Masters Swimming Australia
Real world 12-month marketing plan to help reach membership goals
Summary
This was a real-world client brief from the board of directors at Masters Swimming Australia (MSA). With the goal of growing MSA membership to over 7,000 by the end of 2024, our team prepared a report detailing our 12-month marketing plan to help MSA achieve this target.
As a co-marketing director and graphic designer, I collaborated on developing the overall marketing strategy, ensuring it aligned with MSA's goals and vision. Additionally, I created brand guidelines, as well as website and social media mockups, which were instrumental in visualising our proposed campaigns and effectively engaging potential members.
Role
Co-marketing director and graphic designer
Timeline
August - November 2023
Team
Esha Narang
Alysha Lin
Tools
Canva
Adobe Illustrator
Background
Established in 1975, Masters Swimming Australia Inc. (MSA) is the peak body for adult swimmers aged 18 and above. It is a non-government, not-for-profit organisation, with some branches receiving state government support. MSA's mission is to encourage all adults to swim regularly and compete, promoting fitness and well-being. MSA has about 6,500 members across 190+ clubs within seven state branches. Members join affiliated clubs and access training, skills development, lap swimming, swim meets, and championship events.
MSA operates under one governing body, the National Board of Management, with seven branches representing each state/territory. These branches oversee various affiliated clubs.
Brief
How to grow membership to 7000+ members by end 2024 Membership year (the membership year is run on a calendar basis and subscriptions open 1 December 2023). Recommend how to best leverage the available data and resources into a manageable and focused 12-month plan to deliver against the growth challenge.
Objectives
Analysis
Problem Definition and Objectives
Problem definition:
The younger demographic has low awareness and interaction
Website development and social media are costly
The older demographic is leaving MSA
Complicated website and signup functions
No clear MSA brand. Currently perceived as “old” and “outdated”
Objectives:
Build awareness of MSA and encourage trial in younger demographic.
Create and build MSA volunteer and intern network.
Re-invigorate and retain older demographic.
Simplify and update MSA websites to improve accessibility.
Create brand consistency and change positioning from old fashioned”.
Segmentation and Targeting
Our segmentation of the market is modelled off of the Australian Sports Commission’s robust research of Australians aged 16-65 and their sports habits. Using this to inform psychographic segmentation, we then segmented demographically and behaviourally to create 3 main target markets.
Positioning
Using the segmentation, targeting and analysis as the foundation, we proposed a new positioning statement to frame MSA’s new strategy:
For Australian swimmers looking to join a vibrant swim community, Masters Swimming Australia offers an array of swimming opportunities in a competitive, recreational, and social capacity, all within a framework of inclusivity. We embrace the diverse needs of all members and realise that there is no such thing as “one size fits all” when it comes to swimming. That is why we have a range of offerings – so that no matter your background or experience, everyone can become part of our swimmer family. With a unified central body and clubs scattered nationally, join MSA and dive into a world where every swimmer finds their perfect fit
Tactics
The proposed tactics will focus primarily on Gen Z targets, while also addressing Apathetic Andy to retain this loyal segment. Since MSA cannot change its pricing model or introduce more flexible options, we propose tactics that will accommodate this, increase MSA awareness, and encourage trials.
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1. AWARENESS
Bring MSA's new proposition to life, showcasing its diverse offerings and easy signup process.
Social Media (paid): Leverage Instagram ads, as this platform has high engagement among Gen Z, with 57% discovering new products via social media (Bump, 2021).
YouTube Ads: Utilize YouTube, used by 88% of Gen Z, to reach this demographic effectively (Roberts, 2023).
MSA Open Day: A one-day event where local MSA clubs invite everyone to experience MSA firsthand, encouraging existing members to bring friends and family. Each club can host their open day uniquely to showcase their specialties and offerings, introducing MSA to new potential members.
2. VOLUNTEERS
School Volunteer Program: With 97% of students engaging in informal volunteering (Volunteering Australia, 2016), MSA can partner with high schools to introduce both future volunteers and potential customers to its initiatives. By involving high school students in volunteering, MSA cultivates awareness and trust, encouraging interest in future volunteer or membership opportunities post-graduation.
University Case Competition: MSA can collaborate with universities and their societies for contests where students design websites, propose marketing campaigns, etc., with internships as incentives. This strategy builds connections between MSA, students, and universities, fostering mutually beneficial opportunities and enhancing awareness among a younger demographic.
University Internship Program: Participate in University of Sydney’s Local Industry Placement Program to gain interns.
3. RETENTION
SMS Marketing: Use text messaging to effectively reach seniors, with a 98% open rate (Lalikos, 2022).
Personal Goal Setting Program: Implement programs to help members set and achieve personal goals.
Recreational and Social Messaging: Apathetic Clubbers often feel overwhelmed by competition. Therefore, there's a suggested shift towards emphasizing the recreational and social benefits of joining a club instead (Australian Sports Commission, 2013).
4. WEBSITE
Club Matrix and “My MSA Club” Quiz: A custom quiz will satisfy Gen Z’s love for personalisation (McKinsey, 2018), as well as highlighting the new proposition that there is an MSA club out there for everyone.
Website Development and Simplification: Enhance the website for better usability and engagement.
5. REBRAND
Our rebrand will update MSA's brand representation tools for consistency and operational efficiency, positioning MSA as "modern, fun, and free" to attract younger audiences.
Social Media (owned): Strengthen MSA's presence on its own social media platforms.
Website Update: Refresh the website to align with the new brand image.
Customer Journeys
To enhance awareness, engagement, and membership growth for MSA, we created customer journey maps for the personas Loyal Lachie, Maybe Mary, and Apathetic Andy. These maps reveal the expectations, touchpoints, pain points, and solutions for our target audience, enabling us to tailor our marketing tactics for a better MSA experience.
