AHHHH, ok so i guess i took on sponsors pretty much alone out of the execs. But im already realizing this is more work then i can do, so im gonna force daniel to help, and thor seems how he is marketing. If flakes or waffle wants to help, that would be great. As far as flyers go, i THINK thor has started on some since the most recent meeting, but im not positive. But he WILL make them this time and way ahead of time.
Ok, so flyers in the dorms, of course we can do that. But i know in Albright/Benton, they prefer we dont hang them until 1 week ahead of time, and they HAVE to be down within 24 hrs after the event. Im gonna go out on a limb and say all dorms are probably like that. But we can definitely put them up that week still. I had the idea of putting up a table in each of the dorms advertising a few weeks before teh LAN. We did tables and a few different games in Walker and in Scott to get the word out to freshman, but i think we should do something similar for every dorm if possible. Start about 2 or 3 weeks before teh LAN and do 1 or 2 dorms a week. I dont know if that would be worth it or if it would be just a waste of our time though.
CRAIGSLIST! ok, Daniel just recently started to use craigslist to sell some things, so i can get him to work more with that and figuring out the site so we can advertise through that. I’m not sure if there are other sites similar, or any site other than ours really, that we can advertise on but through out any ideas towards taht if you can think of some.
School site, i thought of this over the summer and mentioned it to daniel but he didnt really give me a response before. Posting on the upcoming events list, because obviously we will host the event. Also the event calendar, that calendar can be seen for months ahead of time, so as SOON as we pick out dates and reserve teh room, we need to get added to the calendar. I also thought about getting announcements made at sporting events. like during halftimes, or breaks or time outs? Especially with Madden being a tournament this time, i think the sports events would bring in a bigger crowd for that.
I dont know if we ever do, but we should get the Cats Den to post flyers for us as well.
I know we have a facebook page, but i dont think its ever updated or used. If i had access to that directly i would post everything we could with that. Meetings, LANS, and any advertising for our sponsors. Im on facebook practically everyday so i would definitely keep that updated.
It was mentioned to advertise on the servers. Iv only played 1 computer game taht had a server and thats WonderKing (kinda like maple story), so i dont know much about server stuff. But im assuming that when wonderking posted sales on items, or extra experience bonus times, or server maintenance stuff, that thats where the advertising would go? if so, thats a great idea!
Ok sponsors specifically. LAN centers sound like a great idea. As far as actual banners we could post for them, i dont know where we could hang them. We can get above UC entrance, but i think that should be ours. There are a few random spots on the UC lawn that occasionally have banners hanging up, but im not sure who to contact for that exactly. But regardless i think the banners to sponsor other people are kinda useless unless it shows just there logo, but the actual txt is our LAN info. The Nexus, and a few other places directly in sylva need to be visited to talk to. I just need to set aside a day where i can do that. Places farther out, such as waynesville, i think if i, or someone else, cant make it to them in person, then phone calls will definitely take place. Asheville is a bit of a drive, so phone calls and emails will have to suffice for the official set up i think. I do work so i have money to pay for gas, but im already driving out to the boondocks of franklin 3 times a week for my major. So if someone is willing to drive out there to talk with places in person rather than thru email then thats even better!
Also with sponsors, somewhere on the forums, possibly under just the executive section, there is a list of sponsors. Ones that were used in the past, ones that are more than likely to agree, and some to look into still. Alot of them are just websites. BUT if you can get me emails, phone numbers, websites, addresses, whatever, ill be happy to contact them about sponsorship. Ill post the list of those after this.
There is a place on tunnel road in asheville that i drove thor and daniel out to a few weeks ago for a magic tournament. Hillside games? I think that is also a good place to look for a sponsor, especially now since we are trying to pull in Magic more.
Arcades are a good idea as well. If we do some that are in the malls in asheville, i thihnk we should also try to get Fun Factory, and the smaller one in sylva taht has laser tag. I dont know how many teenagers/college students that would get us, but it cuold help.
I think advertising at southwestern comm college is a great idea, but as far as high schools, they may have rules against that, but so might community colleges.
Do we have to have game related sponsors? as weird as it might sound, i think local businesses (restuarants, law offices, etc.) would be willing to help as well. Maybe more of a money donation thing, but that is still really helpful. And we could get it so it would be a tax write off for them and any other sponsors.
As far as advertising for our sponsors on our site, i like the idea of a sponsors tab possibly. shows all of our sponsors, what they are donating for us, and any events or ads for them, it would also be a thank you section. It wouldnt have to be a forum section, just a page on the site that could be accessed by everyone, especially our sponsors who want to visit. And like mitch said (i tihnk it was mitch) we report the hits to our sponsors to show it is being viewed so it will be beneficial to them. Maybe have a hit counter that adds one everytime someone reopens the page, even if it is the same person. This page could even be like a blog page that linked onto our site. I know fairly well how to work the schools wiki/blog site if we could get something as simple as that.
Im sure i forgot something that i wanted to hit on, but for now tahts it. Ill post the list of ideal sponsors. Please add more sponsors to the list! i have plenty of envelopes, email space, and minutes on my phone to contact anyone. I really think the local businesses are a really good idea, so when it comes to local sponsors think outside of gaming, technology, and geekdom!