advertising the club poorly?

[Aspers]

I just deleted a stupid post from blueisthecolour because although he can be funny sometimes he's a tosser and his constant crap is becoming boring but I will agree with 1 thing.

When you win irrespective of entertainment people will come and watch.
if you lose they won't.
Marketing is just a word people use to justify spending money.

Having said that over here the clubs are constantly trying to market matches, the only thing that works is getting the players into the local primary schools.
Attract the youngsters then keep em.
My daughter is an Easts fan because Braith Anasta went and said hello to her school.
We go to about 10 matches a season, I wouldn't even bother if my daughter didn't ask me all the time.
(She's got a scarf jersey and teddy bear all purchased from the club shop).
She doesn't even know the rules!!!!.

[PUNKISDEAD]

with all due respect marky
i think mark s was commenting about something said about me, rather than the balderick person, and not club officials, anyway, we are all batting for the same team, and this is not the biggest board in the world and the team are not setting the world on fire at the minute, so lets all get on shall we!!!

[PUNKISDEAD]

In the city of the future it is difficult to concentrate!!

OPENING LINE

NAME THAT TUNE MATT D!!!

[badger]

the idea of giving free tickets away would not go down well with season ticket holders,ithink they only get four free games with the season ticket, they might stop getting one and just wait till the free ones come along.

[Stewie]

I used to go to a few games at Gigg Lane about 10 years ago. Even back then they had the right idea.

Ground opened 2 hours before kick off, kids disco, face painting, quizes with loads of prizes, meet the players and staff (usually the ones not playing that day) etc.

Most weeks the main stand was 50% kids, great atmosphere and lots to do.

Also I agree with getting the players into schools, even get christie the cat in on sports days etc.

Also which club was it that let 1 child free with every adult? Great idea for the games where we expect a low attendance.

[Mark S]

Please be careful not to criticise any individuals and stick to offering positive ideas.

No individual is above criticism. The manager receives it, as do the players, so I see no reason why club officials shouldn't. It is an area we need to improve. Just to restate something, I believe we need to start preparing now for our 'final season' which, by it's very nature, is only going to happen once. The club may already be, but I personally believe we need to take a chance next season and use it in conjunction with special offers. I know this is months away but preparation is key. By the way, you don't know who works in marketing! I don't, but I know 3 people with business & marketing degrees

By the way, the clock on here is 6 minutes fast

Unless you know the detail of exactly how the clubs internal systems works and know exactly what resources or constraints individuals have to work with, I would ask again please do not speculate about or criticise individuals. Its easy to make assumptions and easy to sit annonymously behind a keyboard stirring things up. I think it is a bit insulting when you presume that you should be questioning whether Directors and officials are doing thier jobs.

I believe we need to start preparing now for our 'final season' which, by it's very nature, is only going to happen once. The club may already be, but I personally believe we need to take a chance next season and use it in conjunction with special offers

What 'final season' opportunities are there? That is just one big soundbyte with no substance whatsoever. Please list them.

Maybe in the same way Sammy looks towards CC for team advice, you could be appointed as Chief Advisor to The Board?

You are correct in the fact that I dont know who does or doesnt have a marketing or business degree, but I am very confident that anyone who did, would not speculate about a situation that they have little or no understanding of the facts.

As I said, I am sure that the club would welcome some positive suggestions but be prepared to back it up. Love the idea of fun days before matches, but who would run it?

No individual is above criticism. The manager receives it, as do the players, so I see no reason why club officials shouldn't.

Are you sure as a fan who has been to 1 in 13 games this season, you are comfy in typing that?

[marky]

I wouldn't type it if I wasn't comfortable with it As for ideas for next season... I have so much time on my hands I'm actually working on them as we speak (with a little help from my learned friends). I wouldn't want to work for the football club because I'd then have to tow the line

[Christies Child]

Maybe in the same way Sammy looks towards CC for team advice, you could be appointed as Chief Advisor to The Board?


That's it..put the blame down to me for poor team selection.

Does the old adage of 'a poor workman shouldn't blame his tools' or something like that apply?

