Best practices for marketing in endurance sports. This includes the 4 components of good marketing, social media guidance, and traditional media requirements. It includes a marketing makeover for the Eau Claire Marathon.

1. DO YOU NEED ONE?
THE DO’S AND DON’TS OF ENDURANCE MARKETING
MARKETING MAKEOVER

2. DO YOU KNOW WHAT MAJOR BRAND USES
THE BELOW FONT AND COLOR SCHEME?
MARKETING MAKEOVER

4. Do you know what major brand is
de
f
ined by this color?

5. What if I add handles.
Do you know it now?

8. Jeff Matlow
Sara Persky
The willing subject

9. I. What is good (and bad) marketing?
II. Critical Elements of Design
III. Main marketing mediums
IV. Main social channels
V. Marketing Makeover reveal
WHATWE’LLTALKABOUT

10. How do you describe
good marketing bad marketing
from

11. 1.GOODMARKETING…
UNDERSTANDS WHAT THE AUDIENCE WANTS,
AND GIVES IT TO THEM
Bad Marketing doesn’t pay attention to what makes the customer happy

12. ELICITS STRONG EMOTIONS
Bad Marketing disregards the feelings of being human
2.GOODMARKETING…

13. UNDERSTANDS THE UNIQUE PURPOSE AND
POWER OF EACH CHANNEL, AND LEVERAGES IT
Bad Marketing uses every channel like it’s an email tool
3.GOODMARKETING…

14. HAS DEFINED GOALS, AND CREATES A PLAN TO
ACHIEVE THOSE GOALS
Bad Marketing wings it and hopes for the best - which it won’t get.
4.GOODMARKETING…

15. 4ELEMENTSOFGOODMARKETING
UNDERSTANDING THE AUDIENCE
ELICITING EMOTIONS
LEVERAGING THE POWER OF EACH CHANNEL
HAVING A PLAN
oh, and Bad Marketing uses Comic Sans font

16. THECRITICAL
IMPORTANCE
OF
D E S I G N

17. YOURBRANDSTYLEGUIDE
De
f
ine your TARGET PERSONAS
One consistent LOGO
One consistent COLOR SCHEME
One consistent TYPOGRAPHY
Great PHOTOGRAPHY + VIDEO is everything
frontify.com coolors.co color palette creator
style guide creator

18. 2CRITICALCOMPONENTS
IMAGERY
TERMINOLOGY
What is your descriptor?
“Every mile is magic”
- RunDisney
“Will run for chocolate”
- Hot Chocolate 15k/5k
What imagery will you use that
engages the target persona?
Photography critical
Consistency in design is critical
“Running on the Ragged Edge
of the Western World”
- Big Sur International Marathon

19. THEONETHING
TOCHANGEABOUTTHE
MAINMARKETINGMEDIUMS

20. GOODYBAG
PURPOSE
Reward, branding/advertising, memory, pride
THE ONE THING TO CHANGE
Utilize elements for their primary purpose

22. EMAIL
PURPOSE
1. Recruit new
2. Inform current
THE ONE THING TO CHANGE
Every email only has one purpose. Don’t make it
more than one.

23. WEBSITE
PURPOSE
Visually promote your value proposition with easy
navigation
THE ONE THING TO CHANGE
Put the darn REGISTER NOW! button on the top of
every single page

24. SEO
PURPOSE
Drive tra
ff
ic
THE ONE THING TO CHANGE
Follow SEO best practices.
bit.ly/SEOforEvents

25. THEMAINTHING
ABOUT
THE MAIN
S O C I A L C H A N N E L S

26. YES
SHOULDIFOCUSON
FACEBOOKORINSTAGRAM?

27. SHOULDIFOCUSON
TWITTER?
NAH

28. SHOULDIFOCUSON
SNAPCHAT?
KINDA

29. SHOULDIFOCUSON
TIKTOK?
KINDA

30. EMAIL,FACEBOOK,INSTA
INSTA,TIKTOK,SNAP
EMAIL
SNAP,TIKTOK
historic
target
desired
emerging

32. vs
Demographic
>40 yo
(current runner persona)
<30 yo
(next gen of runners)
HHI Equal across the board $100k+
Communication
Method
Text/Video Image
Purpose Information delivery Brand engagement
Engagement Level Deep but rare (mostly from video)
Shallow but highest engagement
of all social
Best type of content
Entertaining, can be shared/
discussed
Positive, surprising
Good for.. Pre-event updates Live, event-day updates

