Re: Marketing Man : Sat May 21, 2011 9:10 am  

At our level a fundamental change in the way clubs think is needed , unfortunatly when you are in the ' hot seat ' at the sharp end trying to balance the pennies here and there you end up trying to run before you walk , you are that desperate for the income right now , it stops you from looking at what you really need to do , building a bigger fan base is THE hardest thing to do in any sport , look at Quins , and even Salford , they drew just over 2,000 for last nights game with HKR , with at least 500 from Hull in attendance

Basically you have to forget anything you have previously thought has worked , start with a blank piece of paper , and ask yourself simple questions on why do you go to matches , why do others not , what can you change in those peoples mindsets , and what you cannot , do you want to attract people who will only come a couple of matches till you suffer an unexpected defeat , or people who will become life long supporters

Lots of questions , think like those that don't come , not like those that do , when , why and how did you start to attend matches , will that work again , not forgetting to ensure when you answer these questions you do it truthfully , not with ' blue and white ' tinted glasses on

Re: Marketing Man : Sat May 21, 2011 9:12 am  

johnny freeman fan club wrote:

I totally agree Faxlad, the only time Bubba comes on here is to post negative comments re` the Fax Rugby Club , why bother?
Since starting the Faxbuilder fund for the Under 23s we have been more than surprised at the amount of support given to us but if anyones has any more ideas that they can offer to do with help we are here.
I was surprised about the posters myself or rather lack of them around the Town centre re` games especially the Bradford one but instead of being negative think positive. I will ask the Club if they can produce a poster that can be downloaded so all fans can print one or two off and take them every week to their local pub/ curry house / barber shop.
Incidently did you see the advert on ITV re` Wakefield Cass game this weekend I wonder how much that cost?

I also saw a advert by them for when they played Leeds Rhinos earlier in the season which shows they are pulling off all the stops to stay in super league as it won't be cheap.

Re: Marketing Man : Sat May 21, 2011 9:18 am  

Agree with some points, one area where Fax can improve is to stop wasting money preaching to the converted, they need to get the product sorted then start some real offers to get fairweathers back down, for years they have seemed unwilling to promote certain offers and take a hit for the bigger games, probably cos its hand to mouth for much of the time and the business model doesn't take risks, but i very much hope for the Widnes game this year we could let kids in for nothing and have a drive to reduce the cost and allow families to come without shopping at Aldi for a month. I do think the FB, email and other communications are a big step forward though, i just go back to preaching to the converted though, theres no real value in advertising to existing customers, its not washing powder or bathrooms were talking about, the drive has to be kids, and they really need to look at reducing the £15 and £18 costs or look at a more attractive season ticket offer. The model and plan seems to be very rigid they use, its been good to get us on an even keel but its time to kick on now.

Re: Marketing Man : Sat May 21, 2011 9:27 am  

Starbug wrote:

At our level a fundamental change in the way clubs think is needed , unfortunatly when you are in the ' hot seat ' at the sharp end trying to balance the pennies here and there you end up trying to run before you walk , you are that desperate for the income right now , it stops you from looking at what you really need to do , building a bigger fan base is THE hardest thing to do in any sport , look at Quins , and even Salford , they drew just over 2,000 for last nights game with HKR , with at least 500 from Hull in attendance

Basically you have to forget anything you have previously thought has worked , start with a blank piece of paper , and ask yourself simple questions on why do you go to matches , why do others not , what can you change in those peoples mindsets , and what you cannot , do you want to attract people who will only come a couple of matches till you suffer an unexpected defeat , or people who will become life long supporters

Lots of questions , think like those that don't come , not like those that do , when , why and how did you start to attend matches , will that work again , not forgetting to ensure when you answer these questions you do it truthfully , not with ' blue and white ' tinted glasses on

It was a particular player that started me watching in 1953 ( guess who) and I know quite a few of similar stories of children who started watching because of certain players the best marketing tool the Club has have to be the players .
I also hear from fans how they were brought to the match by their grandad , maybe have a Sunday where you can bring your grandchild in for free and get posters up advertising it. As I agree it can be quite expensive in these times , how about introducing a mini season ticket now for the rest of the season maybe that might get one or two floaters to commit.
One thing I think that has increased the crowds at Leigh this year is the involvment of your Coach and players banging the Leigh drum. I have noticed they turn up to LISA quizes and meetings that has to be a big bonus for any Club.

