Sat. May 19, 2007 - Marketing & Promotional Seminar - Kerry Wood Nature Centre, Red Deer    Click for Flyer

Square & Round Dance Marketing Report, 2006

The following report includes the results of discussions held at Red Deer, Alberta on April 29, 2006. The discussions presented here are a guideline for those putting together an advertising campaign for the 2006-2007 dance season. This report is being distributed widely throughout the Alberta dance community so that the efforts of those developing the advertising campaigns may follow a consistent set of themes and formats across the Province. The philosophy being if we keep our message simple, consistent and relatively similar in look, we can measure what worked this year, expand on those successes next year, discard the messages that did not work this year and replace them with better ones. The long-term objective is to know how to package the square dance recreation to get the best return on our effort. Definitions Revisited It is important to keep jargon in mind as we describe the different activities involved in attracting new members to the Square Dance Community. The following definitions were used in the first marketing submission to the Federation. I have changed the wording slightly to make the definitions more specific to square dancing. Branding is linking the concept of square dancing with an image. When people see that image, they immediately think of square dancing. The brand we decided to use is the inter-linking square and circle with the words "Square & Round Dancing" included and an optional dance couple image in the background. Attached to this report are 2 graohics, one with dancers in the background and one without, which are the logos we would like you to choose from for this year's campaign.

To download these images, right click your mouse then choose save picture as..

• We do not have to promote square dancing to square dancers but we do have to promote square dancing to the general public.
• A good promotion strategy would result in the general public getting a clear message that square dancing is fun, good for you and everyone can do it. This might be accomplished by demos, talk show interviews etc.

The demographic that was agreed for this year's advertising is the 35 - 60 year olds. There are a large number of singles who would dance if we made it easy for them and encouraged them to dance. The lesson learned here is that most clubs should be looking for ways to attract more solo dancers and make it easy for them to be assimilated.

Every advertising effort should have a target that is stated at the beginning of each campaign so that success can be measured and over time realistic expectations can be developed for future campaigns. Some examples of targets might include:

• 1% of the population of Alberta square dancing within 10 years
• club XYZ will retain 4 new dancer couples/singles at the end of the next beginner season

For each campaign the targets set for the previous campaign should be reviewed and modified if necessary for the new campaign. Target data, success rates and methods used to achieve success should all be reported to Federation so that market information can be shared throughout the dance community.

A great deal of time was spent discussing themes that should be used across the Province to advertise square dancing. The following are the themes that were chosen as being the most appropriate in this year's campaign. You are encouraged to use these themes. The number of votes that each theme received at the Marketing Seminar is shown below. Please consider themes that received the higher number of votes.

These themes should be the headings in your print media and be in larger and bolder fonts. Print media should also include a logo, as described below under the heading Symbols and

• 2 phone numbers that are manned as much as possible
• web address
• address and time they can come and meet your group
• special promotions to attract new dancers - first two lessons free, etc.
• anything specific to your club

Symbols are part of the branding process and a symbol should accompany every piece of printed advertising. The symbols used should be the same across the Province, so that branding - linking the square dance activity with the symbol - is accomplished. We have developed 2 symbols. Attached to the email you will find 2 word documents and 2 .EPS files that contain the symbols chosen at the Marketing Seminar.

The logo you use should be placed in the same relative position on all advertising. For this campaign, please consider the upper left hand corner as the preferred location. If these do not work for you and you need another format, please email me and define the format you need and I will provide it to you.

A print campaign works well when the buying public is actually looking for a club to square dance with. Currently, this is not the case, as the buying public does not recognize square dancing as a worthwhile recreation. As a result, we should not expect that a person will be reading ads and looking for square dancing opportunities - at least not initially.

An audio campaign - either TV or Radio - does not have to rely on the buyer doing anything. The message is transmitted and if the buyer is tuned into that station, they will hear the message. This is the best way to get to a large number of people and PROMOTE square dancing. Once an audio campaign has been run and there is a large number of people who have heard the promotion and believe that they are interested in further investigating an opportunity to get involved with square dancing, they will start to look for the print media.

Square Dancing should establish a combined print/audio promotional campaign to start attracting new dancers to the recreation.

There should be some promotion prior to an advertising campaign. You want people to start thinking about square dancing and want to look for the opportunity to get more information. A suggestion made at the marketing seminar was to have 50 or so lawn or boulevard signs made and place them around your area during the summer.

We are considering having the lawn signs made with the logo and the message squaredancecalgary.com. These will be placed at different locations throughout the City during the summer months as a lead up to our advertising campaign in the fall. In Calgary, there is no licensing fee to do this and some simple rules to follow. In August, we may have a radio ad running for 1 to 2 weeks, then in early September, a newspaper ad supported by club level promotional activity.

The national and provincial level organizations should focus on TV promotions. The larger districts should focus on radio promotions and major newspaper campaigns and the smaller districts, clubs and individuals should focus on small newspaper, poster and flyer campaigns.

Communities who do not start their dance season mid-September may have to adjust these timelines.

There must be an ongoing effort to promote and brand square dancing as something everyone should join. It is not good enough to start a concentrated effort in June/July for the September enrollment. We must establish a co-ordinated effort to promote the recreation all year long.

The message that we have to get to the buying public is - square dancing is fun, it can be done by everyone and there are great perks enjoyed by those that square dance. We don't promote these messages by advertising - we promote them by living the experience. Every club/district should try and dance in public as often as possible. Some suggestions follow.

• Every time the mayor of Calgary hands a visiting dignitary a white hat - there should be square dancing in the background.
• Districts should find public events where dancers can dance in public - not to recruit but just to have fun.
• Invite onlookers to talk to a dancer
• Stress that the dancers are not professionals
• Political campaigns should not only have bands entertaining but square dancers whooping it up.
• Major corporations should be approached to sponsor square dance clubs or districts.
• Event planners should be contacted and square dancers offered as an entertainment for events that they plan.

Federation should be advised of all Branding and Promotional events and ensure that information is passed onto the entire dance community. All dancers should be encouraged to attend promotional events and support the club or district who is sponsoring the event.

From time to time clubs have to find new venues to hold their dances. It appears that most dances are held in small community halls or churches where there is little to no public visibility. Some thought should be given to moving the dances to more public venues like large community centers where there are a great number of events taking place and where large numbers of people are congregated on a regular basis. This would result in more visibility.

Square dancing is a great recreation. Those that regularly attend and get involved with square dancing have a great time and enjoy the perks that come with the association. If we look at the way we run our recreation you will find that on the whole, we have dropped from the public eye. We must make every effort to demonstrate that the recreation and its associated lifestyle is something that everyone would be proud to be part of and enjoy.

We owe it to those who do not know about square dancing they are missing a wonderful network of people sharing in a most worthwhile recreation.

Respectfully submitted to the Alberta Federation May 20, 2006.