Race directors – do you know the benefits of using an email marketing service?
We hear from race directors all the time who want to learn more about marketing strategies to help keep their race participants coming back each year. According to this RunningUSA Race Director Survey, 36% of race directors list retaining participants as their key event challenge.
Did you know that using an email marketing tool, such as Constant Contact, Vertical Response or Mail Chimp can help you with your marketing and retention plan? Here are some ways that email marketing can help keep those runners coming back year over year:
Email communication can help keep your race “top of mind.”
You know your runners are looking at all those other races, don’t you? Staying in touch through emails will keep you in the forefront of a runner’s mind and can be the deciding factor in keeping her loyal to your race. It can also keep her from spending time searching for information on your race when she’s ready to sign up.
Keep the communication flowing all year-round.
You can do this by sharing relevant information with your past participants throughout the calendar year. Demonstrate your shared interest with stories about running and runners. Maybe offer links to great deals on running shoes or articles about local personalities and their running achievements. It’s also a great way to promote your race medals and running shirts before the race date to entice sign ups.
Develop race brand loyalty.
You can nurture your race director/runner relationships by putting a friendly face behind the race name and brand and by keeping your participants “in the loop” regarding your event plans, including important changes or deadlines as they come up. Asking for participant input and suggestions through emails can also go a long way in establishing brand trust.
Include links to race registration.
If you have registration available on your website, you can include a link directly to that section in every email you send out. Make the link enticing and easy to see. If you are using a registration company for your running event, create a link to their signup form. It’s important to make this is as easy as possible for your runners to sign up without having to think too hard about it.
Create a sense of urgency to prompt race sign ups.
Light a fire under your readers by conveying an urgent and time sensitive message in both your subject line and in the email itself. Do this by sharing a pending deadline for early registration price breaks, or for shirt size ordering. Messages such as “sign up now – price increase starts tomorrow!”, work well for capturing attention and creating swift action.
Email marketing is an important marketing tool for all types of business.
It’s also the tool with the highest proven return on investment across the U.S. But you don’t have to take our word for that, you can read here about the high ROI in email marketing, from the pros at Lyfe Marketing out of Atlanta.
Because we’ve worked with many race directors over the years, we’ve seen what the most successful races do. And, one of the key strategies those events have in common is the collecting of email addresses from runners, and the use of those emails in staying touch and building relationships that stand the test of time.