However, if you must lay the blame on my shoulders....well let's face it...they are big enough.


Saturdays game v Rochdale can't come quickly enough for me.

[parceldave]

I actually live in the future, I have just got back from old trafford where we won 2-0 veteran striker Aaron Taylor bagged a brace.....BUT MY SON TWISTED HIS ANKLE ON THE BOUNCY CASTLE!!!!

Serves him right! Your son shouldnt be on the bouncy castle. By that time he is 23!

All I will say on this subject is no one that posts on here is a qualified marketeer or knows what goes on behind the scenes at the club. It is pure speculation. Everyone at the club works hard with the resources that are available and within constraints.

Please be careful not to criticise any individuals and stick to offering positive ideas.

Isn't that what most of us have done , and just tried to point out a few things that could help attract a few more punters. No one is saying that they want to take over the Commercial Managers position . yet

[North Stand Shrimp]

Mark s,

Unless you know the detail of exactly how the clubs internal systems works and know exactly what resources or constraints individuals have to work with, I would ask again please do not speculate about or criticise individuals. Its easy to make assumptions and easy to sit annonymously behind a keyboard stirring things up. I think it is a bit insulting when you presume that you should be questioning whether Directors and officials are doing thier jobs.

Do you have inside information of who is in charge of marketing at the club and what they are working on? if you do perhaps you could let us know and then maybe we wouldn't speculate that nothing is happening on this front. I agree that it is a bit insulting to accuse someone of not doing their job, unless of course they are not doing it properly and that it is having a detrimental effect. the only answer we seem to get on this front is wait for the new ground, or there's not enough budget to do anything or why don't you volunteer. Well why don't the club give us a straight answer, What are the plans, if any to market the club to increase gates at this moment in time for this season. If the answer is nothing then any suggestions on this forum should be encouraged and welcomed and not disregarded as criticism against the directors or employees of the club.

What 'final season' opportunities are there? That is just one big soundbyte with no substance whatsoever. Please list them.

I sure hope that there is already someone qualified enough with enough foresight at the club working on this. If there isn't this is a worry in itself!

[Mark S]

I wouldn't type it if I wasn't comfortable with it As for ideas for next season... I have so much time on my hands I'm actually working on them as we speak (with a little help from my learned friends). I wouldn't want to work for the football club because I'd then have to tow the line

There you go again with your blind assumptions and less than subtle insinuations.

Look forward to seeing these 'final season' proposals. Maybe you could volunteer to help in some way instead of just criticising?

I must warn you though, speaking as a volunteer myself, all volunteers have to toe the line and are not allowed an individual opinion. There is no way I would be allowed to help run the bane of the clubs life, this forum, is there?

I am just a fan, with a generally positive outlook who trusts the men in suits to do their job, as they havent done too bad so far by my reckoning.

[Mark S]

Do you have inside information of who is in charge of marketing at the club and what they are working on? if you do perhaps you could let us know and then maybe we wouldn't speculate that nothing is happening on this front.

No I dont. None of us do, thats my point

I agree that it is a bit insulting to accuse someone of not doing their job, unless of course they are not doing it properly and that it is having a detrimental effect. the only answer we seem to get on this front is wait for the new ground, or there's not enough budget to do anything or why don't you volunteer. Well why don't the club give us a straight answer, What are the plans, if any to market the club to increase gates at this moment in time for this season. If the answer is nothing then any suggestions on this forum should be encouraged and welcomed and not disregarded as criticism against the directors or employees of the club.

Glad you agree. My whole point is that none of us are in a position to judge wether anyone is or isnt doing their jobs properly. I also agree that constructive suggestions should be listened to. The idea of family fun is a good one. It was done last year before one game but took a lot of personal time for the volunteers. If we were to do that on a regular basis, who would help? Of course we need more volunteers. Some other good ideas already happen. Visiting schools happens now on a regular basis. Free tickets for school children happens now. Players visit schools and do coaching sessions. Christie the Cat is out and about as well. there is a whole Football in the Community Department.

What 'final season' opportunities are there? That is just one big soundbyte with no substance whatsoever. Please list them.


