Why Bother?

• People are aware of golf, cricket, football and other sports because they see the premises as they drive around.  This is rarely the case with our sport and unless a club promotes itself people may simply not be aware that it exists - and it may find it difficult to recruit new members because promoting a club and recruitment are inextricably linked; the higher the profile, the easier to get new members.
• Clubs should also make an effort to promote themselves because most are "competing" with countless other social and voluntary organisations in their area for media and public attention and, not least, sponsorship.
• The better relations a club has with the local community and the local media, the better chance it has of either limiting adverse publicity, perhaps following an incident on an event, or lobbying e.g. for land for an event.
• Promoting a club needn't be expensive effort and ideas are more important than money.

Doing the work

• If promotion is to be done properly one club member should be put in specific charge of it - promotion should not just be something tagged on to other club jobs.
• It helps if the person has some knowledge of public relations or marketing but this is NOT essential, enthusiasm ' and common-sense are the most important qualities required.
• The person doing the promotion job should be a member of, or at least attend, committee meetings so that they are fully aware of what is going on.

Style

1. Does the club badge - in effect its 'logo' need a mild update'?
2. Does the club have a clear style for notepaper, invoices, business cards, in fact for all printed material?
3. Is the membership card attractive and likely to be an aid to recruitment if seen by nonmembers?
4. Has the club got a good line-up of trophies?  Has some thought been given to neat replicas?  A good design need cost no more than a tacky one.
5. Has the club got a range of clothing T shirts, rally jackets or whatever - to sell to members?  But CARE here because it may be simpler to rebadge an existing line than attempt to create something especially for a club; committee can spend ages deliberating over the design of a jacket only to have the club lose money through inadequate stock control.
6. Does any clothing (or other items carrying the club name) offer reasonable value for money?  Do the items reflect well on the club?

Recruiting

• A club should have a simple leaflet about itself as an aid to recruitment outlining its activities, where and when it meets and so on; study leaflets in tourist information centres to see what other activities in the area are doing, then at least match their efforts.
• Does the club have a web site?  If so, is it kept up to date?  Consider how off-putting an out-of-date poster is on a wall - a tired web site is no different.  Persuade someone to act as 'web master' with everything connected with the site routed through them.
• Have you put up posters about the club in accessory shops, libraries etc.?
• Consider special recruitment 'days' where the club puts itself on show and has experts on hand with their cars to explain various aspects of the sport or run longer introductory courses - see the leaflet for the Torbay Motor Club for an example.
• Consider reduced entry fees for new members in their first year as a recruitment aid.  Consider 'junior' and 'family' membership schemes.
• Committee members should make an effort to welcome new members at club nights.  It helps if key club members wear name badges.
• Some clubs have found it helps to give new members a specific 'contact' - someone they can call if they need advice about the club.

Community relations

• A club is, or should be, an integral part of its local community and should be active in this role.
• Is the club listed in the phone book and in any local guides to associations?
• Are club dates put in event diaries kept in most libraries?
• Do club dates appear in'What's on'features in local newspapers and on local radio stations?
• Place run-ons of the club magazine in libraries, doctors' waiting rooms etc, anywhere they may attract new members.
• A club should be represented where possible at town shows, f8tes and so on.  Is there someone in the club with marketing or exhibition experience who can help with a simple but professional looking display, featuring an exciting car where possible?
• Will the local authorities co-operate in a course of evening classes on motor sport related matters e.g. car preparation?
• Does the club need to advertise in any local publications?
• Are there any community opportunities for club action which will generate media coverage?  If roads get blocked can a rally car be used to struggle through the snow to pensioners?  Can Santa Claus come to town in a competition car for a change?  The possibilities are endless and if a motor club doesn't take them, then the media space will be filled by more dynamic local groups.
• If a club is lucky enough to have a club house, can it be offered to charitable groups for use?  Is it clean, with up to date display material?
• If you don't have a club house but meet regularly in, say, a local pub, do you have a display board about the club which is kept up to date and acts as an advertisement for the club?  Rotaries and Round Tables do this - why not us?  Always have recruitment literature available.
• Have you considered reciprocal projects such as quizzes with other, non-motoring, groups in the area?
• Can anyone in the club be persuaded to give talks about the sport and the club to other organisations in the area?  Talking to them is a good way of building useful friends (not least among Young Farmers perhaps) and maybe even recruiting new members.

