Promoting Practical Shooting Locally

[CHA-LEE]

My USPSA Section has a pretty solid following with 11 clubs and 12 regularly scheduled club matches each month. This isn't even counting the Steel Challenge, 3Gun, or other disciplines. We are pretty spoiled here in Colorado with a lot of great clubs which host a ton of matches every year. Our section website can be found at www.ecouspsa.com

 

In our section meetings, which consists of the club presidents and our section coordinator, the question of marketing to the masses usually comes up. Random ideas get tossed around like making fliers that can be displayed at local gun stores, renting a booth at the local gun shows and presenting information about USPSA at shooting range chapter meetings and what not. But nothing ever generates enough traction to kick it off. I am the president of one of these USPSA clubs and I have done my part to attend meetings to market our match to the range we host the matches at. But that rarely generates much of any interest. We might get a few people to come out and check out our next match, but it rarely results in a shooter who stays engaged with the sport. 

 

Before we charge off in a specific marketing direction I would like to know what actually works for other clubs and sections. Post your strategies for marketing your match which produces a decent return on investment. Thanks in advance for your input.

[Nathanb]

We make up business card with the schedule and contact info and drop them at gun stores. Social media is a great way to advertise. And it’s free. Just takes some man hours

 

we fill our matches to capacity every month

[B_RAD]

The same topic gets brought up at every meeting for my local club.  Last night was our Feb meeting and of course it got brought up, and like Cha-Lee's club, we never leave with anything that gets implemented. 

 

So, I'm curious what other clubs do as well.

 

 

[Joe4d]

I think step 1 would be for USPSA to fix their broken websight club finder. I click on Virginia and it gives me  a club in NC and Maryland. Type VA, in the search box and I get a "No results found"
 They would be better off just posting a list by state. If you click on a map and start zooming out it starts working  although One Va club is listed as being in WY. 
Pretty sure Fredericksburg still shoots. Was hoping maybe some new clubs sprang up closer to me. 

[CHA-LEE]

My question is more associated with a section wide marketing plan. Not so much an individual clubs marketing plan. But I do like the Business Card idea. That would be a lot more portable and probably be saved more often than a letter size flier. 

[9x45]

We have way too many shooters here already. What's needed is more ranges and clubs to operate matches.

[CHA-LEE]

1 minute ago, 9x45 said:

We have way too many shooters here already. What's needed is more ranges and clubs to operate matches.

 

That sounds like a job for your Section Coordinator to tackle. Their fundamental job is to assist in developing and deploying new clubs.

[motosapiens]

the shooting participation here in the boise area has grown tremendously in the time I have been shooting (since 2012-ish). Where we get the most new competitors is from the shoot for the cure (heavily marketed to women and novices), and from our mon-wed steel-challenge matches. Both are safe and supportive environments for folks to learn some basic marksmanship and safety rules without being intimidated all to f*$# by GM's shooting open guns. Alot of the steel challenge folks come either from word of mouth from friends, or from recommendations from the local shop that caters to the practical shooting sports (as well as the redneck survivalist prepper shooting sports, lol).

 

Like 9x45 sez tho, to really grow the sport any further, we need more land. We have 3 uspsa matches/month within a 45 minute drive, and on a nice day they are filled to capacity. We haven't had to start limiting entries yet, but I predict this year we will have to do something to address it. Maybe have morning squads and afternoon squads. morning crew sets up, afternoon crew tears down.

[Beef15]

2 hours ago, 9x45 said:

We have way too many shooters here already. What's needed is more ranges and clubs to operate matches.

This.

 

I had a hard time finding out about USPSA and what matches were offered locally. I suggest checking to see if web searches pop up the club and make sure the site found has accurate info. I think most under forty are gonna web search, probably never check the gun store, we've been spoon fed info by the net our whole lives.

 

Locally clearly don't need better advertising one match fills in under five minutes every month, the other two occasionally take most of the day, but under an hour is not uncommon, 80-100 shooters.

