Connie:
38 Bucks
Won't even cover the cost of the beer I know a couple of Smiths consume after said event! :p
For myself, $38 is cheap fun. I'd be willing to pay more for it.
Jim
Originally posted by TheGoodSmith
Why is it USMS doesn't cobrand or partner with huge companys in a fasion that makes a bigger "splash" nationally with something like ...... say ........ a TV commercial with Rowdy Gaines getting out of the water and talking about his American Express card or Mark Spitz stepping out of his Mercedes Benz........ Janet Evans modeling sports wear for JC Penny..... etc....
The data base of masters swimmers information is worth gold to many companies for obvious reasons. Does USMS ever plan to sell it to any companies out there to draw in bigger dollars?
Humor me Connie.... I am new at this.
John Smith
For the most part, even though USMS has pretty desireable demographics, it's membership base is still relatively small to attract very significant sponsors.
It's a double edged sword too, large companies want membership exposure, and they're also hoping to get indirect media exposure, when their sponsoree gets media exposure.
Well, USMS swimming is not a spectator sport, even for the national championships we were unable to get even a local CABLE network to give it a little blurb on TV.
They were more interested in highschool soccer, since kids are considered much more of a draw and more liberal consumers.
So, that affects your sponsors. If a company sponsors USMS nationals, they get exposure to 1200 people. If a company sponsors a highschool soccer (which ends up on TV) they get exposure to few hundred thousand people by just purchasing a banner at their event.
For example, producing a commercial with a masters swimming superstar... Well, whom would you pick to be in it that has a nation wide name recognition?
I mean, look at some of the USA swimming superstars they're not exactly overloaded by sponsorship offers, it's not a sport that attracts major sponsor and advertizer dollars to begin with. USMS is a lesser known entity in the sport.
You have to have something of value and competetively priced to attract advertisers, AND you have to have knowledgeable man-power out there knocking on doors promoting the opportunity.
Again, it boils down to having substantial starting money and resources to promote and give USMS more exposure and name recognition among public at large, in order to attract bigger sponsors.
As for the USMS Member Database, no advertizer will pay us the amount of money that, IMO, would be worth the fallout of selling that data.
Originally posted by Paul Smith
Trust me that we will notify the local tv and newspapers and try and tie this back into a benefit of being registered in our sport.
I hope you guys get more interest then we did.
When he was doing the clinic at the nationals, the mention of Darra Torres, Rowdy Gaines, Brian Goodell and Garry Hall Jr didn't get us any media exposure.
AND we sent press releases and other info to every newspaper and TV network within 50 mile radius. We got couple lukewarm maybes, and one place asking if Gary Hall Jr could come up to their station. They couldn't/wouldn't come down even for an hour of TV taping because their local sports unit was covering kids events.
Good orning All.....let's get going!!
Bill: Great job on the increase in dollars, however my main question/concern about our marketing (as a sport.....including USS) is the lack of exposure in the larger media. To me swimming is stuck in a vacumm......we think small/act small in our efforts to get more exposure.
Michael; I have been there and was so put of by the process and lack of any kind of consenus that I haven't been back. The committee process to me is bloated and ineffective as it exists, however there are folks working hard and spending time to change it and I applaud them.
As for "protecting" member information I understand the concerns but also see compnaies manage efffectively. My impression was that a pretty large part of the people who are involved in this process at USMS actually don't want to grow the sport.....selfishly looking at how more people at meets nd workouts effects them thru more crowding.
If swimming is to grow long term we need to press hard on the PR/markting side beyond our own sport, our own pools, etc. If we have more memebership and more "muscle" we may be able to flex it if we ever step out a bit! You see what impact the AARP had on SS reform? We need to get organized (streamline committees) get vocal (weekly/monthly press releases to the media) and grow!
PS: My evil twin will soon share with you something a few of us are working on to raise awareness of the sport, raise money and put our money where our mouth is (think Billy Jean vs. Bobby Riggs)!
I don't know if anyone else has noticed, but I certainly have, swimming is featured now on more commercials than I have ever seen. It seems like more and more drug companies, health clubs and the like are having swimmers swim during some sort of voice over. Usually their form is atrocious, but that's a whole other story.
Did you know that they are actually using USMS members in a fair number of thosecommercials?
We should be reaching out to those companies who are already featuring swimming in their ads and show them USMS and what we do. If it crowds the lanes, great just more people for me to draft off of.
Okay, let's do it. We already have something to that effect in the marketing plan, and the collaterals will be printed soon.
I need about 20 volunteers across the country willing to spend 2-3 hours a day making phonecalls and pursuing potential advertisers. Someone whom I can show the sales pitch, and someone with reliable communications and professional presentation.
Anyone interested in volunteering when the effort gets underway, please email me!
Part of the stifling of the USMS is that there's too many opinions going every which way, and not very many people thatare not afraid to say, enough is enough, let's decide on one and get the efforts under way.
It's amazing how few people are willing to put their time and effort where their mouths are.
I have a great amount of sales, presentation and marketing experience in what I do and stand to help in whatever way I can. I just don't believe it is efficient to go to convention, form 5 sub-committees, and discuss it for 3 years each September what to do. I am a believer in action.
The silly thing about calling those groups comittee's is that everyone on the comittee thinks they're in charge. Everyone has an opinion, and very few people dare to make a decision.
I wish half as many people chimed in when there's a call to volunteer some time and effort as there are when there's a chance for an opinion to be given.
We already have plenty of good ideas worth trying out. What we need is to stop talking and start doing.
I'm really hoping that having a coordinator (new governance) for certain areas will facilitate doing, and cut down on the talking.
There have been some good ideas floated within this discussion; I think Paul is right to emphasize some of the tie-in possibilities, which, just as real estate agents stress "location, location, location", this would seem to revolve around "contacts, contacts, contacts" & the need to 'exploit' those contacts in a partner-ly way. It would seem that some of our older & accomplished swimmers would be demographically attractive to the burgeoning industry catering to us over 50 types who worry about health, vitality & quality of life. I joked about Viagra, but you see the connection. Perhaps the will to coordinate this on a national level might arise from the hiring of a professional executive as described by Wayne in your convention thread. Someone who might already have a few contacts & able to approach companies on a national level.
Paul, the Geek chooses to inject a little humour (I try to do that as well, I just try to mix it in with a few serious ideas as well) if it truly annoys you just ignore it. Perhaps, if you thought of John as a dedicated fire starter (hot thread topics) & Geek as the little fellow running around giving 'hotfoots' just to see what happens, it might help.
Originally posted by TheGoodSmith
The data base of masters swimmers information is worth gold to many companies for obvious reasons. Does USMS ever plan to sell it to any companies out there to draw in bigger dollars?
First of all, mailing lists go for pennies, if that, per person.
Second, I can't think of a better way to drive people away from USMS than to sell our membership rolls for a few dollars so I can get more junk mail/spam. This would be a dramatic step backwards for USMS, something most organizations long ago ruled out.
Way to hone in on one small (mailing list) part of what we're talking about geek!
How about reversing it......what benefits does USMS bring me via its partners? Do I get a discount on Speedo as a member?
There are plenty of ways to leverage the buying power of what our demographic represents (by the ay gull......the average income fo USMS exceeds $80k a year).
We should be able to "sell" our product to sponsors above and beyond the swimming specific ones we currently have and in return create benefits for our members from it.
For example a relationship with United airlines where they we're the "official" airline of USMS could/should be turned into a discount for members.....you have enough sponsor relationships like that then our $30 a yeard dues could be $100 and seen as a real benefit.
think small be small......think big be big
Originally posted by Paul Smith
think small be small......think big be big
This has nothing to do with small or big thinking. It has to do with knowing your membership and your potential customers. Rather than trying to sell our membership rolls for a few hundred dollars to MBNA so I can get my nifty USMS Visa or sign up an Olympian from 30 years ago to hock AMEX cards, you need a more reasoned approach.
Your idea about a preferred rate for USMS members on airlines or rental car companies is good, and used by a number of groups with membership dues similar to USMS. I've also seen organizations offer preferred discounts or rates to reputable insurance companies (life/health and p/c).
But, you aren't gonna get Mercedes to do a $2m layout in Swimmer magazine so the New Bern Royalty aka gull80 can shell out $60K for a new Benz.