The press

• Don't be afraid of working with the press.  There's no magic about it.
• Find out names of motoring journalists and the names of sports editors at ALL morning, evening and weekly papers.  One phone call to the switchboard operator of each newspaper will generally be enough to obtain all names.  Also ask for editorial facsimile and e-mail numbers.
• Get to know the local press; invite motoring correspondents to your events.
• Know their copy deadlines and picture requirements.

Press releases

• Ideally you should have specially printed paper for press releases.  If you cannot afford this then type NEWS at the top of every release.
• Type press releases in double spacing on one side of the paper only and leave wide margins at each side - all this will give a journalist space to edit a release.
• Keep releases brief and concise and use plain English.  Keep sentences and paragraphs short.  Avoid motor sport jargon - it will simply confuse.
• Spend time reading what is used by newspapers - try to aim to get exactly what you write into the paper without alteration.  It is NOT impossible.  No press release should really be more than 150 words.
• Put the most important news first - if a journalist shortens a release he is likely to do so from the end.
• Stress any local angle.
• Try to answer Who?  What?  Why?  Where?  When? in a press release.
• Try to include a quote e.g. "John Smith chairman of the ABC Motor Club said..,"
• Don't over plug a sponsor's name in any press release, otherwise the press may throw it in the bin.
• Don't send a flood of press releases otherwise your contacts will ignore them.
• Give a name and contact numbers at the end for further information.  Put the date too.
• Keep at least two copies of every release issued.  One for your own file ~ the other for THE SPONSOR.  List the circulation list on each release filed.  Try and make sure you get a cutting of everything.  Local libraries are a good source - pages can be photocopied.  Identify each cutting with name of publication and date it appeared.

Photographs

• The promotions man should try to get someone in the club to liaise with him to produce a flow of suitable press pictures; these should be as professional as possible with no flowers growing out of people's heads and so on.
• If you get a household name entered in your event, ring up the local sports editor and discuss the opportunity of arranging a photo-session.
• If photographs are taken of prize winners at a dinner dance, have the club badge in the background.  If possible the photographer should have checked beforehand exactly where people should stand.
• Send black and white, glossy prints, not more than 8ins x 6ins.  If possible send one or two shots and send different pictures to each paper if you have more than one in the area.  Many publications will use colour prints too.
• Pictures MUST be properly captioned.  Attach the caption to the print so that it can be removed but it can't be detached by accident and lost.
• Make it quite clear that a picture is copyright free - newspapers will be put off if there appears to be any doubt.

Radio and TV

• Although there will be most opportunities with local radio, don't despair of getting a story on local TV - it happens more often than you'd think.
• Try to develop contacts at local stations and keep in touch with them.

• Anyone being interviewed should avoid alcoholic hospitality beforehand and should concentrate and listen to the questions.
• Speak up, be definate and don't ramble.
• If you don't know the answer to something, say so, don't waffle. Avoid motor sport jargon.
• Occasionally be prepared for an awkward questions perhaps on enviromental issues.
• Keep calm, but don't get too relaxed and on no account lose your temper.
• Be cautious in plugging club sponsors too much. You may not be asked to appear again if you do and too many plugs make poor entertainment anyway.
• Resist the temptation to try too hard to be funny - it probably won't work.
• Don't bang the table or chair during an interview.

Bad Publicity

• If, despite all your efforts, the club gets bad publicity, avoid over-reacting. Correct important errors but if you charge in with gunds blazing about something tucked away in a newspaper on page 5, you may elevate it to even worse publicity on page 1!
• All the efforts of a promotions officer will be undone if a club members roar away from a club meeting place late at  night and annoy the public. If there is a problem like this stress to members that not everyone likes motor sport and ask for their co-operation.
• To avoid unnecessarily bad publicity it  may be wise for clubs running competitive events to hold "what if" crisis planning meetings to discuss the consequences of, say, a serious incident. Be quite clear who can speak publicly on such occasions - off-the-cuff comments by all and sundry may simply mean legal and/or insurance problems later.

Archives

• With many clubs reaching significant birthday milestones, "then and now" stories are proving popular with local newspapers and magazines. These are much easier to arrange if old material is available and clubs should encourage someone to act as "aschivist" and contact older members for their memories and, with luck, memorabilia. Local newspaper files may prove useful for stories about the highlights of the club.