Ideas to market I.C.T

[Huisdean]

As ever some good ideas but nothing from the Board to indicate they are doing somethind. i have said before as have others, most notably IHE, that it appears some members of the board, not all, are just their for the position/prestige and do nothing to justify their place on the board. Effectively they are getting free advice from the fans FFS

[Alex MacLeod]

I'm sure our club actually employs people to do the marketing. I also believe they work very hard under the current financial state of the country. Somebody has gone out and sold the club to every name on every advertising board around the ground and each year they work hard at convincing those advertisers to keep supporting the team.

[NormaStitz]

Was watching the lads doing the orienteering in Forres on Tuesday and it was great to see them mixing with the kids that were in the park - some of the youth team were there as well. The Forres Soccer 7s were sharing their clubhouse with the orienteers and the team were there signing autographs and even had a game with the kids. Would love to see more of the players getting out and about like this - they really seemed to connect with the locals and it's great PR for the club. The orienteering looked pretty tough - looked like a really good fitness session and there were some pretty useful kids doing it with them. Nice one.

[gordieict]

As ever some good ideas but nothing from the Board to indicate they are doing somethind. i have said before as have others, most notably IHE, that it appears some members of the board, not all, are just their for the position/prestige and do nothing to justify their place on the board. Effectively they are getting free advice from the fans FFS

I think its great that they want ideas from the fans, if they didn't ask people would be saying they never listen to what we want. I am not defending the board but do you have any evidence that some members do nothing to justify their place?

[gordieict]

Maybe mentioned before but what has happened with concerts at the Stadium likes of Run Rig at the Northern Meeting park is a sell out and I would imagine would have been a good money earner for the club. There have been a good few concerts since Rod Stewart but none have been at the stadium

[PaderbornCaley]

Possibly to do with the mess of the pitch afterwards?

[NormaStitz]

I really like the Estate Agent idea - especially for family-sized houses. I know my kids would have been well chuffed if one of the 1st team squad came to our door with a bunch of tickets.

[IMMORTAL HOWDEN ENDER]

It could be Reguero, talking Spanish and asking fer a lift back home !!

[40POCKETS]

I really like the Estate Agent idea - especially for family-sized houses. I know my kids would have been well chuffed if one of the 1st team squad came to our door with a bunch of tickets.

As well as newcomers to the area the idea could be extended to families who have lived here for ages. Courier could support this by photographing players handing tickets over to families. Why not 5 different families per game. Great P.R!

[BornCaley]

I really like the Estate Agent idea - especially for family-sized houses. I know my kids would have been well chuffed if one of the 1st team squad came to our door with a bunch of tickets.

As well as newcomers to the area the idea could be extended to families who have lived here for ages. Courier could support this by photographing players handing tickets over to families. Why not 5 different families per game. Great P.R!

Info relating to New Housing/Buyers etc is easy to come buy. I also thought the club might want to get an official Iphone/Android App. These can be done for free without needing computer code!

Also it has been mentioned before on here about link ups with towns named Inverness in the US.

I think the 2 top ways to market a club is buying a player to put bums on seats! Dundee did it years ago, and although this proved to be costly it did work. Also tapping into markets like China & India has enormous revenues. Alas again a costly option.

Check this site out. Simple ideas!

http://www.footballmarketing.biz/

Another thought occurred to me. I get random texts from various pizza places in Edinburgh offering me deals. What would be the cost of a blanket text to fans; not only reminding them of up and coming games but offering a discount to entry if they quote a ref no on the text.

Edited July 21, 2012 by BornCaley

[DALNEIGHCALEY]

Why not advertise home fixtures and prices etc. in the Courier ?

[dougiedanger]

Why not advertise home fixtures and prices etc. in the Courier ?

Cutting edge, DC, cutting edge.

[caleyboy]

I'm sure our club actually employs people to do the marketing. I also believe they work very hard under the current financial state of the country. Somebody has gone out and sold the club to every name on every advertising board around the ground and each year they work hard at convincing those advertisers to keep supporting the team.

Well Alex, if we are employing people to do the job - they obviously aren't doing enough. So who's fault is that? Employees have managers/leaders who are responsible for their training and direction. I don't think they are getting enough direction or training so I would never blame an employee who is not "coached by their manager". In addition to the treaditional lines of income you mentioned, we are missing the biggest of them all - BUMS on SEATS - so I would ask the BOARD what they are doing about sorting out what is potentially our biggest source of income?

[Les Kidger]

Possibly to do with the mess of the pitch afterwards?

What mess was that...

[Oddquine]

I'm sure our club actually employs people to do the marketing. I also believe they work very hard under the current financial state of the country. Somebody has gone out and sold the club to every name on every advertising board around the ground and each year they work hard at convincing those advertisers to keep supporting the team.

Well Alex, if we are employing people to do the job - they obviously aren't doing enough. So who's fault is that? Employees have managers/leaders who are responsible for their training and direction. I don't think they are getting enough direction or training so I would never blame an employee who is not "coached by their manager". In addition to the treaditional lines of income you mentioned, we are missing the biggest of them all - BUMS on SEATS - so I would ask the BOARD what they are doing about sorting out what is potentially our biggest source of income?

