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Ideas to boost attendances and income - post yours

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psgmariner
June 11, 2019, 2:14pm

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Mine from another thread about season tickets:

Copy Sunderland:

We’re used to seeing statues of famous players outside football stadiums, or walking down roads named after the old club captain.

So to drum up season ticket sales for the 2014/15 season Sunderland created a campaign that portrayed fans as club legends.

At a match against Crystal Palace towards the end of last season the stadium’s East Stand was renamed The Brian Graham Stand in honour of one fan that had renewed their season ticket.

A delighted Julia Ward has her very own road sign outside the SoL today after renewing her season card! #SAFCLegends pic.twitter.com/f6lheco5bF

— Sunderland AFC (@SunderlandAFC) March 15, 2014

Another fan had a road named after them and some season ticket holders received phone calls from players to tell them they are legends.

Other activity included print adverts of fans pictured as statues and social media posts featuring the names of fans that had renewed their season tickets.

This is a really clever campaign and one that generates excitement among fans about the upcoming season, when perhaps there isn’t much to get excited about on the field.

https://econsultancy.com/six-premier-league-football-clubs-with-innovative-digital-strategies/


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psgmariner
June 11, 2019, 2:16pm

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And try out this (for free) for the first two games of the season:


https://start.ticketco.events/uk/ticketing-for-sports-clubs/


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londonmariner2
June 11, 2019, 2:20pm
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Quoted from psgmariner
And try out this (for free) for the first two games of the season:


https://start.ticketco.events/uk/ticketing-for-sports-clubs/



That will never replace our forward thinking notepad and pen system.
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psgmariner
June 11, 2019, 2:25pm

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And from the same article another low cost idea that will generate a social media buzz:

At the beginning of this season Southampton hosted a treasure hunt around the city to give fans the chance to win a new shirt before they went on general sale.

Hundreds of footballs were hidden in different locations, details of which were then shared on Twitter, Snapchat and Facebook.

Fans who found one of the balls had to post a selfie using the hashtag #EarnYourStripes to be entered into a prize draw for one of the kits.


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Civvy at last
June 11, 2019, 2:29pm

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Quoted from psgmariner
And from the same article another low cost idea that will generate a social media buzz:

At the beginning of this season Southampton hosted a treasure hunt around the city to give fans the chance to win a new shirt before they went on general sale.

Hundreds of footballs were hidden in different locations, details of which were then shared on Twitter, Snapchat and Facebook.

Fans who found one of the balls had to post a selfie using the hashtag #EarnYourStripes to be entered into a prize draw for one of the kits.


What a load of old balls 😉


The wife was going away for a girly weekend.
I jokingly remarked  'I don't know whether to spend it watching porn or watching football'
'you may as well spend it watching porn' she replied
That's understanding darling what makes you say that? I asked

She said 'Well you already know how to play football'  
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psgmariner
June 11, 2019, 2:43pm

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I also think a large seat cover over the Osmond Corner would look better than yet more empty seats. Obviously you can sell the advertising on it as well.

https://www.flags.co.uk/banners/stadium-seat-covers/

Could be taken down on the rare times the seats are needed.


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sam gy
June 11, 2019, 2:43pm
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Find somewhere else for everyone to park, and use the car park as a 'Fan Zone' type affair before kick off......beer provided by local breweries (Docks, Axeholme, etc), pop up food stalls by any local companies that might wanna get involved (John Turners making butties and burgers, local chippy with capabilities of doing a mobile thing, the club's staff dishing up Youngs fish finger sarnies , etc etc), maybe a local band providing entertainment.

The trust have done a great job in sprucing up the bars inside the ground, but theres still such a lack of places to have a beer before near the ground before. Let away fans in too, for 'low risk' games.



[img]https://scontent-lhr3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xla1/v/t1.0-9/12039761_10156639571185103_2884197968019429473_n.jpg?oh=184cac2706832a1b1dd4d6a0420a6f87&oe=574C5F4F[/img]
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psgmariner
June 11, 2019, 2:49pm

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Would also love to know how much it is to sponsor a stand. Only one of the four is sponsored.

https://www.grimsby-townfc.co.uk/news/2017/april/advertising

Whatever it is, tell people. If no offers, actively chase companies.

