..not a word often associated with the Gutterfax and his ramblings, but I am willing to try anything once

I penned a letter to an interested party who is involved with the club and received an assuring response. There are various initiatives in place that are designed to increase awareness of our club and the whole match day experience. We may not see these innitiatives as they are highly targeted, but we will see a marked improvement in communication from the Club.

Channels of communication are now open with potential partners and there is a general positive buzz around the club. The crowd on Saturday, whilst disapointing, was to be expected given the game was on SKY, the RBS 6 Nations being on free TV and the evening KO.

Given that I have written to people involved before and received no response and given that this time someone took the time to answer my questions, when in all honesty I have no right to expect any, I am going to be patient when it comes to the perceived non-marketing and resultant bad crowds FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON.

I feel these boards may become more interesting now as I will have to comment on the Rugby

Now then Gutters your comments are always interesting... Pleased that you got a positive response. Will be interesting to see what these initiatives are. As an aside, the idea to put the flags on seats was a good one. My 12 year old nephew was thrilled to get one. I was even asked why I hadn't brought one down for my local as Sittingbourne rugby union club make it their base and several of the lads are Quins RU fans. They have also come to the occasional RL game when their season finishes and always ask how we got on etc. I am hoping that a few more of them will come once their season finishes. I have definitely hooked the Leeds Rhino fan and the Aussie who came to the Manly game last week, they are coming again and haven't stopped going on about what a great day they had so something positive at least.

...it is virtue not always bestowed on some who contribute here. But well done for (A) discovering the P word and (B) getting a response out of the club.

I am still waiting for the response for details re applying to be the Invisible Man (i.e. the CEO).

Good work Marilyn, bring em and keep em. We can all keep on at the club to take various initiatives but we as fans must keep trying to bring people along. If I want to go to a restaurant I am more likely to pick one that has been 'recomended' rather than just pick something out of yellow pages.
We have a great product, we just need to get them down to the stoop to sell it. If we want to watch SL in London we must fight for it as fans as well or we will be the losers.

Pleased to read that lots of good initiatives are going ahead. I guess thee is a limit to what they can do within their budget but lets hope it has a good impact. Perhaps the club would be best served if someone would come out and make some sort of statement (even on the club website)about the club taking a number of initiatives just to reassure the fans who are getting a little worried. I think we can all excercise a little patience as long as we know the club is doing something.

[quote="retirethenameI am still waiting for the response for details re applying to be the Invisible Man (i.e. the CEO).[/quote]

PATIENCE............ all things come to he who waits

I am pleased to hear that there is some reason to be positive re marketing. I was not too downcast re the Wigan attendance, most of the work had been put into the Manly game and that was a success. On Saturday we were up against: a tea-time kick-off; a football day; England cricket on Sky; England RU on Sky; Quins RU playing and our match live.

Given that Wigan brought less for obvious reasons, that can all add up to a drop from last year. Our hard-core fan base is small it will take a lot of work to build it. I am hopeful that the club are working, slowly, in the right direction.

When the soccer and RU seasons finish and the weather improves that may be the time to target the floating fans in the capital.

Im not sure if Gutterfax will back me up on this............but Marketing is not only about throwing 20,000 leaflets in Leicester Square, or full page ads in Metro!

The supporters themselves can do a lot more through word-of-mouth.

In times of hardship, and when budgets are low, Marketing needs to be very selective and timed properly.

1st day of the season shouldnt need ANY marketing at all.
Its when the big games and the real chance to bolster numbers is available that Marketing should kick into gear.

QRL could have thrown any amount of Marketing at the game this weekend, but the external factors (6 Nations, Evening game, Sky Coverage) wouldnt have yielded many more bums on seats.

Its when the season is 8 game sold, and people start to waiver, is when Marketing and PR should re-ignite that early season eagerness.
On a limited budget, this is the only way!

Historically speaking, most RL clubs have grown their audiences through the medium of 'community marketing' - loads of clubs and schools in the towns playing the game, players turning up for sessions and coaching, club and coach development officers handing out family vouchers etc etc.
Pairing up with local businesses on ticket deals and corporate associations.

This isn't an overnight thing and takes years to reap the rewards; it's about chipping away at the coal face. Judging by the increase in the number of community clubs in the region and the number of Londoners in the national squad, I'd suggest that something is working and in a few years, QuinsRL could well be seeing the rewards on a fan level.

There is a major issue however - all community games take place on a Sat; that's in stone. It seems a bit of an issue to me playing QuinsRL home fixtures on a Sat when the kids who play can't come! How can they aspire to be Super League players if they can't come to home games and see their 'heroes'?

In my experience, adverts in newspapers don't generally bring in people by the droves unless they have unique novelty value in an already grown market (e.g. Big Game at Twickers, which apparently cost more than 100k to market) That said, sporting clubs always need to back up their community stuff with some above the line marketing. Maybe this will be rectified if, as seems to be the noise, there's a hook up with QUinsRU (finally)

Although popped up on Sat Im sure someone pointed me to a lady who was well dressed and said she has been recruited as the marketing manager. Dont hold me to that.