I've seen a LOT of criticism over the marketing of our club this year....

So I wondered whether there were any ideas flying about or if we could have a good old discussion about how we would do things differently. I know I have a few ideas but they aren't always financially viable.

The main thing we need to improve on is getting more fans...!!

50 views and no comments, come on guys you lot usually have an opinion

think this has been done to death on many occasions on this forum thats why not many comments, have a scroll through some of the previous topics... and if the club dont have a read on here at what has been put forward in the past then they are missing out on ideas too

lack of employees at the club for marketing is prob one of the problems, leeds for example have way more to do this kind of thing but we need to have an overhail on the social network side of things

release the squad numbers for next season on the giants twitter feed for example..one idea for you there! 1-22 or however many there is, would be a few tweets but gets interest!

we have discussed it many times as brearley says, but the one thing most people seemed agreed on is that we lack a presence in the town.
there is nothing around huddersfield to make people aware of us, thats where i think we need to go, get players/big G/ cheerleaders etc in town promoting the club, get posters/flyers round pubs/clubs/workplaces/schools etc.

another thing a lot were agreed on is that we missed a massive opportunity with the university tie up, we should have pushed more to the students and people who work through the university.. i know there were some cheap tickets through the student union but not enough was done IMO.

It requires investment - just like anything

Invest in advertising that's regularly updated and in somewhere with a high footfall - I.e somewhere near the entrance to Kingsgate just a billboard that tells when the next home game is and v who would be better than nothing

Employ a social media bod who actually knows how to spam twitter/Facebook/google+/Instagram etc

Go into the bigger employers in town (DB, Zeneca, Supermarkets, the Uni staff, NHS trust, Civic Centre) and direct advertise and sell to them

It's bloody hard work and constant effort but it needs doing - it's simple enough marketing but it's also simply not being done

If know one knows you've got a good product to sell, how the hell will they ever think to buy it?

Student Union is pointless - for one Hudds doesn't have one and the other is for the most of our season we are out of term

Lack of Marketing staff - i think there is 2 from previously 8 - means there is very little in the way of marketing. I've mentioned it many times to the club to let the fans do it ! set up a group of volunteers who would be willing to give up their time to get into town and ask people :
A) if they are aware of the Giants
B) have they ever been
C) if so what would it take to get them to come again etc

Once we have an idea of what it will take to get people to come and watch us then the club can work on implementing them. As it is at the moment the club are ( or as it seems to me) simply relying on existing fans to bring new people. There is no incentives for new people to come, they need to be able to 'try before they buy' in some way or another.

There is lots that can be done, granted lots of them will probably end up costing or losing money at 1st but isn't the old saying speculate to accumulate?

Sorry guys, didn't realise it had been done before

It would be great to work together to get some solid ideas together to present to the board, I think volunteers is a BRILLIANT idea!! I'd be happy to spend time on evenings and weekends spreading the message about our games. I think with the ST prices going up our attendance is bound to fall, so we need to be proactive!

I've suggested it to James Brammer in the past and he has said what an excellent idea it was but has never been back in touch regarding getting it off the ground.

Great, well this is where I hope to get things off the ground. After October we're in down season which means the marketing team will have time to listen to our ideas... during season they're swamped, so even though it's a good idea they just don't have time to look into it.

So my list to take to them is...

1. volunteers to help spread the word through the town centre and local villages.
2. Exclusive Squad release on Twitter for followers
3. Billboard in town which is ours exclusively for the season
4. Possible discounts for large companies who buy a certain amount of tickets?

the twitter thing though....that's for existing fans only isn't it ?? how is that marketing the club to new fans ?

Also, again i've suggested the discounts for companies based on group bookings etc before too but i still believe its a good one so yeah go for it !!

they've already done 1,3 and 4.
1. no one volunteered except Daz,
3. the club said It costs too much and no one notices it
4. they've done this before and no one bothers to buy tickets.
(2. brearley will miss it seeing as he didn't notice the tweets about the questionnaire )

I know others offered too Jools, we spoke to James at the Fans Forum at the start of the season about it.

they were tongue in cheek comments daz!

Oops

The club has 10,000 followers on twitter but only 6,000 at games, so that means there is at least 3,000 'casual' supporters that follow giants on twitter! It's a great way to market