GORACING WEBSITE

It looks like the new website has made its mark with double the number of visits to the site per month over what we had with the old hri.ie site . Apart from the great new look and feel of the site it makes just about every stat from our digital vaults available for users.We now need your views on what should be done to improve it further and push the ratings even higher.

In a first upgrade of the site we added two major new features : the daily PA racing news feed and the At the Races video archive and track flyover sequences for each racecourse which really makes this the portal site for all tracks.

It's now time to plan for Phase Two with enhanced content and more features . The trick here is not to fiddle endlessly with the site but to introduce changes in single steps at reasonable intervals, so we'd like to review all possible ideas and then launch the next phase with one click of the mouse.

The site development so far has been the result of a collaboration between IT,Marketing and the Racing Dept and as that collaboration proved so successful everyone is now invited to become involved.

We know some of the fixes that are needed and some new ideas have been floated already,such as photo archives,racing podcasts - particularly for big race previews and 'learn about racing' items.More interactivity is a must ,particularly with competitions and polls but should we go further, with a Racing Forum on-line? What else will educate,entertain and inform site visitors?

How do we get the balance right for heavyweight racing fans,lightweight racing fans , social racegoers , corporate racegoers, business customers, tourists, student researchers, job seekers,etc etc ?

Take another look at goracing.ie

Have your say about what should change for Phase Two and what new features would enhance the site. Use this blog to float your ideas and comment on the ideas of others . Just hit the comments link below and a text box will open up for you .

Marketing to Digital Natives

This is a set of notes drawn largely from sessions at the Public Relations Institute of Ireland Seminar in May 2007 ( Jury's Dublin) and added to and re-worked in terms of HRI's Marketing task. The essential task for racing is to become a credible communicator to digital natives.


Digital Natives

Digital Natives are those born 1980 and after - people for whom digital technology is not new or strange. Daily web users. These are our ‘20 somethings’- the main target of our advertising. Fail to recruit them and the business will fail...eventually.

Private information is going public now: Bebo, My Space, UTube, Facebook, Blogs, Vlogs,Twitter. Even the most popular new platforms will change, mutate and be replaced. There is no customer loyalty. Functionality is everything.

50% of virtual dwellers - people with an identity in 'Second Life' for instance, value that life equally. Second life now has over 8m ‘citizens’.

Peer Trust is the most significant motivator of young people -Social Peer Groups andOn line Peer Groups

TV viewing is actually growing, but it is fragmenting. This is the move from Prime Time to ‘My Time’ – people choosing what and when they will view or listen.

Citizen Journalists are everywhere – some just for a day on a single issue. Anyone can now publish their views using any number of Peer to Peer Platforms.


A Blog is becoming a standard accessory for digital natives and evolving rapidly, with Twitter (text based) – micro blogging, the next big thing. Corporate blogs are becoming a useful tool for internal and external communication.The corporation used to have one voice, now it has many

How do we market to Digital Natives?

We need to know what digital natives are saying

- about brands
- about racing
- raceday experience

Listen, prepare internally and engage! To market digital natives we must be willing to live in the same digital spaces.

Learn about Google Grid, Google Base and the convergence of super sites like Google and Amazon. Map the social networking landscape for our target market.

BEBO has 32 million users wordwide. There are over one million users already in Ireland 92% of whom are under 35, and average stay on-site per visitor is 22 minutes plus. Seven hours a week in not unusual. This time is coming from somewhere - TV most likely.

In approaching Bebo or any Peer to Peer site remember : Functionality beats brand loyalty, irreverence helps viral spread of marketing messages, and above all don’t ‘sell’ the Bebo community. It doesn’t work. Creativity Content and Communication is all that works.

Youth asks: · Who is giving me this information? · Is it relevant?· Does my peer group endorse it? People trust each other not institutions. Social networks will increasingly move online.

How did Bebo grow? Via DJ’s and musical artist mentions on air. No advertising.

Actions

Own a space on Bebo.
Get Blogging
Skins - create a viral skin.

Can we build a ‘Young Racers’ Club using peer to peer platforms? Use Video - we have got so much unused or under-utilised content. Bring the digital natives into our space. For instance, have a competition to ask Digital Natives to create an ad for racing – upload to goracing page and the winner gets €1,000! or... careers are always interesting l - how about ' win a work placement in racing'!

Digital Capability in HRI and Irish Racing

Digital Capability Counts for Ad Agencies and PR companies but most are not up to speed. The web allows for segmentation to one and this level of segmentation (of audiences) leads to questions re the right message to the right audience via the right channels. Advertising and PR convergence is happening, particularly in digital communications.

The Future – Questions and Next Steps

What is the brief for racing’s on-line presence?

Who will write it up?
Who will own the process?
Who will implement it?
Who will measure it?
How much will it cost?
Who will pay?

How will we service racecourse needs online?
Where do we go to get up to speed with digital marketing ?

Actions

Audit marketing team and other in-house capability for digital marketing. Assign responsibilities. Identify skills groups. Train to fill gaps. Identify third party supports and get suppliers such as Ad agency, PR company and Direct Marketing suppliers to integrate digital communications into campaigns.

What are 20-somethings like?

Our key target market for recruitment . Post - education,pre-marriage,loadsamoney and rarin to go . Spenders on all kinds of consumer goods and socialising - having a good time . A day at the races should be just the ticket.

WELL ..... the Bank of Ireland reports today ( Irish Times July 17th ) that their survey of 600 22-28 year olds shows that they are self-reliant savers after all - putting an average €200 pm into savings . If they have mortgages they are spending €900 pm on that although most wait till 31 to buy first time.

They still BET however - with men spending €110 pm and women just €26 - the rest goes on clothes,toiletries,hair and beauty. What does the Tote make of that I wonder ?

questions arising :

Should we target MALE 20 somethings more than, or instead of, all 20 somethings?
Should the betting experience of a day at the races be more to the fore in our advertising?

next .... Bank of Ireland advice week for 20-somethings July 23 - 27

Blogging for work

Corporate blogs are the new thing. This is a Marketing Blog to explore the potential in HRI for Blogs as a form of communication within teams and for their invited guests . The Marketing team will routinely update this site as a form of running diary of our work . It may be of interest to others in HRI especially where we overlap as in visits to racecourses.

It will at least keep a record of activities which could feed into monthly reports. It should also serve as a calendar of events so that those who need to know will see where marketing people are at any given time and what the current. We will also post useful photographs of racecourses and marketing receptions and events.

There should also be scope to invite ideas,suggestions and comments re the marketing of racing and draw in others who are digitally savvy for their thoughts as to how this might develop.

It could also serve as a way to capture stories within HRI that may have publicity value by way of press release or briefing to journalists

President visits Cheltenham