Salfordlady83 not bad going 1 post and next thing you know your being installed as the clubs marketing and media guru / saviour



Welcome Wayward fan your going to have to wait your turn to pitch your ideas to wilky



As for deciding which team to follow, marketing departments and management teams come and go but the rollercoaster ride of following salford rugby rolls on and on from one generation to another from father to son from mother to daughter .

You never know in 5 years we could be playing infront of 20,000 everyweek and not be able to move for salford rugby marketing bumf

Or

We could be playing in swintons new ground in agecroft infront of 1000 with no posters in sight

Fantastic post!

Bobby (The optimist) please, please STOP.

nah



I'll tell you somthing this off-season has produced some fantastic topics on here so far much better than the usual off season jibber jabber

I always like it when posters are true to their ' user name '

Let's hope that your meeting goes well. You might though have a hard task on your hands not from as some would suggest from JW but from the people who are actually employed to promote the club but some planely don't.
A few of us last year met people from the club to discuss the move to the new stadium and the grand plans that were to be set in place to see off the Willows of which none to my recollection where implimented (despite offers of help from all present to assist in any way possible) instead it looked to all and sundry that there was was general concensus that they will turn up anyway rather than targetting the returning people with offers for the coming season at the new ground.
I would if I were you try my best to ensure that you speak to JW on his own as the people who will resist this most will obviously do thier best to destabilise everything you suggest. What you'll find is that if you come up with decent ideas that you'll get people who will help impliment them as though we may bicker on here we all have the same common goal of a thriving Salford City Reds.

OK her is my take on this.

The move to the new stadium should be focused on the loyal fans we have, they are one of the best marketing tools you can have.

There should be an open day for all fans at no cost to see the stadium with staff on hand to explain the season tickets and for fans to be able to purchase them on the day.
n be the family clubmake it a day for fans and players to mix, allow people to wander in off the street no restrictions.
Merchandising- Rob is right the shirts should be available even if only for juniors in time for xmas.

Look at the other sports and what they offer, we need to offer something extra which can access to players.

Relaunch the junior reds and make it something special on match days the facilities are so much better at new stadium

The club shop should be the centre of everything. Make it somewhere to drop in, have a fans zone with videos playing. Make use of Bill McLaughlin and his exceptional photos.

All of that is spot on

The club have blanked Willows regulars regarding access to Barton , to say I`m peed off with this state of affairs is a huge understatement.

salfordlady83 may be a succesful business woman, although I serioulsy doubt if publiscing your meeting with the Chairman on an open fans forum is going to endeer you to him, as it strikes me as being self promotion.

We all call the marketing etc but we dont know what goes on, what ideas or budgets they have etc.

Who are you taking with you, you mite be introduced to Mr Tarry and Mr Simms,I hope I am wrong,but I think your
ideas, if any good,mite be hoofed into touch because they have not thought of them first.With your good self involved
in marketing you will know,same as they should already know,that the biggest marketing ploy Is the team.
Also as you mite already know we had another lady involved with Hull,at the club for a spell I think she was also involved with marketing.A lot of people think she should still be with us,she seemed to e doing a good job.
So I don,t hold out much hope for your good self, But I hope I am wrong.Just think If all goes well
and he take some notice,on Friday we could have a new C E O.Good luck.

Swinton's got nothing to do with the fact that your club is in turmoil.

despite taken out of context I need to point out ,
club is not in turmoil , the fans posting on the forum are ..
the Club is moving 3.4 miles to Barton , Swinton are moving 15 miles to Leigh.
hardly a position to crow about on our forum .

so who's head are WE calling for if its US in turmoil

Get the facts right it's 11.4 miles from Station Rd to LSV.!!!!

As for crowing, why bring Swinton into it unless you expect a reaction.

Er you played at The Willows last season if memory serves me correctly, so actually your moving 12.9 miles up the road.

We have to careful not to blame the club for decisions we make. Things change. Our circumstances change. Our responsibilities change. The people with whom you go to matches changes. And I think it's easier for supporters to coat their waning desire with effects from the club's [non activity rather than look at what has changed for them personally.

For example, and The Black Cat will no doubt tell me otherwise, but as people who live in Weaste the situation has changed for our ilk. What popping round the corner was before is now going to be an effort. The logistics of getting to and from matches is still unknown. This isn't a whinge per se. Most folks made a considerable effort - in cost and travel time - to get to The Willows. And for as many locals who drop off, they may be made up from Barton and Winton folk. However, I'm sure there will be long-time supporters from East Salford who will watch Salford less regularly, finally 'calling it a day' because of the travel aspect... and blame it on their loss of faith in their club. (Watch out for me doing exactly this in 12 months!)