Also that page hasn't been updated since April 2017.


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mimma
June 11, 2019, 3:04pm
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The best way to increase attendances is to play good football, score lots of goals and be top of the league. It worked for the wimps.
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psgmariner
June 11, 2019, 3:14pm

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Agreed but we’re rubbish so need more money to improve the team.


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Green27
June 11, 2019, 3:32pm
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Quoted from mimma
The best way to increase attendances is to play good football, score lots of goals and be top of the league. It worked for the wimps.


That's a very blinkered way of looking at what Lincoln have done.


We do the DN35 Podcast
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MuddyWaters
June 11, 2019, 3:44pm
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First, win more games then win more games by playing good football then challenge for promotion.

In simple terms, create a feel-good factor that has been missing for too long. Essentially we go to BP to watch our team win, everything else is superfluous.
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diehardmariner
June 11, 2019, 3:50pm
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Short and long term approach.

Sell family tickets.  £40 for two adults tickets, and up to three children tickets.   Comes with free matchday programme, vouchers for kids to get drinks at the game and sweets.   Childs tickets also come with a coupon scheme, if they collect so many (let's say 5) they get to have their photo taken with their favourite player before a game on the pitch.  You can add other incentives for 10, 15 vouchers etc. as you see fit.   23 - you can be chairman for the day  

if the club are worried about them taking up seats we might sell put them in the corner of the Main or the corner next to the away end, hell even use the away end itself as it rarely even comes close to selling out.  I did notice towards the end of the season away fans were put in the corner.  Fact is we're not selling tickets, not even coming close to selling out other than the odd game.  It's one, maybe two games a season where we might not be able to give someone the full allocation of the away end and the corner - tough!  They're not the future lifeblood of the club.

Rough costing for a family of four to go to the game is probably in excess of £60 by the time you've bought tickets and all the associated guff.   It's simply pricing a lot of people out. Long term, the kids of today are our future.  We need to get them early and get them hooked.  I grew up on Buckley Ball MKI but it wasn't the football that gripped me, it was collecting autographs after the game of Mark Lever, Shaun Cunnington, Neil Woods... Get that connection established now and we've a better chance of keeping those kids connected with the club for decades to come.  
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psgmariner
June 11, 2019, 3:50pm

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Quoted from MuddyWaters
First, win more games then win more games by playing good football then challenge for promotion.

In simple terms, create a feel-good factor that has been missing for too long. Essentially we go to BP to watch our team win, everything else is superfluous.


It's chicken and egg though. We have a rubbish team, an unproven manager and no money. We won't win many games unless something changes. This is a thread for ideas to help that change to happen.


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diehardmariner
June 11, 2019, 3:52pm
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Quoted from MuddyWaters
First, win more games then win more games by playing good football then challenge for promotion.

In simple terms, create a feel-good factor that has been missing for too long. Essentially we go to BP to watch our team win, everything else is superfluous.


How do you win games?  With better players
How do you get better players?  With better wages?
How can you pay better wages? .....

It's chicken and egg.  We need to be attractive to watch and competitive but you need the backing to do that.  The two don't have to be done in isolation.
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psgmariner
June 11, 2019, 3:52pm

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diehardmariner
June 11, 2019, 3:52pm
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Is chicken and egg the theme of the day?
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psgmariner
June 11, 2019, 3:53pm

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Quoted from diehardmariner


How do you win games?  With better players
How do you get better players?  With better wages?
How can you pay better wages? .....

It's chicken and egg.  We need to be attractive to watch and competitive but you need the backing to do that.  The two don't have to be done in isolation.


My post and your post are like that bloody chicken and egg!


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psgmariner
June 11, 2019, 4:02pm

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Dunno if it's feasible but a creche / supervised play area during the match could tempt a few parents. Most kids seem to get bored quite quickly at the games and they don't have the option of getting leathered to numb the pain.


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MuddyWaters
June 11, 2019, 4:12pm
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Quoted from diehardmariner


How do you win games?  With better players
How do you get better players?  With better wages?
How can you pay better wages? .....

It's chicken and egg.  We need to be attractive to watch and competitive but you need the backing to do that.  The two don't have to be done in isolation.