How do you quantify obviously? Why would anyone be at fault? How do you direct and train people to get sponsorship etc...give them a mask and a gun and send them out in threatening mode? In the current economic climate, in a diddy place place like Inverness and environs (no offence, btw...just a fact), the options are somewhat limited and waving guns in faces seems to be a useful method!

Re the bums on seats bit.....from what I have read on here regarding the pre-season games, there appears to be more enthusiasm than at the tail end of last season regarding the squad and the style of play.......but in the end, the problem regarding bums on seats has more to do with the attitude of the Inverness football punters to ICT (and the amalgamation.)

Would you care to come up with a suggestion as to how the ICT board is going to make inroads into the Inverness-based support enjoyed by the OF, Ross County, Clach etc who regularly bypass the TCS on their way to watch whoever wherever?

[caleyboy]

I'm sure our club actually employs people to do the marketing. I also believe they work very hard under the current financial state of the country. Somebody has gone out and sold the club to every name on every advertising board around the ground and each year they work hard at convincing those advertisers to keep supporting the team.

Well Alex, if we are employing people to do the job - they obviously aren't doing enough. So who's fault is that? Employees have managers/leaders who are responsible for their training and direction. I don't think they are getting enough direction or training so I would never blame an employee who is not "coached by their manager". In addition to the treaditional lines of income you mentioned, we are missing the biggest of them all - BUMS on SEATS - so I would ask the BOARD what they are doing about sorting out what is potentially our biggest source of income?

How do you quantify obviously? Why would anyone be at fault? How do you direct and train people to get sponsorship etc...give them a mask and a gun and send them out in threatening mode? In the current economic climate, in a diddy place place like Inverness and environs (no offence, btw...just a fact), the options are somewhat limited and waving guns in faces seems to be a useful method!

Re the bums on seats bit.....from what I have read on here regarding the pre-season games, there appears to be more enthusiasm than at the tail end of last season regarding the squad and the style of play.......but in the end, the problem regarding bums on seats has more to do with the attitude of the Inverness football punters to ICT (and the amalgamation.)

Would you care to come up with a suggestion as to how the ICT board is going to make inroads into the Inverness-based support enjoyed by the OF, Ross County, Clach etc who regularly bypass the TCS on their way to watch whoever wherever?

This is a business, if the business does not generate enough income to cover it's expenditure it either has to increase it's income or reduce it's expenditure OR it goes bust.

If as you say the lack of bums on seats is down to the attiude of the Invesrness football public then that is what has to be worked on - make them feel wanted, give them value for money, make the product affordable and attractive to them so that they come and buy it. I really think this "amalgamation" c**p is long gone and even then it was very much a minority so I think you can put that one to bed.

You mention the alternative attractions such as the OF, Ross County and Clach. The OF is something we probably have to put up with as it has been here a lot longer than us, RC have only now got to our level and Clach don't get more than 100 fans at home games. If RC is a problem I would ask why? Do they have a better product? Do supporters get a better experience? Is our product too expensive? I don't know but maybe you can tell us who should be finding out?

Do I have a suggestion - YES. If we don't have a director with a succesful history in marketing who can lead this part of the business then we have to invest in a suitably qualified Marketing Manager - not someone who just talks a good game, one who has proven experience to take the business to the public and make the experience one which they can't wait to go back to again and again. I know these people don't come cheap but if you feel it's not the job of our Directors then I don't see any other option.

[caleyboy]

Possibly to do with the mess of the pitch afterwards?

What mess was that...

Maybe to do with price?

[Oddquine]

This is a business, if the business does not generate enough income to cover it's expenditure it either has to increase it's income or reduce it's expenditure OR it goes bust.

If as you say the lack of bums on seats is down to the attiude of the Invesrness football public then that is what has to be worked on - make them feel wanted, give them value for money, make the product affordable and attractive to them so that they come and buy it. I really think this "amalgamation" c**p is long gone and even then it was very much a minority so I think you can put that one to bed.

You mention the alternative attractions such as the OF, Ross County and Clach. The OF is something we probably have to put up with as it has been here a lot longer than us, RC have only now got to our level and Clach don't get more than 100 fans at home games. If RC is a problem I would ask why? Do they have a better product? Do supporters get a better experience? Is our product too expensive? I don't know but maybe you can tell us who should be finding out?

Do I have a suggestion - YES. If we don't have a director with a succesful history in marketing who can lead this part of the business then we have to invest in a suitably qualified Marketing Manager - not someone who just talks a good game, one who has proven experience to take the business to the public and make the experience one which they can't wait to go back to again and again. I know these people don't come cheap but if you feel it's not the job of our Directors then I don't see any other option.

Came back on, having slept on my post, and thought a bit more about it, to remove the amalgamation comment and some of the rest.....but was too late. Sorry! That'll teach me to go to bed just before the normal person is getting up.

