Spreading the Good Word - Promoting Your League and the Sport

As one of my duties within NRG I have the great pleasure of being involved in the marketing and PR committee and if I say so myself we've been pretty successful in getting the word out about Roller Derby in the North-East and of course getting the all important bums on seats for our first couple of bouts.  So, what are the best ways to promote your league?  Here are some ideas:

• Get in touch with the local press and media.  The local news stations are always after extra stories and something which is still considered out of the ordinary like Roller Derby will be the kind of thing they'll be after.  Especially if the positive aspects of the sport are pitched alongside the highly exciting, bashy nature of it.
•  Speak to local colleges or Universities.  Media students are always looking for interesting new subjects to use in documentaries or exhibitions.  Make sure you make a deal with them to have access to anything they produce so you can use it for your own promotions.
• Make friends with local radio.  We are lucky to have a volunteer radio station in Newcastle(the AlterNation show on NE1FM) and we're now regular guests on there. They have had us on the show a few times and came to a bout to record a piece which was then played the following week.
• Put together a press pack.  It may sound a bit fancy and advanced but with all the people you will be contacting you will get sick of saying the same things over and over again.  Produce a press pack which contains some info about the league and the sport and then attach some photos which show you at your best. Make this available to your team to distribute as they are making contact with the local media.
• Hit the Streets! Get as many of your team together in full boutfits and hit the pavements of your nearest town or city. The appearance of a gaggle of roller girls will get the interest of your average saturday shopper.  Some things to consider are the safety aspect, so ensure that it will be ok to skate where you are going and for jeebus' sake, wear your pads!. The other thing to check out is whether you need a license to hand out flyers on the streets.  Newcastle for instance requires a license to flyer and so when we go out it's purely for a shaking hands and chatting to people trip.
• Attend local fetes, festivals and gatherings. If there is an event in your town or city then speak to the organisers about whether you can attend and promote your league, and then gather the troops and spread the word. In the past NRG have taken part in Zombie walks and had several stints of roller waitressing.  We have even been involved with a World record breaking attempt(Human Mattress Dominos would you beleive)!
• Posters, Posters, Posters.  Good old postering, the staple of any media campaign. If you are lucky like us then you will have some phenomenally talented people in your league that can whip up posters in the blink of an eye, and you should utilise this as much as possible. Make sure your posters are clear and contain all the info they need to and catch the eye.  Don't fly poster!  It's illegal, looks bad and will do nothing for the reputation of your league.  The best option is to visit local businesses and ask if they will display a poster in their window or within their establishment. 
• Use the Social Media. You can't escape twitter, blogging, facebook and all the other types of social media out there, so you might as well use it your advantage. Get a facebook page for your league, get a twitter account.  These are a must. Make sure you have a team of people to administrate these as they take quite a bit of time up responding to messages and requests. Get in touch with sites such as Rollin News and they will add you to the lists of leagues and will post updates of your upcoming events. The most important rule of using any digital media is DON'T SPAM PEOPLE!  I can't stress this one enough.  If you bombard people with 100s of tweets a day or 50 facebook posts then they will be inclined to block you and then they'll never see your message.
• Gather Emails and addresses for a mailing list.  When you have events you can then send invitations or flyers to those people that have opted in.

Hopefully all of the above should give you some good ideas to help grow your league and the sport in general.
Something which I should probably add here, is a bit about choosing who represents your league. It shouldn't just be 1 or 2 people, but you need to be sure that whoever is promoting your league(and the sport) can be trusted to give good representation and stay "on-brand" (I hate myself for using that term...). If you have a team member that is a bit sweary, then it may not be great to let them do a live radio or tv interview...