Learn how Newbury Scuba Diving Club developed a growth plan and took their club from 40 to 55 members in just 18 months...and they're still growing!
Newbury Sub-Aqua Club was a typical UK dive club, diving was organised every weekend from Spring through Autumn either on one of the club’s RIBs, on a hardboat, or on a shore dive.
The diving catered for all levels from single cylinder to rebreathers to cover the varied interests of the members. But despite this diversity of diving and the extensive winter training programme, Newbury Sub-Aqua Club had a gradually dwindling membership that had dropped down from over 70 to just 40 full members over a ten year period. Something radical had to be done to redress this decline before it went too far.
The relaunch process for Newbury Scuba Diving Club
The first step was to set up a project team outside of the committee to devise an action plan.
- Defining the objectives
Realistic objectives for membership numbers had to be agreed. So a target was set to increase the membership by 20 over the next three years. The focus had to be on achieving sustainable long-term membership, rather than just an influx of short-term members. - Identifying the core values of the club
All the club members were asked what three words they thought best described their club. These words were then used to create the core values for the club. - Identifying the benefits of club membership
Obvious benefits were items such as, the diving and the training that the club facilitated, and then there were the numerous practical skills that could be learnt within the club; from gas blending to boat handling. And additionally there were the life skills that could be enhanced through club membership; such as teamwork, instructing, mentoring, crisis management etc. - Developing the marketing message
As the benefits list became longer, it was obvious that the club offered a lot more than just diving. This developed into a theme of ‘It's a lot more than just a diving club’ that was to be used as part of our relaunch message. This theme was then further enhanced by creating the tagline ‘What did you do at the weekend?’ as this captured the diversity of activities that the club facilitated. - Identifying potential membership
It was agreed that ‘sustainable membership’ was the key rather than short-term membership. So a good place to identify where to target our marketing efforts was to first look at the demographics of our existing members and use this as the template. - New name, new look
Effective SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) is critical and unfortunately, the name ‘Newbury Sub-Aqua Club’ scored very low on Google search results. As a result the name was changed to Newbury Scuba Diving Club which has a much higher SEO effectiveness. Coupled with this we decided to upgrade the logo and ran a competition amongst the members who created a new, modern logo that will be used in all the rebranding activities. - Identifying the marketing tools
Now that the basic marketing message had been identified, we looked at what were the best tools we could to use to get the message out effectively. Obviously digital marketing was a very important tool, but not the only one. The campaign was also supplemented with more traditional methods such as PR, merchandising etc. Word of mouth marketing is a powerful tool and the active Try Dive programme with local Scout and Girl Guide groups has certainly helped to spread the word about the club. - New Website
The club’s website was fairly basic and was in need of a total overhaul, so a completely new website was created. The new website needed to fulfil two key functions (i) as a sales tool to attract new members and (ii) as a valuable information resource for existing members. - Utilising Social Media
Social Media can be a useful marketing tool and we decided to use Facebook and Twitter to stimulate interest externally and these are updated regularly with relevant content. A new YouTube channel was created to showcase member’s videos and our training videos and a separate Facebook group is used by club members as an internal news tool. - Branding club material
Branding is just as important for a club brand as a commercial brand. We are in the process of rebranding everything to ensure that a unified identity is promoted. It was amazing to find out just how many club documents existed that used the club logo! - Retention is just as important as new members
Retaining existing members is in many ways even more important than attracting new members. Members will only stay if they are getting what they need out of the club, therefore a big part of the club relaunch looked at member retention and how we can improve it. - Communicating and owning the plan
Ownership of the relaunch plan by the members was critical, so the plan was presented to the full membership at a dedicated event one evening. Audience participation and views were actively encouraged and once the plan was approved, regular updates were sent out to the members actively seeking their help.
Has it worked Newbury Scuba Diving Club?
So far the results have been very encouraging and membership has increased by 15 so we are well on our way to achieving our first target. This is a great testament to all the hard work that has been put in by the relaunch team.
Conclusion
Obviously, there is no simple, quick fix for increasing sustainable membership. However for Newbury Scuba Diving Club taking the time to really identify the club’s core values and benefits was essential to determine what marketing message to use. Then it was a case of communicating this message through a wide selection of media at a regular frequency.
It was also critical to involve the membership at every stage, as it is the members’ club and they have to own their plan. Have a look for yourself at www.newburyscubadivingclub.com
Image
Special thanks to Wantage Diving Club for the feature image used in this blog post. Wantage Diving Club and Newbury Scuba Diving Club collaborate as clubs in many different ways.
The image was taken as both the clubs blast along the River Thames on a pre-season RIB run. In the front of the photo is the Wantage RIB being driven by Wantage Diving Officer Mike Little.