Re: Marketing Man : Sat May 21, 2011 10:16 am  

[quote="justthebasicfax", they need to get the product sorted then start some real offers to get fairweathers back down, now.[/quote]

Read my post again , properly this time

Re: Marketing Man : Sat May 21, 2011 10:19 am  

johnny freeman fan club wrote:

It was a particular player that started me watching in 1953 ( guess who) and I know quite a few of similar stories of children who started watching because of certain players the best marketing tool the Club has have to be the players .
I also hear from fans how they were brought to the match by their grandad , maybe have a Sunday where you can bring your grandchild in for free and get posters up advertising it. As I agree it can be quite expensive in these times , how about introducing a mini season ticket now for the rest of the season maybe that might get one or two floaters to commit.
One thing I think that has increased the crowds at Leigh this year is the involvment of your Coach and players banging the Leigh drum. I have noticed they turn up to LISA quizes and meetings that has to be a big bonus for any Club.

Ask yourself what is the purpose of your community dept ?

Re: Marketing Man : Sat May 21, 2011 10:20 am  

johnny freeman fan club wrote:

how about introducing a mini season ticket now for the rest of the season.

I've thought about this too, i cant see how it could be a bad thing, some extra offers too, we can have runs of home games in a month where the club perhaps would be better doing offers than just leaving it to picking games they can afford to come to. Season tickets at Xmas are not the only answer.
The spin off from getting more people in pays in the long run too. I think we'll likely limp along though and hope for Blackpool and a play off to bail us out though.
The best thing though would be for Nobby to get the players performing to the extent where people want to come and see the revolution, too good to miss etc.
IT'll be interesting to see how history reflects on this era and after the dust settles and players move on, 'whats really been going on' it might have been a laugh for the players, they might have had a scream, they might have won a trophy, but have we really been the best we can, promoting Fax hasn't been easy, it's got to start with the team, and its got to focus on youth and the future. I like the idea of a 'generations offer' Grand kids and grand parents week.
Cant go back to the 50's unfortunately though, competition for peoples money is like never before, but we can certainly do more thoughtful things.

Re: Marketing Man : Sat May 21, 2011 10:24 am  

Starbug wrote:

Read my post again , properly this time

What makes you think i was referring to your post ?
For what its worth, a lot of your sentiments are correct, we cant just follow the lead of others though, being original and better than others is improtant too.

Re: Marketing Man : Sat May 21, 2011 11:53 am  

justthebasicfax wrote:

What makes you think i was referring to your post ?
For what its worth, a lot of your sentiments are correct, we cant just follow the lead of others though, being original and better than others is improtant too.

Obviously you weren't , you state doing stuff to get ' fair-weather ' fans back

Why ? , if all they are is fair-weather fans , you don't want them back , ignore them , they are of no use to you , that is the whole point , all too often they are the focus of clubs attention , they are a waste of money , they already know you are playing well or not , they will come down if it's good , and then disappear at the 1 st bad result

Re: Marketing Man : Sat May 21, 2011 1:10 pm  

Starbug wrote:

Obviously you weren't , you state doing stuff to get ' fair-weather ' fans back

Why ? , if all they are is fair-weather fans , you don't want them back , ignore them , they are of no use to you , that is the whole point , all too often they are the focus of clubs attention , they are a waste of money , they already know you are playing well or not , they will come down if it's good , and then disappear at the 1 st bad result

Its a valid point you make re the fairweather types but people do reserve the right to be entertained! Unfortunatley not everybody is a dyed in the wool fan and they will take their attendance elsewhere if they are not happy. The true focus for me in Halifax needs to be getting the club to forge long term and genuine links with the dozen or so local rugby clubs (Ovenden, Boothtown, Kingcross, Illingworth, Siddal, Greetland, Elland, Irish etc) sorry if i missed anyone out. I know many young lads who play for their local area team at the weekend but dont ever go to watch Halifax. Im sure that Frank Watene in his community role has links with some of the clubs mentioned but these need to be long term. Giving free tickets to these clubs and other focal areas such as schools is a start, but the community link needs to be permenant in order to achieve long term success. Feel free to correct me if this is already the case.