 

That Virginia guy, there's a club in Bristol if that's near. Practiscore is more helpful than the USPSA site last I checked. MDs make sure the info there is good, and real addresses or links to sites with them.

[Mike H]

Charlie, I would recommend really taking a look at the specific demographics you're targeting.  Shooting isn't different from any other endeavor, but I would venture a strong guess that although many believe it is, it's not.  You can't take a scatter gun approach to promoting anything and expect to be successful.  Look at any successful ad campaign for a non mainstream product. Social media is critical in reaching targeted audiences.

 

Target the demographics who historically haven't been exposed to shooting, women, kids and other groups.  The shoot for the cure idea mentioned above is perfect.  Women want to support that event and are exposed to shooting in a supportive environment.  Target veteran groups who may have a strong affinity for shooting, but maybe time, career and/or lack of confidence with their shooting ability prevents them from taking the first step out.  Any type of advertised "practice" that is geared to one group may reap results over an event that is open to everyone.  A semi closed environment promotes camaraderie and provides a safe, non threatening avenue to overcome the intimidation that many have about firearms.  Will everyone who participates wind up being a shooter, absolutely not. 

 

When my son started competing in high school shotgun-skeet/trap and sporting clays several years ago, participation was minimal.  The parent organization did a tremendous job targeting kids in the 9-12 grade level via social media, facebook, instagram, twitter etc.  Loaner guns and equipment were provided for introductory exposure.  Ranges offered discounts for new and newer shooters. Now, the competitions fill up months in advance with wait lists.  The two ranges that offered discounts to skeet shooters were maybe  1/4 full during the week and busy but not swamped on the weekends.  Now, good luck getting range time during the weekday and you have to make reservations for a field on the weekend.

 

FWIW

Edited February 9, 2018 by Mike H

[CHA-LEE]

I have pulled together practical shooting events that were 100% dedicated to new and novice shooters. These were offered during our ranges open house days where they make the range available for anyone wanting to check it out.

 

During these events we would staff a sample stage and allow people to shoot it as many times as they wanted. These events were very popular and we would run about a hundred people through it. Especially when we provided free ammo and guns to use. These exhausting “demo” days would produce a handful of people showing up to our next match to watch but rarely participate. Most of them thought the free ammo and gun use was an ongoing thing. Once they found out that they had to invest something into it they hit the road. 

 

I hosted these events for 4 years and with it producing ZERO additional shooters for our matches. Overall it was a huge waste of time, effort and ammo. This was a good lesson for me. Basically, people are interested in stuff when it’s free to do and they don’t have to put any effort into doing it. Once they have to put some effort into it they bail looking for the next free meal. 

 

I dont want to waste time and effort marketing to window shoppers that will never have any skin in the game. 

[obsessiveshooter]

I know you are looking for proven methods, and I have none but here are some ideas.

The show Top Shot led me to search youtube to find out what the heck "USPSA" was, and when I saw video I knew I had to try it. I think people who are used to just standing and punching holes in paper can't visualize what we do based on a verbal description. So I think carefully chosen videos would be an important part of recruitment.

I can't help but wonder if a group of LE USPSA shooters could approach the firearms trainer for local police forces and pitch it to them as a fun way to learn invaluable gun handling skills that can't be learned in the limited time of instruction that the police force provides.

Also, Bristlecone's indoor match seems to be populated mostly with people who only shoot that one match. Something could be done to draw them out into the greater ECOUSPSA community.


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[ATLDave]

I don't know whether you can really do section-wide marketing.  Different clubs/matches have very different vibes, and new shooters aren't going to "connect" with all of them, much less a statewide conglomeration.  I tend think different clubs/matches have different roles in serving the shooting populace, and some clubs are better suited to be feeders/finders-of-new-shooters than others.  Clubs that generally have lots of memory stages and brutally hard shooting and large arrays of distant steel and tons of moving targets, etc.... they are for the shooters who already know the game.  