Not denying for a minute that businesses have to generate an income to support their activities, but I would argue that the vast majority of Scottish Football Clubs are not a business in the "shafting the punter to make a profit for shareholders" sense of the definition. Scottish Football Clubs (unless you have a Scottish Football paranoia, sectarian and TV fuelled but lucrative flame from which one or two of them can then arise like a phoenix from the still smouldering ashes and proceed to carry on from where they left off) make their money to play football, not play football to make money (think I may have said that before on here!).

And everything else I post from here on (and, tbh, on this forum and all forums generally) is couched in old-fashioned/before Maggie Thatcher/before Friedman(Reaganomics) economics/before America-lite/ before "there is no society" etc opinion. Not going to apologise for that....the 21st century is an alien country to me.

As an ex Bank employee, who started working when we actually did give a service, about forty years ago....and stopped when we were cold-selling loans and other debt as if they were sodding sales items and a not to be missed bargain, I think that proactive marketing solely with an eye to the bottom line and profit is the nearest thing on earth to corporate pimping. On a point of principle, I do not ever consider buying anything advertised for silly money on the TV, and am frankly extremely rude to people who cold-call me by phone....because I am more than capable of searching out what I want for myself and asking the right questions. ....and I know they are only doing their job.....the one the Marketing Managers delineate. As I read stuff on the internet, and see posts or media reports on people who have been conned to the extent of silly money by plausible con-persons, I am horrified by the lack of control by anybody......personally, I'd make it illegal to ask for anybody's phone number as a prerequisite for accessing information.

I have no great problem with email contact...if I'm not interested, they are easily deleted, or re-directed into my Junk folder...I can live with direct mail contact, because I have a waste bin at the side of my chair...and am happy enough to have people stuffing leaflets into my letterbox because someone has maybe paid them to do that, or, as I did myself regularly in the past, because there is an election on the horizon...but in all those cases the option to actually give a toss is mine alone. I don't have to say sod off, with probably inappropriate swearie words, to the fifth person to try to sell me "computer virus protection" on the same day, despite being on the TPS. I don't have to answer the door with soaking hair, body wrapped in a towel, to tell the person trying to persuade me that they have the answer to every problem I didn't know I had in my life to (in polite terms), pleasure themselves.

But, to an extent, that is where ICTFC may be falling down....communication (but what's new there!). Went onto the official club site tonight, had a read of what they offered.......conference facilities, wedding venue, private functions . It all sounds good, almost impressive...and really nice photies...but not even a very basic price for the very minimum package for any of it without contacting the Club and getting involved in hard sell mode. See, maybe I'm daft but if the most basic package is pitched at a level to, at the very minimum, provide a small profit, then the punter has some very small idea of how much their specific wish list would be likely to add to the total within their budget. The club manages to produce levels of Hospitality for games with prices anybody can consider....why can't they even produce a basic cost level for a small family wedding, say, to be added to, cost-wise, according to a punter's preferences and wishes? I never ever go into a shop which doesn't price what they have in the window, on the assumption that if they are feart to show their prices, I definitely can't afford them.

Had a shufti at the Centenary Club link as well.....and would you believe it......not any idea of cost....even though it could be another option for those of us furth of Inverness to do their bit to add to funds. I am not about to phone the Club before 7pm when I get free calls for any reason whatsoever...and I am not about to email the club for costings to have to turn round and tell them I can't afford it. Ross County manages to tell the punter up front what it is going to cost to participate in their lottery....what problem does ICT have with doing the same?

Anyhow, I then went onto google and checked out Scottish wedding venue sites....and, while admittedly I didn't check out more than the first page of them, the only one I found (at WeddingsFC.com) which mentioned ICT (though maybe my search criteria was not specific enough)....linked to this sodding forum not the ICTFC site! Well duh! Does anyone from ICT attend wedding fairs with a decent marketing set-up, out of interest?

Seems to me that the time to consider paying silly money annually for a marketing guru is well after offering the current staff a wee bonus or some kind of award for engaging their brains and coming up with something that might encourage them, if they were average punters, to give a toss.

[Alex MacLeod]

Have noticed that whoever populated the Centenary club info has forgotten to put in the cost. It costs £1.50 per week per number. £6.50 per calender month by standing order.

[Oddquine]

Have noticed that whoever populated the Centenary club info has forgotten to put in the cost. It costs £1.50 per week per number. £6.50 per calender month by standing order.

Ta muchly!

[Charles Bannerman]

Possibly to do with the mess of the pitch afterwards?

What mess was that...

We don't seem to have an answer to Les's question yet.

[RossP]

I'd hope that similar to Tade and Gillet's visits to secondary schools to help with teaching French; the club looks to our new Spanish goalie to complete similar PR/support in the classroom.

It would also help his communication with our English/Scots defence as well I reckon.

Edited July 25, 2012 by RossP

[PaderbornCaley]

Cant do the quotes on my phone but regarding the pitch, I was under the impression that past gigs at the stadium. had made a mess of the pitch. The floor / stage etc.

[gordieict]

Possibly to do with the mess of the pitch afterwards?

What mess was that...

I heard the pitch was in great condition once the covers were removed

[gordieict]

http://sport.stv.tv/football/clubs/kilmarnock/112571-kilmarnock-stars-to-phone-fans-in-plea-to-buy-more-season-tickets/

Good idea?