Whats Wrong With This Picture?

[DennisS]

First Gary we are working on that fly tying program (again thanks for your help on that matter)

Jim some great idea's and will for sure take a look at them.

 

Again thank you for all the imput.

 

Tight lines Always

Dennis S

[Garhan]

We are starting to loose focus of why this thread started.

 

Action Plan

 

First - What can we do to attract new blood to the meetings….In store advertising is the first step….So if I can get some quality posters or what ever we will be putting up. Please get them to me and anyone else that is willing to do this.

 

Second - January Show - Seems to be organized with posture up. A question/ Do we not have any advertisers that want to be involved….Like Pieroway Rods, or Blacks Flies, Waspi, Nor-Vise, sticking to or adding on manufactures instead of retailers. They do not have to be Edmonton based companies let alone Alberta or Canada.

 

Third- A liaison with Boys Scouts Canada that works with my wife will be calling me to discuss bringing different Scout Troops (mostly Rangers) to our meetings…I am thinking to the tying nights more so than presentation nights, but both work, your thoughts?

[phlygirl]

Here is a bare bones type of marketing plan that I think might work for us if we hone, develop and implement it. I'd like to suggest that we look at starting a Marketing & Membership Committee if we would like to undertake some of what we've been talking about in this thread.

 

 

1. Goals - What does NLFT-TU Edmonton need or want to accomplish?

o What are NLFT-TU Edmonton's main goals? And how can marketing most effectively contribute to achieving these goals?

o Examples:

o Cold Water Conservation

o Fly Tying

o Increasing membership base

o Broadening demographic

2. Benchmarks and Measurement

A. Benchmarks

· Key Questions: What are three to five concrete, specific and measurable steps or milestones to complete en route to achieving our goals?

· Examples:

o Finalize partnerships with two organizations to promote advocacy campaigns within the next six months. (BB/ BS, Scouts, maybe even look at doing some work at the WCFFE in Calgary, at the IF4 and at the F3T festivals)

o Increase the number of new members by XX% in 2013.

o Broaden the age range of members by XX% in 2013.

o We can track the above two points by simply counting members at meetings and noting numbers belonging to various demographics. We can set up sheets, print them off and have designated members run counts before our speakers begin the evening’s topic.

B. Measurement - How will we know if we are moving down the right path?

We’ll need to answer questions like:

o What is working best so we can do more of it?

o What targets are engaged and which segments do you need to engage differently?

o What content is most compelling to your base?

o What messaging generates action and what fails to motivate?

o What appeals to what demographic ranges? We need to be careful here folks – I don’t want us to lose sight of the members that we have already. I’m not suggesting anyone’s ideas thus far indicate that we are, but it’s a reality we need to consider as a group.

· Examples:

o Meeting participation.

o Demographics per meetings and events.

o Incoming inquiries about membership, events.

o Website usage analytics: What are the most visited pages on our site? Is our Facebook visited more often than our site?

o Generate more forum traffic.

3. Situation Analysis—The Conditions Inside and Outside Our Organization

· Key Questions: What is the environment in which we are working, including the perspectives of current and prospective members? Questions we can ask include:

o Environmental scan: What practices, events or other factors could help or hurt our marketing success?

o Competitive analysis: What are other organizations providing in terms of content, programs and resources? How successful are they? Maybe we can get in touch with some of the other clubs, some of the young “up and comers” in the industry and find out what’s working for other people.

o Audience research: What does our audience/members think about us as an organization, the work we do, the events we hold and/or the issues we work on?

o Marketing audit: What current marketing work is succeeding, and what needs to change and how?

o Internal audit: What are the perceptions, hopes, ideas and concerns of members in relation to the marketing agenda?

4. Target Audiences and Segments

· Key Questions: Who are the audience groups we need to engage to meet our objectives and what do we need them to do? How do they break out into segments (that share perspectives, habits and wants – we ALL love flyfishing, regardless of age)? What are the wants, habits and preferences of each segment (so we can learn how to connect with each of them in some fashion)?

 

5. Calls to Action—What do we want our target audiences to do

· Key Question: What are we trying to get our target audiences to do?

· Examples:

o Come to more regular meetings?

o Come to other events?

o Get involved with the Grayling Survey?

6. Benefit Exchange and Challenges

A. Benefit Exchange

· Key Questions: Why should our target audiences care? What’s it in for them? Why do our current members come to meetings? What do they like and dislike about NLFT-TU Edmonton?

B. Challenges

· Key Questions: What challenges do we face in motivating the target audiences? What’s going to be the most challenging in terms of meeting our objectives?

 

7. Best Strategies—The best ways to achieve our goals

· Key Question: Given the target audience groups we need to engage and the actions you want them to take, what are the best ways to motivate them to do so?

· Examples:

o Broaden our network: Nurture relationships with prospective members and supporters. Examples include getting some younger speakers in, engaging with BB/BS, Scouts, etc. Why not look at some involvement in the Calgary show?

o Message development: Develop and deliver messages that will clarify for, connect with and engage our audiences. Consistent, memorable messaging will help to keep people engaged, recognize our relevance and spread the word about NLFT-TU Edmonton.

