Does your facility offer Back To School Pool Specials?

August 14th, 2013

I have recently been made aware how much fun swimming is for youth. Of course, this is something I have always known, but it has come to my attention that - unless you are still under 18 or so - you never really understand how much fun it really is.

I'm talking about the kind of fun that will encourage a 13 year old to pester her busy Auntie every single day to find out where the nearest swimming pool is, what types of special features is has, when their public swim might be, and when she can visit. These questions, and more, will not quiet until the young lady is actually splashing in the water, yelping with excitement.

That type of fun you remember as an adult, but in a distant, nostalgic kind of way. As the 13 year old, however, the desire to get in the water is VERY real, and creates a non-negotiable frame of mind that can be very persuasive.

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Title: Five Girls In Swimming Pool}

This realization made me wonder if advertising to parents and guardians is really the way to. Perhaps we should all be focusing more of our time engaging youth and letting them do the "selling". After all, it wouldn't be too hard to take a short video of a busy day at your facility, post it to YouTube - which, according to many online sources, is the teens' favorite online hangout - followed by a listing of the hours your facility is open to the public. This alone would be enough to start a steady stream of "CAN WE GO, PLEEAAASSSEEEE!" that will have any parent heading straight for the door, just to stop the noise.

You can even try to get your regular families involved by asking for video submissions of their kids having fun at the pool. Offer a free family swim day in exchange, and guarantee that the video will be well shared by all their friends and family!

The last few weeks of summer always seem to create a sense of urgency in youth - the need to make the most of the rest of their time off becomes very pressing! Around this same time, the "Back to School" frenzy begins.

While "Back to School" shopping may not be quite as aggressive from a retail standpoint as, say, Christmas shopping, it is still nonetheless a well known time of year for sales. Everywhere you look, stores are having "Back to School" sales and it doesn't seem to matter a bit whether or not the products they are selling have anything to do with education.

Does your facility make use of this profitable time of year?

Here are a few ideas that I thought of, on the spot:

Back To School Membership Specials - offer memberships per quarter / semester / year for students with a discount off their normally low prices

Back To School Swimsuit Packages - many aquatics centers are diversifying to add gift shops that sell towels, swimsuits and other pool needs. Fill a backpack with all the necessities and call it a "Too Cool For School" pack or something. You can include a 10 swims punch card in the package, or - from the opposite standpoint - you can include a voucher for $10 off one of these packages with every new or renewed membership.

Back to Swim-School Teams - create a new program for young swimmers who want to increase their chances of joining the swim team, make new friends, and spend an evening or two each week at the pool. Fill it with games, relays and other activities that not only make stronger swimmers, but are worlds of fun!

Host a School's Still Out For the Summer Party - There are still a few weeks of summer left and there is no better time to make the most of the free time students have left. Most families are done their vacationing by the last week or two of August, so host a community pool party or a few "dive-in movies" before the summer really comes to an end.

I'm sure there are plenty of other ways you can use the "Back to School" frenzy to create some new activity around your facility - how do you do it?