I don't disagree. The same thing has been stated on here for years - sometimes you have to speculate. We are a relatively poor club in many ways but we have a rich heritage and a very loyal fanbase - get some of those fans back by showing some ambition on the pitch. Whether you think it's a pisstake or otherwise, John Fenty is 100% correct - the best place to do your PR is on the pitch. There are hundreds of Town fans who would be back in a heartbeat if we were successful.

Look at Lincoln (again!), they haven't doubled (and more) their attendances by fancy PR, they've done it by showing intent and going and winning football matches. As a consequence, they've picked up more sponsors, more investors and more fans.
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mariner91
June 11, 2019, 4:14pm
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Quoted from diehardmariner
Short and long term approach.

Sell family tickets.  £40 for two adults tickets, and up to three children tickets.   Comes with free matchday programme, vouchers for kids to get drinks at the game and sweets.   Childs tickets also come with a coupon scheme, if they collect so many (let's say 5) they get to have their photo taken with their favourite player before a game on the pitch.  You can add other incentives for 10, 15 vouchers etc. as you see fit.   23 - you can be chairman for the day  

if the club are worried about them taking up seats we might sell put them in the corner of the Main or the corner next to the away end, hell even use the away end itself as it rarely even comes close to selling out.  I did notice towards the end of the season away fans were put in the corner.  Fact is we're not selling tickets, not even coming close to selling out other than the odd game.  It's one, maybe two games a season where we might not be able to give someone the full allocation of the away end and the corner - tough!  They're not the future lifeblood of the club.

Rough costing for a family of four to go to the game is probably in excess of £60 by the time you've bought tickets and all the associated guff.   It's simply pricing a lot of people out. Long term, the kids of today are our future.  We need to get them early and get them hooked.  I grew up on Buckley Ball MKI but it wasn't the football that gripped me, it was collecting autographs after the game of Mark Lever, Shaun Cunnington, Neil Woods... Get that connection established now and we've a better chance of keeping those kids connected with the club for decades to come.  


Some nice ideas there with the kids. I have no idea if there is anything like this already as I don't have any kids but send the kids a birthday card signed by all the players and the management. Get them to tell you who their favourite player is and get that player to send them a signed picture at Xmas or something. Have monthly competitions out of all the kids who have season tickets, randomly pick a player to go to a training session or meet the players in the changing room before a game or sit in the dugout during the game. Little things like that that would make a kid's day/week/month/year and will get them hooked. Most of those suggestions would cost pennies but you'd be getting yourself a fan for life.

The other thing I've always thought we should be doing is cheap tickets for the under 25's in the Ponny. And I mean cheap. Currently the club considers a "young adult" to be anyone of the age 15-18. Currently tickets for this age group are £13 early bird or £15 on the day. That's still a lot for these kids in an area that isn't very affluent. If you're over the age of 18 and not a student, the cheapest ticket you'll get is £20 in the Ponny, that's a hell of a lot and I'm certain we're losing fans because of it. They also consider a student to be anyone under the age of 21. As a student myself for 7 years, this used to wind me up because although I was older than 21, it would have still helped me to save £7 on a ticket because I wasn't getting any more income than students younger than me.

We often complain of a lack of atmosphere at BP in games that aren't particularly important and I would argue that the pricing for younger fans is part of the problem. Usually (not always) the people who sing at games are young lads who have gone to the game with their mates. If we're pricing youngsters out there are less of them in the first place and they might be less inclined to sing if they're on their own or only one or two others. I would change the criteria for what a "young adult" is. Up to 16 you're considered a kid. 17-25 you're a young adult. If you've got proof of being a student, you can get a student ticket regardless of your age. I would slash prices for young adults and students in the Ponny to £7 for early bird, £9 matchday. This way you won't lose as many fans during that crucial period when they've stopped going with their parents but don't have much disposable income. It's bad enough trying to keep them going when we're so shite on the pitch but when you're making it too expensive for them as well, there's no wonder the fan base is aging. You might lose a bit of money initially but long term you'd retain more fans and hopefully you'd get an immediate upturn in atmosphere at home games.


