To Market We Go | The Rebirth Of The #mb10k
Last week I wrote about how I landed the Manhattan Beach 10K Run job here.
What Next?
The next step involved meeting with the Race Director and a Race Committee member to discuss what they were hoping to accomplish with this year’s event. They informed me that their registration numbers had decreased for the last 2 years and that they were missing participants in the 18-40 year old market. Point blank they were looking to increase registrations for 2016. There is nothing better than a clear and relatively simple goal!
In May the Wall Street Journal published an article entitled: “How Millennials Ended The Running Boom”. The article discussed how millennials are now the largest population, surpassing baby boomers, and that they are looking for “experiences” in fitness classes rather than choosing to run a road race. Not good news for those in the running business.
Clear Cut Plan
I was confident that I could help the race get to where they wanted to be. After all, their “product” was an easy sell - a race in one of the toniest beach cities where all proceeds went directly back to the community, who wouldn't want to participate?!
I knew the run needed a modern website that was mobile friendly, they needed to plant a firm digital footprint, and they needed to decrease their budget on traditional print advertising in local papers. I put together a Scope Of Work and Proposal that outlined their challenges and how I could best serve them to get more folks to sign up
Simply Put, They Needed:
- a new website
- a digital footprint
- an email newsletter
- a content strategy
- a digital advertising strategy
The first task was to get the new website up and running. Once I had accomplished this, it felt like the race had a rebirth, it was hip and in sync with 2016! Hooray!
It immediately started doing its job of:
- informing people of the race date
- collecting new emails that enticed people to stay in the know for registration opening
- building excitement about why people should run the race
- letting them know all the other important info.
Check-in next week for more about the meat of it all, the digital strategy! Yes, you need a website in this day and age, but if you don't do anything to drive people to it, there's no reason for it to exist.
Give me a call if you'd like help with your digital marketing 310.748.9128
Image Credit: Manhattan Beach 10K Run
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