this---------------------------------0.0243 = 2.43% CTR

- 1,217 clicks- 177 registrations

SAMPLE CALCULATION

177 registrations/ 1,217 clicks---------------------------------0.1454 = 14.54% Conv-%


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Social Media

Ask for engagement

Respond to questions and comments

Post visual content

Install the Facebook Redirect App

Include social sharing buttons

Website, blog and registration pages

Track these numbers

Impressions

Clicks

Conversions

Calculate conversion percentages

CHECKLIST


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Mobile


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THE CHANGE The effect

• The way citizens hear about and access your services has changed

• 50% of all local searches are done from a mobile device

• 75% of 12–17 year olds own cell phones

• New opportunities are being presented on how you engage your citizens

• Mobility applies to staff as well citizens

MOBILE STATISTICS


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Making the decision

― What percentage of visits come from a mobile device?

― What does our site look like on different phones and tablets?

― What is our online registration percentage?

MOBILE APPS VS. MOBILE WEBSITES


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Mobile

Check the percentage of visits from mobile devices in Google Analytics

Check your site on smart phones – how does it look?

Decide on a mobile app vs. mobile site

CHECKLIST


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Conclusion


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―Top of the funnel

⁃ Readers of your marketing messages

⁃ Get more eyes on your marketing messages

―Middle of the funnel

⁃ Lists of people who are ready to register

⁃ Get social media followers, email subscribers, upsells

―Bottom of the funnel

⁃ Calls to action to convert leads to customers

⁃ Get more memberships, registrations, customers, and participation

CONCLUSION


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THANK YOU!

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/ACTIVEnetworkCommunities

@ACTIVEcommunity

‘Recreation Management and Technology’

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