Looking forward to a brighter future now Fenty has gone.
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WOZOFGRIMSBY
June 11, 2019, 4:15pm

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The sides of the pontoon need sorting. Why not get a fabrication company to put in similar to what's in the upper barrets/findus/smiths (when they weren't broken) and get their company name on it? Helps keep the atmosphere and prime cheap advertising


He’s one of our loans
He’s one of our loans
Harvey Cartwright
He’s one of our loans
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Azimuth
June 11, 2019, 4:41pm
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Quoted from MuddyWaters
First, win more games then win more games by playing good football then challenge for promotion.

In simple terms, create a feel-good factor that has been missing for too long. Essentially we go to BP to watch our team win, everything else is superfluous.


Hit the nail on the head right there!
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moosey_club
June 11, 2019, 7:34pm
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Quoted from psgmariner


reading that i think its pretty clear what the author feels is important to boosting attendance and becoming sustainable....the first four or five points are about appreciating, listening, engaging with supporters, fans matter...also mentions the importance of the liaison officer role...

whereas our club thinks ....

Shut up
O.P was a bad idea
bin off a very pro-active liaison officer as she wasn't club focussed enough

etc etc









2023/24 DLWDDWDLLLWDLLLLWDDDWDLLWLDLLDWDDWL
2022/23LDWDWWDWLLDWWDLLLDLWLLWLWLLWDDLDWWDDDLLWDWLWLW
2021/22 WDWWWWDLWWWWLLLWLLDLWLLWWDWWWLWDLWWDWWWDLWD play offs WWW Promoted 🥳
2020/21  LLDWWLDLDWLWLLLDLWLLDLLDLLLWLLLDDDDWDDDLWLWLWL .. hello darkness my old friend
2019/20  WDLDWWLDLWWLLLDLDLDLDDWWDLLWDDWWL WLLW - ended
2018/19  LWDDLLLLLLWWDWLLLWDWLWWWWLLLLWWWWDLLLDDLLDLWLW Hello Scunny  
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lew chaterleys lover
June 11, 2019, 7:55pm
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A takeover would boost attendances. Fenty stepping down would boost attendances.

I used to ignore people who said I won't be going to BP unless such and such manager/chairman is gone, but Fenty really is acting like a huge drag to the club.

News of Fenty & co. leaving would be a great boost.
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WetFlannel
June 11, 2019, 11:20pm
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Atmosphere in the pontoon improving would help, but that’s a chicken and egg scenario. I understand that you usually don’t get a good atmosphere without a good product etc, and it’s not exactly the fans fault the team hasn’t been good, but in an ideal world the atmosphere would be much better than it has been in the last two years. There’s certain things (such as ‘ultra’ groups etc) that would help but that are generally mocked by English fans for some reason, although Palace have showed us that it really does boost home atmosphere. Knowing us going down a similar path would never happen (it’ll be called tinpot by the same people who complain English atmospheres are so quiet) I think something similar to Newcastle’s Wor Flags would be good, something which helps fam engagement and continues to add more spectacle to the day. Even bringing back the big flag for bigger games helps create that bit of a buzz. Small things like this won’t bring 8K to Blundell without a winning team but it does make those small differences, many people are excited about away days even when we’re crap knowing we’ll have some atmosphere and it might mean some people who go to a good number of games might find that excuse to go to a few more. ‘We’re not great but at least the crowd get into it’
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HackneyHaddock
June 12, 2019, 12:55am
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Some good ideas, and some quicker returns than others, but I think it's worth saying that the club can give lots of things a go and shouldn't beat itself up if not all of them pay off right away.  Fundamentally, we need to build a wide, broad fan base that means we have 30-50,000 people who have some sort of interest in or goodwill toward the club, of which 20,000 would turn out for a Wembley trip and buy something from the clubshop for a relative, 10-15,000 would go to big matches at a new ground, 9,000 would go to big matches at BP, 6,000 will go regularly and 4500 of whom will buy season tickets.

