Hello Race Directors,
We are pleased to be sending you our third edition of the Race Director Hotline Newsletter. We encourage every one of you to contribute some of your own advice and experiences to this newsletter. A Cool Running hat will be sent to the most interesting piece received each month.

The third edition contains a piece written by Sue Podolske on a subject called "Race t-shirts - dont let them spoil your event!". It will help you understand the challenges and options available when planning t-shirts for your event, again a must read.

In this edition I will continue to discuss Internet related practices.

We also have a little advertisement from an old friend Bob Gibb from Star Systems Products and Rentals, who provides the best products and services for clocks and other timing devices in New England and beyond.

Tips on how and when to start promoting your event - focussing on the Internet
Kevin Molloy

How long before your event date should you begin event promotion and how should you tie Internet based promotion with traditional promotion.

In the past promotion, for most events did not occur until 2, 3 or 4 months prior to the event. There were very few exceptions to this guideline. This was largely determined by promotional costs and the runner's level of interest in an event that was planned for a date further out than 3-4 months. The evolution of the Internet has slowly but surely changed this guideline.

Race directors who are web-savvy, use the Internet to promote their event on a 365 by 24 basis.

Some event directors now break promotion into three time zones:

• Major promotion drive - 3-4 months prior to event date.
• Post event awareness - race day and for a few weeks afterwards
• Slow but still visible period - before next year's major promotion

The Three Promotion Time Zones

For these three zones to be effective we assume that the event web page is online and updated all of the time. This is becoming the standard even with small events especially since a well designed event site should be easy to update and maintained. This should be one of the design criteria.

1) Major promotion drive: As you begin your major promotion about 3-4 months out, all of the major elements of your web site must be updated and working correctly. Obviously these can be tuned and edited as the event approaches but they must be correct at the beginning. The bottom line is no stale dates and broken links. You should also launch your off-line traditional promotion at the same time and also your online registration section should be active and working correctly.

What you do with your off-line promotion is up to do however the most important piece of information to be included in your off-line material (applications, posters, press releases, public service radio and TV) besides the date of the event, is your web address. In time you might reduce the effort that goes into your off-line promotion (many events are even considering eliminating paper application forms) but you need your web address to be easily remembered and recalled and seen everywhere. It is a reasonable assumption today that everyone has direct or indirect access to the World Wide Web. We emphasized the importance of a clean www.racename.com web address in the May newsletter.

This is also the time you begin the first stage of your email campaign and electronic press release campaign. Collecting email addresses (in a non-spam method) should be one of your year-around goals. Using an electronic newsletter broadcast (3-4 times prior torace day) is a strong suggestion, similar to the one we use at Cool Running which is non-invasive. I will expand on available newsletter software in a later edition.

2) Post event awareness: At the first opportunity after the event (same day if possible), you need to post or link your results/photos/story/thanks on your home page in very visible location (as well as sending them to Cool Running). You should also announce the date of the next race in a prominent location. Perhaps even advertize early bird registration at a discount rate.

3) Quiet period before next years heavy promotion: A few weeks after the event you should review your whole web site and begin the process of updating it in preparation for the next event. The advantage of this is that potential new clients (runners and sponsors) will find out about your event a whole year ahead of the event. Also start the process of getting your event into all of the free electronic running calendars. Send out a final newsletter to your database which should be constantly growing, especially if you were promoting the collection of email addresses over your race weekend.

Race t-shirts - dont let them spoil your event!

By Susan Podolske

Race t-shirts are, in most instances, an event's largest expense and biggest headache. Is there a simple and foolproof formula for arriving at a number that results in the exact number of shirts needed with everyone receiving their preferred size? The answer is unfortunately…NO!

So how to deal with this problem and cut down on the headaches and expense? There are a number of options used in determining shirt requirements:

1. Use your race's history to determine trends. For any event that is not a first-year race, you will have the benefit of hindsight. Look at what was ordered in the past and make your best guess. This is just one step above flipping a coin, but without some additional factors, may be the best you can do.
2. Impose a cut-off date for free t-shirts. By limiting free t-shirts to only those participants who have registered by an early cut-off date, you have the advantage of making last minute adjustments to your shirt order. A side benefit is that you will be rewarding your early registrants and hopefully reduce the number of procrastinators.
3. Have a fixed number of shirts available. We've all seen the races that have a set number of shirts, such as free shirts for only the first 200 entries received. This is a great way to avoid over-ordering, but may discourage late entries.
4. Limit shirts sizes. The greater the variety of sizes you offer, the greater the chances that you will over or under order in a given size category. It seems the harder you try to make everyone happy, the more vocal the complaints from those whose preferences were not met. I recently saw a race entry that offered only one size of shirt…personally, I'm all over that option! You can also choose not to allow the entrant to specify their size preference and make sizes available on a first come, first served basis.
5. Require that shirts be purchased separately. By offering a lower entry fee and making a t-shirt an option for an additional fee, you will only need to order the number and sizes of shirts that have been pre-ordered. You will either have to impose an early cut-off date, or use historical data to cover t-shirt orders that come in after you have placed your order with the shirt supplier. Don't forget, some frequent competitors are just as happy to do without the shirt.
6. Combine multiple incentives. You can combine several of the above options to help you fine tune the number of shirts required. Remember that family and friends of competitors are often good customers for extra shirt sales on race day and a good way to offset some costs and cut down on the number of leftovers.
7. Explore alternatives. There are many alternatives to the old standard, so don't be afraid to search out something new and different to commemorate your race. Some that come to mind are singlets, long-sleeved shirts, hats, gloves, windshirts, socks, posters, mouse-pads, mugs…the list goes on! With current technology, many of these products can be ordered in smaller quantities and still be affordable. Check out www.MyPremiumStore.com for some ideas and information.

So, now you've determined the number of shirts you need, does that guarantee that you're in t-shirt nirvana? Sorry but the answer is no. Picking a reputable and reliable supplier is just as important as coming up with a real number. Next month's issue of this newsletter will offer helpful hints on what to look for in picking a supplier you can count on.

Please feel free to share your comments and experiences with our editor. It would be our pleasure to include some of your ideas in future issues.

Feedback

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