Photo Credit: Flickr user thepanamerican
Over the past six months I have been coaching a USA Club Volleyball team of 17-year-olds, each with the ability to play volleyball at some college level. As I continue through my internship at HRB, I am starting to realize more and more how much public relations and coaching overlap.
With public relations you want to reach a certain market with a credible message to strengthen awareness of the organization. To do this, a message is conveyed to create a buzz and generate positive attention for an organization.
In coaching, I have done all of this. I coach for a reliable brand, the Iowa Rockets, which has produced many high caliber volleyball players over its history. The quality of the brand is a great place to start when giving a pitch. Recognizing the target audience is another critical element; in this case it’s college volleyball coaches and recruiters.
After defining the target audience, I have to create a message for each of my nine players. Each message is different based on the skills, a.k.a. benefits, of the player and their specific target audience. Finally, the delivery to the target audience is critical. I may email or call a coach regarding a player of interest or talk with them at a tournament and ask them to stop by our court during the next match, but every time the message is adjusted to fit the audience and the channel.
Of course, we also do a media tour; however, we call it a tournament schedule. We tour the Midwest playing at tournaments, where each player is on display to the target audience that is roaming the convention centers filled with volleyball courts.
Each one of these components is an important part of creating a positive buzz around my players and the brand, in order to generate future success of those I coach.
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