Spring Is for Sports and Canopies With Team Logos
Spring is here, which means a new season for our favorite sports. Spring is an exciting time to offer sports printing to fanatics and participants. While the winter sports wind down, basketball is going strong. Starting with major events in men’s and women’s college basketball there are also professional golf and baseball seasons. It is also the time of year for the legions of local and regional amateur sports leagues to kick off from tennis and pickleball to track and field, along with the quintessential American sport of baseball. Print products help your clients show their team spirit while supporting games and matches throughout the season. Team banners and pop-up canopy tents with the team’s name and logo are excellent for gameday and fundraising activities, too!
Outside of gameday activities, team sports can also use print to support fundraising and incentivize participation by the athletes and their supporters. 4over offers many custom-printed products that sport organizations and teams can use throughout the season.
Athletic Fundraising
Amateur sports are often funded by a combination of fees and fundraising. Make it easy for athletes or their parents to pay their fees by offering reminder postcards ahead of the season. Consider offering personalization that includes last year’s team picture as a motivating reminder. Oversized format postcards stand out in the mailbox and leave room for sign-up information and league schedules.
Because most sporting organizations and leagues, even those associated with schools, must fundraise through local businesses and the larger community, you can help them find the best options. One option is to offer an Every Day Direct Mail (EDDM) campaign, which can be sent to ZIP codes with a high concentration of businesses in commercial districts to ask for donations. Pair the request for a donation with an offer of a branded window cling for donors to proudly show off their support or a calendar highlighting the team. 4over can help with it all.
Advertising is another way to engage local businesses eager to stay top of mind within the community. Offer to work with teams to develop league brochures and event programs featuring advertising. Another option is to sell space on custom banners, posters, and canopies placed at the sporting venue.
Successful groups know it’s the power of branding that reinforces the purpose of fundraising and supports local teams. Linking business logos to the sports team is a win-win for the community. Using banners for sports teams requires some consideration of how they will be used. Will retractable banners work best, or do they need banners with grommets to hang from fences? Should the banner be made to allow the wind to pass through? You can help them select the best approach, and if you have questions, the 4over team can help!
For clients who see the value of custom event tents with their name and logo, remind them of all the options for size, color, and personalization. They are great for fundraising activities but also perfect for every game as the focal point for athlete sign-ins, scorekeeping, and other activities. Most teams need to set up folding tables for administrative activities and to hold and display items for sale, so why not make a statement with a custom table cover?
Extra Game Day Events
When it’s time for game day, show teams how to rally the local community and continue fundraising by reusing their banners and canopies and pairing them with wayfinding signs and feather flags to plant near the field or court, and window clings for supporters’ car windows. Portable wayfinding signs are perfect for away games! Help everyone navigate to the correct location in the sports complex using direction signage and teardrop flags to ensure the team and their fans are in the right place.
Suggest stickers to teams as a way to share their logo! Offer new labels each week of the season to promote upcoming games, and don’t forget to offer personalization. Short runs of labels with each athlete’s name can help them and their families promote the team, and they can be handed out to fans on game day. Offer bumper stickers to raise money, especially if the design is clever enough and sparks demand from the entire community.
Player Participation
When the season ends, remind your clients to recognize and reward player participation. While trophies are a traditional way to recognize players, there are many other options that don’t collect dust on the shelf. Offer options using team photos, and design trading cards in a business card format with the season’s stats and player pictures. Custom-printed t-shirts are another option to extend the reach of the team throughout the community. They make great keepsakes and promotional items since players will wear them for years to come.
4over makes sports branding, marketing, and fundraising easy through custom-printed products. Help your local sports teams win off the field so they can focus on winning on the field.