For me, this move is vital for the Reds to remain relevant. We have to kowtow to the R.F.L and if moving to a new stadium placates them then so be it. Because National League is death. I enjoy watching those matches on telly but attending them in person is a different matter. 2008 was a season that I certainly wouldn't want to revisit with any relish, even though we won everything. So if it's a case of seeing Salford wither and die at The Willows or go for another shot at the big time in Barton, I know what I'm choosing.



It is risky; look what happened to Manchester Storm. However, it depends on the parents. When we talk about attracting families we need to think how a match day is pitched. It cannot be compared to an afternoon at the cinema or a day at Alton Towers but it is comparable to other spectator events. I wonder whether some rugby league clubs fall for the former and get their targeting wrong. Surely a parent who has been to sporting events before, whatever that sport may be, is far more likely to take their children to matches. Now these families may also be 'happy clappy', but at least they are more likely to stick with the club for longer rather than moving to the next fad.

The ideal for football clubs (all codes), the one they are unabashedly aiming for, is the N.F.L model. This is where groups of people go to one game in the season, as an outing, and spend spend spend. The environment was fostered mainly because N.F.L games are very expensive and few and far and between. What a winning combo. But most rugby league clubs' identities aren't strong enough to benefit from this exclusivity.



I'm not so much concerned about the Reds here - we're getting what we're been given - but Salford, the city. The people that should be looking at themselves is Salford Council. There's a considerable risk that its flagship stadium will be synonymous with Sale and [the very nearby Trafford Council. I can't see the R.F.L being chuffed about it either.



Yes. Are you therefore implying that if the Sale partnership doesn't come off, the club is heading for certain insolvency? And why are we quick to assume that if Sale do come onboard, it would halve our costs? The JV may see the arrangement rather as potentially paying off the stadium in half the time.



Salford Council backing for a new stadium resulted from the whispers they heard from the Maine Road thing.



Well, all the marketing ideas you will get from here have been tried. But whether they've been stuck with for any length of time is another thing. So I would like to see the club finish initiatives they boldly espouse to the end rather than losing faith too early. PR is clearly sh=#000000it and needs a shot of something very strong and very addictive. For example, ask an R.L. journo about their thoughts on Salford.



Well that's one way you can take it. In many professions though it's common to have an in-house team and external consultants or agencies defining policies and guides. It doesn't necessarily point to inadequacies or poor communication in an organisation. But...



If your doorstep is Wigan or Warrington and you live there, fair play. If you live in Walkden or Cadishead, hang your head man. Hang your head!

Thanks Chico, I'm not going to tell you otherwise as I have already thought about and discussed this dilema.

Do I really want to be pi$$in around after finishing work on a Friday night at 6 o'clock, to rush my tea, get ready for a game, then most likely struggle to get to the stadium? DO I want to watch a game on my own in the main stand as I have previously said there is NO-WAY I'm going to watch a home game from behind the sticks, will I find it dissappointing that I no longer have my fellow Salford Shed Dwellers around me - Is the match experience now dead for me? After said game has finished, will I want to be bothered with the hassle of returning to my local very late, to get there just before last orders and rush a few beers down?

OR:

Is the pull of supporting Salford for 30+ years going to erase the above problems, thoughts, logistics and selfishness? - I'm not so sure? It may depend on the ineptness of the club on and off the field that will be the ultimate decision maker?

To the lady in marketing -Salford have a habit of taking supporters with a profession / trade, getting work out of them but paying no fee.
I know people this has happened to, and I know people who will no longer do work for the club.


As a fan, i am sure you would be happy to give your advice free of charge with a view to it helping the club, and that's commendable. Hopefully the ldeas you can offer will make a difference, but remember the lack of funds and the fact that everying needs to be done on the cheap (free).


Trying to get an invoice paid by Salford is a standing joke!

This is an excellently well thought out post. I agree with much that you say and can easily fit this into the workings of my club Swinton and many other clubs.Sadly Rugby league in this area and around the north of England lives under the shadow of Association Football and like it or not when we have two teams such as Utd and City in the area then attracting spectators is made a whole lot more difficult, even more so now with the state of the country.
I don't agree with your comment about the National leagues and "Salford Dying" if they returned there as whilst the game maybe slower in those leagues it is played in a very honest manor by some really good lads who lets face it arn't at Super league clubs because most of these clubs have a fixation with all things antipodean, one of the reasons we have struggled for many years in trying to build a strong National side and which is proving to be more difficult with the introduction of players like Rangi Chase.(That's by no means meant in disrespect to Mr Chase)
There is no doubt that sadly for Salford there will be supporters who as you stated used to stroll down on a Friday or Sunday as the club was round the corner, who will no longer continue to attend every match whether or not these will be replaced by new support from the Irlam area remains to be seen.The crux to that will be having a winning team.
It also remains to be seen if the stadium location will benefit the club, personally and whilst i know it is fully visable, I think the choice of site is flawed on the grounds that whenever there is the slightest accident or motor incident on any motorway circumnavigating Manchester it has knock on effects and will make getting to Barton a whole lot more difficult, irrespective of what people on here may think at weekends the bulk of traffic on that stretch of motorway are going mainly to the Trafford centre, it's unlikely they will detour to the ground.

