Recruiting

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SLM

Cheer Parent
Dec 19, 2012
301
327
I wanted to know how your organization generates interest and how they advertise when registration opens, etc. We went paperless as a district so we can't send in flyers anymore and even though it can get put on the community flyer section of the web I don't think many parents remember to check there. Our registration starts the beginning of May and I have been brainstorming for some ways to increase our membership.
 
Talking to school boards and going in with some coaches or a stunt group generates a lot of interest. I've done this with other groups as well (not as interesting as cheer) and we always had a big turnout
 
Would the school district allow you to hold "sign ups" during school lunch hours? I have done this before and although I do give a one page information sheet I also take the child's name with contact information so that I can then email/text updates and reminders.
Local newspapers and local community cable access channels normally have a "community" page which is free of charge to advertise sign up dates, etc.
Social media - facebook, twitter, etc.
 
You mentioned district. Is this Rec cheer or School cheer? If school cheer also use social media, schools facebook page, twitter, e mails, morning announcements, sign in the buildings, etc.
 
It's Rec, what I meant by district is the local school district is paperless so no flyers home with the kids. Prior to them going paperless community leagues could send in flyers (after approval of flyer by superintendent) now there is just a link to "community flyers" on the schools webpage and most people forget to even check there myself included.
 
Would they let you put signs outside of the schools? Yesterday I saw a big banner for rec soccer signups at one of the schools in my town. I live in a pretty small, close knit town though, so that might not fly elsewhere.
 
can you hand flyers out through out the town... like on a main shopping street for example or outside the school so when schools let out kids get flyers? can you leave flyers in mailboxes around town... not sure where or what state ur in but even the Chinese restaurants just go house to house to leave flyers... so do political people when they want word out... u can use current members to do it... like an activity... one coach or parent with small group of girls do blocks a b c etc... next group and so on....
 
can you hand flyers out through out the town... like on a main shopping street for example or outside the school so when schools let out kids get flyers? can you leave flyers in mailboxes around town... not sure where or what state ur in but even the Chinese restaurants just go house to house to leave flyers... so do political people when they want word out... u can use current members to do it... like an activity... one coach or parent with small group of girls do blocks a b c etc... next group and so on....
oh by the way my town does this Easter festival thing, if your town does something similar maybe the town can let you have a booth for example to hand out information etc
 
I know with my daughter, the Rec Cheer team in our community seems to be doing a great job in recruitment...I know my daughter have been approached by a teacher (Rec Cheer Coach) and it seems the community board members have children on the squad, so the whole town supports the rec programs... So perhaps, get the town leaders involve and pitch it as an activity to help the young people in the community...
 
I wanted to know how your organization generates interest and how they advertise when registration opens, etc. We went paperless as a district so we can't send in flyers anymore and even though it can get put on the community flyer section of the web I don't think many parents remember to check there. Our registration starts the beginning of May and I have been brainstorming for some ways to increase our membership.

Any reason why you rated this as bullying @whatstheTEA ?
 
I know with my daughter, the Rec Cheer team in our community seems to be doing a great job in recruitment...I know my daughter have been approached by a teacher (Rec Cheer Coach) and it seems the community board members have children on the squad, so the whole town supports the rec programs... So perhaps, get the town leaders involve and pitch it as an activity to help the young people in the community...

I read in your recant tread that's your daughter was recruited to help win at Disney. So I'm guessing pop warner. I always knew teams up north recruited all star girls but I never really seen or heard it. Lol

But it funny to me cause I coach for a very well know rec program and most of the all star program here try to recruit our girls. Every week we practiced at a local gym the owner asked many times for us to start a half year team there. And another gym started 2 more teams of just our rec girls. 9 times out of 10 most girls come back for the rec season. It's more fun then anything cause if you lost one weekend it doesn't matter. Unless Pop warner your don't place well your season is over.
 
@Flcheer13, I think the Rec Cheer team were Pop Warner, but now they are AYC...I am totally unfamiliar with Rec Cheer, other than the difference in cost and the team travel together with the coaches... However, my community seems to really support this activity and the coaches all stressed how much fun the young people have and a lot of my daughter's friends are on the team...The coach told me they missed making finals(Florida) due to lack of either tumbling, dancing or stunting, but not quite sure...But they seemed to think my daughter can help them in some way...
PS: I am just looking forward to the less demand on my time that Rec Cheer promise, unlike AS Cheer.
 
I wanted to know how your organization generates interest and how they advertise when registration opens, etc. We went paperless as a district so we can't send in flyers anymore and even though it can get put on the community flyer section of the web I don't think many parents remember to check there. Our registration starts the beginning of May and I have been brainstorming for some ways to increase our membership.
Do you have a "backpack news" section for each school on the district website? If so then a flyer can be placed digitally in each school's backpack news section. You can also ask the PTAs of each school to send a school wide email to check the website for info about cheer. Same goes for the schools' Facebook pages if they have them.
 
My daughter cheered for AYC for 3 years and I was assistant coach. The commitment is much more than all star, imo, between practices, games, tumbling, fundraising and community events. We were doing cheer related stuff 6 or 7 days a week. It just goes for a shorter length of time, than all stars, but I found the mandatory commitment to be intense. Loved our region. They make it very special for the kids!

I also sat on the board and dealt with Public Relations, so recruitment was one of my specialties. I found that a strong media presence was a huge part of recruiting. Make sure that the organization is linked off of the town and school websites. If your area extends beyond town lines, make sure that you get listed in surrounding towns (don't forget Catholic and private schools too, if they don't have programs of their own).

Do a Facebook search of your town and counties' name. There are often several local pages dedicated to events in the area. Update them with tryout info and updates throughout the season. Try to become friends with the sports AND special interest editors at the local papers (both online and irl). Send weekly updates of comps and games to them. Let them know about your charity events and athletes with special stories. Sometimes a pic is all you need to submit. One of my favorites was a picture of three game ready cheerleaders who were all missing their front teeth! We got a 1/4 page spread on that! Always add "for more info, go to this website or call." to every story. Never make the potential client work to find you. Post any media stories on both your own Facebook page and website. Ask people to share share share! I found that creating facebook invites for events like "Meet the Coach" spread quickly when you involved current members. We also had good results with facebook advertising geared to your area. It cost very little.

Create a home page for your field for foursquare and Facebook check-ins for both football and cheer. We were "X AYF field at and the name of the park". Also create a Public page that you are solely in charge of. Use it for pics and updates. Don;t allow it to get cliquey by letting others post on it too. (We had a members only page for personal exchanges). the difference between the pages would be the constant updates of a comp on the private and the final placements listed on the public

We also tried to have a strong community presence at charity and town events and parades. We also tried things like registration discounts to families who brought in new members or free shirts etc.. We also formed a nice relationship with the area's little league. We would set up a registration booth at a couple of their events, and also did reciprocal email blasts regarding registration.

Finally, we hosted free cheer and football clinics. That brought in a bunch of people too! Good luck
 
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