vsc marketing committe

[redbrez]

could we not start a committe to promote games offerrs and season ticket sales? and have a new section for ideas and such? maybee the rovers could grant a bit of money towards the vsc for the price of  flyers and the rest can be done voulntry in distributing them like it has already proved succsesful.
how much would it cost the rovers to send letters out either door to door or mailsort price for the whole doncaster area and inform people of different ways to finance st for next season,  and different options of just saturday or weekday games.? could we make this project cheaper with tieing in a deal with one call or any other company associated with the rovers so they could pay a big share of the total outgoings?
if we had a new section like the rummour mill wwe could have the commitee go through ideas posted in the section? just a idea i know gartom and rob do a lot of work with meetings but could we all do a bit more to promote games ?

[drfcsteve]

Good idea, and I bet there is a lot more expertise and willing on this board then there is at drfc marketing.

[bobjimwilly]

drfcsteve wrote:

Good idea, and I bet there is a lot more expertise and willing on this board then there is at drfc marketing.

[DonnyBazR0ver]

I'm sure the club think we're just a bunch of knuckle draggers on here. If only they'd embrace the wide spectrum of talent and ideas.

One day !!

[VikingJames]

Maybe we should make a flyer promoting our ideas and flyers to the club?

[Old Popsider]

Nice idea but why should the goodwill and skills of the VSC membership be offered to DRFC when they probably pay a good wage to somebody whose job it is to market the club and the forthcoming games?

That person, or persons, who is plainly not very good at their job, is probably just parked on their arse on a nice office chair at KMS waiting to cherry pick the best VSC ideas and use them as their own.

My thought is that until JR grasps the nettle and sacks the whole marketing/PR team, and replaces them with people who are passionate and care about DRFC, such great offers such as has been posted on here should not be given freely to the club.

Gartom, next time you & JR have a chinwag, please make him more aware ( I know he already is to a certain extent) how strong that feelings about this subject are amongst VSC members and other club supporters.

I feel that he could be persuaded that given the goodwill apparent here, sacking the people already mentioned and replacing with the VSC Marketing Committee as proposed would be the most progressive thing he's done for the club since joining the Rovers himself.

Perhaps some of the saved wages the club is paying to the present PR/Marketing incumbents when they are P45'd could be given to the VSC MC (Marketing Committee) to pay for the costs of materials/printing and other ancillary expenses?

Anything is worth a try Gareth, as you well know.

Now Kilgallon is in the bag JR should be a bit more free to give some serious consideration to this issue.

Perhaps he can say, okay let's give VSC a run until the end of the season and then analyze how well their performance comes up against that of the former PR/Marketing people?

Nothing ventured nothing gained as the saying goes.

[BobG]

But he can't sack the entire Marketing Dept if the VSC is only committed to the end of the season. And sacking that lot won't free up any money for a while either.  Not only is there compensation to be paid but there's also the risk of an Industrial Tribunal to worry about. How could JR rely on volunteers anyway? Great while they're motivated, but illness? New job? Mrs nagging? Fed up? Move away? How could he be sure he'd cope then?

The VSC would have an awful lot of convincing to do before anybody would ever rely on it as a permanent resource. The only realistic roles the VSC can play, for a long time yet, is that of brains trust, information disseminator and volunteer source. If, by so doing, we could demonstrate with real facts and numbers that we'd made a significant difference, then that would cast a light on the current Marketing Dept that they probably wouldn't want to have shine. Now THAT is the time to go to John with a proper proposition.

BobG

[Dagenham Rover]

The impression I get is the Marketing dept is pretty decent at the corporate side and that is the area they concentrate on. but they take the attitude that the games will promote themselves to the ordinary fan.

[graingrover]

I would be willing to put in say £20 extra p.a towards flyers and other promotional aids and maybe we could together muster enough such donations to make a provide a wothwhile budget for match  ticket promotions( as VSC has already successfully done) .
        I participated in the famous Fans Forum plan but if anything that taught me not to try do something that undermines the club's own officials . They will not do more than pay lip service to ideas that do not come from themselves . SO I would highly recommend we do not try to set up an alternative Marketing plan but that we restrict our actions to doing what JR has asked ... help promote match tickets .
        We can still brainstorm on here to develop , resource and action a plan for Matchday promotions .
       If Garton would get JR to sanction an idea like this then we could and should help.

[graingrover]

Please give this your critical responses ....
 
    Strategy .... To promote ticket sales for Rovers home games for the rest of the season.
     Who ... VSC unit of members lead by JR and Gartom.
   
     Actions .
     
