Rocky Soccer Academy

THE SITUATION
Karl Henning’s has a business in Fort Collins Colorado; Rocky’s Soccer Academy where he trains small groups soccer aged 7 to 14. He currently trains about 600 kids per year, although he wants his business to grow. Youth soccer is big in Colorado. 90 percent of his current customers live in Fort Collins which has a population of about 110,000 people. Close to 100 percent are aware about his program among competitive soccer players ages 11 to 14 and probably about 40 percent among families with soccer-playing kids ages 6 to 10. One of his options consists of him expanding his business to other cities that range about 25 miles away from Fort Collins. The city Loveland, of about 60,000 people falls south of Fort Collins.
Priced on session times, Packaged deals and age range.
S.W.O.T
Strengths- Rocky Soccer Academy did well attracting customers by word of mouth.
Weaknesses- Not enough publicity in other cities. Not enough different types of publicity to get the awareness level up about the Academy
Opportunities-To spread his business in different cities where there isn’t much competition.
Threats- Distance, Losing the interest of the kid ages 14 and up, other activities, school work
POSSIBLE MARKETING STRATEGIES
Hennings has a few options for helping his business grow. One option is to try to increase retention by developing programs targeted at kids over 14. Ways he can attract kids over 14 is by somehow collaborating his program with scholarships they can earn for college. Statistics show that only a very small percentage of youth soccer players make it to higher levels of soccer after high school. So this gives them a reason to want to work hard and gain more experience in soccer and an opportunity to go to college, where they may get a chance to play college
He could offer more programs such as a Goal Keeping program or a program that include education such as English or math. So that his players become well rounded in soccer and also in education. His third option consist of him wanting to try to grow the business by entering new markets and acquiring new customers. He wants to begin working with customers from the ages 6 to 9. Programs he could develop for such a young group is a summer camp program. His fourth option would be to serve the kids from Loveland, Longmont, and Greeley. Because of the distance from his current location he would have to open a new Academy closer to these cities. Or include a summer program that provides transportation so that parents won’t have to drive the long distance