33. GOOD MARKETING
PAIDSOCIAL
PURPOSE
Recruit new participants and increase brand awareness
Know your persona and target look-a-likes
Simplicity wins: Race name, date, location, goody bag/medal, image

34. ORGANICSOCIAL
PURPOSE
Engage current followers, share event information
Post 2-3x/week during highest volume months (2-3 months pre-event)
Use both feed and stories
Too much = tune out
Not enough = fall o
f
GOOD MARKETING

35. THEIMPORTANCEOF#
Select one hashtag for a race
Promote the heck out of it
Every single post (FB and Insta),
every email, every piece of content

36. MARKETINGMAKEOVER:
EAUCLAIREMARATHON

37. WHY
Race that everybody can connect with
• No major market bene
f
its
• 5,000 people in 2019 (room for growth)
• Limited budgets
• Current processes are similar to what
most are doing
?

38. WHO AND WHY
• Who is the target persona?
• What do they like about the event?
“None de
f
ined”
“Not sure”

39. SOWELOOKEDATTHEDATA

40. ANDCREATEDAPRIMARYPERSONA
• She is 34 years old
• She lives within 2 hours of Eau Claire
• She heard about the event through family or friends
• She runs half marathons and shorter distance events
• She is not highly competitive and enjoys
participating with people she knows
• She listens to music when she runs and likes popular
artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Ed Sheeran and Lady Gaga
• She participates in Twin Cities and Grandma’s events

41. ANDWEDIDASHORTSURVEY

42. HEREWERETHERESULTS
1 . COURSE SCENERY (67%)
2. ENTERTAINMENT ALONG THE COURSE (35%)
3. COMMUNITY SUPPORT (31%)
4. SWAG (30%)

43. THENWELOOKEDATTERMINOLOGY
CURRENT TAG LINE
Wisconsin’s Premier Race Weekend
CURRENT DESCRIPTION
Known as the Biggest Small Town Race in the USA, the Eau Claire
Marathon impresses runners year after year.
OTHER CURRENT DESCRIPTION
The Eau Claire Marathon is well organized, supports the community, is
family-friendly and has a beautiful course which makes this one of the
best races in the Midwest!

44. ANDWEMADEITMOREIMPACTFUL
NEW DESCRIPTION
A fun, beautiful run experience that supports the
Eau Claire community
NEW TAG LINE
The biggest small town race in the US

45. NEXTWELOOKEDATSTYLE

46. WEREALLYDON’TLIKE
THISCOLOR
IT’S THE ONLY COLOR USED ON THE SITE

47. ANEWCOLORPALETTE
PRIMARY
#003b4a
RGB (0,59,74)
SECONDARY
#4681c3
RGB (70,129,195)
ACCENT
#ae8df3
RGB (174,141,243)
WHITE
#
ff
ff
ff
RGB (255,255,255)
BLACK
#
ff
ff
ff
RGB (0,0,0)

48. THENTOTYPOGRAPHY
HERE’S WHATITCURRENTLYIS

49. THENTOTYPOGRAPHY
HERE’S WHATITCURRENTLYIS

50. HERE’SWHATWETURNEDITINTO
Franklin Gothic
used for headers and sub-headers
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890~!@#$%^&*()-+=<>?
Franklin Gothic Medium
used for body text
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890~!@#$%^&*()-+=<>?
Franklin Gothic Condensed
used for highlighting text
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
1234567890~!@#$%^&*()-+=<>?

51. HERE’SHOWITLOOKS
The Biggest Small Town Race in the US!
A family-friendly, beautiful course that supports the Eau Claire
community
Eau Claire Marathon race weekend takes place April 30 - May 1, 2022 in
beautiful Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The weekend includes a marathon, half
marathon, four-person relay, 5k, 10k and the Cheri Uelman’s Fantastically Fun
Kid’s Run.
The Eau Claire Marathon is one of the most popular Boston Qualifiers in the
Midwest!
Click here to learn more about the events or one of our great G-Eau Big
challenges
H1
F. Goth
40 pt
H2
F. Goth
25 pt
p.reg
F. Goth Med
21 pt
p.highlight
F. Goth Cond
21 pt
p.reg
F. Goth Med
21 pt

52. OLD

53. WHICHBRINGSUSTOSEO

54. EAU CLAIRE MARATHON
KNOWTHEPOPULARTERMINOLOGY
EAU CLAIRE MARATHON
WEEKEND
EC MARATHON
EC RACE SERIES
EC MARATHON RACE SERIES