     1 FLYERS
         a)  produce flyers for use on Internet and in printed version

         b) identify individuals willing to distribute printed flyers in Doncaster area

         c)identify shops , pubs , post offices willing to carry printed flyers on their premises for every match .

          d) identify bus companies willing to display flyer- adverts on board their buses every home match.

          e) brainstorm for other 'carriers'

     2 ADVERTISING HOARDINGS.

        Identify prominent advertisement placement hoarding in all surrounding villages in catchment area and in Donny town centre for home match ticket advertising . Approach relevant owners and prepare a budget for hiring fees of such advertising placements .
 
     3 NEWS LETTERS ...... ideas ?

     4 INTERNET ADVERTISING ideas ?

           This is posted only to provoke discussion and sollicit ideas  rather than to promote the actual content .
       
            FIRTLY we need to have a written authorisation from JR to prepare a Match Promotion Plan and to identify who will lead it ( hopefully VSC Chairman)and who will participate in it .It would be a shame to just do the Reading game now .

[Wade Falana]

I work in advertising and marketing so i'm interested in this topic.

Why do you think the Doncaster public are staying away?

1.Is it product on offer?
2.Do the \"floating fans\" know that the games are on?
3.Do these \"fans\" like coming to the Keepmoat? Maybe the Belle Vue experience was better for them?
4.Price. Is it simply too expensive? Will fans now pick and choose their games?

Just a couple of points, do the club still send out a weekly/monthly newsletter? I used to get a Redline club update but havn't had one for ages. If the club have a  database then there should be at least an email sent to season ticket holders with club info/offers on a regular basis. I get a regular Sheff Wed e flyer (don't ask me why!) but it is really good as a promotional tool.

Do you also think we would get more fans through the turnstiles if we were top of League 1 playing the likes of Oldham again? (even if the price was the same)

I think the club are getting better with the marketing but ultimatly it will come down to budgets. How much realistically do you think they should be spending per month on advertising? The 1/4 page in todays Free Press will have been the best part of £500 unless the club have a deal in place.

[Ldr]

graingrover wrote:

Please give this your critical responses ....
 
    Strategy .... To promote ticket sales for Rovers home games for the rest of the season.
     Who ... VSC unit of members lead by JR and Gartom.
   
     Actions .
     
     1 FLYERS
         a)  produce flyers for use on Internet and in printed version

         b) identify individuals willing to distribute printed flyers in Doncaster area

         c)identify shops , pubs , post offices willing to carry printed flyers on their premises for every match .

          d) identify bus companies willing to display flyer- adverts on board their buses every home match.

          e) brainstorm for other 'carriers'

     2 ADVERTISING HOARDINGS.

        Identify prominent advertisement placement hoarding in all surrounding villages in catchment area and in Donny town centre for home match ticket advertising . Approach relevant owners and prepare a budget for hiring fees of such advertising placements .
 
     3 NEWS LETTERS ...... ideas ? - Maybe a dummies guide as such, guide to the ground, bus times and locations, how and where to buy tickets

     4 INTERNET ADVERTISING ideas ? - Viral, get a match advertising video on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook

     5 RADIO - I live in Newcastle and you cant get through a day without hearing about the next 'Toon' game on the local station, and they have no local competition. Lets get the message out there DRFC!

           This is posted only to provoke discussion and sollicit ideas  rather than to promote the actual content .
       
            FIRTLY we need to have a written authorisation from JR to prepare a Match Promotion Plan and to identify who will lead it ( hopefully VSC Chairman)and who will participate in it .It would be a shame to just do the Reading game now .

[River Don]

Wade Falana wrote:

I work in advertising and marketing so i'm interested in this topic.

Why do you think the Doncaster public are staying away?

1.Is it product on offer?
2.Do the \"floating fans\" know that the games are on?
3.Do these \"fans\" like coming to the Keepmoat? Maybe the Belle Vue experience was better for them?
4.Price. Is it simply too expensive? Will fans now pick and choose their games?

Just a couple of points, do the club still send out a weekly/monthly newsletter? I used to get a Redline club update but havn't had one for ages. If the club have a  database then there should be at least an email sent to season ticket holders with club info/offers on a regular basis. I get a regular Sheff Wed e flyer (don't ask me why!) but it is really good as a promotional tool.

Do you also think we would get more fans through the turnstiles if we were top of League 1 playing the likes of Oldham again? (even if the price was the same)

I think the club are getting better with the marketing but ultimatly it will come down to budgets. How much realistically do you think they should be spending per month on advertising? The 1/4 page in todays Free Press will have been the best part of £500 unless the club have a deal in place.

1. The product on offer is an interesting question. Most love to watch O'Driscolls Rovers but there are those who find the style slow or negative and would like to see a return to a more direct combative style.

2. I think they know games are on but I'm sure many are unaware of reduced price ticket offers

3. There are those who hanker after OBV but I would suggest the biggest reason Rovers attendances have increased other than the success on the field is the new stadium.