I sure hope that there is already someone qualified enough with enough foresight at the club working on this. If there isn't this is a worry in itself!

Agreed again. I just struggle to understand what these final season opportunities are. Its hard to market except to either sell bits off or to say come down and say goodbye to Christie park. I would imagine that just like the first game in the Football League, the last day at Christie Park will be a big one.

The whole point I am trying to make is that it is very easy to criticise,but its not right unless you understand the whole picture. We dont.

[Mark S]

All I will say on this subject is no one that posts on here is a qualified marketeer or knows what goes on behind the scenes at the club. It is pure speculation. Everyone at the club works hard with the resources that are available and within constraints.

Please be careful not to criticise any individuals and stick to offering positive ideas.

Isn't that what most of us have done , and just tried to point out a few things that could help attract a few more punters. No one is saying that they want to take over the Commercial Managers position . yet

You must have forgotten about this post which is the one that prompted me to respond.

This sounds very harsh, but there are more good ideas that come out of this forum regarding advertising the club, that ever come from the club itself. The commercial side is a one man band and in my opinion we need a young dynamic person to be at the forefront of selling what should be a landmark season for us. Having stayed up last year, we should be consolidating and making strides forward. Instead the best we an do is another portakabin, and a rehash of the same old stuff and same old ideas. I'm starting to grow weary of the the "Jobs for the boys" attitude shown by the management of the club. We will never be brought into the 21st century until some modernisation takes place.

[Mr Munnings]

Just wanted to get fans views on how we advertise the club?

My wife only goes to a couple of games a year unlike me who goes every week but she always mentions how badly the club advertises itself. She has a job that advertises and promotes certain things to do with her work so she might have a point.

This season we have got off to a bad start and attendances are down but are the club doing enough to promote itself? have they exhausted every avenue?

Yes they are building a new stadium with great facilities but can they not attract more people to the home games or sell better merchandise in the mean time.
Where do we advertise the home games in the paper, asda, before the bridge into lancaster is that really enough?
Can the club not get fans to put leaflets through peoples letter boxes or spend more on larger advertisements?
Another idea would be to promote why you want new fans to come down for example
FED UP WITH THE PREMIER LEAGUE CIRCUS COME ON DOWN TO YOUR LOCAL TEAM MORECAMBE WHERE THE REAL FOOTBALL IS!
Also why not give away free tickets for a home game to attract new fans. They could say give anyone who buys the visitor will get two free tickets but advertise whats happening well in advance.
Another idea is have things going on before match days like on the field at the back.
You could have marquees set up and open it up at say 11am.
you could have a bar with sky sports on, cafe selling dinner, stalls selling footballs shirts and memorabillia, bouncy castles, penalty shoot outs competitions for all ages even 5 a sides games (you could even have a mini league going), pole dancers only joking but maybe York Hotel should start that off and many more things.
It wouldn't just be turn up and watch a game and go home its would be a good family day out that would attract new fans cos at the end of the day people want to have fun and the more fun the better. The bad weather could spoil some of the above but maybe only the bouncy castles.
What does everyone think?

I think its a misconception that the club is badly advertised. I do honestly.......

Wembley 2007 the subsequent media blitz and regular coverage in the local/national media gives the club a very high profile.

Add in the local radio/television coverage each week on sky and the various internet sites and I dont think you could increase the amount of publicity and advertising.
As things go most people living in the North Lancs are aware of how well the club has done in the last 18 months.

Attendances have fallen recently but that could be that to some the novelty of coming to matches to watch their local team has worn off to those who can afford championship/premiership football but more importantly these are really difficult financial times.
Of course the run of results since February hasnt helped and losing great players was a difficult one to watch.

If you look around the ground in the stands and on the perimeter boards a fantastic amount of sponsorship has been achieved over the years but that is getting increasingly difficult over the coming months.Credit to the club for the amount of work they have achieved in this area.

I do believe those who sponsor matches get a great deal and are well looked after and on the whole their experience of visiting the club is a very positive one.
Most people who waste/enjoy their time on this board are die hards and converts and have lots of great ideas but its not our money and not our job to run the club. However I'm sure that they are always open to suggestions and ideas to help generate income.