 

I'm the current president of a small, indoor weekly-match club.  We end up being a feeder into the larger matches and the sport overall.  A lot of people in our area start out shooting just our match, and then branch out to the broader sport once they get into it.  Obviously we don't have 100% throughput on this, but if we get an average of one new shooter a week and  one out of five decides they really like it and want to stick with it, we end up putting 10 new regular shooters into the local pool every year.  

 

So how do we get an average of one new shooter per week?  IDK, but that has always been typical.  A lot of it has to do with perceived and actual club culture.  We have a pretty meaningful facebook presence.  Most weeks, we not only post the scores, we do some kind of write-up of the match, usually with a humorous/lighthearted tone.  When people do well enough to get mentioned (which is a pretty low bar), then they're prone to sharing the story, or at least liking it on FB.  Pretty soon all their friends who are shooters are at least aware of us and think we get together weekly and have a lot of fun (which is true!).  

 

At the match, we're small enough that the regulars immediately know who is not a regular... and we introduce ourselves.  Some of the more extroverted members make a point of hanging out with the newbies during the match and talking them through what is going on.  It helps that we have some very visible and outgoing women and ethnic-minority members, so new shooters who fall into those groups can also feel more comfortable.

 

If I were looking at it from a section perspective, I might think about which existing clubs are best suited to this kind of role.  Then see if those clubs have the same vision - are they excited about new shooters and being a place to learn?  If they are, then flow support to them.  Help those specific clubs in that mission.  

 

Or maybe this is a stupid way to think about it, and I'm just captive to my own experience.

 

Edited February 10, 2018 by ATLDave

[9x45]

Simple facts are while there are many gun owners, and most of those stand behind a bench and shoot at a box target at an indoor range,  there are very, very few competition shooters, and even fewer LEO*** who are shooters. Like Cha said, 4 years of hand holding produced zero new shooters. If some one is going to shoot competition, they are just going to show up and jump in. Also realize that some clubs do not want to expand at all. They don't have 12 bays and unlimited parking and 5 conex boxes full of steel and dozens of people to work for free. They operate matches that they (the chiefs and helpers like to shoot). Bays are limited as well as the number of shooters. Other clubs are simply not interested in starting newbies. And not all ranges are interested in having clubs host action competition matches. 

 

*** Generally speaking LEO Range Masters want nothing to do with competition. They think of us as high speed low drag and counterproductive to use of force training. I have shot with LEO for over 30 years and usually most of my squad is LEO, but it is not common at all. 

[Nathanb]

We used to have some of the swat guys out. They had a hard time separating a game from training and felt it was counterproductive for them

[HCH]

Facebook, Instagram, and word of mouth. I have come to the conclusion that there are a lot of “gun people” but very few actual shooters. 

[Darqusoull13]

I think your best option is using a coordinated social media campaign to promote a culture of fun. Our model has been to have the active shooters post quick videos and pictures that are exciting on the video side and fun and quirky with a focus on friendship for photos. That media gets shared by the clubs and the section. New shooters involved with one match see their friends or familiar faces at other matches in the section and feel more at ease driving an hour to go to a new match. 

 

Every now and then we share other clubs or shooters videos. When scores are posted we let folks know what's coming up next, where it's at and how to sign up. The shooters also share the other clubs matches, especially during weather or cancellation events. 

The trick to all of that is every club has to have folks that are not only welcoming, but take the time to work a new shooter through a match. The first match is absolutely the most critical because that's where the addiction takes root. That's easy for me because most of the time I'm doing stage plans with the folks using the loaner JP PCC's we have. I can give them stage plans, advice on positions and even caution areas where shots are tight. All that happens without dealing with draws, reloads or round limitations. 

[CHA-LEE]

Once genuinely interested new shooters get to a local match in our section we have a solid "New Shooter" safety training and babysitting process. All of the clubs within our section provide the exact same New Shooter safety training and honor each others training certificates. New shooters are paired up with experienced mentors for the match to help them through their first few matches. We have that part locked down and it works great.

