Update on GT FB Recruiting Initiative

MountainBuzzMan

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Lurkerjack said:
Exactly! I didn’t get that far either (hell, I didn’t get past the schedule!). Another GT rookie mistake. My marketing firm is always preaching about simple and short communications. No one looks at long emails. And never ever combine multiple subjects / concepts.

Now a dumb question: remember “the day of giving” over the holidays lead by tstan? Was that a different campaign or the same thing?
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+1 A Little different, but I have spent a LOT of time on SEO optimizations and call to action on landing pages, there are lots of studies on eye tracking and the average time on landing pages out there.
  • Your landing page is only one subject
  • You have multiple call to action areas
  • Your most important call to action is on the top left and top center
  • Something like 5% or less, actually make it to the bottom of the landing page.

Don't know TStans budget, and I know he has only been there a year, but he needs to either be thinking about using his budget better or create a new fund raising campaign to hire a real marketing department with an up to date skill set.
 

Deleted member 2897

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Not going to go back and read, so I'm sorry if I'm reposting earlier info. But in that AJC article on this initiative, it says that we have raised about $100,000 in 2 weeks. Last week I spoke with someone in the development office and asked for an update - he was going from memory, but said it was around $75,000. So awareness must be getting spread wider. Keep the momentum up and keep emailing friends if you haven't. And tell them to email their friends. It does matter, probably even more than if you give another $100 or not actually.
 
presjacket

presjacket

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fwiw, I don't have a problem with how the knowledge of this fundraiser is being spread. Personally I would rather get one email a week with a lot of information in it than three emails a day from the same source. This isn't a major fundraiser. The ones of us who recognize the need for more recruiting staff are going to be fans who peruse sports message boards. You'll have to convince the general public of the need and then convince them to give. Of course, I'm not an expert like most of you. I'm just a guy who loves Georgia Tech football.
 

MountainBuzzMan

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MountainBuzzMan said:
+1 A Little different, but I have spent a LOT of time on SEO optimizations and call to action on landing pages, there are lots of studies on eye tracking and the average time on landing pages out there.
  • Your landing page is only one subject
  • You have multiple call to action areas
  • Your most important call to action is on the top left and top center
  • Something like 5% or less, actually make it to the bottom of the landing page.

Don't know TStans budget, and I know he has only been there a year, but he needs to either be thinking about using his budget better or create a new fund raising campaign to hire a real marketing department with an up to date skill set.
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Quoting my own poast again, sorry. I wanted to be clear. I am more excited for the future of Tech football than I have been in a long time. TStan needs to deliver, but I think he will. With the new D Coordinator, Adidas, Recruiting budget enhancements, Locker room improvements (Recruiting), CPJ contract extension and what I believe is FINALLY a real Tech fan that is capable in running the AD office, I am practically giddy with excitement.

We just need a clear way to engage the rank and file. Even if it is self grown. Everyone pulling the same direction can make a huge difference.
 
Supersizethatorder-mutt

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Lurkerjack said:
Exactly! I didn’t get that far either (hell, I didn’t get past the schedule!). Another GT rookie mistake. My marketing firm is always preaching about simple and short communications. No one looks at long emails. And never ever combine multiple subjects / concepts.

Now a dumb question: remember “the day of giving” over the holidays lead by tstan? Was that a different campaign or the same thing?
Click to expand...
I think it was probably the same campaign but for a different target audience at that time.
 

Deleted member 2897

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bwelbo said:
Not going to go back and read, so I'm sorry if I'm reposting earlier info. But in that AJC article on this initiative, it says that we have raised about $100,000 in 2 weeks. Last week I spoke with someone in the development office and asked for an update - he was going from memory, but said it was around $75,000. So awareness must be getting spread wider. Keep the momentum up and keep emailing friends if you haven't. And tell them to email their friends. It does matter, probably even more than if you give another $100 or not actually.
Click to expand...

BUMP.

Just spoke with someone over there again today. We've gone from early January at $75k to $100k 2 weeks later, and now just a couple days later today we're at $126k. We probably got a bump from the Schedule email that also had a reference to it and links to it.

Talked about several other things. Guys, I continue to think this current group just "gets it". From the AD on down. That doesn't mean they'll be able to do everything they want, or perfectly, because money still doesn't grow on trees for them. But they are open to all kinds of grass roots fundraising ideas. They're even funding some pilots that they are most optimistic about. They're also executing on tons of other projects, while also trying to get their act in gear and fixing things (for example, they admit to being slack about the non-large donors, not staying in regular/annual communication with most donors, and so on).

