Marketing and PR campaign

[glenngsxr]

I want to get a quick headcount of who would be interested in being a part of this committee? Also, we are on a tight budget so I need to know what resources you have(hook-ups, connections, etc.) as well as any ideas you think will prove to be effective. Thanks, Glenn #62

[glenngsxr]

well would you look at that. Our schedule is up at roadracingworld.com. There is step one. Glenn #62
http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=31083

[Wild Cheetah 612]

You rock, Glenn!
I remember I worked a lot of hours working with Stan Foxworthy at PR events for the MRA at the Pepsi Center during dirtbike events, Fay Meyers, and other places just because I wanted to be a contributing member of the MRA and got nothing out of it but personal satisfaction.

I will be the MRA Board contact for this committee.

[glenngsxr]

great! We have a board contact. Donna, if it gets to that point, can you find out what kind of budget we may be able to come up with? I am not thinking thousands if that's what you are worried about. Could we possibly get around $700? I can make that go pretty far with some of the connections I have. This would be a great start. My first priority is to get a huge banner made that goes everywhere we go on race weekends. We can place it strategically to get passer bys. ie, the exit ramp in Pueblo for hwy. 50! Kinko's makes these for a decent price. Glenn #62

[Wild Cheetah 612]

I'm on it

[hcr25]

well would you look at that. Our schedule is up at roadracingworld.com. There is step one. Glenn #62
http://roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=31083

I had e mailed it to them before from my AOL account but it must have been blocked or bounced. i sent it from my work e mail and they posted it right away.
mike

[clowe]

Glenn,
Get in touch with me as I have some idea of what we can do here.
Thanks,
Crash

[glenngsxr]

Crash, call you later big boy!
Mike A., Had a feeling it was you, thanks.
Donna, my number is 719-661-1583 if you wanna chat.

glenn #62

[jplracing]

Glenn,

On the other thread I volenteered my time and PM'd Jon who I spoke too this morning.

If you need my contact info PM me

Joe

[uberwench]

You can have any full-sized pictures you want from uber-wheels for the banner and any fliers you want to hand out, just give me a holler.

720-427-0240

Plus I have some ideas but I talk faster than I type.

Margaret

[Wild Cheetah 612]

Here's the deal, PR Committee...

The Board has authorized us a budget of $1000. I will oversee the spending of it. Let's get going!

The Board has been talking the last couple of days on the MRA Board Forums about this (y'all don't see that particular forum pop up when you sign in) and we are all behind this venture. We are appreciative of the skills and time of you members possess that we don't. So far two rider reps (Applehans and I) are on board with this committee. Pretty much the President, VP, Secretary, Treasurer, New Rider Director, Track Marshal, and VP of Rules and Tech have their plates heaping full. Trust me on this, I see what they have to do. We all sincerely thank the efforts of you who have the contacts and skills to make PR and Advertising of our club a successful reality!

Everyone on the Board is always thinking and trying to add positive input to the issues. Kip Book (Track Marshal) came up with the idea of stickers for all of us members to put on our personal vehicles advertising the MRA, but we couldn't think of what would be cool to put on it as Tony's idea was gay.

Alright, who else is with us?

[glenngsxr]

See the kind of resources we came up with in just three hours! Kip has a great idea. Obviously, we would need a sticker that has a picture of a roadracer with the website below it. Our website is one of the best out of all the clubs I have seen(thanks Davey boy). Anytime we direct people to it, we win. I am pretty excited that the board has granted us $1000. Thank you. I assure you it will be well spent. Moreover, I want to create advertising that the league can use for years to come. Flyers are a great short term solution, but after the season is over they become a sunk cost. However, we do need a few to distribute.

Margaret,
For these flyers, I would like some really cool shots with some clean bikes. I always thought Dave Gallant, Crash Lowe, and Jeff Brown had very clean bikes and they would look great on a promotional flyer. Do you have any particular shots of them you like that would format well on a glossy, standard 8.5x11 poster.

Another idea I have is to get two flags made that we can hang outside the gates where we are racing that particular weekend. Outside the pearly white gates of Pueblo would be a great spot(for example).

Donna,
What were some of the things Stan Foxworthy did when he ran this thing? What mistakes did he make and what were some of the successes he had? Glenn #62

[Throttleroller277]

I am willing to help out as well. I don't know a whole lot about advertising, other than putting stickers on my bikes, and promoting my sponsors, but If you need help making phone calls and such, let me know. 8)

Thanks for the clean bike complement too Glenn. 8)

[marty]

If you need help making phone calls and such,

would you do sales calls like your hero roger lee on his Kawi commercial? sorry couldn't resist :lol:

[turbohoje]

there has got to be a way to piggy back our advertisement efforts onto successful channels for sportbike/racing marketing:

i'm never on it, but are the people on the csc aware of the mra? i know there is a track day section on there but maybe there is a better way to make use of the pre-sorted demographic of sportbike riders there. i'm on a couple forums, but i dont read threads that directly relate to me [yet].

how about this, work with dealerships to give them kickbacks on sending riders our way. so say on a model year bike purchase (which the dealer likes), the dealer would hand out a coupon for 50% off membership dues with the mra.
that person when they sign up presents that coupon to the mra and the 50% of the dues (or large part of) are paid back to the dealership. now the club made no money on gaining a new racer, but they will have to register for a race at some point. now someone else knows about the club, will prbly go to a rider school (sorry mark this may fill schools) and tell someone else that they are going to do it. at the very least its some incentive to get the dealerships hand out coupons.
this might be a dumb idea in that i dont know what kind of overhead this places on the existing member infrastructure. but if it seems like a decent idea, i will manage getting unique coupons in dealers hands for distribution. when some of those come back, i will help count and total the payouts.