4. With many feeling the pinch Price has most certainly been a factor this season.

[RobTheRover]

I'd agree with all of those responses, RD.

Furthermore, 2) and 4) are interlinked - people who dont know abbout price promotions find it easy to decide not to go when they believe tickets are £25+

[Berkshire Rover]

I believe the fundamental objective of the VSC is to support the club, originally back in the dark days of the conference the financial support given was significant to the club, now whilst it is still appreciated, in reality it is much less important than it was.
In my opinion therefore we should look at how we can best achieve our primary objective. My priorities would be:
1 Continue to exert influence on the DRFC marketing team through the dialogue that Gareth has with JR
2 Support the clubs marketing effort in a planned and co-ordinated way, providing assistance with distributing flyers etc.
3 Growing our own membership, more VSC members will benefit everybody.
4 Represent the members views as vigorously as possible in relation to ticket prices, schemes, offers etc.

[donnybez]

If I may, heres a few suggestions...

Radio : Sine FM, Yorkshire radio, Hallam FM, Radio Sheffield, etc We are in a good location for radio stations, so surely we could arrange some ads that way?

Free Press : See if the FP or Star would sll us that advert space on the front page, best promotion space by far for the Rovers

Introduce a family ticket that makes it viable for families to see us play without forking over to the sum of 100+ per match. Youth isnt just important in teams, its key in crowds, get down to schools and introduce more under 18 offers, use the local college as a source of fans

Website : This HAS to be more productive!! It needs to be banging in the message about tickets with a weekly update via email, weekly message OR use advert space already onb site to promote matches

Frenchgate & Lakside shopping village : Promote Rovers via ad space, giant screen outside of, and special one off events and signings within the Frenchgate, while building a partnership with the Lakeside shopping village so the missus can go off and shop and the bloke can go to Rovers. Promote both within each other and if need be, do vouchers in the match day programme to be used at selected lakeside shops the FOLLOWING home game

Train Station : Keepmoat, theatre and unison all advertise in the train and bus stations, so why cant we? People commute through, in and out of Doncaster everyday. Its a town of connections, so lets use them!!

Races : Buy up ad space or neogiate a joint marketing campaign which promotes both events withinb each other







Any of these ideas good?  B)

Donnybez RTID

[Old Popsider]

Frenchgate/Lakeside/Station/Races all been put forward before. They seem to be the most popular options, so if this whole idea takes off then they should be the first targets.

New one (maybe) how about costing the adverts you see on the sides and arse ends of buses like the ones you see for theatres/pantos/shopping centre etc? Probably very expensive but maybe JR could find a way of channelling money from the club for that? Mobile advertising is a very effective thing.

[askernred]

Feel free to shoot me down but with this Donnybob challenge etc why dont we (as in VSC) be allowed to earn commision of sorts by saying for every 10 new fans/tickets sold (which also means new people being added onto database) be given a free ticket or the option to then sell the next X amount of tickets at a £5 reduction??

Your thoughts??

[BobG]

Interesting thought that Askern. It could be a disaster with squabbles about who gets the cheap tickets, but equally, it could be a great success if the VSC could choose target audiences (pick a school?) and flood them with cheap tickets. It needs some serious thinking about - but it's sure got potential. Mind you, why would the Rovers in effect give away cheap tickets? That's an argument that would need careful thought too.

Cheers

BobG

[askernred]

obviously it would need rules and regs in place but its got to be worth a discussion. It could be run similar to the lottery with agents etc. If people are prepared to offer their valuable time then a reward of sorts needs giving. Whether its taken or given to others is then up to the said individual.

Several options available for example;

Sell 5 tickets get your with £5 discount or £5 discount from next season ticket
Sell 10 and still get £5 discount of ticket or £10 off season ticket
Sell 20 and half price ticket and if done for half of the games across season half price season ticket??

Obviously these numbers are examples but could be worked out financially so both the club, VSC and the said individual all benefit??

[BobG]

That's the debate in a nutshell right there Askern. I had imagined the VSC keeping all the discount tickets and then using them to blanket a chosen target audience. Your thought of individuals getting a reward is equally valid - but unless and until the rules are agreed, it'd cause nothing but argument.

Cheers

BobG

[askernred]

No i agree with you totally. Its just probably another idea that isnt given a chance. I have sent a PM to Gareth with some ideas and my contact details and am prepared to offer time for the cause so see what happens??

[BobG]

Go for it!

Cheers

BobG

[PDX_Rover]

We should have a video board as you come down the link road from the m18 to the dual carriageway that takes you to the kms - with game info, pricing etc - remember the old sign outside obv? An updated version of that.