Barrow AFC.net

I have hardly seen anything or even heard anyone talking about the Lincoln game. To think this is a massive game against top of the league with a chance to do the double over them and put ourselves back in with a real chance of reaching the play offs I think it is terrible. Sort it out Barrow.

I think this match has had much more online advertising. Club Social media feed is posting about it a lot. They've made facebook events for both Lincoln and FGR games, they've made a banner which people can use with the dates of the two games on.

They've made a poster for it which has been shared online which people can print out too.

What exactly do they need to "Sort Out" with this?

Quite a lot JammyBluebird.

Social media doesn't get to everyone that is a potential paying spectator. They don't necessarily look at (or use) Facebook.

I have been associated with another football club who was concerned about poor attendances. We agreed with shopkeepers within the catchment area to put posters in their windows (it advertised the next match in bog colour print plus the following two matches in smaller print).

We put a5 leaflets in coffee shops and A4 signs at tills in a mixture of shops. We didn't forget the outlaying areas of the catchment areas also. We even persuaded a local bus company to put a small advert inside so passengers could be reminded.

We used the Trust members to distribute the posters around the town....A noticeable increase in gates resulted. When the Trust did an exercise to find out from the public whether they attended a match or not, particularly a mid week match, a high proportion of those that didn't go claimed "they were not regulars and didn't know there was a match on".

We could not make them return to future matches. That was down to the excitement of the match as to whether they thought it value for money in future. But we certainly made an impact getting new (or returning) people through the turnstiles. The rest was up to the club to retain them.

So Jammy, there is a lot that can be done. This is just the tip of the iceberg. But I am sure you will disagree.

There is an excellent poster (two actually) that go out to quite a wide range of people before every home game produced by Dave Chubb. I put the two versions up all over the NAS in the yard, I assume other people put them up in their places of work.

If you Keith (or others) aren't on the mailing list just drop Dave a PM and I'm sure he'll be more than pleased to add you to it.

We also added a new "next game board" on the corner of Wilkie Rd & Walney Rd a few months ago.

That's excellent Spirit. At least its more than social media, which I earlier responded to. I had a feeling that it was more than this going on.

Unfortunately I live in Cambridge now and the chance to see home games is limited since both Barrow based parents passed away recently. I used to make a weekend of it whilst giving me the chance to see them, less 3 hours at Holker Street. My main focus now is away matches and to join the unbelievable BAFC fans. I get to as many matches as I can in the South, East and Midlands. The Lincoln City match was my highlight of this season.

barrowbarrow11 wrote:I have hardly seen anything or even heard anyone talking about the Lincoln game. To think this is a massive game against top of the league with a chance to do the double over them and put ourselves back in with a real chance of reaching the play offs I think it is terrible. Sort it out Barrow.

"I haven't seen it, therefore it didn't happen".

If you haven't heard anyone talking about it, it's not the club's fault - it's yours.

Keith Nichols wrote:Quite a lot JammyBluebird.

Social media doesn't get to everyone that is a potential paying spectator. They don't necessarily look at (or use) Facebook.

I have been associated with another football club who was concerned about poor attendances. We agreed with shopkeepers within the catchment area to put posters in their windows (it advertised the next match in bog colour print plus the following two matches in smaller print).

We put a5 leaflets in coffee shops and A4 signs at tills in a mixture of shops. We didn't forget the outlaying areas of the catchment areas also. We even persuaded a local bus company to put a small advert inside so passengers could be reminded.

We used the Trust members to distribute the posters around the town....A noticeable increase in gates resulted. When the Trust did an exercise to find out from the public whether they attended a match or not, particularly a mid week match, a high proportion of those that didn't go claimed "they were not regulars and didn't know there was a match on".

We could not make them return to future matches. That was down to the excitement of the match as to whether they thought it value for money in future. But we certainly made an impact getting new (or returning) people through the turnstiles. The rest was up to the club to retain them.

So Jammy, there is a lot that can be done. This is just the tip of the iceberg. But I am sure you will disagree.

On the outside of the buses too would be an asset.
However, we're all slowly learning that the club won't spend money...

Not strictly true Moribund. Football is a business. It gets a stream of money through attendance. By good advertising it can increase attendance and more income. More attendance, often greater advertising income follows......

So the more the club take on the responsibility of advertising, the more effective will be their business. Basic business economics.

Absolutely THK. I did it on the side of Taxis once. It did cost money. But the return on investment was worth it. Yes you are right, this one cost money. I noted that taxi firms don't do things free.

Social Media is a cheap and effective way to get out to fans (especially younger ones) who are the new fans, most older people who are fans of football have been before and just bother coming back often.

If you go down the route of sponsorship and paid adverts then it's just a matter of priority as to what money goes to. Squad, Ground, Floodlights are all on peoples list too.

People who will turn up to HS, and have in the past, are aware of the match tonight. A lot of people just won't be coming out of general apathy for Barrow AFC, they just don't care enough to come out on a Tuesday night in January when it's on TV.

Do we have a specific advertising budget? I guess it is set and reviewed seasonally? I presume advertising agreements will be in place for this season so there is little that can be done on a game by game basis. I would certainly look at increasing the budget next season and maybe take out some radio air time, press ads, organise some free merch such as stickers, badges etc to hand out in schools, maybe get a street team together to poster bomb the town...

JammyBluebird wrote:Social Media is a cheap and effective way to get out to fans (especially younger ones) who are the new fans, most older people who are fans of football have been before and just bother coming back often.

If you go down the route of sponsorship and paid adverts then it's just a matter of priority as to what money goes to. Squad, Ground, Floodlights are all on peoples list too.

People who will turn up to HS, and have in the past, are aware of the match tonight. A lot of people just won't be coming out of general apathy for Barrow AFC, they just don't care enough to come out on a Tuesday night in January when it's on TV.

I wonder how much the Lincoln fans care
THEIR Club obviously cares about THEM.

It'll be interesting to see how many travel on the subsidised coaches

Subsidised travel
Fiver a head

Oh, well...some of us still have our FREE scarves from our visit to Fylde a couple of seasons ago...

Keith Nichols wrote:Not strictly true Moribund. Football is a business. It gets a stream of money through attendance. By good advertising it can increase attendance and more income. More attendance, often greater advertising income follows......

So the more the club take on the responsibility of advertising, the more effective will be their business. Basic business economics.

Not sure where I said anything to the contrary.

The Coffee Bean coffee shop on Dalton Road seems to always have a Raiders next match poster in their window when I go in.

The best way of advertising is by winning football matches.