 

The challenge is getting the word out about practical shooting to the shooting masses. I understand that there are way more "Gun Collectors" than "Gun Shooters" and way less "Competition Shooters" than "Gun Shooters". I am really not expecting to convert "Gun Shooters" into "Competition Shooters". What I want to do is effectively locate and promote to people who enjoy hobbies that are competitive. Maybe the best potential marketing areas are competitive hobbies that have nothing to do with shooting?

[9x45]

Cha, I still think its more like riding, a motorcycle. It's in your blood from the start. No one needs to hold your hand. You know it's grip it and rip it, same for riding..

 

Come on Bro!

 

[jsykes]

On 2/8/2018 at 5:39 PM, CHA-LEE said:

 We might get a few people to come out and check out our next match, but it rarely results in a shooter who stays engaged with the sport.

 

I think this is key for you.  Getting those few that do show up to come back.  Lets face, it, as many have said, there is a limited number of people that are actually interested in shooting like this, so we (as a sport) need to keep the ones that do give it a try.  That will create word of mouth and people will want to bring their friend the next time.

 

But showing up at a first match can be daunting, worrying about whether you'll screw up and break a rule, looking at the large stages and wondering if you have the skills do do them, etc, etc.  So making sure that people are welcoming and helpful is a big thing.  New shooters need to know they'll be helped through things and that the regulars want them there.

 

I have no idea how your club does that and not saying you arent, but its something that all clubs need to consider.

 

One idea, hitting on the word of mouth thought, is maybe a small discount for shooters when they bring a new shooter.  Maybe if your normal fee is $20, if you bring a shooter that has never shot a match at your club, the new shooter pays $15 and the shooter bringing them also pay $15.  Just a thought to encourage people to bring out someone new.

[Glk21C]

At our local club we don't charge the new shooter for the first time shooting our match;  does not matter if they are new to shooting or already experienced in competitive shooting.  Majority of the time they come back again and gladly pay the match fee.

[HCH]

16 hours ago, Glk21C said:

At our local club we don't charge the new shooter for the first time shooting our match;  does not matter if they are new to shooting or already experienced in competitive shooting.  Majority of the time they come back again and gladly pay the match fee.

 

Same here

[StealthyBlagga]

I can share my experience of helping grow my club's monthly outlaw multigun match. Although the discipline is slightly different, and target demographic slightly older, I suspect some of the same lessons apply.

 

About 8 years ago, my co-MD and I took over a match that had a good core participation but was struggling to grow beyond that. We initially focused on making the stages more engaging (i.e. making the shooting challenges more diverse and fun); this led to occasional participants becoming regulars and word of mouth growing our base. With a baseline of participation, we then started marketing our matches more widely as follows:

 

1) We updated the club website to give information we thought would be helpful for a newbie (description of the sport and our matches, basic equipment requirements etc.). Just like in USPSA, there are a lot of folks out there who think they need the latest in competition gear before they come to their first match, so we wanted to make them understand that pretty much any basic AR15, repeating shotgun and centerfire handgun was workable for their first time. This barrier should be even lower for USPSA of course.

2) We started running a mandatory, FREE pre-match New Shooter Orientation class before every match. It only lasted about 30 minutes (about as much as a newbie can absorb), and participants could shoot the same day. This helped overcome the concern a lot of newbies have about equipment and conduct rules, and avoided the obvious safety pitfalls (like folks who arrive with a loaded handgun - common in our free state). Being mandatory, it prevented the perception that some might think themselves above such things. Pretty soon we found that we could significantly increased retention of those newbies if we paired them with an experienced shooter to coach them through their first match (there is nothing more likely to drive someone away than being scolded by an RO or fellow competitor at their first match).

3) We publicized the match every month on a couple of local shooting-related web forums (the AR15.com AZ hometown forum and arizonashooting.com). After each match we posted YouTube videos (and today you could do the same also via Facebook).This is a very targeted approach that lets us appeal to a like-minded demographic in our locale. We did our best to make entry into the sport appear very easy (such as telling them about the New Shooter Orientation, how to register etc.).

