Selling an Ice Rink to Aussies: Marketing Advice for a
Local Nonprofit

Good morning, Lynda,

Greetings from beautiful Australia. I am a Canadian ex-pat who lives in Bendigo, Victoria. We have the only regional ice rink in Victoria, and I am a volunteer with the rink. We offer figure skating, ice hockey, curling, and recreational skating at the rink. Last year, we started a new under-13-year-old ice hockey team called the Wildcats. We are organising to host the first under-13 ice hockey tournament in Bendigo next April. We will have four teams — three from Melbourne and our own team. Currently, as a volunteer, I am trying to do some marketing for the rink to get it into the public eye.

Several months ago, I read an article about you and thought that you would certainly be a wealth of knowledge on resources, ideas, etc., to help us with the rink. Our limitation is that it is a not-for-profit rink and that our advertising budget is non-existent, so I need to be very creative. My current idea is to get Australian celebrities who have or still skate to give us photos of themselves skating to create posters to display at the rink. The biggest myth it seems is that ice sports are not Australian. I believe that all sports are Australian.

The other area we are trying to improve is sustainability. Currently we operate out of a large tin building, and we would like to make it more environmentally friendly, with the intention of moving to a new environmentally friendly building in the next five years. I would appreciate any ideas, support, or feedback that you might offer.

Yours truly,
Nancy Davis

___________________

Dear Nancy,

Sounds as if you’re doing a splendid job of busting the myth that Australians do not enjoy ice sports. What I particularly love is that you’re also helping to instill a love of the ice in a new generation, one that can benefit from an increased interest in physical activities, rather than online ones. I think you’re on the right track with the ideas you’ve already mentioned, but I have a few I’d like to share myself.

If you haven’t already done so, consider social media for your marketing efforts. It’s not only effective but is a wonderfully economical solution for small businesses and nonprofits such as yours, with the added bonus that it appeals to your specific demographic: pre-teens. Social media provides a measurable ROI for your efforts, which is especially important for organizations with small marketing budgets.

Since you’re a nonprofit, you can also ask the local community to pitch in. Sports stores might be open to hanging your posters or schedules of upcoming games. Perhaps a local artist would be willing to “draw” on the ice. Depending on the artist’s notability, this could even generate some valuable press coverage.

Heading back to the web, there are some basics you need to cover. Make sure you have a very clean and easy-to-navigate website. You’re a nonprofit, so it doesn’t have to be flashy, but it should look professional. In this century, websites are your storefront: Having a bad website can be more detrimental than having no website at all. Make sure your site has the most up-to-date information, such as team schedules and session times. Make sure to promote the most current and noteworthy event (ex: ‘50s night, where you encourage people to dress up) right on the front page, which should be updated frequently. Your website should also include the most commonly searched-for information, such as rates, directions and address, phone number, email, and hours of operation, as well as updates on your sustainability progress.

Think like the consumer: How do people decide what to do? Many of them use the web for ideas, so make sure you’re listed with the most popular local directories. I’m not familiar with those in Australia, but in the United States, those include yellowpages.com, Citysearch, and even travel sites like TripAdvisor.com. Encourage your customers to vote and rate you on these sites. You can even offer a discount if someone brings in a print-out of a comment they post.

Best of luck with your Down Under endeavor. If you end up using any of my ideas, please let me know how they work out for you.

Sincerely,