Out-of-County Statewide Promotion

Why promote out-of-county?
1. Tourism - No explanation needed?
2. Motivation - If you work out in an empty gym, are you as easily motivated as when the place is packed with people working out? I would like Columbus Countians to see people from around the region coming here to Take the Lake. That's hard to ignore and will motivate us to participate.
3. Pride - We have been told recently that we are the least healthy county in North Carolina. We have, for generations, been told we are poor and helpless people, and we are very good at asking for handouts and waiting for the world to come help us. So, let us host an event that will help others. I want to see hundreds of people come here from Raleigh, Wilmington, SC - wherever - and say "you guys have an awesome lake, event, county, etc.!" If we start seeing people admiring us, it can change our attitudes about ourselves.


Materials @ Alexander YMCARaleigh(Hillsborough St.)
LARGE FITNESS ROOM: Brochures - 30, Cards - 15
YOGA: 4, 5
BIKE: 6, 15

AD FOR NEWSPAPERS, MAGAZINES, WEB LISTINGS
TAKE THE LAKE
4 Personal Endurance Challenges
Join in one or all four....
LABOR DAY WEEKEND
September 4-6, 2010
LAKEWACCAMAW, NC(125 miles SE of the Triangle)
RegistrationFREE.
Takethelake.org
WALK/RUN 15 miles SAT 8 am
PADDLE 14 milesSUN 8 am
BIKE & HIKE 15 milesSUN 2 pm
SWIM 4 milesMON 8 am
It's not a race...it's an opportunity for your health!


It would be great to do small ads, but be careful that you don't hit too many market with a small ad that gets lost. Almost better to pick one or two (likely) markets and have a small ad that runs for enough of a frequency to make an impact. It's a commitment for anyone, especially for an out-of-towner. But it could really pay off with an over-night stay.

Because resources are always limited, esp. time low-hanging fruit is definitely a priority. (You're right. The business journal angle isn't low-hanging. It could have a broad reach and an easy formula. But we have no one easy as of yet to plug in, so it's not low hanging. So let it hang and ripen for a year, or three.)

The only low-hanging fruit might be at the Sandhills Business Journal. I might have an in there. The publisher is very good to work with editorially; however, it might have been b/c I repp'ed the pr and advertising for a major bank. :O) If you look at your roster and notice a past participant from the Sandhills that might be notable biz man/woman, we might want to contact them to see if we could profile them and pitch the story through that paper.

As for dailies, that also maybe the best angle to get a story --- match-up TTL trainees with their local media for a in-training profile. Would recommend doing a combination of past participants returning (i.e. dependables) and newcomers with a compelling story. You might even contact some past participants to see if they will be participating and if we could follow them (if they are not signed up yet). (B/w the two of us we have a lot of participants on film and can scout their bib #s and track them down.)

You are right it would be great to reach the Y's in a single shot. Maybe they have such a coordinator for member info. My contact is out of the office until May 26. It's either going to be really easy or really hard. I'm sure a lot of folks would like to reach the Ys. It might be possible to reach them (w/ a fee? to cover mailing or intra-office pony express service). Or maybe they have a central mailing list that they can provide. I'm just dealing with the Group Fitness Director of one branch of the Raleigh Ys. There is such a hierarchy. I can't even keep the Raleigh leadership straight.

Does Grant Eggley have a lot of experience in getting the word out for runs? I'll ask my Dad about how he's done it in other cities. Usually there's a communication clearinghouse circuit amongst the 5K/10K crowd. Tapping into that network would be critical.

You're right. The phone call pre-call and/or follow-up can be a real suck-up but it makes the biggest difference in terms of results. You need an intern!!!! Or Eagle Scout.

Maybe next year you could add a street team icon on the website. A lot of bands, special events folks use this tactic. You tend not to directly recruit street team members. It's kind of a fringe level technique. Or....Lake might be able to coordinate something like this for you on Facebook and/or the website.

My only contact at OUR STATE are in home furnishings & are so rusty. Undoubtedly you have way more editorial contacts and pull, but I'll keep pulling pubs and culling calendars for you. Even if you just get posted on the calendars this year that's something for building name recognition.

And seriously, I was NOT fishing for a Tshirt. My husband is Tshirt person; me not so much. He has a 2009 Tshirt and he loves it. I actually wear a Youth XL, usually an adult small and even an XS is too long, and I don't like the tuck in. :O) If you have extra 2009s, maybe I'll try a S and hem it, or something....