55. spending money on keywords they already own
inconsistent name

56. LOGOSEARCH

57. LOGOSEARCH-9LOGOS?!
1 2 3 4 5 6?
7 8?
9

58. WHATTHELOGOSEARCHSHOULDLOOKLIKE

59. BECONSISTENTWITHLOGO

60. WELIKETHEPRIMARYLOGO
SO CHANGED IT TO THE APPROPRIATE COLOR PALETTE

61. WETHENEXAMINEDIMAGERY
TOP OF HOME PAGE

62. WETHENEXAMINEDIMAGERY
RIGHT BELOW FOLD
Imageshavenothing
todowiththeevent

63. WETHENEXAMINEDIMAGERY
WAY BOTTOM OF PAGE
Nicephotos-buttheyareonthebottomandallcoveredbyabigbox

64. WETHENEXAMINEDIMAGERY
RIGHT ABOVE FOOTER
GoodInstapics-nothinghavingtodowithcourseortargetpersonaand
allllllllthewayatthebottomofalongpage

65. SOWEMADEDIFFERENTONES

66. ONTOTHEWEBSITE
REMEMBER WHAT IS MOST IMPORTANT
• Compelling imagery that elicits emotion
• Intuitive navigation
• Clear call-to-action (“Register now”)

67. WEBSITE
no logo + no consistency with event name

68. WEBSITE
navigation hidden in this little hamburger

69. WEBSITE
Holy smokes that’s a lot of random items!
register button is hidden
on the bottom

70. WEBSITE
bet you didn’t even notice this
super small registration link!

71. WEBSITE
this background is a low-
quality video that doesn’t
always load

72. WEBSITE
and we already talked about
this formatting and messaging

73. SOWEDIDAREHAUL
ANDCREATEDTHIS…

74. WEBSITE

75. WEBSITE
consistentlogo

76. WEBSITE
clearnavigation

77. WEBSITE
clearcalltoaction

78. WEBSITE
compellingimagery

79. WEBSITE
simpledescriptor

80. THEN
WE
LOOKED
ATTHE
INSTA
PAGE

81. AND
WE
MADE
IT
BETTER

82. NEXTWELOOKEDATEMAILS
REMINDER OF THE IMPORTANT THINGS
1. Have ONE purpose
2. Stay consistent: 1 font, 1 color scheme
3. Keep text to a minimum
4. Registration buttons above hero and throughout email
5. Urgency is key
6. Di
ff
erent emails for current vs new registrants

83. WHATITCURRENTLY
LOOKSLIKE

84. THE IMPORTANT PARTS
• Intuitive navigation
• Clear call-to-action (“Register now”)
• Compelling imagery that addresses persona and main likes
WHATWECHANGED
ITTO

85. EMAILCADENCECONCEPT
2022
May 1 - Event Date
May 2 - Open 2023 registration (1 day after event)
May 2 - Email to 2022 participants: “Thank you! Here’s a special link to register for next year”
Sep 6 - Registration o
ff
icial opening (8 months < event date), email to database
Sep 8 - Resend “registration open” email to those that didn’t open Sep 6 email
Oct 18 - Charity information email #1
Nov 8 - Six month out noti
f
ication, include poll for what color shirt for 2023
Dec 1-31 - Twelve days of Christmas
(MAY 7, 2023 EVENT DATE)
2023
Jan 4 - New Year promotional campaign (register and get _____)
Jan 24 - Goodie bag and medal reveal
Feb 16 - Charity information email #2
Apr 11 - One month out email
Apr 25 - Two weeks out email
Apr 30 - Last call to register (1 week out)
May 4 - Last call reminder

86. BUDGETSUGGESTIONS
1. 5% of revenue for marketing budget
• ECM = $280k/yr revenue $14k marketing budget
2. 10-20% of budget for photo + video
• ECM = $14k marketing budget $3k imagery
• $1500 photo + $1500 video
3. Rest of budget to paid social
• ECM = $14k budget - $3k imagery = $11k paid social
4. 60% of social budget = current audience, 40% new
• ECM = 30% of budget ($3.3k) in 1st three months of o
ff
icial reg opening
• 20% of budget until 90 days out ($2.2k) Dec - Feb
• 50% of budget last 90 days ($5.5k) March - May

87. QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?
Sara Persky
spersky@venturesendurance.com
Je
ff
Matlow
je
ff
@bytitleonly.com
btw, these are “famous” examples
of horrendous marketing (with our
faces on them)