How do I promote live racing events?

wadesgames Monday, 4/24/2017

https://youtu.be/0DSeyRfIIpk

Discussion

Use the template provided when you click...tournaments and racing....then make sure to include the date so it can be added to the event calendar.

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wadesgames 4/24/17

Here is a video of My 8 lane die cast in action my son had fun with his GOPRO taking the video. Any ideas on how to promote the track. Currently we use it Darlington Car Hauler Parade kids area at the Florence Civic Center. The track is portable so we can take it to events. We have set it up inside for some church events. Trying to plan a fundraising event for a local charity. Any Ideas?  

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redlinederby 4/24/17
Site manager

Thanks for billboard spot! Really appreciate it.

Not sure exactly what type of promotion you're looking for, but if my marketing background tells me nothing, it's that you want any type of promotion you can get.

To promote your events on this web site, when you make a new post, click the "Add a date" link and pick your date from the calendar. This will let me know to add it to the site calendar. 

http://img.redlinederby.com/mmd/9dfa1d3d.png

If there's racing involved, I'm all for promoting it on the site, it doesn't have to be a mail-in race or even an official RLD tournament. I want Redline Derby to be a platform for promotion as much as I want it to be a source of racing.

As far as local promotion in your area, I'd probably do a lot of things you're already doing. Try to partner with local groups like churches, schools, etc. Those are probably the easy wins.

There was a time when I considered making a portable track to do bar racing events, but then also had the idea of partnering with a local hobby stores. The pitch would be that I could setup my track at their store (or on sidewalk) and that people could enter for free if they bought a diecast car at the store. Or maybe they could enter one of their own cars if they also bought one...something like that. In theory, good exposure for my track and the hobby store gets some business, and hopefully they would be smart enough to promote the event as well.

I also considered trying to do something with my old school as a way to teach science. Diecast racing is just one big physics lesson, right? So I would bring my track to the school and students could bring in their cars or blind draw or something...turn the day into a lesson. Do it outside on the playground where there's space. With luck, you'll get a school that's willing and a teacher that has some creativity to take advantage and write a good lesson around it.

You might be surprised what type of traction you'll get out of restaurant/bar events with the older crowd. Find the right venue and you could run some more elaborate setups with a more mature audience. One of the old RLD guys did that with his track at his favorite hole and it led to a summer series of racing and beer. Just have fun with it...and if you win over the adults/parents, you're as good as gold for future events and even things likes birthday parties, charities, etc. 

Don't underestimate the value of directly contacting your local media either, TV, newspaper, etc. Letting them know of events you're at or even letting them know you're available for their events would be a good contact. And if you can come up with a nice way to tell them your story without making it sound like you're just looking for advertising, all the better. Local news is always in need of positive, fluff stories to fill time. Just be fluffy.

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wadesgames 4/24/17

Thanks that's a good start. I am thinking about doing something for the American Cancer Society where we would get companies or persons to sponsor a pit and car for $100. They would have a 10X10 area for their pit to promote their business we would give a trophy to the winner. so all the money raised would go to the charity, I think you are right about making it a adult event with beer could be fun. What  set of rules would be good?

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redlinederby 4/24/17
Site manager

Selling/offering tables for their org to site and promote next to your track is a good idea. Just needs a lot of physical space, but if you got it, use it. You could maybe turn that into a "car line" thing where the business have the cars at their booth and the visitors/customers have to go to their booth to get their entry car. Lets the business hand out some of their own swag with the car.

As far as rules, some others around here will hopefully chime in since they've done live events too, but I would try to keep things simple. Probably not much different than what you do already.

My plan back when I almost did a bar event was just a blind draw. Take a bunch of my cars and people pull from a box. Or I bring some new cars and charge a $1 for anyone that wants a new one or a specific car. Race with some simple heads-up rules and follow a normal bracket. It's gotta be something simple for people to grasp quickly, especially when they see a Hot Wheels track in the middle of their favorite bar. And then the feedback they get has to be positive and immediate so they're encouraged to do it again. You have to be a carni and talk it up with the mic in your hand. Sell the action, sell the cars...try to stir things up. If there's a Mustang in the race, talk about Mustangs and how they're better than Corvettes or something. Something that will perk up ears and at least get people watching. 

In my head, the physical logistics of a race event are the easy part, especially when you have all the gear you have and have been doing it for a long time. The hard part is making the whole thing feel bigger than it really is, which is more about presentation, hype and reacting to the crowd. 

Depending how things go, you could maybe do teams in those locations too. That way friends can join together to compete against their other friends, rather than all go solo.

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redlinederby 4/24/17
Site manager

Do you have live video at your events? Like a monitor that people can watch? You said your son has a GoPro, wasn't sure how you've integrated that into the even or if it's just for making videos later.

If you have the hardware and personnel, you could even do quick replays of every finish. That would give you more chances to get people involved and something to watch while you're resetting for the next heat.

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