Club PR

This goes out to anyone who's helped promote a club - I've just got to the lofty (!) position of Press Co-Ordinator for my running club, and we're looking to expand the profile of the club.

What have people done to expand the profile of your club? Would appreciate any suggestions. 

Nice glossy flyers in leisure centres etc...

Get a good relationship with your LRS and advertise there.

Local media, race reports in local rag etc...

have you got a junior section?

Maybe run a 5-6 week beginners course, possibly charge a small fee. Then it gives an environment for newbies to test the water, and not get put off by the perception that running clubs are only for ultra serious types.

My club has been around for more than a hundred years but recruitment is always been a problem. The perception is that clubs are for the elite few. We are based in a council leisure centre with hundreds of potential members, appear regularly in the press, run several local races etc. but fail to exceed a steady membership of 150 ish. The only thing that seems to work is direct personal contact. Most new people are brought to the club by current members or join after doing a club run race. Our new website appears to have generated a great deal of interest (hits) but I'm not sure that it translates into membership.

It seems quite hard to attract younger members. And by that i mean U35s. They'll often turn up for a bit, but a few weeks later are gon

I would say, it's not about pieces of paper/marketing, it's about the members. Encourage members to get to lots of races in their club vests, and obviously be a really happy, friendly bunch (and make sure they know what the club does, on which nights, who to contact etc. for when anybody asks them about it).

I started going to a club in Colchester many years ago when I was out for a run, and a guy running the opposite way up the road crossed over, ran with me for a bit, was really friendly, told me about the club, and gave me a flyer he had in a little bum bag - he was obviously well-prepared for doing just that.

My attention was brought to my local running club when I was running down the Thames Path. As I ran a man held out a silicone wrist band, told me to take it and check out the web address on the band, and off I ran. It did work for me as I did check out the web site of the  club when I got home. There were a lot of fair weather runners out that day, and they had passed on the band to almost everyone I saw

The weakness for me was that the web site didn't give a lot away in terms of the club sessions / membership etc that were run, and I haven't as yet taken it any further.

I made a T that was pretty cool with my club details on it. Plod around town and people ask about joining. Good advert. esp as I am an old biddy so I get the females interested who wouldn't have thought about joining an athletics club.

let's try and keep some proper threads above all this dreaded spam!!

I tried out a local running club, once. It was a nightmare to find, spent a lot of time trawling the net to find it.

I would say putting out flyers and posters locally, a spot in a local newspaper, it would be good if club members wore t-shirts out on runs, means a local runner might strike up a conversation and ask more. A lot more information on a website would be good, it was near impossible to find clear information about where the next meet up of my club was. It makes it feel quite elite to newbie's if they don't know a member to ask and the information isn't readily available.

It helps if there is more of a beginners "section" and that is well publicised. It was a bit daunting for me when I showed up and was told I was about to spend an hour doing hill sprints with blokes that had being doing ultra's even when I made clear my abilities before I arranged to go to a meet.

Maybe offer to do a bit training with beginners, make it quite relaxed give them a cheap club goodie bag after a couple of weeks? T shirt and gels? Wristbands?