I think immediate short and medium term gains though all depend on supporter experience, so here are a few of my ideas:

-  A fanzone at BP, whether in the Harrington Street Corner of the Findus Car Park as suggested further up the thread, with food trucks, drinks and a space (whether an old shipping container or stage) for games, interviews, bands etc.  Using outside providers can reduce risk to the club and keeps it simple.  Also allows you to mix it up with the seasons (summer flavour for Opening Day through to September, Christmas Market etc)

- Speed up drinks service at BP. There are loads of reports that suggest the main loss of revenue at venues is not in stock wastage but in missed sales. Ie, not serving people quickly enough and they end up not buying (When I go I don't bother as it takes ages to be served and then there's nowhere to go).  Whether thats a token system to reduce cash-handling, pre-pouring of drinks, changing the queuing and serving layout, or just providing space for people to move to once they've been served.  Do a market sizing of people who'll drink outside the ground and see if you can just encourage a fraction of them to come inside and have one extra drink in the ground.

-  Sell more tickets to away fans: Identify games with potential for a lot of fans and push sales to that club by sending them lots of information about the ground, travel, about Cleethorpes. Promote these games eight to twelve weeks ahead of time on our opponents official and unofficial traditional and social media, when fans are thinking about making travel plans and when advance rail tickets go on sale.  Just 50 extra away fans per game would bring in about £25,000 over a season.

-  Expand the season ticket pack target list:  Who do we send these packs to?  Just last season's STHs?  Try sending them to anyone who's had a ST in the last five seasons, plus anyone who has bought more than 15 matchday tickets in the last few seasons.

-  Have an outbound sales strategy: Instead of waiting for people to come to the ticket office, proactively call our fans and sell them a season ticket on the phone there and then, whether up front paid, or on monthly direct debit.  Contact fans after games to thank them for their support.

-  Exiled Mariners Membership! Spoken about so much but never implemented, probably because it's difficult to pin down what it should include.  There are probably (my guess based on the bump for away support around London/SE and Manchester/NW) 400-500 around each of London or Manchester (and more around the country) who follow town but probably don't get to BP very often. An exiles package costing about £50-100 and run like a membership club, can give these fans things like discounts at the club shop, priority booking on in-demand games, a free ground tour on their "home visit" back to BP, some exclusive content or invitations to web chats, reserve a retro shirt, e-programmes, nostalgic content and generally a feeling that you're being kept involved and connected to your club.  Sell 500 of these at £50 and that's £25,000
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KingstonMariner
June 12, 2019, 3:30am
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Quoted from Azimuth


Hit the nail on the head right there!


But easier said than done. It’s like no one else has had the idea of winning football matches before.


Through the door there came familiar laughter,
I saw your face and heard you call my name.
Oh my friend we're older but no wiser,
For in our hearts the dreams are still the same.
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1mickylyons
June 12, 2019, 7:03am
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Some great great ideas here but sadly and sorry to stress this most of these ideas have previously been put to the Club or put to the Trust to put to the Club and nothing has come of them in the main . I might be a cynic and it`s only my opinion but I believe there are two reasons for the lack of response one sheer embarrassment that the fans have a far better grasp of things and two most of the people at the Club who would oversee this change CBA.
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diehardmariner
June 12, 2019, 8:51am
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Quoted from MuddyWaters


I don't disagree. The same thing has been stated on here for years - sometimes you have to speculate. We are a relatively poor club in many ways but we have a rich heritage and a very loyal fanbase - get some of those fans back by showing some ambition on the pitch. Whether you think it's a pisstake or otherwise, John Fenty is 100% correct - the best place to do your PR is on the pitch. There are hundreds of Town fans who would be back in a heartbeat if we were successful.

Look at Lincoln (again!), they haven't doubled (and more) their attendances by fancy PR, they've done it by showing intent and going and winning football matches. As a consequence, they've picked up more sponsors, more investors and more fans.



It's a combination isn't it?  

Lincoln capitalised on their success with good PR to build and build and build.   Town had that success, the footballing fortune if you like.  We took in excess of 10,000 fans to Wembley twice in less than a month which resulted in an epic promotion that should have been the best recruitment ground ever.  It's no different to what Lincoln had with their cup runs and promotion.  Instead we did nothing to take advantage of the extra 6.000+ fans that were potential customers.  With little to no extra marketing, we managed to keep about 1,000 of those coming through the gates in the early parts of the 16/17 season but that soon tailed off.  

Success brings new fans - looking after them keeps them.  If you keep them you generate more money.  More money (generally) means better players, resources and in turn results.  
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140067
June 12, 2019, 9:26am
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denni266
June 12, 2019, 9:34am

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having a decent team would help more than our non chairman thinks
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Malta_Mariner_90
June 12, 2019, 9:55am
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So when are we going to pass some of these great ideas onto the SLO?

