Photo Credit: © Can Stock Photo / stanciuc
Parks and recreation has been a dream career choice for me. What other field would allow me to program activities that make a difference in so many lives while also allowing me to interact and participate with my community? I had so many ideas when I began 20+ years ago. I loved sports and was looking forward to offering athletic leagues, camps, and special events that the community could enjoy! My eagerness was met with an understanding that marketing would be vital to the success or failure of whatever the department was offering. Little did I know then that I should have been at the head of the marketing process.
Control The Message
I was lucky enough to start my career in a position that was well established and had successful existing programs/activities. My first special event was a 5K run, one of the premier events for the city. I was a little nervous because I really had no experience in overseeing such a huge event. However, I dove right in and began marketing the event exactly the way it always had been—flyers, press releases, and newspaper advertisements. I even had an inquiry from a major newspaper in the area concerning the event, which was exciting! I met weekly with my immediate supervisors, the parks and recreation director and superintendent, and kept them up to speed on my progress. When the director heard about the newspaper inquiry, he assured me he would respond since I was so busy and didn’t really have the experience with media that he had built up over the years. This made perfect sense to me, so I immersed myself in my work and labored long hours up until the day of the event. The event officially started at 6 a.m., so I was at the location at 2 a.m. to ensure everything was set up and ready to go. The race went off without a hitch and was a HUGE success. The journalist from the newspaper who contacted me was there and named our event the road race of the year! The article was published the following week so I excitedly bought multiple copies to share with family and friends. I opened the paper, found the article, and began to read, impatiently looking for my name as race director. Imagine my surprise when I saw that my director and superintendent were named as the race directors and were even interviewed for the article. There was not one mention of the tireless days and long hours I had put in. That was my first lesson in marketing—if I don’t control the message, others will.
Choose Your Words Carefully
Two months later my director wanted to start an annual golf tournament and asked me to begin the process by researching venues and looking at possible expenses and revenue. The department had just hired a special-event coordinator who would help market the tournament, which was a relief to me. The golfers started playing at approximately 8 a.m., and the coordinator and I quickly began preparing for the awards luncheon at the conclusion of play. At approximately 8:05 a.m., we discovered that an advertisement in the paper for the tournament stated there would be free drinks. Unfortunately, the new coordinator forgot to note that free drinks would be available only at the luncheon. We did our best to accommodate the participants but couldn’t afford to pay for free drinks during the entire day for over 80 golfers. This didn’t sit well with most of the players, and a few of them contacted another local newspaper. My director was interviewed again, but this time my name was mentioned as tournament director. This was lesson number two in marketing.