Promotion of a Sportive – A Debate

KidsCan · March 2011

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for your interest in PEAK 100 – http://www.peak100.co.uk – and to those of you who answered my debate on adding video to a sportive website.
My next little pondering is about promoting of a sportive.
I’m sure many of you have either organised one yourselves or seen promotion for one.

Naturally you’ve seen our promotion for the PEAK 100 on the forum here, and hopefully you’ve seen it on Twitter and possibly even Facebook.
We’ve been out and about postering bike shops and indeed any shops which will take a poster in Manchester, Macclesfield, Stockport, Wigan, Bolton and cycle shops around and about.

We’ve also put an advert in “Cycling Plus” which went in this week (8th March).
Have any of you seen it?

With that in mind, I was just wondering if you read cycling magazines and whether you think it’s worthwhile advertising in them if you are organising a sportive.

Thanks,

KidsCan

chris7 · March 2011

It might just be me but I can't find the cost anywhere on your site.

re promotion. I use www.cyclosport.org as it has the option to search via location. Magazine adverts just make me think how much of the money raised will end up going to the charity.

R8JimBob88 · March 2011

I'd be more likely to enter a sportive advertised in a magazine or on a poster

Bobbinogs · March 2011

Ok, let's be honest, are you asking for more feedback or just finding ever more inventive ways to bump your site to promote it?

bigpikle · March 2011

Personally I get turned OFF by shameless self promotion of events all the time, that is unless the event is a 'true' charity event eg one that donates substantial sums to the chosen charity or cause.

2 things that frustrate me in general:

1. no mention of costs until you start the booking process

2. no mention of exactly how much goes to the charity - £10 at the end or 50% of all entry fees etc?

People are canny enough to know that plenty of events use the charity angle to attract riders yet seldom give more than a paltry contribution down the line, so more than where the ad is and constant plastering of forums with promotion, I'd like to see real info on what the event is doing.

kim10 · March 2011

Bobbinogs wrote:

Ok, let's be honest, are you asking for more feedback or just finding ever more inventive ways to bump your site to promote it?

+1

You keep trying to hide behing silly questions about your event on this forum, when you are actually just promoting it, will definately not make me what to participate. :evil:

polocini · March 2011

Hi Kidscan,
as another sportive organiser I'd like to leave some feedback.
This is a free forum and we can use it for a form of advertising. If you keep posting up, not just on here but all of the other forums, the mods will get sick of it and we might have to start paying or be blocked. You must know there are other forums who don't let us on.
Also spare a thought for other organisers as each new thread you start bumps their threads further down. Now before you say that I have a thread that's getting loads of posts it's an event that has finished. I hadn't been on it for weeks. I also have another thread for my next event that hasn't been touched since January. I will reply if someone else does but the bumping is just bad form.
Next up.....am I right in thinking you are on your third event?? Then you shouldn't be asking these questions on here. You should be asking your entrants.

Cheers
AL

KidsCan · March 2011

Hi Bobbinogs

We're looking for feedback. As we're trying to get the word out about the event for the charity we're trying to work out how to do it in the most time and cost effective ways possible.

Hi Bigpikle
I didn't realise the price wasn't on the site until you got to the booking process. I had asked for it to be prominent. It's on the posters and forums but I'll have to get that changed!
As for how much comes to KidsCan, it depends on how many people we get taking part.

At £25 registration – cheap for Sportives according to my research - it worked out that around £5 pp went towards the catering and signage for the event the rest was a pure donation to the charity.

However the more people who took part, brought the costs down and therefore raised more for the charity. We were able to source some materials from kind local companies who were willing to support us with donations of water or gels and powders for your drinks.

This event , and The Macc Monster too, is not a sponsored event. While we encourage those of you who take part to try and raise some extra sponsorship for KidsCan, we do not insist upon it.
This is because we know you take part in Sportives and other cycles practically every weekend so it would be impossible to tap everyone you know all the time for sponsorship.

However we did get some people who were happy to raise some for The Macc Monster, and we hope others will follow suit for PEAK 100 – The Macc Monster in fact raised the charity over £7000.
These events are organised purely for the benefit of the charity, not for personal gain.

Thank you all for your feedback.

KidsCan

Ron Stuart · March 2011

Polocini wrote:

Hi Kidscan,
as another sportive organiser I'd like to leave some feedback.
This is a free forum and we can use it for a form of advertising. If you keep posting up, not just on here but all of the other forums, the mods will get sick of it and we might have to start paying or be blocked. You must know there are other forums who don't let us on.
Also spare a thought for other organisers as each new thread you start bumps their threads further down. Now before you say that I have a thread that's getting loads of posts it's an event that has finished. I hadn't been on it for weeks. I also have another thread for my next event that hasn't been touched since January. I will reply if someone else does but the bumping is just bad form.
Next up.....am I right in thinking you are on your third event?? Then you shouldn't be asking these questions on here. You should be asking your entrants.

Cheers
AL

I know, insidious isn't it, I've had to pull someone up previously for using this forum as a marketing tool. Promoters are welcome to respond to questions or to clarify certain points on threads but they should refrain from using forums as a means of free advertising and certainly not create threads based specifically about one of their events.

