What Are The Barriers to Entry? The Simple Truth: Exposure.

[Mrs blueskyracer]

Region 10 has a "Hydro Rat Culture" because as kids, they grew up with it.
Seafair races, the Gold Cup races, Miss Bardhal, Bill Muncie... Kids grew up there building little "Hydros" out of wood, tying a piece of string to it, and pulling it behind their bikes thru mud puddles.

That we did! I loved my summers in the pits, met a lot of great people! We didn't even need the mud puddles, any damage done was "racin damage" boats were painted the colors of our favorite unlimiteds. You could pull them behind your horse too, I did!

Of course we are children of the era when you actually played outside, got dirty and wore holes in the knees of your jeans.

Anyone out there want to develop a Xbox, playstation, Wii game for hydroracing? Then it would get some attention.

[Dave M]

Low Hanging Fruit - Doesn't Work

We already take full advantage of low hanging fruit. There is a driving school for those people. There are many racers who offer rides at the races, or when testing. There is already lots of racers who talk to spectators interested and try to encourage them to try it.

Look where we are at. This method is all we have done since boat racing started. It worked in the era as Theresa stated.

For the record, there is already a couple boat racing video games out there, more than a couple actually. I played on in an arcade, ya I know old school, that was fun, it was for offshore boats, but what the heck. I know there is a tunnel boat one on some counsel. Has it helped us in the last 5 - 10 years ?

There is no magic pill, but OBVIOUSLY what we are doing currently in APBA is not working. Change needs to happen to grow it. People are resistent to change. There are programs out there that are working, why re-invent the wheel ? Simply copy them. You need to have a good product to sell it. We don't have a good product right now. We have a bunch of products that are all similar. Hard to find shelf space without paying slotting fees to get in the publics eye. Right now you would need an entire isle. No store is going to allow any company an entire isle without being highly compensated...... See my point ?

[HRTV]

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[Mrs blueskyracer]

Should mention that taking three boats to a car show has gained us a race site, a lot of community and county support and some folks interested in new boats too!

Parents took a lot of photos of their kids in the boats that day!

[blueskyracer]

That video is exacly what we did at the car show and I will be going to the town that will be hosting the race in June for a greet and meet all day in April with 3 boats. The town is putting on a crafts fair and wants us to put up a display. The response has been so overwelming that they are now wondering where they are going to park all of the spectators for the race. This has been done with one additional newspaper article and word of mouth. They have not started advertising yet!

All it takes is a commitment to the sport and some time. We have been working on this race project for 9 months but it really helps if you have a town that really wants you there. We found with the trying economy that smaller towns are going to extremes to figure out how to generate income. We also have a person interest in getting into racing from all of this.

[mdaspit]

Of course low hanging fruit works. Every successful program that I read about on this site that gets someone new into racing is picking low hanging fruit.

It only makes sense to try to convert someone who already expresses an interest, at race sites, boat shows, portals, anywhere it may be hanging, rather than fire a 12 gauge and hope you hit something.

In Sam's words, it is the "Most Likely" target.

I'm not saying that you look for it only at races, and I'm not saying that it alone will save boat racing. But, it sure seems like where ever its tried it works.

[Raymond]

Darrell, I see you West Coast Guys Rock'in with the NorCal 400!

http://www.whowon.com/Results.asp?Tr...StoryID=285266

Raymond

[Raymond]

Thanks Dave, I do hope to do all I can to prove myself as a selfless contributing team player to this sport and my local club. It is my personal goal to make a positive impact in all I do. Please do not misunderstand me, I am not standing here pounding my chest, I have no ego. I am trying spark ideas that will bring in a new racer or two this year.

Reed, I like your press release ideas; it fits very will. As you already know I am a big proponent to exposure. Dave, why didn’t the APBA’s paid promotional positions pan out? I am not one to accept prior failure as a reason for not persuing an idea if the failure mode and prevailing circumstances are not understood. I am not saying I suggest they should try again, I am just saying that persistence is an attribute that has been known to pay dividends.

Have you ever studied the differences between NASCAR and the NHRA and wondered whey NASCAR has the monopoly market? Its because they went out of their way to expose their sport in every media possible while NHRA took a more conservative approach happy with just filling the stands and not the networks. Heck, with all the Daytona 500 press hype your lucky to even realize that the Winter Nationals were the same weekend.

Mdaspit, I agree that traditional marketing philosophies are probably not going to be the most effective in our endeavor and that promotion and exposure campaigns are not enough on their own but…..I submit it is the foundation to build on.