So I would encourage you to keep donating, keep spreading the word to others about donating (I have spoken to many people who actively give good money to the AT Fund every year and weren't aware of the GT Recruiting Challenge), and don't be shy about bouncing questions or ideas off them if you think they might have merit. They are actively listening!
 
Supersizethatorder-mutt

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bwelbo said:
BUMP.

Just spoke with someone over there again today. We've gone from early January at $75k to $100k 2 weeks later, and now just a couple days later today we're at $126k. We probably got a bump from the Schedule email that also had a reference to it and links to it.

Talked about several other things. Guys, I continue to think this current group just "gets it". From the AD on down. That doesn't mean they'll be able to do everything they want, or perfectly, because money still doesn't grow on trees for them. But they are open to all kinds of grass roots fundraising ideas. They're even funding some pilots that they are most optimistic about. They're also executing on tons of other projects, while also trying to get their act in gear and fixing things (for example, they admit to being slack about the non-large donors, not staying in regular/annual communication with most donors, and so on).

So I would encourage you to keep donating, keep spreading the word to others about donating (I have spoken to many people who actively give good money to the AT Fund every year and weren't aware of the GT Recruiting Challenge), and don't be shy about bouncing questions or ideas off them if you think they might have merit. They are actively listening!
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So if we have any ideas or thoughts, to whom (or to what address) should we send them?
 

Deleted member 2897

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joehamiltonfan14 said:
I’m a season ticket holder and I have not received any emails about this. Whom are they being sent to?
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They're not sending any emails out. :) . Speaking of still not having their act together. :)

They sent out an email for the 2018 schedule recently, and below that they had a blurb about it. A few weeks ago it was up on the RamblinWreck.com website. And before that it was originally launched only on the paysite. I think this whole thing was viewed a little as a pilot at first, which is the reason it started with such a small audience (the audience it originated from)...that and trying to just get something out there before the tax year ended. Suffice it to say this program has given them the confidence to go much further and bigger.
 
BuzzbaitGT

BuzzbaitGT

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joehamiltonfan14 said:
I’m a season ticket holder and I have not received any emails about this. Whom are they being sent to?
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bwelbo said:
They're not sending any emails out. :) . Speaking of still not having their act together. :)

They sent out an email for the 2018 schedule recently, and below that they had a blurb about it. A few weeks ago it was up on the RamblinWreck.com website. And before that it was originally launched only on the paysite. ...
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Ironically, the blurb added to the email about the 2018 schedule, the article posted to RamblingWreck.com, and the initial message posted on a paysite are all good follow-up promotions for this FB Recruiting Initiative, but at the end of the day, they're still all actions that are "follow-up" in nature. A simple, one-topic, directed email to season ticket holders prolly woulda been the most effective action for GTAA to take.

Glad to see donations rolling in. Hopefully, GTAA does the marketing and promotions right next time and the GT Fam *really* makes it rain.
 

takethepoints

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I totally forgot about how this kind of thing works. Why, I do not know; I have been through about a jillion of these efforts at the college where I used to teach. But it took the AJC to remind me of the sequence.

What we are in right now is the "silent" or "quiet" phase of the fund raising effort. The object of this is to hit up the people who are most likely to give, especially if, like Tech, you have a big chunk of match money to lure in the possibles. (Like the people at this and other fan sites, of course.) The basic idea is to get enough money to almost meet initial goals - and we seem to almost be there - then open the whole thing up to the less likely donors. If you are already close, you can usually find enough money to get over the top. You contact a lot more people so that, even if the proportion of those contacted who give is a lot lower, you can scare up the money.

So, yes, we are keeping this close to the vest right now, but I bet they'll go bigly once we get enough to fund the positions for the first year.
 
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takethepoints

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I forgot to include the reason for having a silent phase in the first place. This has to do with what the "development" people call "donor management".

If you ask too often and too publicly three things happen. First, your potential big donors lose the incentive to pony up. They got rich for a reason and a usual one is by letting other people bare the cost when it comes to volunteering money. (I had one of the "development" guys tell me this almost verbatim.) If you come to them first and poor mouth your prospects just enough, they start to feel that its up to them to come up with the cash. Second, if the campaign is too public too early, the potential big donors don't feel all that special about being contacted. So they are less willing to give. Third, if the campaign is too public too early and you do it regularly that way, your small donors get tired of being dunned ("donor fatigue") and don't send anything in.

None of these reasons make much sense; if the school (or whatever) needs money, then it needs money. But they've got this down to a science.
 

Lavoisier

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Ok, but the idea behind this is to raise money from the non-big donors. It's to see how much money they can drum up from $20-$500 type donors. The big money guys give money as is to stuff like the locker room, but the AA doesn't even try to make it easy for the rest of us to give money to the athletic department.
 
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