Dear Coco,
I am the Public Relations & Marketing Manager for our Western Square Dance Club. One of my responsibilities is to try and recruit new dancers. Typically our members are mature & senior couples and singles.
One of my objectives this year is to recruit younger couples to come to our fall/winter lessons. Do you have any recommendations?
– Roadrunner
Author’s Note: This question was submitted and the response was written prior to the changes in our world as a response to the coronavirus. Everything still applies, though I suspect that the square dancing is on hold until things go back to normal, whenever that is and whatever that looks like. That said, now is a optimal time to think about marketing strategy for any organization!
Dear Roadrunner –
Understanding how to attract younger couples to your dance club is first rooted in first understanding your organization. Who are you, what are you all about, and what is your purpose?
What is the real life, existential value that your square dance club provides to people? To answer that question, keep asking “why?” until you can’t answer it anymore.
For example, “our club teaches people to square dance.” Why? So they can experience this cultural activity and art form. Why? So that they can have a fun activity to do with a significant other. Why? So that they can connect with the past and with each other. Why? So that they can invest in their relationships and meet new people. Why? So that they can eliminate loneliness and form human connections. Why? So that they can have a good life.
Colleen Cook works full-time as the Director of Operations at Vinyl Marketing in Ashland, where she resides with her husband Mike and three young daughters. She’s an insatiable extrovert who enjoys finding reasons to gather people.
See what we did there? We went from learning to square dance to living a good life in just a few questions. That’s your value (as I perceive it) to your members – you help them to live a good life by giving them a fun, interesting way to connect with others. Then, you have to ask: Are you leaning into that? How are the services you provide fostering that value? Are there other things you offer as well? Are you missing the mark on that value in certain areas?
Once you dial in and deeply understand who you are, the next question is, why do you want younger couples? What do younger couples bring to your club that you don’t have with your current members? Does your club offer the same value to a younger couple as an older one, or is the value different for them? How would the addition of younger couples change the experience in both positive and negative ways?
Assuming you dig deep on those questions and determine your club brings value to a younger demographic and cannot fully achieve your purpose without reaching younger couples, then begin to understand what else defines the type of younger couple that would be interested in what you have to offer. Who are they, what do they do, where do they spend their time, how do they get information? Not everyone is ideal for your group, so see if you can identify details that might dial in your optimal member.
What problems can you solve for your potential member? What are they currently doing that isn’t working for them — for example, how are they filling their social or leisure time now? Why is that unfulfilling, and how can what you offer fulfill them in a new way? What is unique about your club from everything else they can do to solve their problems?
Nail that down, and that’s your marketing message. Deliver that marketing message to them where they are – their social platforms, their media outlets, their social groups and hangouts. Then, make it super simple for them to join in. Best of luck!
XOXO –
Coco