Media and Channels
We chose to target Maybe Marys and Loyal Lachies with paid Instagram and YouTube ads to increase awareness and interest in a younger, more diverse MSA. Utilising Gen Z volunteers and creating interactive content like Instagram Story polls and giveaways is crucial. With a budget of $12K for the media plan, we chose to allocate $300 per month for Instagram ads and $350 per month for YouTube ads. Due to high costs, TikTok ads are not feasible, so we'll focus on creating free content on TikTok instead. The remaining $13K will support website development, open days, and other marketing activities.
Timeline
To successfully roll out these tactics and achieve our objectives for the membership year, we created a comprehensive timeline outlining each objective.
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National: Website redevelopment will prioritise the national site first, followed by branch and club websites if successful.
Regional/Branch: Volunteers will be affiliated with branches to maintain strong central branding, and branches will follow a tactics timeline to ensure consistent rollout across clubs.
Club: Open days will be hosted at each club based on availability, with clear MSA affiliation and branding.
Volunteers: To overcome the barrier of lack of direct involvement in the sport, MSA should provide tangible benefits for volunteers, such as free coaching sessions or pool lane access, increasing rewards with more hours to foster loyalty and create a successful pathway from student volunteers to full adult membership.
Recommended Tools
Wappalyzer: A technology profiler providing technographic insights and analysis tools.
Canva: A free, user-friendly design tool with templates for creating visuals, especially for social media.
Hootsuite: A social media management platform for content scheduling, analytics, and performance monitoring.
New brand guidelines: As discussed, every club has their differentiators and this is part of what makes MSA unique. However, brand guidelines will help combat inconsistencies, to assist all communications, from national to state and club levels. Whilst clubs will still have more freedom with their logo and how they post on social media, their websites should strictly follow this brand kit. The rebrand depicts a more modern brand with a youthful personality. The primary color palette is similar to the current, to ensure a smooth change over, however the secondary palette is much more vibrant and youthful. The icons allow for comparison between each club. Photography is more diverse as it depicts a wide range of age groups and abilities as well as the different offerings.
Proposed Mock-ups
Social media should be updated to reflect MSA's new branding and diverse offerings. To engage the main target audiences who regularly use social media, the feed should be vibrant and inclusive, featuring a variety of swimmers, including younger ones.
The updated website is a pivotal element in MSA’s rebranding strategy and digital presence. It features a sleek, user-friendly design that ensures a seamless customer experience. The modern, playful branding and intuitive navigation are designed to capture visitors' attention, encouraging them to explore further and ultimately motivating them to join MSA.
We propose a personalized quiz to help individuals find the ideal MSA club tailored to their preferences. This interactive tool matches their goals, skill levels, and location preferences with suitable clubs, providing information about each club's offerings and atmosphere through graphics for easy comparison. This streamlines enrollment and ensures confidence in their MSA journey from the start.
Metrics to Measure Performance - KPIs
To effectively measure and enhance MSA's performance across various initiatives, we have established specific metrics for each objective. These metrics will guide our efforts in social media engagement, volunteer recruitment, member retention, website usability, and Gen Z awareness.
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Social Media
Engagement Rates: Increase Instagram and YouTube engagement from 1% to 3.5%, and achieve a 5.7% engagement rate on owned TikTok videos (Lauron, 2023).
Click-Through Rates (CTR): Aim for a 10% CTR on YouTube ads (Kaminska, 2023) and a 0.5% CTR on paid Instagram ads (Gardner, 2023).
Return on Investment (ROI): Target an ROI of 5:1 (Leone, 2019).
Increase Volunteers Nationwide
Number of Volunteers: Recruit 200 new volunteers nationwide by next year.
Satisfaction: Use NPS scores and end-of-year surveys to measure volunteer satisfaction.
Decrease Member Dropoff Rate
Net Promoter Score (NPS): Achieve an NPS score over 30 (Carpenter, 2023).
Drop-Off Rate: Reduce the annual drop-off rate from 30% to 10%.
Text Open Rate: Maintain a 98% open rate for SMS marketing.
Website Navigation
Time Spent: Halve the time spent navigating MSA websites.
Conversion Rate: Achieve a membership sign-up rate of 5% or higher (Kim, 2023).
Gen Z Awareness and Perceptions
Questionnaire: Measure MSA awareness and trial rates in Gen Z post-rebrand to compare with baseline data.
Reflection
Our group worked extremely well together, facilitated by weekly in-person collaborative meetings where we bounced ideas off each other. Each member contributed a distinct perspective, enriching our discussions and enabling us to develop a holistic and comprehensive strategy.
Something that was challenging to navigate was the lack of prior research and frameworks. Leveraging my expertise in design research, I proposed the collection of primary data through a questionnaire targeting Gen Z participants - a demographic who have not been previously targeted. This approach enabled us to empathise with this demographic, gaining insights into their needs, perceptions, and behaviours. These insights helped reveal opportunities which guided our strategic decisions.
As a group we also found it challenging to come up with unique ideas that were relevant, realistic, and budget-permitting. It took us several collaborative ideation sessions to develop a solid strategy that was consistent, distinctive and extremely thorough. Although these initial stages took us a long time, it was instrumental in laying the foundation for the entire report that effectively addressed our chosen segments.
The board members of Masters Swimming Australia reached out to us individually via LinkedIn to commend our efforts, noting that our report stood out as the most comprehensive and engaging among the entire cohort. Upon reviewing their website, you can see that they've already begun implementing some of our ideas.
Overall, this Masters Swimming Australia project reinforced the importance of strategic thinking, audience-centricity, and adaptability in crafting successful marketing initiatives.