If the SLO does not even respond at all to some of these suggestions then we would have further proof of how we are simply not valued as supporters.  

We already know that Mr.Fenty will in all likelihood not respond to a thread like this on the fishy (understandable). But perhaps we can increase pressure for just some basic changes/improvements through the SLO.

The SLO ignoring the fans would just make the SLO and Mr. Fenty look bad from whatever angle.  

Some of these ideas would surely be so easy to implement, like the fanzone pre-game, I am sure people would be willing to volunteer on a match-day as well for some of the ideas if the club would say costs would impede.

  
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HackneyHaddock
June 12, 2019, 10:04am
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A longer term idea, and one which would require some initial outlay, would be to introduce a new ticketing database and CRM software so that the club can keep track of who's buying what, and when.

The analytics from such as system would let the club see who its season ticket holders are, who buys 15 tickets in a season, where people travel from, who buys from the clubshop, who's buying additional tickets for friends, who travels away from home, who has children, when fans' birthdays are, and would allow the club to build a huge database (within GDPR constraints of course) that they could send surveys and market research to.

This would enable the club to increase its direct sales, but would also give them more information and insights to back up discussions with sponsors ("We have a fan database of 15,000, of which X are ABC1 consumers in North East Lincs."  "Our recent survey told us that X% of our supporters are interested in your sector")

If this is deemed too big an outlay by the club and they want to put everything into the playing budget then let's find another way of getting the money.  At the moment they're just throwing away money and valuable insight.
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psgmariner
June 12, 2019, 10:20am

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Quoted from Malta_Mariner_90
So when are we going to pass some of these great ideas onto the SLO?




I will contact the Trust and / or the SLO next week so keep adding suggestions to this thread please.


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drbell
June 12, 2019, 11:49am
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As an exile down south, I basically don't get to any games at the moment. I try to do my bit by buying shirts, paying to watch games online, but I suspect not that much of this money trickles to the club.

How about the simple ability for fans (local and exile) to set up direct debits or one off payments to the club. I acknowledge this might be controversial given it rather depends whether people feel the club is making best use of the money, but Im sure there are others who would give a little each month, or as one offs when they are feeling more flush. It could be done in a few different ways:

- you could select what the money is used for (players, youth, ground improvements). I cant see any reason why the money cant just result in there being extra in the pot for those parts of the club that month/year. The club can then feedback on what was made possible by the overall donations.
- it could be a membership scheme (£1-5 gets you a welcome letter and 3 more packs a year with stickers, a signed postcard, a poster, etc. £5-10 also gets you a signed ball once in the year, signed poster etc. £10-20 gets you a shirt, a question/comment responded to by a member of staff, and so on. Its not supposed to be value for money if you know what i mean, just some small reward for contributing financially to the club.
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WOZOFGRIMSBY
June 12, 2019, 12:12pm

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Watching the cricket this morning, there's loads of kids there. People interacting with them, faces painted and obviously something obviously the local schools have got behind in Taunton.

The club should be going all out to introduce a new wave of support imho. Invite local schools and get the ruddy ground filled (looking at the osmond/upper I guess). Give every game the essence of a cup final to them and get them excited about it. Players in the school a couple of days before. Give them flags to wave (far away as possible from fenty) maybe when seated give them tshirts to wear and alternate between black/white every 2 seats.


He’s one of our loans
He’s one of our loans
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WOZOFGRIMSBY
June 12, 2019, 12:15pm

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Quoted from drbell
As an exile down south, I basically don't get to any games at the moment. I try to do my bit by buying shirts, paying to watch games online, but I suspect not that much of this money trickles to the club.

How about the simple ability for fans (local and exile) to set up direct debits or one off payments to the club. I acknowledge this might be controversial given it rather depends whether people feel the club is making best use of the money, but Im sure there are others who would give a little each month, or as one offs when they are feeling more flush. It could be done in a few different ways:

- you could select what the money is used for (players, youth, ground improvements). I cant see any reason why the money cant just result in there being extra in the pot for those parts of the club that month/year. The club can then feedback on what was made possible by the overall donations.
- it could be a membership scheme (£1-5 gets you a welcome letter and 3 more packs a year with stickers, a signed postcard, a poster, etc. £5-10 also gets you a signed ball once in the year, signed poster etc. £10-20 gets you a shirt, a question/comment responded to by a member of staff, and so on. Its not supposed to be value for money if you know what i mean, just some small reward for contributing financially to the club.


