Case Study: SCM Open Day
Given the predicament of trying to quickly get the word out about a client newly into an industry that grows predominately by word of mouth and reputation, we decided that an Open Day was the best option.
Firstly we had to look at who we were targeting.
Target Audience: predominately male, aged 30-50, well financed, with a muscle car.
Target Location: within 5-10km radius of client's location in High Wycombe, Western Australia
Then, what type of marketing does this audience respond to?
Testing ideas out on who else, but the hubby, it was decided that this type of bloke won't respond to coupons in the letterbox, or discounts in the paper. But what about an invitation to come and bend the ear of your local high performance mechanic, and check out some pretty nice cars at the same time? Perhaps with a sausage in a bun? Well, that's quite different!
So the date was co-ordinated with other car events so there would be minimal conflicts, invitations were designed and sent out via a letter drop to the local house holds. Posters were put up on community notice boards and invitations were placed on business counters across Perth.A booking page was setup using EventBrite for the earlybirds, and a facebook event created to help get the word out.
Gradually over the couple of weeks prior to the actual event, details of the day were shared out to local car clubs. The event page was updated regularly with information about who would be on display on the day. Then wow, with only a little encouragement word started to travel with the event facebook page reaching 25K. Not bad for a local business event.
But we didn't stop there, as a mail drop invitation was sent out to all the letterboxes within the area and also within the client's budget, (so we had to be a little choosy). Posters were put up on community notice boards at local shopping centers as well, to catch the eye of the bored motoring enthusiast.
So the day of the event finally arrived, and with so much interaction on the web were were flying high, although still worried if all those people would actually turn up on the day. Tables were setup, the BBQ fired up, eskies filled with soft drink and the coffee machine ready.Workshop cleaned, Products on display, and trophies ready for the Dyno winners.
We even had a volunteer face painter to keep the kids entertained.
The show cars started to show up, and phew, what a relief, there were more than promised, and a really nice variety to tickle anyone's fancy.
Finally, a few spectators wander through the gates, followed by a few more, and a few more. By the time the first car was backed into the dyno room the BBQ operators run off their feet, kids were running about everywhere with butterflies and SCM Chillies on their faces, and the crowd was jostling to be able to get a good view into the dyno room.
I made a point of chatting to as many of the visitors as I could, doing a general survey to see how they found out about the event. There were a lot of people who had never heard of SCM, and just came along for a look, finding out through car clubs and the internet, but having the event confirmed via their mailbox.
By the time the last dyno was run at the end of the day, the eskies were empty, sausages nearly all gone, and the SCM mechanics were exhausted.
It was declared a great success in getting the name of SCM Race Engines & Performance recognised not just in the racing fraternity, but also within the local suburbs.
Andy Kahle
Need a little help with your Marketing?
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Andy is also available as a Keynote Speaker.
Please feel free to drop by Askew
Andy is also available as a Keynote Speaker.
Given the predicament of trying to quickly get the word out about a client newly into an industry that grows predominately by word of mouth and reputation, we decided that an Open Day was the best option.
Posted by Askew Digital Marketing on Tuesday, 12 May 2015
