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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2016 7:40:18 GMT
There always seems to be no end of people (myself included) who say what is wrong but very few people ever say what in their opinion can help.
One of the most obvious is the lack of marketing from the club.
I've mentioned this before over the years but we are fortunate enough to have one of the biggest universities in Europe right on our door step, surely it is worth the club approaching the powers that be and seeing if they can get some of the students involved on the marketing side of things. Give them a budget and see what they can do, benefits for the students are the experience, the chance to have working as an intern for a professional (stop laughing at the back) sports team, possible further employment with the club after studies finished and with the Docs other interests wouldn't hurt to get themselves noticed and possibly poached. Benefits to the club are the chance to get new different ideas and the possibility of unearthing new fan streams.
I've often thought that the club could with very little outlay reach thousands (if not 10s of thousands of people per week), two options really the simplest but possibly least effective is a sign at the doors of all the large Supermarkets in the area, we have 3 large Tesco (Salford, Walkden & Irlam), ASDA Trafford Park, 2 Morrisons (Eccles & Swinton), approach a local sign manufacturer (M&A Brown are based locally in Worsley) and offer a years free add in the program in exchange and have details of the next game and specific offer codes for each store to see where the most interest lies. For me the biggest chance would be if you could find a way to get a large screen TV & sign at the entrance of each store with details of the next game/tickets ECT and have action from games to catch kids interest. Gets players down from time to time and Dr Devil for the kids. Neither would cost a fortune in the grand scheme of things and you'd like to think that local retailers would be supportive of the local sports team.
Sure I'll be dissected but both options have very little outlay from the club and can only help get those much needed bums on seats.
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Post by Carnster on Jul 30, 2016 7:58:15 GMT
It would be interesting to do some data mining on current fans of Salford.
We could see where most of the fans originate from, live or travel from. Their reasons for supporting Salford, mode of transport to the games. How many have been going for ten years or more, and how many are 'new' fans. This may seem unimportant but it would provide an interesting insight into the whether current support is fairly new or hardcore in the majority. The reasons why could help in target marketing specific areas if common themes crop-up. An example would be if a certain percentage of fans come from specific areas outside of Salford it may be worth targeting these areas with future marketing to gather interest. After all, it would make sense for the Club to be specific with its marketing for maximum impact and financial sense. Blanket marketing is fine, but you're going to be wasting a lot of effort and money covering areas with no interest.
The Club could also put up a bit of cheeky marketing towards Sale fans who already visit the ground regularly. Maybe a season ticket discount for Sale season ticket holders. Most wouldn't bite, but some would be general rugby fans who may be tempted. Possible new fans who already visit the stadium regularly.
There are satellite towns around GMR that have seen the decline of their football teams, like Stockport who have a ripe pool of people to draw from who fancy a change.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2016 8:20:05 GMT
Said it since Sale moved to Barton that both teams should offer a significant discount to each others fans, I'd certainly go to a good few Sale games if the price was right as I just simply miss rugby (I don't differentiate between the 2 being born & bred in Salford but from a Welsh RU family).
I've long said that there are certain communities in Salford and further afield we should target, the kids of these communities would be idea athletes to get interested in RL both as spectators and players.
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Post by tron on Jul 30, 2016 16:22:23 GMT
Still think the main issue is the air of negativity around the club. Complaining about the location of the stadium and the rfl from the fans and the chairman does nobody any good.
We need to push the positives of what we have. A great sport, the best team we have had in admittedly my short time following the club, and a good stadium. There are problems getting there which I believe will be eased with the new bridge.
We will though only attract new fans with a concerted effort to depict the club and sport as something enjoyable and positive.
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Post by Carnster on Jul 30, 2016 16:42:53 GMT
Still think the main issue is the air of negativity around the club. Complaining about the location of the stadium and the rfl from the fans and the chairman does nobody any good. We need to push the positives of what we have. A great sport, the best team we have had in admittedly my short time following the club, and a good stadium. There are problems getting there which I believe will be eased with the new bridge. We will though only attract new fans with a concerted effort to depict the club and sport as something enjoyable and positive. Good and valid points. |
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Post by Deleted on Jul 30, 2016 18:47:46 GMT
Played golf with a guy today who asked what my thoughts are on Barton, good stadium with it's troubles getting to, nothing like as bad as is made out. We both agreed the problem lies with people still wanting it to be on their doorstep as the Willows was. It's not and unless they move it's not going to be again.
Back on track with assistance doesn't take much for First bus to get 2 double deckers lined up for the end of the game, charge everyone £2 and drop them in Eccles, then there are trams, trains and endless buses all over the place, people could even park on Morrisons after 6 (as it's free) and grab a bus down and save a on time and effort parking at the stadium. The situation with buses needs to be broached by the club as from what I gather nothing has been asked of any of the bus providers.
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Post by salfordlad1 on Jul 31, 2016 22:03:42 GMT
I always look for the positives first and I must say the club have their social media marketing spot and the introduction of a YouTube channel is something that we'd been missing for quite some time. I do however feel that our advertising around the City is nonexistent apart from the ineffective signs on the East Lancs road on your way in and out of Manchester. Can someone please tell me why we never refreshed theses with the council for the new season. Surely that only takes a couple of phone calls?
I personally used to like it back in the day when we had signs up all over the City, in high footfall areas. It seems to me these days that we have the odd game where we will make a real effort to draw a decent crowd but then just give it up after a couple more weeks and back to the old status quo.