8. Tactics

Key Question: How do we connect with our target audiences via these strategies?

 

9. Resources—What do we need to implement our goals?

A. Roles and Responsibilities

· Key Questions:

o Who does what and how do we organize all this?

B. Budget

· Key Question: How much is it going to cost?

10. Step-by-Step Action Plan

We could start with a 90 day action plan and work up from there.

· Key Question: How to implement? What are the immediate steps to take once we have an approved plan?

We’ll need to detail tasks, who tackles what, deadlines, milestones etc.

[Garhan]

Aaron thanks for putting something very tangible on this thread. I would like to be involved anyway I can to support this and a group. I also feel that we as a group can make a big difference once a plan is written and implemented for all to understand. Then it is leg work to get it off the ground and growing. This would be an opportunity for all the club members that have ever voiced a concern to support this for the benefit of Northern Lights and its future for possibly many generations to come .

 

On a side note I hope you didnt stay up all night to write this girl….lol. 3:26 am seems a bite early to get up for work.

[phlygirl]

Thanks Gary

 

Nope, I wasn't up all night just to write the above... I actually had started it a little while back when this thread got going. Couldn't sleep for the life of me, started puttering around on the internet, saw this thread and figured "aww heck, might as well get'er done and posted".

[Junior]

And I give you....our resident marketing expert.

 

Thanks phlygirl, I knew I could count on you.

[Garhan]

www.angling-projects.org.uk/

 

I remember as a youngster in Edmonton heading out early many mornings to go a fish Mayfair Park and Leduc Reservior on my bike. I spent hours upon hours at both and the NSR at Mill Creek before it was rerouted. What I didn't have was someone to mentor me at the water and help me with many things about fishig. But when I wasn't there I was watching as many outdoor shows as possible on TV. Which helped me in lure or fly selection, knots, casting, finding fish etc...

 

I think that if the city's got behind something like this it would be a huge success on a few fronts. It would develop a better social group for the young and adults as a mix into the fishing world. Nothing has ever put a bigger smile on my face when it comes to fishing than to watch or help someone else catch a fish regardless of age or gender.It would help lessen the burden on the drug side of things. I can well imagine many other benefits.

[phlygirl]

Currently Edmonton does two free fishing weekends per year - one for Family Day in February (yipes, no fly fishing, maybe some ice fishing though) and one during National Fishing Week which is July 6-14th of 2013. If memory serves me, there is one retailer in the city who goes out and helps people gear fish the NSR during National Fishing Week. Might be an interesting idea if we contacted them to perhaps add some fly to the event with some volunteers from the club?

 

Check out the links below:

http://www.edmonton.ca/attractions_recreation/parks_rivervalley/fishing.aspx

http://www.nationalfishingweek.com/eng/licence_free_days

[Junior]

If you're referring to The Fishin' Hole's involvement with River Days, they don't actually fish the NSR, they just go through the motions in the ponds. At least, during my time with them. Adding a comparable fly element to an event of this size will take considerable thought, planning, and resources. I don't mean to sound negative, but bear in mind that they run several hundred students through the "Kids Can Fish" program in one day, and we are sometimes logistically challenged to accommodate 2 dozen over a weekend. I just wouldn't want us to bite off more than we can chew. You have to remember that the club is basically shut down at that time.

 

All that said, I love the idea of creating an event to coincide with the free fishing weekend, and I'll commit right now to helping out.

[phlygirl]

That's the one I was thinking of Junior! I wasn't sure what the logistics were like. You're not being negative at all, just realistic. I think you're bang on - that'd be a bit more than we could chew.

 

I second doing some kind of event that would coincide with the free fishing weekend.

[Garhan]

Well before we admit defeat. Maybe look at scaling it back and possibly look at invitational bases or. I.e. a specific group say a company or squad of Girl Guides or Boy Scouts.

[DennisS]

Gary I like your thinking. It might have to be set up on a seperate day or weekend because family day tends to be on the cold side in Feb.

Maybe some time in early May, It could be a broad spectrum of the sport of flyfishing & flytying. that way we can present the beginner flyfishing seminar at the end of May better.

It sure would be nice if we could put something on like a fly fishing festavul(sorry for the spelling)

 

Tight lines Always

Dennis S

[phlygirl]

There's an additional weekend in July (13th & 14th). The nice thing about that one is that licenses are not required so people could come out and give it a shot without having to commit dollars.

 

No admitting defeat here! Just thinking that with a huge event like the one referred to, we may not have enough resources to cover off hundreds of eager new fly anglers.

[Garhan]

There's an additional weekend in July (13th & 14th). The nice thing about that one is that licenses are not required so people could come out and give it a shot without having to commit dollars.

 

No admitting defeat here! Just thinking that with a huge event like the one referred to, we may not have enough resources to cover off hundreds of eager new fly anglers.

 

There is no doubt that we would have to selectively set it up so as to be able to cater to this type of cause.