In this Leadership Viewpoint, Steve Ayers, the SVP of Business Development at ROR, discusses challenges facing recreation centers including inefficient outreach, underutilized data and declining engagement. Ayers highlights how small, overworked teams often struggle with generic marketing approaches and are uncertain about implementing AI technologies and boosting member engagement.d
However, by leveraging data-driven strategies, rec centers can create highly targeted, personalized campaigns that improve program attendance and member engagement. This conversation emphasizes that with the right data and AI tools, rec centers can overcome their current limitations and more effectively serve their communities.
Enjoy!
Key Takeaways
Rec centers face significant challenges in member engagement and outreach, primarily due to:
- Inefficient, generic marketing strategies.
- Underutilized data.
- Small, overworked teams.
- Declining program participation since COVID-19.
Critical Solutions:
- Shift from broad-based messaging to highly targeted, data-driven outreach.
- Utilize AI and advanced data analytics to: build custom audience segments, personalize marketing messages, predict member behavior and automate multi-channel communications.
Innovative Approach:
- Leverage propensity data with 1000+ attributes on 262 million Americans.
- Create precise audience targeting based on: past program engagement, household income, lifestyle indicators and behavioral patterns.
Practical Benefits:
- Increase program reactivation rates.
- Improve attendance without hiring more staff.
- Develop more strategic, focused marketing.
- Automate outreach across digital platforms.
- Make data-driven decisions quickly.
Rec centers should embrace AI and data analytics as tools to:
- Understand their potential members better.
- Create more relevant, personalized experiences.
- Optimize limited resources.
- Drive community engagement and growth.
