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Autoreply
I sent an email to Ritch Miller, one of the tournament directors for the adidas Thunder United Classic held this past weekend in Lebonan, Ohio. I immediately got this message back:
I am at a soccer tourney all weekend. I will get back to you on Tues. The better question is why aren’t you at a tourney?
Talk about knowing your audience, setting expectations and always marketing! We loved it so much, we had to blog about it.
What do YOUR guest teams get back from you when they email you during the tournament?
Getting to know QR Codes
You’ve probably seen those squiggly black square bar codes on magazine ads, coupons and restaurant tent cards and you may have found yourself wondering what they are. Or you already know what they are and you — like our staff here at TourneyCentral — giggle a little bit when we see one and have to shoot it with your iPhone just to see what is there.
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QR Codes come to soccer tournaments
TourneyCentral implemented an integration of QR Codes for youth soccer tournaments that lead directly to the web application version of the scores, sponsor DEALS and tournament news. The web app is cross-platform and can be used on any smart phone that has a web browser such as Android, iPhone, HTC and other full-screen smart phone. TourneyCentral is the first and only soccer tournament software provider to integrate QR codes for youth soccer tournaments.
“QR codes are basically speed-dial for smart phones,” says Gerard McLean, President of TourneyCentral. “Soccer fans just need to point and click on the code with a web-enabled smart phone to load the mobile site. Once loaded, they can look up scores, DEALS and the latest tournament news.”
The first soccer tournament to be outfitted with a QR code is the CUSA Cup in Centerville, Ohio over Labor Day weekend, September 3-5, 2011. The website is at http://www.cusacup.com The QR code is displayed on the sidebar of every page on the website. The CUSA Cup tournament is also printing the QR code on the cover of their program as well as displaying at on the scoring boards at each of their four sites.
“We’re excited about leading the technology for soccer tournaments,” says Dan Monahan, tournament director for the CUSA Cup, “… especially the tools that allow our families to be more mobile and access the tournament information quickly where they are. Being mobile helps us deliver a larger audience of ready customers to the advertisers and sponsors who support our soccer tournament.”
In addition to the QR codes to support the mobile strategy, the CUSA Cup has also established a twitter account and Facebook page. Both can be found on their website immediately above the QR code on the left sidebar. TourneyCentral has supported social media for the past year and actively advises soccer tournament directors on how to integrate the platforms for their soccer tournament.
All soccer tournaments in the TourneyCentral family will be outfited with their own QR code within the next month.
Screen shots from the TourneyCentral mobile web app
ABOUT TOURNEYCENTRAL
TourneyCentral is the only fully integrated, event-focused online solution for youth soccer tournaments. Since 1999, TourneyCentral has been producing web sites that provide youth soccer tournaments with end-to-end integrated experience management for guest teams, from marketing through scoring. In addition, advertising tools provide tournaments with an increased opportunity for advertising and sponsorship revenue as a result of significantly increased traffic to the web site. For more information, visit www.tourneycentral.com.
TourneyCentral is owned by Rivershark Inc., based in Ohio. Companion and marketing partner properties consist of The Touchline, a blog and iTunes podcast for tournament directors, MyTournamentSpace, a photo-sharing site linked directly into the tournament game schedule and www.ticoscore.com, a single-source database and ranking system for soccer tournaments.
TourneyCentral will be attending the NSCAA Conference in Kansas City, MO in January 2011.
Contact for more information
Gerard McLean
gmclean [at] rivershark.com
937-836-6255
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The National Association of Tournament Directors officially launches
Something pretty exciting happened on Monday this week. The National Association of Tournament Directors (NATD) launched. We’re pretty excited about this venture as it is beginning to validate what we here at TourneyCentral have been saying since we set up shop.
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Marketing your first-year soccer tournament
Whenever we sign a soccer tournament that is just launching, we get asked a lot about how to get a lot of traffic to the web site that converts into team applications. While each soccer tournament event is slightly different, here is some of the collective advice we usually give out.
Offline marketing
First year tournaments are really difficult. There is usually a lot of offline hustle with the club coaches, within the league and at the state association level. Your club name will probably be the best thing to help you. Can you send out an email from the club list list? Also, make sure everyone in your club knows the website for your tournament. Every coach, every volunteer, every parent. Nothing says “dead lead” like someone from the club who does not know the web address.
Complete website
Make sure your TourneyCentral website is as complete as possible. That means your about page, rules, hotel policies, front page news, frequently asked questions are all full. It is a lot of work, but considering you only have about three seconds before a team will decide to click off your page or explore more, it is worth the investment.
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