These problems arn't just Salfords they are the problems of all Rugby league clubs.

Very true, however, a colleague of mine who attended the last game at the Willows used the "contact us" page on the club website three or four weeks ago (just before the season ticket info was released) to ask about season tickets for him and his son for 2012. He's had no reply. It doesn't take much budget to respond to warm customer enquiries, just good organisation.

Try - marketing@reds.co.uk as a test email and see what you get back!

Try - marketing@reds.co.uk as a test email and see what you get back!

Wayward fan- though I understand what you're saying I too have become disillusioned with the club however taking your son to watch another team? You won't be any loss in that case, it might not be all that great here but I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than take off to another club

I don't really feel there's any huge need for a grand plan at Salford, just the thorough implementation of a few basic ideas.

Why is the communication so terrible? It's more or less free ffs. The website always starts the season well but tails off towards the half way point, you can rarely get a straight answer out of the club shop, and good luck getting a response via e-mail (odd that they were able to locate my e-mail address quickly enough when they wanted to give me a warning post-Castleford away - this proves they do have the information they just can't be bothered or don't know how to use it). Get people singing from the same hymn sheet, being proactive with information and using some of the communication mediums they already have wide open. There are glimpses of good ideas (Facebook updates were really good last season) but they always seem to tail off, as pointed out by Gaz.

Accept that you have to work with the fans, not fight them. Why is there no fan representative officially working with the club? Why is Forever Reds never used by the club for anything other than Q&A sessions with players / coaches? A shining example of this sort of attitude for me was kicking people out of The Willows after the last game at 7pm. There was no need for it. I also feel that the fans are the biggest untapped resource we have. I know the point about getting local tradesmen in and not paying them (according to other posters) was raised, but even amongst the most well known and loyal supporters there rarely seems to be any attempt to get people to help the club. As we proved when making some of the banners a few years ago, people are prepared to put a few hours in for something they see as worthwhile for Salford. Why are we not asking fans to help to leaflet drops, put posters up, even slightly more radical(!) ideas such as giving a few fans access to the club e-mail inboxes and allowing them to respond to queries (ie. when people e-mail in asking for season ticket information). This could free up full time employees to work on other things.

Stop missing opportunities. It has been mentioned umpteen times but getting ST info out at the last game, shirts in time for Xmas, etc. etc.

It's quite obvious we don't have money to spend on huge PR & marketing campaigns (and if we did it'd be better spent on the playing squad at the minute) but so many of the problems are things that can be fixed for free or with minimal cost. It's the attitude which is the most upsetting factor.

I Think thats the key point, they usually make a start look for a reaction (if we as fans like it or not) then it gets canned if it doesnt take off and everyone was talking about it, its the wrong attitude imo because most of us are waiting for somthing to go wrong before commenting on it.

Like for example last year the willows 13? video blog, the great players who wore the red shirt did they ever show it for start to finish? i appologise if they did and i missed it but did we get any further than 9?
There has been so many good ideas the club have had but didnt give it enough time / effort to give it time to fly.
There are people working very hard in the club unfortunatley its a lack of direction, leadership and planning in certain areas which lets them down.

Im hoping with the new season and the new stadium the club will apporach FR and say "lets try and iron out any problems you fans might have in the new stadium" i cant quite understand why the club dont engage the fans very well and treat us like mushrooms (unless they need somthing) we are the heart beat, we are the boat that keeps the club afloat at the end of the day and they are relyin on us to make anything they dream up a success.

Like 2003, if the club meets the fans half way fans will go the extra mile and that will make all the difference in making barton a success or failure.

I couldn't agree more with most if the above points. The club lacks fresh direction in keeping fans in the loop and making them feel part of the club.

It doesnt take a genius to know that nearly everyone nowadays has a smartphone of some description where they receive emails instantlh almost like a text message.....I get emails constantly from my local bloody kebab house with offers when I have no idea how they actually got my email address!!!!!

What's wrong with a "submit your email address" for a weekly monthly informative newsletter. A Simple page.. No more with "how to's" "where to's" and "when to's "

Ok if the club don't have the resources (heaven help us) ask for a volunteer to organise an official un-official newsletter etc etc

One of hundreds of idea's we all have I'm sure. But why do the club constantly fail to tap into there fanbase? Madness. They rely soly on the team to get people thru the doors and now the stadium it's self, which has been evident and getting worse for a while now. Things have to change.

Think a cheap and easy way to counter act some of the accusations here would be for the club to have a fans respresentative.
Find a simple way to vote for someone on here and get them involved.