Board index ‹ RLFANS MAIN ‹ The Virtual Terrace ‹ Inbound marketing

Out of interest, does anyone have any insight into how much inbound marketing ( market research, etc.) the RFL do? I ask because the outbound marketing seems so amateur and random and this kind of thing often stems from people sitting in a room thinking up ideas instead of getting out and listening. For example here's my amateur-marketeer attempt at a "complete this sentence..." question I think would provide useful information, the kind of information ( plus a lot more of course ) that you can analytically build marketing around rather than plucking ideas out of a hat. ( Maybe they do all this, I don't know, but it doesn't seem like it. )

Question/

Complete the following as honestly as possible:

" I consider myself a fan of (insert team) but the biggest reason I didn't attend the last home game was..........."

FWIW, for me the answer is ( Wigan ) and ..." I live about 40 miles away, and if I think the game is going to be one-sided, I frankly just can't be ar$Ed, sorry, but you said 'honestly'."

What a pissweak excuse. You should be ashamed.

I suggested to the Leigh BOD that they should conduct a ' Census ' of their existing fan base to give a ' control ' to gauge how successful various marketing and community initiatives would be?

They looked at me as if I was crazy

Starbug wrote:

I suggested to the Leigh BOD that they should conduct a ' Census ' of their existing fan base to give a ' control ' to gauge how successful various marketing and community initiatives would be?

They looked at me as if I was crazy

I think in marketing terms, the people who run RL are just about catching up with the 1960s. In about 40 years time, we'll see the sort of marketing other people were doing at the turn of this century.

Starbug wrote:

I suggested to the Leigh BOD that they should conduct a ' Census ' of their existing fan base to give a ' control ' to gauge how successful various marketing and community initiatives would be?

They looked at me as if I was crazy

Its probably worse at Red Hall..............there they would assume you mean cows, bullocks and sheep./

The main problem seems to be that they spend thousands plugging events like Magic Weekend, The Grand Final, Wembley, England etc to those of us who are converted. Instead of spending thousands sending me leaflet after leaflet, why not spend it sticking weekly adverts in the MEN or on buses?

They did seem to advertise Magic slightly more this year because when I've been in Cardiff and Edinburgh in previous years the locals haven't had a clue. (they had one advert on the cinema window in Edinburgh I believe)

Marketing?
Surely this belongs in "other sports"

We are told that 50% of the fans in attendance at the double header last year were residents of London.....this points to somebody collecting data.....but data is one of the most expensive things to own if you don't use it, or know how to use it.

But it's OK....as we were told earlier this year, the RFL have employed the marketing guru who single handedly made Man City the well supported club it is now......it was nothing to do with the Billionaire Owner...it was all down to him.

http://www.superleaguefans.com/rugby-league/05/03/2012/rfl-appoints-marketing-guru.html

“The work we did in marketing and communications during my time at Manchester City helped transform them into one of the biggest football clubs in the world and I have no doubts that those same solid principles can achieve a similar result in Rugby League.”

Roll up Roll up.....get your International Rugby League tickets for a fiver...

Conroy wrote:

The main problem seems to be that they spend thousands plugging events like Magic Weekend, The Grand Final, Wembley, England etc to those of us who are converted. Instead of spending thousands sending me leaflet after leaflet, why not spend it sticking weekly adverts in the MEN or on buses?

They did seem to advertise Magic slightly more this year because when I've been in Cardiff and Edinburgh in previous years the locals haven't had a clue. (they had one advert on the cinema window in Edinburgh I believe)

I agree with that, but even so, before I spent money advertising to locals I'd want to do a bit of research as to whether locals who were aware of it would actually go anyway. If the answer was mostly 'no' then I'd be questioning the point of being in Cardiff or Edinburgh. If the answer was 'yes' then the next thing would be to plan what happens next for these locals, given that they don't have a team to suddenly start watching thanks to their new found enthusiasm for this previously undiscovered sport.

Honestly, I've no idea whether any of Cardiff, bus adverts, free pies, etc represents smart marketing, but there are ways to find out, to an extent, BEFORE spending too much time money and effort on a promotion that won't work anyway ( or at least isn't as good as an alternative idea) I could be wrong, but I don't get the sense that the RFL spend time finding these things out, they just seem to throw random ideas out there and hope for the best.

RLBandit wrote:

I agree with that, but even so, before I spent money advertising to locals I'd want to do a bit of research as to whether locals who were aware of it would actually go anyway. If the answer was mostly 'no' then I'd be questioning the point of being in Cardiff or Edinburgh. If the answer was 'yes' then the next thing would be to plan what happens next for these locals, given that they don't have a team to suddenly start watching thanks to their new found enthusiasm for this previously undiscovered sport.

Honestly, I've no idea whether any of Cardiff, bus adverts, free pies, etc represents smart marketing, but there are ways to find out, to an extent, BEFORE spending too much time money and effort on a promotion that won't work anyway ( or at least isn't as good as an alternative idea) I could be wrong, but I don't get the sense that the RFL spend time finding these things out, they just seem to throw random ideas out there and hope for the best.

They're more likely to go if they know about it than if they don't. We set a team up in Cardiff (well, Bridgend) and then moved the Magic Weekend to Edinburgh. That was a perfect opportunity to build a fanbase for the Crusaders.

Lockyer4President! wrote:

What a pissweak excuse. You should be ashamed.

That's why the questionaire would be better if was anonymous It's a tricky business to discover people's real reasons for not going to something they feel they somehow 'ought' to. We kid ourselves that it's ticket price or whatever, but yet I know some very skint soccer fans who spend (or IMO, waste) a fortune watching it. Truth is, I just don't find the prospect of a Wigan vs Widnes game all that interesting. We can go on and on about our 'product', but I've taken newbies to games like that and they've been clearly as bored as I've been embarrassed, having previously told them how intense the sport is. Half the time it's not intense at all. We need to admit that.

Personally I don't think we should be trying to use 'cheap' as marketing, but I could be completely wrong, for all I know maybe ticket price *is* the main reason people stay away. Smart research can help find out.