I mentioned a couple of years ago about when a purchase is made outside the local area or where postage is paid, why not throw a free car sticker in? Maybe even an 'exiled mariner' one with the crest


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He’s one of our loans
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forza ivano
June 12, 2019, 12:37pm

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Quoted from drbell
As an exile down south, I basically don't get to any games at the moment. I try to do my bit by buying shirts, paying to watch games online, but I suspect not that much of this money trickles to the club.

How about the simple ability for fans (local and exile) to set up direct debits or one off payments to the club. I acknowledge this might be controversial given it rather depends whether people feel the club is making best use of the money, but Im sure there are others who would give a little each month, or as one offs when they are feeling more flush. It could be done in a few different ways:

- you could select what the money is used for (players, youth, ground improvements). I cant see any reason why the money cant just result in there being extra in the pot for those parts of the club that month/year. The club can then feedback on what was made possible by the overall donations.
- it could be a membership scheme (£1-5 gets you a welcome letter and 3 more packs a year with stickers, a signed postcard, a poster, etc. £5-10 also gets you a signed ball once in the year, signed poster etc. £10-20 gets you a shirt, a question/comment responded to by a member of staff, and so on. Its not supposed to be value for money if you know what i mean, just some small reward for contributing financially to the club.


i expounded a similar idea a few months ago. My thought was that Jolley (so that the money would be in support of him and the players, not the unpopular club) could suggest, for example,  a piece of equipment that was common place elsewheer but that budget constraints prevented us from having. We'd then crowd fund that piece of equipment
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mimma
June 13, 2019, 12:35am
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All the money goes to either fund the team or to run the club. It doesn't go anywhere else.
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KingstonMariner
June 13, 2019, 4:19am
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Quoted from mimma
All the money goes to either fund the team or to run the club. It doesn't go anywhere else.


If it’s earmarked this way it won’t pay off any benign loans


Through the door there came familiar laughter,
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Bristol Mariner
June 13, 2019, 6:44am

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Fenty offers £0.5m to sell up, fans raise the cash.


GTFC Exile, Bristol Mariners
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AdamHaddock
June 13, 2019, 9:10am

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Place a roof (even a cheap flimsy one) over the back of the main stand creating a concourse area. Spruce up the bogs. See if one of the local chippies like Steels want to do a catering van or two in the ground on match days.


[img]https://images.app.goo.gl/bymuz36koLHofSn79[/img]
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AussieMariner
June 13, 2019, 10:23am
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A couple of ideas:

1. Leverage the fan loyalty to GTFC and their buying power by being far more active in promoting and generating leads for sponsor products.
Simple example:
5000 fans buy a £20,000 car every 4 years. That’s a total spend of £25,000,000 p.a.
If we can influence 10% of those purchases with simple low cost strategies such as a personalised GTFC number plate, take a test drive with your favourite player, meet the players at a dealership event etc etc and take a 5% lead generation fee (£1,000 per additional car sold) that’s £125,000 p.a. from a single category (albeit a high value one).
These numbers are off the top of my head but I’m confident that with a bit of refinement there is a viable opportunity there.
The challenge would be to put in place the system to record and manage the leads and demonstrate to the company that the sales are genuinely incremental. I do notice however that one of the 6 sponsors we have is an IT services company....
A by-product of such a scheme would be the creation of a database of customers for various categories of products and services that could prove invaluable in attracting future sponsors. Doesn’t work for all categories, but anything involving a regular or frequent discretionary purchase would fit.

2. Increase fan engagement through ‘money can’t buy’ experiences.
Nothing new about this idea but the concept is that the club can offer experiences that cost them next to nothing but are highly valued by the fans.
- Behind the scenes tour of a training session
- Take a penalty against Macca
- Sit next to JF at a match (or maybe not)
- Have a beer or a meal with your favorite player
- A match-day table in McMenemy’s hosted by a player who is currently not playing (injured, suspended etc).
And many many more. These could be offered as a reward for achieving spend thresholds, randomly selected winners, whatever. Basically though formalise the propositions and use them to generate interest.
Again, needs investment in a database to be done effectively.