[Jon]

Sounds like you boys and girls got it handled, Thanks for considering me and let me know how I can help. I'm still willing to get those posters printed up and distributed. I think that distributing and displaying them at M/C Dealerships close to the programs works best. I always supplied a box with several for fans to take home as well, that way friends and family members are reminded of the upcoming events,location and etc.
As I have a good re pore with Jay at Giacomo's as I've probably bought more food than most there, I'd like to be the one to speak with him. All Hotels, Auto Part stores, car audio, Hot Rod/Tire and wheel shops would be my choices for distribution as well. I believe though a good idea, displaying a banner across the highway would probably catch negative flack from the DOT and boys in grey/blue.
There several other ideas that I have and if you guys have a meeting I'd be willing to discuss, A reminder to the various shops in the area of the upcoming events doesn't hurt as they can often arrange maybe a early morning ride that ends up at the track for a days worth of racing. Those of you who are sponsored by these shops can certainly raise interest. Rather it be displaying your pit set-up and racebike during a weekend prior to the race weekend or having the parts guy/ service tech or manager single out sportbike riders and telling them about you who's sponsored by them, it all helps. It's all about getting the word out and putting it in peoples face. I've had many folks from bankers, lawyers and real estate agents, dentists and etc. come watch. Some thought I was crazy so thought not, but regardless it leaves and impression that's spoken about. I gotten positive feedback on some of my antics through the years. The posters and swag handed out at Pueblo along with Kim and Teresa (the umbrella girls) raised an eyebrow or two and have them lined up this season as well. Once we get all this going I don't see a way in hell that we can't get some success but feel that once we get them there, it's up to us as a club from announcing, to just plane professionalism to keep them coming back.
From racing across the country both professionally and at the amateur level, I beleive the MRA's a pretty good show. Most bikes look pretty good but from getting sponsorship they should look great. If your bikes dirty and your pits a mess, it doesn't promote the big show image. There's a few in the club that have that stuff nailed, there's a few that can work on it. I promise the big show looks promote a good image that helps bring new sponsors for both the club and you individual riders.

[turbohoje]

putting the bikes in the shop is a sweet idea.
presentable racebikes in the dealership with the dealers stickers, mra stickers and such would accomplish multiple things. first off the dealer may dig it, the mra stickers on it would help since there is regular traffic in dealers, and any other sponsors on the bike would get more exposure as well.

i dont suppose there is much room for this, its not like we can all play this card, but i dig it. i call the 104th copow

[DingleBerns]

Just a quick side note, Joe L. has already had his bike in Performance Cycle at the end of the 07 season so it can be done. Joe did the bike bring Don, the owner, any questions about the MRA?

[jplracing]

Dingle,

I have been sponserd by Performance for several years. As a thank you I place my race bike in his shop every year during his street gear sale (around thanksgiving)

Every year there is a ton of interest in the bike with many people taking pics with there kids. Normally I have a metric shit ton of finger prints to clean off the bike after the weekend

Donnie is well aware of who the MRA is and normally sponsers AMO every year. So no it doesn't really generate any questions from him, however it does gerenerate questions from his customers.

Even though it is already suggested a "Meet and Greet" displaying bikes/riders/posters in the local shops is a great way to generate some interest as well as a great way to network with the shops for sponsership.

Joe

[nobasin]

i just reeled in one of colorado's major PR players...lee hart from Brandamp Communications. www.brandamp.com. she's totally willing to help us out (i'm trading her some web services) and it also turns out she's an ex motor-head: she used to wrench for her drag racing dad as a kid. her father actually got into drag bikes for a while, and she waxed poetically about the crazy power of her dads kawi H1 two stroke...i think she's the perfect fit! she gets the motorcycle crowd, and she's super connected in the media world as you can see by the work on her site. she's willing to come to our marketing committee meetings and contribute. donna, pm me as you put together a meeting schedule for us to get together and i'll make sure lee is there.

mike-

[Throttleroller277]

i call the 104th copow

Justin,
Donnie is in full support of the racing. I have had my bike on display up there a couple times. I agree we should do more of this.


8)

[DingleBerns]

So no it doesn't really generate any questions from him, however it does gerenerate questions from his customers.

Joe

That's what I intended to say was the customers, not Don himself. I think its a great way to start and it's FREE! If we could get multiple bikes in multiple shops, There's no question that the number of dealer customers that become aware of the MRA would increase dramatically.

Dingle

[Clarkie]

My bike has been in Fay Myers for a while, looking a lot more purdy that it did all season :wink:

[JimWilson29]

I have had my bike on display at Grand Prix Motorsports a few times in the past couple years and I continue to put MRA programs out for customers when I am there every week. Unfortunately they seem to get shuffled to the bottom with all the SRAC and RMXA stuff, but when they are visible they usually get snatched up pretty quickly.

[DingleBerns]

i'm never on it, but are the people on the csc aware of the mra? i know there is a track day section on there but maybe there is a better way to make use of the pre-sorted demographic of sportbike riders there. i'm on a couple forums, but i dont read threads that directly relate to me [yet].

I'm on there pretty much everyday reading their post, sometimes replying, but I do believe they are aware of the MRA. I wonder if Ralph, Spiderman, or Scott can make a MRA sticky thread under the track day section or where ever else you guys think. I can take the lead on this part and post up MRA upcoming events. If not, I can still make threads but they won't be sticky...any thoughts?