Here's my solution to the problem. Have a £30k per year budget for marketing, go around to local businesses and ask them if we can put signs up on their facilities in exchange for 2xVIP tickets for 4 games of your choice throughout the season. Pay an apprentice £12k per year to work within the foundation and every other week for 2 days go around putting the signs up in a Mitsubishi with Salford Logos all over the place. Get 200 signs up all over the City not just in Salford but Manchester, Trafford, Bury etc as well. Surely this will pay for itself? Even if you get 1 extra person per game for every sign you put up £20x200 =£4,000. £4,000 x 17=£68,000.
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Post by bandgeekmafia78 on Aug 1, 2016 8:19:16 GMT
I think the club should look at building and developing an app for android and apple devices.
I know that there is one floating around but it's useless and never updated. The best thing about creating an official app is that you can enable push notifications, so you aren't waiting for your customer base to come to you - you can go straight to them. Push notifications could be used to announce team line-ups, transfer deals, kick-off changes, advertising ticket prices, match day reminders etc.
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Post by Carnster on Aug 1, 2016 8:28:21 GMT
I think the club should look at building and developing an app for android and apple devices. I know that there is one floating around but it's useless and never updated. The best thing about creating an official app is that you can enable push notifications, so you aren't waiting for your customer base to come to you - you can go straight to them. Push notifications could be used to announce team line-ups, transfer deals, kick-off changes, advertising ticket prices, match day reminders etc. The people who make the useless app currently available followed me on twitter. When I pointed out that the image they use for displaying the app shows 'Leeds 70 Salford 6' as the selling point, is maybe not a good option, they just ignored me. The push notifications is a really good point. |
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Post by salfordlad1 on Aug 1, 2016 18:49:07 GMT
We need to be attracting new supporters, an app would only really be downloaded by our core fans who probably follow us on Twitter anyway. A text message service would probably be more effective, it might help bring people to the games more regularly who only go to maybe 2/3 games a season.
Brand awareness is what we really need.
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Post by bandgeekmafia78 on Aug 2, 2016 9:21:14 GMT
A text message service would probably be more effective, it might help bring people to the games more regularly who only go to maybe 2/3 games a season. Brand awareness is what we really need. I can see what you mean about an SMS service but from experience they can take up a lot of admin time, making sure that you have up-to-date phone numbers etc. plus most companies charge per text so unless you keep on top of everyone's contact details you might be throwing money down the drain. Also, you are limited to 120 characters. I don't see why the club doesn't look at both an SMS service and a proper Android/Apple app. Both are a good way of engaging fans, old and new. |
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Post by ayresrock on Aug 2, 2016 11:04:47 GMT
with the east stand closed pretty much all the time now, throw some money at having it open on match days, give every school kid in Salford a free season ticket and parents vouchers with discounted prices but when purchasing a ticket have to show some form of evidence that they are purchasing with a school kid (Ticket voucher book or something along those lines). Yes open to some abuse but surely having bums on seats and increasing the numbers is worth it when takings are up and really push the family features. Not only does it add the bums to seats, you are more likely to retain numbers the following year as people become hooked.
This also leads to the possibility of increasing playing participation in the area as more and more kids become more aware of the game and take an interest.
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Post by 1andyr on Aug 2, 2016 11:28:20 GMT
Some great points made. My solution, which is cheap, is to email everyone on the club's database every single week without fail - even in the close season. It could be a simple no-frills email reminding people that there is a match coming up, or linking to articles on the official website. It would be a good way to reach out to those who don't do social media. I have had the odd email from the club over the last few years, but it only seems to be when they want me to renew my season ticket  |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 2, 2016 12:18:18 GMT
A blanket weekly newsletter is a simple and effective solution, pretty sure also one of the fans could help with it.
Currently the club seem to effectively rely on Antisocial media for all it's promotion, if it wasn't for tattooed women on Twitter I'd not be on any of it so someone who has been a season ticket holder might not be as up to date as is possible.
A friend did say recently one factor keeping new/old people from returning might be the costs involved, £20 for a ticket is borderline but to put a 25% surcharge on for buying from the stadium on the day is pure suicide, it is almost saying if you don't buy beforehand you then cause us more hassle on the day so we'll penalise you for it. Drop match day prices to £15 for next season where I'm pretty sure a top 8 spot is highly likely and a less fractious time off the pitch means the club then becomes more attractive to people returning/joining in. The more pocket friendly you make it the more appealing it becomes.
An old crusade of mine but no fan under 16 should pay to watch any RL in the UK period! Any under 14 must be accompanied by an adult who pays and as for the East stand I've shouted long and hard fill it with kids, get a local company to sponsor it (either separate ones for each game or for the year) get skills on for them outside before the game and just try to pad the day out so every kid is dragging an adult down to the game as early as possible.
The captain should also do a weekly column on the official site, telling us of up coming promotions, where the players might be out and about promoting the club, injury updates and light hearted takes on their fellow squad members.
What strikes me with most of these suggestions (the East stand opening aside) is that they would cost very little and all have the potential to at least generate interest and promote the club effectively. There really is nothing to stop a progressive club actioning them, if only we were a progressive club!
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Post by gadger on Aug 2, 2016 16:32:36 GMT
All of these ideas are good, positive, doable, and let's be honest not wildly outrageous. You'd think a successful business man would have come to these already, sometimes makes me wonder why he's not done much about it.
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