As Mark says they don't seem to have got much wrong so far.

What we need are a few wins, some good football on the park and for us all to try and get some of our friends back to come and watch the games and get behind the team and manager.
In years gone by I suppose we have been spoiled with success and great home records and its easy to compare what has gone before.

The community arm of the club does a great job getting the players to coach with the schools.
As Aspers pointed out get them young and interested and maybe the parents and their friends can be persuaded to come along.

10000 fans made their way from Morecambe but only 1561 turned up to the Dagenham match.
Over the years many schemes have been introduced to get supporters down to Christie Park by various means of advertising but the one main reason for the club to see an increase in crowds is a winning team.

Its nothing new in 1974 the same few thousand made their way to Wembley yet only 863 turned up to watch us lose 2 1 to Stafford rangers in the opening game of that season

Many people are that fickle and perhaps to some degree still think of us as a non league team. That may change when the club re establishes itself at the new stadium with better facilities for families.
I suppose its a vicious circle.We need more fans to generate more income. More income is needed to entice players to come here and we can get some quality and perhaps some players with pace after the events of Saturday.

you can have as much entertainment as you want on match days you could make an offer to organise something I suppose, but at the end of the day, all that matters to most is a win come quarter to five on a Saturday

As Bryan says keep the faith..............

[badger]

I AGREE WITH MR MUNNINGS.

one of the biggest problems for every club is the glory hunters, when the team are going well they want to be apart of it, when the team are not going well they stop away, if we get a good draw in the fa cup they will all turn up.

[heysham_mfc]

how about do something like all season ticket holders can bring a friend along just for a fiver for 1 game might get a few more people coming to watch the match

[marky]

Look forward to seeing these 'final season' proposals. Maybe you could volunteer to help in some way instead of just criticising?

I must warn you though, speaking as a volunteer myself, all volunteers have to toe the line and are not allowed an individual opinion.

Mark, trust me, I'd ruffle too many feathers too often. I'm currently doing some background research. If I'm not careful I'll end up writing a damn report. Oh well, you set me a challenge. Just to set things straight, though, I'm not criticising the officials. As with everything, there are always areas to improve upon and marketing is one of those areas.

I can't remember who it was, but someone mentioned the possibility of having a band perform. I'm curious as to how this would work... By the way, am I losing my marbles or did we used to have half-time penalty competitions many moons ago?

[Mark S]

I can't remember who it was, but someone mentioned the possibility of having a band perform. I'm curious as to how this would work... By the way, am I losing my marbles or did we used to have half-time penalty competitions many moons ago?

Many years ago they talked about a concert, but then looked into pitch protection, saftey aspects etc, and it was a non starter. It was always a non starter with the old farts living around CP

I think we have done pre match and halftime penalties in the past. I much prefer Ken Parker myself!

[Mr Munnings]

I AGREE WITH MR MUNNINGS.

one of the biggest problems for every club is the glory hunters, when the team are going well they want to be apart of it, when the team are not going well they stop away, if we get a good draw in the fa cup they will all turn up.

Thank you Badger

[Number 1]

All I will say on this subject is no one that posts on here is a qualified marketeer or knows what goes on behind the scenes at the club. It is pure speculation. Everyone at the club works hard with the resources that are available and within constraints.

Please be careful not to criticise any individuals and stick to offering positive ideas.

Isn't that what most of us have done , and just tried to point out a few things that could help attract a few more punters. No one is saying that they want to take over the Commercial Managers position . yet

You must have forgotten about this post which is the one that prompted me to respond.

This sounds very harsh, but there are more good ideas that come out of this forum regarding advertising the club, that ever come from the club itself. The commercial side is a one man band and in my opinion we need a young dynamic person to be at the forefront of selling what should be a landmark season for us. Having stayed up last year, we should be consolidating and making strides forward. Instead the best we an do is another portakabin, and a rehash of the same old stuff and same old ideas. I'm starting to grow weary of the the "Jobs for the boys" attitude shown by the management of the club. We will never be brought into the 21st century until some modernisation takes place.

