BACKGROUND

Sawtell Bowling Club has been around for more than 80 years and during this time a bowling membership has always been $100. This was due to a few factors, but mostly because of the high registration fees that the Royal NSW Bowling Association enforced. However, when this changed to a fixed fee, CEO James Gallen, knew he would be able to shake things up a bit by dropping all membership fees to just $10 across the board.

THE RESULTS

James commented “there wouldn’t be too many Clubs that have a $10 membership across all categories; and we would be one of the only ones in NSW!”. this was a big risk for the relatively small Club, but it was certainly a calculated one and the stats don’t lie. Since launching the campaign, the Club has seen bowling memberships and membership renewals double. That’s a 100% rise from the previous year! What an impressive result!

THE PLAN

This wasn’t going to be an easy task for James and the Board, as they had to implement a plan to increase falling membership numbers and integrate the Club so that social and bowling members would be less isolated. The decision to make ALL memberships just $10, regardless of gender or category, i.e. bowls and social, was not one that was made lightly and was a huge call from the Board, but it certainly paid off!

THE CAMPAIGN

This is where Axis IQ did what they do best. James reached out to the team with his bold idea and we instantly thought that it was an ingenious way of not only bringing in more members, but to also advertise the Club – get its name out there into the community.

“BEFORE THE LETTERBOX DROP CAMPAIGN, PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN IN SAWTELL AND BOAMBEE FOR YEARS DIDN’T KNOW THAT THE CLUB EXISTED.”

APPROACH 1: DIRECT MAIL

Axis IQ launched a direct lail campaign to target renewing and multi-year members. This was a professionally designed and personalised letter to alert members of the amazing new membership price and promote a Gold Coast getaway draw. To enter the draw, you had to join or renew by a certain date and be in the Club to win. Needless to say with the increase in members, the draw night was buzzing with members, and a long-time member of the Club was the lucky winner.

APPROACH 2: PRINT & DIGITAL ASSETS

To further advertise the new membership price and holiday draw, Axis IQ again used their professional graphic designer to produce a variety of materials including a folded brochure, posters, a large vinyl banner for the outside of the Club, and TV and Facebook slides. This maintained familiarity across all collateral, which is important when trying to convey the same message via multiple channels. Consistency in look and feel is key to create engagement!

APPROACH 3: UNADDRESSED MAIL

Unaddressed mail is a great way to reach a large and relevant audience, so using the folded brochure Axis IQ designed areas such as Sawtell, Boambee, Bonville and Toormina were targeted. This approach was by far the most effective in creating awareness of the Club. “Before the letterbox drop campaign, people who have been in Sawtell and Boambee for years didn’t know that the Club existed explained James. 

APPROACH 4: SOCIAL MEDIA

This campaign was run over a 6-week period combining regular Facebook posts and paid advertisements. the posts focused on membership, the draw and social aspects of the Club, whereas the paid ads’ aim was to reach as many users as possible and direct them to the website and Facebook page. As a result, the Facebook page saw an increase of 30% in page followers and likes and the paid ads reached a whopping 30,000 unique users which viewed the ads approximately 4 times each – an amazing result!

Congratulations to everyone at Sawtell Bowling Club and may your success continue well into the future!

Need some help building your membership? Reach out to our team of Club specialists sales@axisiq.com.au or call (02) 6652 6652.