The common theme behind both of these ideas is that the loyalty that fans have to the club is a major asset that can be harnessed and leveraged far mor effectively than at present.


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Helgy
June 13, 2019, 2:20pm
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There are loads of things you can do last season in the conference Lincoln’s  fundraising was putting in around £1k a week.
It was a lot easier with the Cowleys , compared to previous years.
We had loads of unique ideas that were put in place and we still do them and keep the connection between the fans and the club that is massive.
None of the free claw hammers that Mansfield  we’re giving away wtf was that promotion about ?
Perhaps a commercial dept that gets out and sells the stands to companies.
To start with it does not matter how much comes in initially as there was no income before hand.
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psgmariner
June 13, 2019, 4:43pm

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Interesting investment model from Stevenage. I’d be in for this:

https://www.france24.com/en/20190613-english-club-stevenage-hope-funding-plan-blueprint-future


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psgmariner
June 13, 2019, 4:52pm

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Chance to invest, boosted returns if the team get promoted and a £99 season ticket. Sounds good to me.


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Malta_Mariner_90
June 13, 2019, 4:55pm
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Quoted from psgmariner
Chance to invest, boosted returns if the team get promoted and a £99 season ticket. Sounds good to me.


Only one problem though...
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moosey_club
June 13, 2019, 8:14pm
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Quoted from psgmariner
Chance to invest, boosted returns if the team get promoted and a £99 season ticket. Sounds good to me.


Arsenal and Leeds i think have both run bond schemes in the past where you effectively invest money up front and get the next few seasons season tickets at a minimal cost. Think they used that to raise capital for new stadium/ new stands or the like.  


2023/24 DLWDDWDLLLWDLLLLWDDDWDLLWLDLLDWDDWL
2022/23LDWDWWDWLLDWWDLLLDLWLLWLWLLWDDLDWWDDDLLWDWLWLW
2021/22 WDWWWWDLWWWWLLLWLLDLWLLWWDWWWLWDLWWDWWWDLWD play offs WWW Promoted 🥳
2020/21  LLDWWLDLDWLWLLLDLWLLDLLDLLLWLLLDDDDWDDDLWLWLWL .. hello darkness my old friend
2019/20  WDLDWWLDLWWLLLDLDLDLDDWWDLLWDDWWL WLLW - ended
2018/19  LWDDLLLLLLWWDWLLLWDWLWWWWLLLLWWWWDLLLDDLLDLWLW Hello Scunny  
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promotion plaice
June 13, 2019, 8:35pm

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"boost income"

Swear Boxes dotted around the home areas for Town fans at BP, 50p each time you swear.

I reckon we'd have enough money for the new stadium within a couple of seasons     



When Leeds trainer Les Cocker was once told Norman Hunter had broken a leg, he asked: “Whose is it?”
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Northbank Mariner
June 13, 2019, 8:49pm
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Quoted from promotion plaice

"boost income"

Swear Boxes dotted around the home areas for Town fans at BP, 50p each time you swear.

I reckon we'd have enough money for the new stadium within a couple of seasons     


Seasons?...you having a laugh, we'd have secured that in the first game against FGR last year!!😂😂
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1mickylyons
June 14, 2019, 6:57am
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Quoted from Northbank Mariner

Seasons?...you having a laugh, we'd have secured that in the first game against FGR last year!!😂😂


I would have had to remortgage the house on the 2nd half showing
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GMacademic
June 14, 2019, 7:04pm
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If there was a fan led initiative to engage young supporters - similar to the Accrington Stanley model (but without an Andy Holt to fund it). So a number of fundraising activities, events, Crowdfunder- similar to Operation Promotion, to unite the current support; in order to engage, invite & embrace the next generation of supporters - would that work?

Personally, as long as there was a guarantee that none of the money raised went directly to the Club - I think with our record of fundraising for the floodlights, for Joe Waters, for Operation Promotion, for a Mariachi Band it would be a huge boost to our Club, our support and our reputation.
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