Mark, your defence of those who run the club is laudable, but I believe is misplaced loyalty. It's natural in your position that you'd defend those in charge, and probably even more natural for you to deny that you do, but you need to see the wood for the trees. There is no getting away from the fact that the club's commercial department is one man, who I'm not criticising per se. My point, if you missed it, is that there is an opportunity for more modern ideas to come to the club, but these ideas seem to be stifled one way or the other as and when they're proposed. I believe my original post wasn't critical of that person in particular, as he is an employee, but of the system in place which doesn't appear to allow for growth in this important field. I like to think that my posts are generally positive, and if they are critical, then I try to be constructive as well, with a suggestion for improvement which, I'm sure you'll agree, is a little more thought provoking that just saying that someone isn't doing their job, which I have never said. I'm not one to criticise unless I believe I can offer something constructive, however, I do think that you have made a simple judgement on my post when either you've not read it properly or you've got the wrong end of the stick.

If you watch Soccer AM when they go round grounds with the owner/chairman/ceo etc, you'll see that they usually appear to have a busy club with a fair few staff even at our level. We don't have a large turnover, and as far as I know, the salary cap doesn't extend to office staff, so bearing in mind that we have multi millionaires running the club, why not speculate to accumulate, bring in a dynamic commercial executive and get them to drive this aspect of the business forward, thereby increasing turnover, and in turn, allowing us to be able to compete player wise? Or is that suggestion being too critical of individuals?

[Mark S]

I have said all I am going to say on this subject as I am clearly not representing my viewpoint clearly and we are talking at cross purposes.

Its great to have so many suggestions, just dont confuse posting them on here with putting them forward to the club. I cant remember the last time any club official interacted with this unofficial forum (except Quinny). If anyone wants to put any suggestion forward , I would take it to Rod Taylor if I was you.

Maybe the club could set up a suggestion scheme?

[Keith]

so bearing in mind that we have multi millionaires running the club, why not speculate to accumulate, bring in a dynamic commercial executive and get them to drive this aspect of the business forward, thereby increasing turnover, and in turn, allowing us to be able to compete player wise? Or is that suggestion being too critical of individuals?

How much would you pay this "dynamic commercial executive"? £30,000 per annum? They then have to bring in £2,500 in new business every month just to break even. Is that realistic? I'm not saying it is or isn't, just suggesting that it isn't so simple. Those 'multi millionaires' are already putting a large amount of their own money in to keeping the club going, should they put more in for this new role? And if it doesn't need to cover itself, then why not simply stick that £30,000 straight in to the club?

[Christies Child]

The NEW extended club shop is a positive move.

It's taken time and further input from Peter McG's new company who have a selection of casual clothes for sale in addition to an extended Puma range, but it's a move in the right direction.

We can all moan about things (none more so than me at times ) but let's also give credit when due.

I suspect being the Commercial Manager of MFC isn't the easiest of jobs, particularly at the moment, due in part to results and personal financial considerations.

[Christies Child]

so bearing in mind that we have multi millionaires running the club, why not speculate to accumulate, bring in a dynamic commercial executive and get them to drive this aspect of the business forward, thereby increasing turnover, and in turn, allowing us to be able to compete player wise? Or is that suggestion being too critical of individuals?

How much would you pay this "dynamic commercial executive"? £30,000 per annum? They then have to bring in £2,500 in new business every month just to break even. Is that realistic? I'm not saying it is or isn't, just suggesting that it isn't so simple. Those 'multi millionaires' are already putting a large amount of their own money in to keeping the club going, should they put more in for this new role? And if it doesn't need to cover itself, then why not simply stick that £30,000 straight in to the club?

Surely that should be £2500 in profit just to cover wages?

[Phoenix]

It was always a non starter with the old farts living around CP

I'll pass on your regards to my old farts.

Its easy to make assumptions and easy to sit annonymously behind a keyboard stirring things up

One assumption is obviously that a gig at Christie Park couldn't be heard by the old farts. It's not always the actual proposal that the old farts mind, it's the way they find out about it that can annoy them more. A bit more liaison with the old farts that put up with the club would go a long way.