How do I market sports recruitment videos?

[Jessica Gourdine]

Hello everyone,

I want to get into sports highlight/recruitment videos but was wondering how exactly to advertise it. Should I just give out flyers/cards to the entire fb/bb team? With that, I'm thinking that we'd get too many players wanting a video done, and we don't have enough equipment or manpower to cover multiple players from the same team in the same season. Or do you just go after the "stars" of the team to see if they'd be interested in getting a video done? Or do you just post it on your website and hope tht someone calls? And also how would you price something like this?

[Jason Boyette]

The stars are the one's that don't need high-lite videos in order to get them into college...they are already going. The wisest ones to go after is going to the the 2nd tier players. The ones that might have a chance of going, and would be aided by a video high-lite.

You need a connection at each school, a coach or even parent that can point you in the direction of the athletes that have the potential to play college ball but they are under the recruiting radar.

You do not want just anybody asking for a video...if the athlete is well let's just say bad...really bad, and just sits the bench. It is real hard to make a highlite video for them. I would really suggest finding someone on the inside who can help you out!

Hope this helps!

As for price range...my new goal for 2008 is to not take any job for under $200...anything under that seems to be a waste of my time, energy, and money!

And yes I'm probably dreaming, but it's a goal!
Jason

[Mark Bournes]

Contact your local HS Athletic directors. Tell what kind of service your offering. They will most likely point you in the right direction. As a former HS Head Coach, I had various college coaches on my radar and would send them as much as I could to try and get my kids scholarships. The parents pay for them but it's the coaches who will weed them out for you. Trust me I got a few borderline kids scholarships. Good luck.

[Matt Bishop]

I agree with Jason that you don't need to focus all of your attention on the big stars, but at the same time, keep them in mind. I do a lot of volleyball videos and for some reason, the volleyball girls are always ahead of the curve. If they are doing well, they'll start having colleges looking at them their junior year and that is the most important time to get that highlights video out. My point is, if you catch them early enough, they'll benefit a huge amount from having that video to send out...and they'll want to send it everywhere!!
The coaches are going to be your best asset with this type of work. They can make it known to the players and parents of players that they feel are going to need this as they start looking at college. Then you don't necessarily just get anyone and everyone wanting it. Also, this applies to all sports to some degree, but there are endless volleyball regional and national leagues that girls will play on after their HS season. These are a select group and perfect to go after for this work.

Matt

[Guy Godwin]

I just bought my first professional camera and am wanting to use it to add some additional income with a hobby.

Other than wedding's and special events like that I also considered how could I use the camera for sports which is my main reason for buying the camera.

Here is my idea. But it would take alot of networking around the country.

Contact your local Universties and Colleges and tell them that you can be available to Record the prospects that they want in your area.

For example: If I were to tell all the schools that I am available to go to the greater Cincy area and record any kid they would like tape on. This has got to be a cheaper method than flying around the country.

Also learn the world of recruiting. There are several aspects to consider. Example: There are certain times of year coaches can not talk to players.

I think coaches on small budgets that are strecthed for time could really use a service that caters to them. I most cases highschool kids do not have tape that a coach wants. They are edited and don't show the entire game a kid may have. However, if the kid is paying you then you must edit as they want.

[Jessica Gourdine]

Thanks u all for the information. It's all so very helpful.

One other question (for now)? How many games do u recommend be recorded? I'm asking bc I would like to try to get at least 2 players per season. Didn't know if that was customary or not.

Jason,
I think $200 is an attainable goal. I'm sure you're more than worth it. Best wishes.

[Jon Omiatek]

I shoot football all season for a hs football team with 2 to 3 cameras, edit it and give it to the parents each week. We charge them $430 per game plus the price of copies. They also show my footage on the local cable station each week.

At the end of the season, I have the parents/players pull the time code from each dvd and give the plays to me to add to their highlight.

I only charge $120 if they book a highight at the beginning of the season and $200 if they do it later. My highlights require no extra work besides pulling plays that are already on my harddrives and putting it all together.

This season I produced 16 highlights for football, 10 for soccer and 5 for lacross. I only film about 5 games of lacrosse and soccer but they pull the plays from those games for highlights.

Before I had this school, I use to go to individual games with two cameras and shoot highlights, edit the game and give them their highlights from the game and a wide version of the entire game. I charged $300 to $600 depending on the sport. Not to many jobs at that price point. The best bet is to get in with a school, start with football, they have the most people to support it, my school had 80 players. That will lead you into other opportunities. I personally, am swamped with HS events. I am also only 3 years into this program and it's more fun that your standard videography.

Good luck