We routinely send out postcards to most of the soccer tournaments we know of. The photo to the left is typically what comes back after a mailing. In all, we get about 20% of all postcards we send out returned back because the address is no longer valid.
The really sad thing is that the tournament is still being held, but someone else is in charge or they moved the PO Box or some other reason why the address is not longer valid. If TourneyCentral can’t even send a postcard to the right address because it moves so often, how do these tournaments expect teams to find them and apply?
And many teams don’t find them. Many teams that know where the tournament are being held, know the people putting on the tournament, etc. find and apply, but how do new teams find existing tournaments? Well, the sad truth is most of the time, they don’t!
Our Advice: Your life blood of growth is new teams coming to your tournament each year. Stay put! Get and keep a PO Box where teams can contact you. Get and keep a domain name for your tournament Web site so that when teams bookmark you one year, they can find you the next. Quit bouncing around and act like you want to be found.
Keep your listings up-to-date in the directories. It may be a small amount of work to stay current, but if one more new team finds you and applies, the effort pays for itself.