This was my original post yesterday:
There have been a lot of discussions about chess marketing and promotion. Some just cannot do it and some have no problem with it. Why can’t the USCF or some other organizations do it? The thing is if you get 5 people in the room to debate, you get 10 opinions. So let’s separate some facts from fictions.
I will share with you my insights and secrets of chess marketing and promotion. I will also bring you the feedbacks from some of the people with a history of success. This will be a new monthly feature and will appear on the first Sunday of every month.
If you have some questions about chess marketing and promotion, post them. I will do my best to answer them. I hope that this will help you and the entire chess community!
Here is the first tip about chess marketing and promotion:
#1 What is your message?
Do you what message you want to give the fans, media, sponsors, supporters, schools, etc? Don’t expect people to understand what you want to say. You know chess. They don’t. You love chess. They don’t. You care about chess. They don’t.
Therefore, you have to be able to figure out what message you want to promote. Chess is great is not good enough. It is too broad. You need to be more specific.
And don’t give them inappropriate messages. For example, if it is an all boy’s school, don’t talk about how much chess can help girls. If it is an all scholastic club, don’t talk about how chess help prevent alzheimer. Understand your sponsor, supporter, media or fan base.
Give the right message! Focus on your message and do not overburden them with too much information! Keep it short, simple, exciting and motivational!
If I can get some of the best people in chess marketing and promotion for a conference to share with you their experiences, is this something you would be interested in?
>> If I can get some of the best people in chess marketing and promotion for a conference to share with you their experiences, would you be interested to attend? >>
Wow what an incredible offer. Everyone at USCF should attend. All the candidates for EB should attend. All tournament directors should attend. It should fill up to overflowing.
But alas. I expect no one cares. So no one will show up. Everyone is too busy into OPB other people’s business. Too busy finding fault and playing the victim role.
But wait. I see a few brave souls ready to change chess in America. A few brave souls ready for a new revolution in chess. Here they come marching in step. Smiles on their faces. Ready to work hard for the future good of chess.
How about a video stream feed as well for people who can’t attend?
No!
I think you or Paul should go to Iceland and see if you could get Bobby Fischer to start playing again. That will bring the most interest to Chess in the United States almost immediately with very little money spent on marketing budgets.
I don’t think Fischer needs to go after the World Championship right away. Even if he played simultaneous exhibitions for a year before playing a challenge match. That would do a lot for marketing!
why is marketing chess so important. why does everyone want to turn it into a main stream sport. do you think russians have to promote chess? its part of there culture. we have mcdonalds and nascar. americans will never accept chess as a sport. sorry.
Perhaps the message (and possible the channel) would be different for each of the target audiences (fans, media, sponsors, supporters, schools, etc.)
This reminded me of the Internet in the early days — the channel is also a message! Play chess over the Internet is an example.
–FirstEye
My 2 cents on chess marketing and promotion:
A – For heaven’s sake, quit calling it a sport!
B – Embrace the patzer. Even if you turn up your nose at Blitz, realize it’s the only thing that will get you TV coverage.
C – Be very very careful with your language. Even “grandmaster” is enough to shut out your potential audience.
A funny story about C -. A friend of mine asked me what I was reading. I said it was a book about the first African-American Grandmaster. After a very long, awkward silence, I made the connection in my head, and I said, “You thought I said Grand Wizard, didn’t you?”. Yep.