| Author | Message | ||
     Vic Kusin Moderator Username: Vic Post Number: 25 Registered: 03-2007 |
Wendy, I beileve a portion of the Sport England money has been allocated to pay for the Project Manager. It is expected that he/she will have to do more work than a volunteer could be asked to do. I do not know the amount involved, but I'm sure all will be revealed at the Conference. Because several members of Council, including the Chairman, are currently on holiday, the decision will have to wait until they return, but I expect the appointment will be made prior to the Conference, as everyone is quite anxious to get the project under way. I will, of course, publish any official announcements as soon as they become available. Vic | ||
| Janet Pilling Member Username: Janetp Post Number: 27 Registered: 03-2007 |
It took me years to get into carriage driving and even now, eleven years on, there is no published diary, apart from within the sport. Horse and Hound do a brief report on events each week - could they not publish where the next few events are being held to enable people to plan ahead and come along? I do know it is becoming more popular - it is now seen as being exciting and skilled, challenging and fun. I have found several horsey acquaintances 'dipping their toe in the water' and thoroughly enjoying it, determined to do more. Our indoor series are an excellent in-road for many people. It will come - it will take time and money and MARKETING but we can grow the sport in this country with the right approach and the right people. However more funding might well be required in the interim period. | ||
| Wendy Peckham Member Username: Wendyp Post Number: 12 Registered: 07-2007 |
Julie's comments are like a breath of fresh air. As someone who works in PR (public relations) which is but one tool of marketing, I totally agree with her. BHDTA has given the project it's best shot; some of it worked, some didn't BUT one thing is for sure. IF the members want their sport to be recognised it has to raise its head above the parapet (who, for instance, outside the sport, knows when national competitions take place? It has been frequesntly commented on that Sandringham is our best kept secret!) and be prepared to invest. This is not a year long plan or even 18 months - it should be part of a rolling five year business plan and managed by a professional, whether on a straight salary or salary plus commission. I notice from Vic's response to a Driving Back to Sport question on the Forum that 'someone' will be appointed to manage the project. Will that be a volunteer or a paid position (part of Marketing?). No doubt all will be revealed at the AGM! | ||
| Diane Phillips Member Username: Dianephillips Post Number: 8 Registered: 06-2010 |
It is a bit of a vicious circle isn't it? As with most things in this world, you need to speculate to accumulate. Finding the money in the first place is always the difficult bit. I have only once competed abroad at a fairly small event, but I'm constantly told stories of how foreign competitions are televised, have big sponsors, prize money etc etc. No outside sponsor is going to invest money in this country in a sport that no one knows about. After all, sponsor money comes out of their MARKETING budget doesn't it? I have no answer for this problem but I do appreciate that the BHDTA is trying to solve it. | ||
| Patti Atkinson Member Username: Pattia Post Number: 18 Registered: 03-2007 |
Well said Julie. The response to me telling anyone about our sport used to be "Oh, thats what Prince Philip does" Recently I have had someone mention to me the interview on Radio 4 and ASKING if that was what I did. If no one outside those few directly involved knows what we do then no one will sponsor competitors or competitions - whats in it for them except MARKETING to people already involved? - the more exposure we get the more interest we will get - like a snowball! | ||
| Julie Hoskyns Member Username: Julieh Post Number: 21 Registered: 03-2007 |
At the very high risk of being shot down in flames for my view on marketing and having no working knowledge of the task involved or the workings thereof...here goes. Marketing and its associated expenses HAS cost a lot BUT we as a sport must remember that there have been some huge plusses from Marketing’s input. Marketing have initiated corporate days, these may not show an immediate benefit to our sport but can only be a good thing long term. Those businesses that have bought into the scheme will talk about our sport and in less difficult financial climates MIGHT support us in the future. Yes it is only a might BUT the old adage is ‘nothing ventured nothing gained’. Marketing also worked on and secured the ‘Driving back to sport’ (featured on the front page). Do we honestly think people and companies just pop out of the woodwork and offer to help us, no, someone is out there trying to make it happen for us. Are members aware that MARKETING had a slot talking about our sport on Friday night on radio 2, two or three weeks ago, we had coverage in the free paper Metro, it is a free, colour newspaper for morning commuters. Every weekday morning some 1.3 million copies are distributed across the UK making Metro the world's largest free newspaper and the third biggest newspaper in the UK, and a five minute TV interview that went out to a million viewers in the Tyne Tees area, you might not have known because it wasn’t on the website, but it happened all the same. Marketing should be looked at as a business, we need to speculate to accumulate and it takes roughly two to three years to show positive growth and to go into real profit (generally). I am not sure how we fund it or where the money will come from in the future but I do believe we need a proper marketing department. I have a family member who’s partner is a marketing man with the ‘big boys’ and even he will say it can take 18 months on average for deals to come together. How do we as an organisation expect to promote our sport, bring real money into it, reduce costs and move forward if our marketing is undertaken by volunteers who have no contacts or expertise in the area and who have jobs, horses, homes and lives to run. We have tried this in the past and got nowhere and those sponsors we did have we lost because it would appear we didn’t take enough care of them or couldn’t offer what they needed. I love this sport but there would appear to be a nucleus of members who can only criticise it’s workings without coming up with real working solutions. If we are not prepared to pay someone to do our marketing, who is going to do it for us and what vision have they got. Our face in marketing needs to be available to speak to and meet with company directors in their time and at their convenience, not when he/she has finished work, the horses or picking the kids up from school. If as an organisation we are paying someone, at least we can hold them accountable as we are undertaking a financial commitment and one would assume they are under contract to deliver. If this is the case we can ask those difficult questions, and apply some pressure but if we have volunteers we have no comeback or real influence and they have nothing to lose. As a member of the BHDTA I would like to know how our marketing department is going to be taken forward, and more importantly will it be supported or attacked for its efforts, failures (there will always be some that get away) and achievements. It would appear to be costing more than the BHDTA can manage with at the moment so, would it not be prudent to review the current contract and maybe implement a basic salary with a commission percentage on money brought in. | ||
| Douglas Strachan Member Username: Douglass Post Number: 2 Registered: 06-2007 |
I have just received the Audited Acounts for 2010 which show that a Surplus of £17,000 in 2009, has turned into a loss of £26,000 in 2011. The main cause of this loss is an increase in MARKETING Expenditure of £32,000 for the 6 months of 2010. The probability is that the net loss on MARKETING for 2011 will be about £25,000 (Costs minus received Sponsorship Money) In the same post, there was the Programme for the Conference. In this, I note that the Treasurer has been allocated 6 minutes to give his Report and to respond to "limited questions". How on earth can the loss of approximately £57,000 on MARKETING and the resulting consequences be discussed in such a short time? For 2010, Council have dipped into the Reserves for the £26,000 For 2011, will the Council, reduce even further, the Reserves to cover the Marketing Losses of an estimated £25,000? The alternative could be that the Council will have to raise Fees significantly!!!! (To put this in perspective, to recover the MARKETING Administration costs, it would be necessary for 1000 membership fees to be increased by say £50) I also note that in the progrmme, the only reference to Marketing is to discuss the future of Marketing in 2012. This has been made the LAST discussion item in the afternoon. By then I shall be truly brain dead!!!! |