Building your fan base isn’t going to happen overnight. But the more you invest in your wrestling program now, the more it will pay off over time. Use these tips to help build your wrestling program and watch your team prosper and thrive!
1. Stir Some Excitement – Connect with students, staff, and your community to help promote your wrestling program. By involving others, you’ll receive much-needed help and engage new fans of your team.
2. Create a Fun Atmosphere – Home matches should feel like an event. Recruit a student DJ to excite the crowd. Invite the band to perform. Start a cheerleading squad for wrestling. Invite your school mascot to pump-up the crowd. Make it a production!
3. Get the Crowd Involved – Create a theme for matches and invite your fans to show their team spirit! School colors, mascots, holidays, and special events make great theme ideas. The more you engage your fans, the easier it will be to create a community.
4. Bring on the Wow – Resilite can create a one-of-a-kind mat design using our exclusive DigiPrint technology that is sure to create buzz around your program. Dream-up a theme and then design unique singlets and headgear to match your new mat.
5. Build an Alumni Network – Create a database of former wrestlers to keep engaged with your program. Recruit a student helper to be in charge of regular communications with your alumni group through email and Facebook. They’ll be excited to be a part of the team again!
6. Post on Social Media – Recruit a student helper to be in charge of posting and building buzz on social media. Feature a student-athlete of the week, announce upcoming matches and athlete achievements, create a team hashtag, and invite fans to participate. If you have advertisers or supporters of your program, recognize them here.
7. Search for Some Free PR – Work with your school newspaper to publish articles covering your matches. Enlist the help of a photography student to take photos, then send it to your local newspaper. Provide a press kit with lineups and bios to demonstrate that you’re running a thriving program!
8. Give Back to the Community – Coordinate team community service days with local organizations to spread goodwill. Not only will your athletes be working for a good cause, it will also help them grow as young men and women; plus, you’ll undoubtedly recruit some new fans along the way!
9. Engage Young Athletes – Organize an event for young kids and fans of your program. Plan games and simple exercises on your mat. Sell team posters and host an autograph signing with your wrestlers. Make it a fun day that creates excitement for your program with the next generation of wrestlers!
10. Put the “Fun” in Fundraiser – Find creative ways to raise funds. Make a program to hand out to attendees at each match and sell advertising spots to local businesses. Resilite Mat Sponsor Decals are a great way to fundraise and display local business information without making permanent alterations to your mat, too!
Download your free “10 Tips to Promote Your Wrestling Program” PDF resource guide here.
