fantastic Rob.
Its good to see a breakdown of what is going on to promote the club. I personally have noted much increase in activity over the last few months and no doubt much of this is due to your education experience.
My primary concern is that initial return figures will see a decrease in activity but as any marketing guru will tell you this SIMPLY HAS TO CONTINUE. Cash is tight in the borough all year round but this time of year is much worse and The Crown is a very cold and unforgiving place through winter. Please ensure that the subliminal message continues to bash eardrums.
The club is more highly thought of around town that it has been for a long time and I have noticed far more people asking how they are going on and knowing things about the club - phase one is complete (ish).
I'd also like to think the powers that be are well aware of their history concerning our club. Time Immemorial will tell you that ASFC or AFC has consistently fought the same struggles. Again. And again. The only time success has ever graced our doorstep has been when the club has led the way with a stragety new to the game - such as the lottery in the early fifties. How can ASFC conjure up new and innovative ways of cornering a market? God only knows but its out there to be found.
The back end of last season and the inauguration of our large and expensively assembled board of directors saw a massive influx of new money (massive by our standards anyway) and I personally would have loved to have seen that bankroll a cheap season ticket. The worry is that this season we wont sell Andy Procter for nearly six figures, we wont get Coleman compensation money, we wont get a shed load of share sales, we wont get a new 18 man board paying their way in ... we'll start next season with a slashed budget and an increase (or freeze) in gate prices.
not good enough to be honest. Someone needs to sit down and work out where all the Rovers and Burnley fans went we left the Conference. They still have an affinity with the club, they just cant afford the prices or discomfort to watch their second team. Rovers as a club are on their arses right now and we should be doing everything financially possible to harvest their fans in come springtime.
Announce the 2013/14 season tickets nice and early, and at a price where Rovers or Burnley would have to commit suicide to compete with (potentials should never be able to say they can watch Championship football cheaper than League 2). Give 2 or 3 months for the early bird offer (march, April, May).
And further to that, let Murray Dawson show us what he is made of and give him fifty quid for every ST sold in return for his company promoting it throughout the region.
Or, value added incentives of some worth. I dont want one free pie, a free pint, and 10% off the club shop. I want a replica shirt, me dad would probably prefer a bench jacket ... be honest, the mark up on replica shirts is ridiculous and can easily be factored into value added, and you'd probably get them shedloads cheaper for a larger order than normal.
What the annual gate income equates to I can only guess, butg if we estimate it at around £500k ... is their an idea out there for sponsorship that can pull in £500k? thus enabling us to GIVE ST's away for almost nowt. Company XYZ has announced record profits and would like to share their profits with the town by giving away free football for a year. You could then have a crazy bid process for season tickets where everyone who wants one sends in their bid (of any amount), the highest 4000 bids get one. Some might bid a hundred, some might only bid a tenner .. how low dare you bid and possibly miss out ....
ha ha last parargraph I'll put down to it being late, but crazier ideas have worked in the past
