One of the best ways to ensure a successful axe throwing business is to foster a sense of community within your venue. Today we’ll go over some of the best ways to bolster that with tips and tricks to get your throwers involved outside of regular league nights!
Target people with already high interest
- Ask repeated customers or continued walk-ins if they have any interest in joining a league
- Direct talented throwers to marketing material on leagues and express their skill level during an event
- Find members of your community who are enthusiastic, like to show up early or engage heavily during league nights or walk-ins
Facilitate people meeting others they don’t yet know
- Ice breaker games are great for this
- Invite chatter between rounds and try to have a conversation with all members of your community when you can
- Offer reasons for your throwers to move around when not throwing and meet new people
- Keep the lanes for league as close together as possible
- Try to have people throw in different lanes each time
- Have different but qualified people track scores when possible
- Extend conversation to other hobbies beyond axe throwing
- Everyone loves to talk about what they love
Give throwers a sense of consistency with regular events
- On top of league nights you can offer weekly or monthly tournaments
- Weekly discounts/ related to axe throwing on different nights
Host special events or theme nights
- Consider having theme nights during your league each week
- Get your throwers to dress up in fun costumes
- Here are some suggestions for themes that have been successfully executed in the community
- Superheroes
- Goth
- Halloween
- Hula
- Patriotic
- Full Flannel
- Nerdy
- Decade Night
- Onesies
- Cowboys and Cowgirls
- We already encourage you to make your last week of each league season memorable to get people to come back
- Organize a potluck
- Make awards for special categories
- Extend practice time slightly
Make reasons for throwers to show up other than league (holiday parties or WATL viewing parties)
- Host holiday themed parties throughout the year
- 4th of July
- December Holidays
- Halloween
- Thanksgiving/Friendsgiving
- Host WATL watch parties for major tournaments throughout the year
- WATL Canadian Open
- WATL US Open
- World Axe Throwing Championship
- Other Community Tournaments
Create seasonal awards and/or small prizes
- Season Award Examples
- Killshot King/Queen
- Most Bullseyes
- Rookie of the Season
- Top Female Thrower
- Most Improved
- Most Consistent
- Least Drops
- Unofficial Champions Belt (Whoever won last season have them start with the belt, whenever they lose the belt transfers ownership)
- This ties into regular tournaments or even offering a small bounty for different achievements in a night or season
- First to hit 10 bullseyes in a row
- First to X killshots
- Longest streak without a drop
- etc.
Get the most passionate members of your club more involved by giving them more agency
- Get trusted and trained regulars to keep score
- Take feedback critically as these are the people most likely to appreciate changes and spread good things about your business
- Get input from members on changes to the facility different events or leagues
- Having interesting or exclusive merchandise is also a great way to reward long time or existing community members
Bring in people by getting involved in other communities (charity, fundraiser, bar crawl, etc.)
- Volunteer to be part of community events, fundraisers
- Say yes to opportunities that make sense for your business when approached
- These are great word of mouth marketing tools
- Find other communities that share members with the axe throwing world
- Approach some of these people and see if they are interested in participating or collaborating in some way
Get more involved in your city and surrounding area
- Participate in local city gatherings or festivals to promote your business and bring in new members
- Set up some off site targets
- Grab a booth at a local sporting event
- Let your venue be part of a city tour
- Befriend other influential or interesting members in your city
Make sure in spending time growing your community you don’t neglect the people that are already a part of it. As always community retention is always easier than acquisition. Follow these tips and continue to offer great service and your axe throwing community will thrive!
Get Exclusive Offers & Stay Up-To-Date
Sign-up today and never miss an update in the exciting world of axe throwing.