4) We ran several ad hoc action long gun matches a year that required only one gun. Rifle-only matches, wherein virtually any semi-auto rifle could be workable, were particularly popular and pulled in a lot of new faces from inside and outside the action shooting sports.

5) Most recently, we started offering both 2-Gun (rifle-pistol) AND 3-Gun (rifle-pistol-shotgun) divisions at the same match. This created a significant upward step-change in participation by overcoming the biggest remaining barrier - that newbies hate the shotgun.

 

The above strategies have resulted in participation growing to the point where our monthly match fills up within minutes of opening on PractiScore; we now require pre-payment to squad and secure your slot, so our no-show rate has dropped off dramatically too (used to be just pay on the day).

 

For a handgun match, your barriers to entry ought to be significantly lower and the potential market is significantly larger. One difficulty is the daunting USPSA rulebook; it makes sense to us as insiders, but newbies are like a deer in the headlights. Hence the need for an on-the-day new shooter orientation.

 

One last tool that is critical, in my opinion, is feeder matches. Instead of trying to persuade a newbie to jump into the deep-end of the pool, why not ease them in at the shallow-end instead. Run a regular outlaw match with a greatly simplified set of rules loosely based on USPSA. Many clubs run simple steel matches that serve this purpose, with shooting boxes that are shot in sequence, and big steel plates that ring satisfyingly. My club runs such a match every week, and it regularly pulls twice as many people as a regular USPSA match. A paper match could work just as well, but keep it a simple, run-what-ya-brung affair.

 

We also recognize that kids are our future (and, to a lesser extent, women). For this reason, the club runs a very simple .22 rimfire match (comparable to steel challenge), which works great for those of smaller stature and kids who are not yet ready for a centerfire handgun.

 

Hope this helps 

Edited February 12, 2018 by StealthyBlagga

[amokscience]

From personal experience:

 

Have a website that is working, has up to date information, filled with content relevant to a new shooter, and doesn't look like it was designed in 1996.  Same goes for whatever social media outlet you use.

 

Try this: Google USPSA in <city/state> and see what the first 5 links are and if that would convince your target audience to try something brand new.

[oddjob]

Our club has a "Fun Match" (Outlaw) designed for beginners.  Five stages with a maximum of about 20 rounds per stage.  Rimfire welcome, no holsters or mag pouches needed (barrels and tables provided).  Advertised via web site and word of mouth.  The usual USPSA shooters like it too as a way of testing loads, guns and etc.  Cost is $10.00 per 5 stages.  Some shoot two guns.   I remember at first we had 30 or so shooters.  Now up to 130+ shooters for every Fun Match and the regular USPSA match participation went from 60 to about 100+ per month.   

 

My Observations.....Not all Fun Match shooters cross over to USPSA....Thats OK.....but some have.  The fun match shooters do seem to come back quite a bit and bring new friends with them.  I introduced friends to the Fun Match and they shoot it every month, but they won't shoot the USPSA match.  Too competitive for them.  They do buy USPSA related equipment, powder, primers & etc.  Word of mouth advertisement has spread out.  This month we had 20 new folks at the fun match.  Parking can be a problem.  The hamburger and hot dog guy is happy.  Most Fun Match shooters don't want their brass!  One gun shop owner provides free ice cold bottled water (smart advertising) at the stages.  Tactical holsters are allowed (thigh type).  We get a lot of the "tactical crowd'......but they sure seem to respect USPSA shooters.   Lots of female shooters come out for the Fun Match.  Followed by the yougsters and parents.

IDPA folks have shot, CCW types,  SWAT folks, older shooters & etc.  Steel targets are kept to a minimum, NO TEXAS STAR.  The Fun Match makes money for the club.  Safety orientation is free.

 

Bottom Line.....I think its the $10 per gun fee and five stages that brings new people in.  Rather than a static line (indoor range) they get to move and shoot.  And we do get some into USPSA.  Think like a drug dealer....Have the new people inject this game into their veins for a discount....Then get them hooked!!