The notion of ‘recentcy’ can best be satisfied by making sure to flood all the news outlets in the race area with event press releases and plugging community event calendars. Yea, it would be nice if this was automated so life changing events of club members does not impede continuance but let face it….is the APBA going to do it for us? Don’t argue about whether or not they should, doing so is the equivalent of a national health care debate. We need to do this ourselves.

BINGO: we need to brand ourselves both locally and nationally. Again, your correct, this is not something done overnight. It takes sustained effort and continual nurturing; something that cannot be taken for granted.

I submit (from my soapbox of boneheaded knowledge) that we must not accept what has been done in the past as a predictor of its success in the future. For this sport to continue to exist, it must be resilient enough to whether the storms of change.

Mr. & Mrs. Blueskyracer, that thing about taking your boats to a car show…Brilliant! That is the same thing I said when I was using the soccer game analogy a few weeks back. This is exactly the kind of optimistic and enthusiastic exposure I contend we need.

Thank you
Raymond

[Raymond]

Heres a different idea

Have you all seen the thread "Brand new custom boat - $100.00!!!" ???

What if each club raffeled one boat a year accross its many races? Would the raffel be a 'lead generator' for clubs to persue? What if the raffel was open to just spectators contingent upon getting enough in ticket sales? Could that 'pull' in some new blood?

Just an idea?
Raymond

hay, APBA, what if that specator winner got a years membership free along with the boat? Ok, they are short the motor but....ok, so maybe the club should have one sourced and ready for them.

[Dave M]

Love The Effort

To address low hanging fruit one last time, first. This is something we as racers will never stop, it is being done and goes without saying. I don't feel we should work on this, as this is what we are currently doing, and the membership is declining. We need more in addition to this.

I also feel change needs to be swift. It needs to happen overnight, used as a metaphore. In reality change has been on the plate for 30 years and nothing has really changed excpet the addition of a bunch of motors and rules that get even a lawyer confused.

I guess in my opinion if you see an animal dying that was just hit by a car, and you have a rifle in your truck, why in the heck would you stand around and let it suffer until death ? You should haul out the smoke pole and end the suffereing.

Don't wait to see the sport suffering to try and offer a cure. That is my point. We are to the point of suffering shortly. Change needs to happen very soon or the trend will keep on the same path the numbers are proving.

One good thing, Raymond, your enthusiasm is a good thing to see. Theresa, so is yours. Lets hope y'all don't get burned out to soon. Keep up the good work. And please, always offer up your opinions and try to implement them if it helps the sport.

Raymond, you speak very well, are you a lawyer ? I don't speak entirely correct, or nearly nice enough to please others, so I apologize up front if I sound to common.

[mdaspit]

At the risk of scuffing some pistons out there, let me try this from another angle.

If you went to Manhattan, and hired the very best, most expensive Ad firm you could find, they would tell you the same thing Sam said.
"Know who your target is." The reason for that is it keeps your effort focused.
Focused means more efficient means less expensive.

You use NASCAR as a success story for exposure? Ok, here is the point... when was the last time you saw a NASCAR commercial on the Lifetime Channel? Or on Oprah?

Probably not, because, they are not using a shotgun, they're not even using a rifle...they are using a Laser Beam. You can bet, that they know their target inside-out. Where they live, what they eat, how much money they make, the kind of car they drive, what TV shows they watch, what radio stations they listen to. Good advertisers know more about us than they should.

The reason it is such a science, is because they don't want to waste their budget reaching people who don't care about NASCAR.

Just like you won't want to reach people who don't care about kneel down racing.

So, all I am saying is, as you look for killer promotions that will turn around the decline of boat racing, the more you target people who are already pre-disposed to like boat racing, the more successful the effort will be.

I will never say "Low Hanging Fruit" again.

[raceright]

Marketing 101 ... know your target market

Who is our target market?

The shotgun approach is not efficient

One target market is people who purchase smaller outboard engines from dealers. It has been suggested to find dealers that sell considerable numbers of smaller engines and give buyers free membership to APBA.
At a local boat show last weekend I talked to a dealer who sells small E Teck (two stroke) outboards and he would love to be able to give free memberships to this seasons buyers.
So what I will try and do is use a portion of the pro budget to give some memberships to these buyers. As a wise man who I asked once said about esposure and promotion try ALL OF THE ABOVE. As we do not have the budget for this that that man was in control of (senior marketing director during the 80's for IBM) we have to try what we think will work and maybe make it happen.

Pat

[sam]

That's a pretty good idea. I'd even pay $10 more on my membership to see it done.

[Mrs blueskyracer]

Another thing to do is to be sure that you contact local news stations when you are hosting a race. It is a sporting event and a somewhat unique one, frequently they will come and cover it for the 5 & 11 (here in Montana it is the 5:30 & 10). For our new race site we actually applied for a tourism grant a part of which had to be spent for advertising in local media both print and video. So we were one of many applications and were turned down this year (we know more about the grant process now), but still plan to contact some media outlets. Mark is right it is doubtful that you will see a boat racing ad on Oprah, but local news stations showing us in the sports section are "free" advertising. Newspapers, especially in smaller venues, will do a story (be sure you have some digital photos from prior year or even another event) with zero cost, they have to be done prior to the event so you can "set the hook" at the race site.

Tourism is a huge payday in some smaller towns where we race and they usually will help with that type of promotion because they really see some benefit from it.

We havent started advertising for our race yet and already people, lots of people, who have seen the articles in the paper about our racing efforts, our display at the car show, Mike's boat construction in progress (2009 boat) are saying "hey we are going to be there any chance we can ride in one"! The paper ran a front page article for us when we got the permit to race here. The town is now considering how they are going to handle the parking issues that they think our event will generate.

Every spectator was interested enough to come and take a look and should be considered a potential boat racer. Problem is there isn't always enough spectators, we have to get out their and be sure they know that a race is coming.

[Dave M]

No Pistons Scuffed

At the risk of scuffing some pistons out there, let me try this from another angle.

If you went to Manhattan, and hired the very best, most expensive Ad firm you could find, they would tell you the same thing Sam said.
"Know who your target is." The reason for that is it keeps your effort focused.
Focused means more efficient means less expensive.

You use NASCAR as a success story for exposure? Ok, here is the point... when was the last time you saw a NASCAR commercial on the Lifetime Channel? Or on Oprah?

Probably not, because, they are not using a shotgun, they're not even using a rifle...they are using a Laser Beam. You can bet, that they know their target inside-out. Where they live, what they eat, how much money they make, the kind of car they drive, what TV shows they watch, what radio stations they listen to. Good advertisers know more about us than they should.

The reason it is such a science, is because they don't want to waste their budget reaching people who don't care about NASCAR.

Just like you won't want to reach people who don't care about kneel down racing.

So, all I am saying is, as you look for killer promotions that will turn around the decline of boat racing, the more you target people who are already pre-disposed to like boat racing, the more successful the effort will be.

I will never say "Low Hanging Fruit" again.

The engine is not even heated up yet, my friend. It is just after 30 years of racing in the Modified, Pro and even one season in a C stock I kind of see trends. Times have changed in society. Not much has changed in boat racing other than a few new or different race sites. I mean true change within. So that tells me we are not hitting our target market to well. In my opinion, the target market is so small you would need NASA to pinpoint the laser. Why do I think this ? The number of racers in all categories is dwindling to 20 years ago, even 10 years ago. That tells me we don't have a specific target market, or it is so small we can't reach it. I just think we need to change up the entire program in order to first sell it to a target market. Then we need to actually market it, and finally build upon the results.

Let me pose this question. Using everything that is available to us today and we as racers are doing a lot to try and attract new blood (just read this site), how many new racers meaning never been exposed to it, have we actually recruited and got into racing ? True new members per year. I am guessing you don't need more than two hands to count them. Now then include folks who were exposed to it was kind of involved but never really took a hold and stuck with it. Many more come to mind, but still not a lot of folks.

I think the first thing we need to address is the problems with ourselves before we can try to promote through a target market. We need a well oiled machine running smooth, something that is easy to understand, and not difficult to obtain. We can approve new engines all day long, but is it really helping us grow outside of current structure ? Nope.

What I think would help is a store front for all categories in kneelers. A one stop shop that has financing available just like the Jet Ski dealerships do, or ANY recreational vehichle dealership has. I think we are missing the boat here. Our product needs to be sitting right beside that nice shiney 1000 CC Tigershark for $128/month with no money down. Can anyone here imagine that ? I know, it is impossible, will never happen, but what if it did ? What if someone stepped up to the plate and did it. Do you think it would work ? Maybe some boat racers that currently own marinas could do something ? It sure would help. Talk with some boat builders get some boats in for the most popular classes, get the engines, get the props, the saftey gear, get it and sell it as a package. Turn Key race ready, and toss in a free membership to APBA while you are at it. Don't count on ABPA for support, take control of your own destiny. APBA is only the sanctioning body.

Okay, now I guess I will go away, beacuse that outside the box thinking is crazy talk.