:?

fungus_the_muffin_man · March 2011

Ron Stuart wrote:

Polocini wrote:

Hi Kidscan,
as another sportive organiser I'd like to leave some feedback.
This is a free forum and we can use it for a form of advertising. If you keep posting up, not just on here but all of the other forums, the mods will get sick of it and we might have to start paying or be blocked. You must know there are other forums who don't let us on.
Also spare a thought for other organisers as each new thread you start bumps their threads further down. Now before you say that I have a thread that's getting loads of posts it's an event that has finished. I hadn't been on it for weeks. I also have another thread for my next event that hasn't been touched since January. I will reply if someone else does but the bumping is just bad form.
Next up.....am I right in thinking you are on your third event?? Then you shouldn't be asking these questions on here. You should be asking your entrants.

Cheers
AL

I know, insidious isn't it, I've had to pull someone up previously for using this forum as a marketing tool. Promoters are welcome to respond to questions or to clarify certain points on threads but they should refrain from using forums as a means of free advertising and certainly not create threads based specifically about one of their events.

:?

I don't see what your problem is with organisers starting a topic to highlight an event they are doing. This forum is here for people to use it as a source of information. By someone promoting their event it may make people who frequent this site become aware of a ride they previously had no knowledge of. I'm not saying they should take the piss by keeping the topic going on purpose or bumping it for no reason, but a topic to highlight a ride is a good idea in my view.

This is after all the sportive/audaxes/trainingrides section.

polocini · March 2011

I think Ron is taking the p out of me!!!!!!!!!!!

AL

Ron Stuart · March 2011

Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:

Ron Stuart wrote:

Polocini wrote:

Hi Kidscan,
as another sportive organiser I'd like to leave some feedback.
This is a free forum and we can use it for a form of advertising. If you keep posting up, not just on here but all of the other forums, the mods will get sick of it and we might have to start paying or be blocked. You must know there are other forums who don't let us on.
Also spare a thought for other organisers as each new thread you start bumps their threads further down. Now before you say that I have a thread that's getting loads of posts it's an event that has finished. I hadn't been on it for weeks. I also have another thread for my next event that hasn't been touched since January. I will reply if someone else does but the bumping is just bad form.
Next up.....am I right in thinking you are on your third event?? Then you shouldn't be asking these questions on here. You should be asking your entrants.

Cheers
AL

I know, insidious isn't it, I've had to pull someone up previously for using this forum as a marketing tool. Promoters are welcome to respond to questions or to clarify certain points on threads but they should refrain from using forums as a means of free advertising and certainly not create threads based specifically about one of their events.

:?

I don't see what your problem is with organisers starting a topic to highlight an event they are doing. This forum is here for people to use it as a source of information. By someone promoting their event it may make people who frequent this site become aware of a ride they previously had no knowledge of. I'm not saying they should take the wee-wee by keeping the topic going on purpose or bumping it for no reason, but a topic to highlight a ride is a good idea in my view.

This is after all the sportive/audaxes/trainingrides section.

It is for exactly the same reason that newspapers/magazines charge their advertisers, it is an essential part of their business income, the whole idea of using free advertising is to circumnavigate that cost. There is a whole host of sights that list quite usefully all the various events with links to the info needed. These types of forums are platforms that promoters should respond to as I previously inferred to.
I like many people who complain about the growing amount of adverts clogging up magazines etc, don't welcome another form of the same. Other forums as Polocini inferred to have quite tight rules regarding platforms such as this being used for other business use. It is just that BikeRadar seem to be rather more Liberial than many of the others. And by the way it makes no difference which section this is on, the same should stand.

Ron Stuart · March 2011

Polocini wrote:

I think Ron is taking the p out of me!!!!!!!!!!!

AL

It certainly was not my intention to do any of the sort and it is interesting that you should think so.

No indeed I was echoing your warning to the thread, but maybe from another perspective. :!:

Are you worried that the 'Mods' may step in and spoil it for all :?:

fungus_the_muffin_man · March 2011

Ron Stuart wrote:

Polocini wrote:

I think Ron is taking the p out of me!!!!!!!!!!!

AL

It certainly was not my intention to do any of the sort and it is interesting that you should think so.

No indeed I was echoing your warning to the thread, but maybe from another perspective. :!:

Are you worried that the 'Mods' may step in and spoil it for all :?:

In which case who are you to "pull someone up" for advertising a ride on here? Your not a mod. You don't own the site so what has it got to do with you?

polocini · March 2011

It was the use of the word insidious! I thought you may have been taking the p because I 'advertise' on all the forums.
I always start threads about my own events. The thing is that I don't bump them as I think it's unfair on other events.

AL

Ron Stuart · March 2011

Polocini wrote:

It was the use of the word insidious! I thought you may have been taking the p because I 'advertise' on all the forums.
I always start threads about my own events. The thing is that I don't bump them as I think it's unfair on other events.

AL

You seem to be an honest chap and I meant insidiuos as in crafty, artfull or tricky. There seems to be no moderators involved in this forum so you will probably be OK to continue.

As I see it there are just two fair options:-

1). Every promoter gets to advertise on this forum for free and should be told of the option.
or
2). None do and should be told so.

But at the end of the day with nobody taking a blind bit of notice or ownership of this forum it all amounts to the square route of a cocoa tin. :roll:

polocini · March 2011

Cheers Ron. I think it's good for organisers to start threads about their events. That way people can ask questions etc and leave feedback. As long as it doesn't get abused.

AL

KidsCan · March 2011

Hi Everyone

I hope I haven't caused a problem here!
Just trying to get our sportive out to the masses the most cost effectively way possible.
Again, if you have any other suggestions, please let me know.

Many thanks again,

KidsCan

Promotion of a Sportive – A Debate

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