Planning a marketing campaign requires covering all bases and anticipating potential problems, but especially important is knowing your audience. The newly formed Senior Friends Group (SF) branch in San Diego, Calif., a senior citizens discount group, supported by and associated with its parent company, Columbia Mission Bay Hospital, wanted some new recruits for its local chapter. Enter, the "Batter Up to Receive Free San Diego Padres tickets" marketing strategy.
Although they did recruit some new members and raise awareness of the group in the area, SF didn't reach their recruitment goals. But, what they learned would help them plan and secure the future of their group and the happiness of its members.
The group's membership, which resembles the American Association of Retired Persons, includes local and national discounts on continuing education, travel, exercise, hotels and personal items. Nationally, there are 300,000 members; the San Diego chapter, created last February, has about 1,080 members, with an average member age of 65.
Columbia Hospital has 350 branches, with 250 Senior Friends chapters, nationwide. The hospital works with the SF members by offering free health screenings, such as skin cancer and blood pressure checks, and gives discounts on medicine, mammographies, lab work and physical therapy sessions. SF's purpose is to provide its members with benefits, but naturally, it hopes that members will utilize Columbia's hospital services.
Many doctors employed by Columbia offer one hour a week to give informal lectures to SF members on subjects pertaining to the elderly. Some people even join SF for the freebies, discounts or the extensive mail-order program Columbia has for everything from discounted medicine to books to holiday gifts, all available for delivery.
Getting the Word Out
SF was approached by KFMB AM radio, San Diego, in May, in an effort to get Columbia Hospital's business. Since the majority of the radio's listeners are over 50, the station was the perfect way for SF to market its services. KFMB had commercial airtime, the Padres tickets and the team's sports newscaster, senior citizen and ex-baseball star Jerry Coleman to offer, while SF would provide the $20,000 budget and hopefully attract new members, in return.
The Batter Up promotion invited the first 500 people to join Senior Friends before July 19 to attend a July 21 Padres baseball game. Also included in the deal was a pre-baseball game "tailgate party" where members ate dinner and had the opportunity to meet Coleman.
SF sent out eight press releases to local newspapers in late June. SF also reserved air time on KFMB, which ran a 30-second and a 60-second spot, written by SF and spoken by Coleman, that ran for four weeks.
SF's quarterly newsletter came out on July 1, in which directions for the stadium and the tailgate party were published.
They sent a follow-up letter soon afterward to make sure members and their potential-member friends were aware of the promotion.
What They Learned
Senior Friends member Jean Terlow, of San Diego, said that "we had quite a large turnout for the game, especially for those people who aren't that enthusiastic about the team. People have been more interested in the Padres since the game, and many of the seniors were excited about meeting Jerry Coleman."
The office received 200 phone calls inquiring about the promotion, right after the radio spots started to air. Of those leads, 120 people signed up. This number, compared to the target 500, was not exactly what SF had expected. Although only about two people join SF a day, the 120 new members they recruited was commendable.
R.J. Becker, Senior Friends director, feels that they overestimated their projections, since membership isn't something that can be done in a day.
She said, "we got lots of PR out there, and the radio ads were a great asset to the campaign. It gave us exposure, name recognition and the opportunity to reach a great deal of people who were unfamiliar with the hospital and the SF program." But, she said, many of the members had a few gripes about how the baseball event was designed.
The tailgate party was held behind the Padres' Jack Murphy Stadium, and the members said that it was too far from their seats in the stadium, and it was difficult to find. There were no signs pointing to the designated area; directions were only posted in the newsletter.
The party was held outside, on a hot, sunny day, which posed a problem for the majority of the members who prefer shade. Becker said, "next time, we'll do it differently. But at least now we know what they need and expect, which is a lot. But that's pretty understandable, considering their age."
Since this was SF's first major marketing effort, they weren't sure exactly how to handle the event. But some good input from the members and useful insight was gained, which makes up for the rocky event execution.
Friends Group and KFMB radio promoted the Batter Up marketing campaign by:
Inviting the first 500 people to sign up for membership to a San Diego Padres baseball game;
Organizing a "tailgate" pre-game party with food, drinks and the opportunity to meet and talk to radio sports newscaster Jerry Coleman;
Sending out press releases to local newspapers and advertising on KFMB radio, with Coleman doing the commercials.
(Senior Friends Group, 619/274-4141; Columbia Mission Bay Hospital, 619/274-7721)