Next year: growth plan or same again?
The events have been delivered. The results are in. The numbers are there. So what are you doing with them?
This is the time of year when sports event organisers are taking stock.
The events have been delivered. The results are in. The numbers are there.
So what are you doing with them?
Are you looking at what happened this year and working out how you're going to grow next year?
Or are you simply putting the same dates in the diary, opening entries and hoping for the same result?
Because there is a big difference between planning next year and simply repeating this year.
Start with the data
If you've got it, now is the time to look at it.
- Which events grew?
- Which didn't?
- Where did your entrants come from?
- How many were new customers?
- How many came back from previous years?
- How many entered more than one event?
- What did they buy on top of their entry?
- Which marketing actually generated entries?
- Which channels didn't?
- How many people looked but didn't enter?
And perhaps most importantly:
How many of this year's customers are likely to come back next year?
You don't need a complicated strategy.
But you do need to know what happened before deciding what you're going to do differently.
Because doing the same thing rarely creates a different result
If your plan for next year is:
- Same events.
- Same marketing.
- Same channels.
- Same customer journey.
- Same technology.
Then you're probably planning for roughly the same result.
That's fine if that's what you want.
But if you want to grow entries and revenue, you need to identify where that growth is going to come from.
More new customers?
More repeat customers?
More cross-selling between events?
More referrals?
More club, shop and influencer partnerships?
More revenue from each entrant?
Better conversion from people who visit but don't buy?
Probably all of the above.
Your existing customers could be your biggest growth opportunity
You've already paid to acquire them.
They know your brand.
They've experienced your event.
They've trusted you enough to hand over their money.
So why start again from zero every year?
Your customer data should help you identify who to target, when to target them and with what.
- First-timers.
- Regulars.
- Lapsed customers.
- People who entered one event but not another.
- People who bought merchandise.
- People who haven't entered yet.
That's where next year's growth plan starts.
Then look beyond the entry fee
Growth isn't only about selling more entries.
What else could each entrant buy?
- Merchandise.
- iTAB.
- Parking.
- Camping.
- Race passes.
- Donations.
Third-party products and services with no extra work from you.
And what other event could they enter?
The question to ask now
Before you open next year's entries, ask yourself:
What are we going to do differently to grow?
Not: What date are we running it?
Not: What was the entry price last year?
Not: When should we open entries?
Those things matter.
But they're not a growth plan.
A growth plan starts with the numbers, the customers and a clear idea of where the next entries are going to come from.
And then you need the tools to actually do something with that information.
That's where Eventrac comes in.
Eventrac isn't just there to take the entry.
It gives organisers the customer data, marketing, segmentation, cross-selling, referrals, loyalty, add-ons and discovery channels to turn that data into more entries, more revenue and more repeat business.
So as you start planning next year, ask yourself one simple question:
