So I have been swimming with a masters team since august and have since then paid my usms membership fee at the end of October to be able to swim in a meet we recently had. I haven't recieved my usms card in the mail yet. In two weeks and am going back home from school for a month but need to swim in a structured program and am gonna find the masters team at home and wanted to know if I could still swim with them without my membership card, is there a way to prove my membership without it?
No dodge was meant. You are worried about brand visibility, that isn't really what I'm talking about.
Why didn't it work? It "worked" just fine, we just felt it wasn't worth the hassle. I can go into more detail if you like.
One of the things I like a lot about the online system is that it doesn't require anything to be mailed. I can always download the card if I want it. Going to a system where everyone is mailed something seems a step backward, not progress towards the future. I have enough trinkets around the house, I don't need more.
I've been a member of USAS for two years and don't have a luggage tag. Why would I want one? I have NEVER been asked to produce my USAS membership card to enter a meet (I've been in four over the last 2 years) since it is all done electronically through my club team, and presumably they check my membership against the national database.
I wish that USMS didn't require physical proof of membership to enter a meet -- that will probably come at some point -- but they ask for a copy of the card with the entry form. That is perhaps so that they can enter the USMS membership ID into the Meet Manager file ahead of time...and a luggage tag doesn't help with that. As a Top Ten recorder for my LMSC, I definitely appreciate it when they get the number right; showing your card at the meet check-in seems more error-prone to me.
As far as brand visibility, like Geek I have a sticker on my car. Good enough for me. I think Rob Butcher is working on "brand packaging" and I think he will do a great job. It is beyond my pay grade (since I work for free).
But doing it by giving my Registrar more work, and charging me more money, is something I'll fight against.
Chris...I'm curious how many companies you've run, worked for, particpated in building, ran PR and/or marketing for...same for Roddin, Peg and anyone else who seems to think I trivilaize volunteers from USMS and don't "appreciate" what work has/is being done?
Seriouslly...not trying to belittle folks here but USMS is a business...although many don't want to see it as such and like the status quo. Bottom line is you have to step aside from the dfensive posturing that so many take here when anything is questioned about building a brand/buisness.
First and foremost is brand recognition....and I challenge anyone reading this to show me how USMS excels at this? My gosh high school grads, college grads, most anyone you might ask from a competitive background knows virtually nothing about how exceptional our comptetitive side is.
OK....so were a "fitness" based organization...go take a poll of every water aerobics class, physical therapist, nutrtional expert, personal trainer on what they know about USMS and I'll bet anyone $100 that 99% have no idea what USMS stands for let alone what it offers.
So where do you start? We have no money so newspaper/magazine ads are out of the question. We have no ROI (return on investment) for the fitness swimmer or the ex-competitive swimmer other than a few meets and the USMS magazine...so why pay to join?
Which brings me back to brands like godaddy.com, under armour, etc. Brands that started at the grass roots with logo based/ground level, no-cost PR. Bumper stickers, license plate holders, luggage tags, t-shirts for top 10 and fitness challenges, www.usms.org banners/logos in every possible place that people might see the web link and go home and check it out.
Which leads us to viral marketing, our website, etc. Lot's of work to be done to say the least. Do you know that Facebook doesn't even have a USMS home page? Not sure about MySpace but guessing the same...were dead wood.
I love swimming...and I'm a buisnessman and very competitive...I want this organtization to be highly successful but to be honest I'm tired and fed up with being one of the only voices out here asking hard questions and trying to fight the fight and getting told to go "volunteer" and/or quit bitching.
No dodge was meant. You are worried about brand visibility, that isn't really what I'm talking about.
Why didn't it work? It "worked" just fine, we just felt it wasn't worth the hassle. I can go into more detail if you like.
One of the things I like a lot about the online system is that it doesn't require anything to be mailed. I can always download the card if I want it. Going to a system where everyone is mailed something seems a step backward, not progress towards the future. I have enough trinkets around the house, I don't need more.
I've been a member of USAS for two years and don't have a luggage tag. Why would I want one? I have NEVER been asked to produce my USAS membership card to enter a meet (I've been in four over the last 2 years) since it is all done electronically through my club team, and presumably they check my membership against the national database.
I wish that USMS didn't require physical proof of membership to enter a meet -- that will probably come at some point -- but they ask for a copy of the card with the entry form. That is perhaps so that they can enter the USMS membership ID into the Meet Manager file ahead of time...and a luggage tag doesn't help with that. As a Top Ten recorder for my LMSC, I definitely appreciate it when they get the number right; showing your card at the meet check-in seems more error-prone to me.
As far as brand visibility, like Geek I have a sticker on my car. Good enough for me. I think Rob Butcher is working on "brand packaging" and I think he will do a great job. It is beyond my pay grade (since I work for free).
But doing it by giving my Registrar more work, and charging me more money, is something I'll fight against.
Chris...I'm curious how many companies you've run, worked for, particpated in building, ran PR and/or marketing for...same for Roddin, Peg and anyone else who seems to think I trivilaize volunteers from USMS and don't "appreciate" what work has/is being done?
Seriouslly...not trying to belittle folks here but USMS is a business...although many don't want to see it as such and like the status quo. Bottom line is you have to step aside from the dfensive posturing that so many take here when anything is questioned about building a brand/buisness.
First and foremost is brand recognition....and I challenge anyone reading this to show me how USMS excels at this? My gosh high school grads, college grads, most anyone you might ask from a competitive background knows virtually nothing about how exceptional our comptetitive side is.
OK....so were a "fitness" based organization...go take a poll of every water aerobics class, physical therapist, nutrtional expert, personal trainer on what they know about USMS and I'll bet anyone $100 that 99% have no idea what USMS stands for let alone what it offers.
So where do you start? We have no money so newspaper/magazine ads are out of the question. We have no ROI (return on investment) for the fitness swimmer or the ex-competitive swimmer other than a few meets and the USMS magazine...so why pay to join?
Which brings me back to brands like godaddy.com, under armour, etc. Brands that started at the grass roots with logo based/ground level, no-cost PR. Bumper stickers, license plate holders, luggage tags, t-shirts for top 10 and fitness challenges, www.usms.org banners/logos in every possible place that people might see the web link and go home and check it out.
Which leads us to viral marketing, our website, etc. Lot's of work to be done to say the least. Do you know that Facebook doesn't even have a USMS home page? Not sure about MySpace but guessing the same...were dead wood.
I love swimming...and I'm a buisnessman and very competitive...I want this organtization to be highly successful but to be honest I'm tired and fed up with being one of the only voices out here asking hard questions and trying to fight the fight and getting told to go "volunteer" and/or quit bitching.
