Attendances & Fixture Leaflets

[Martin]

Also forgot to say - thought the attendance was very disappointing. Particularly given that thousands of leaflets were handed out in the High Street and subsequently delivered around the town. These leaflets had all the fistures on together with a voucher for yesterday's game. I am not sure who exactly did the delivering, I know Ted was one, so thanks to them.

 

(Moved from the Slough 1-3 Horsham match thread and title amended)

[Matt]

The attendance was shocking. I find it really sad that we can barely get 300 through the gates any more. If it wasn't for Horsham's travelling support (and it is good to actually see opposition fans now and again), it would have been sub-300 again, and this is despite leaflet drops etc. as others have pointed out. What can we do?

 

This club really does need some good news re: a return to Slough pretty soon.

[brighton_rebel]

Did many people used the free entrance things on the fixture lists? Crowd was really crap, but at least there were lots of kids.

[GarySTFC]

Just a point on the leaflets, they were shocking. If we're going to print up thousands to hand out, let's at least make an effort to make something which looks remotely professional?

[Tom]

And at least shows the official club web address.

[Roger Rebel]

Matt only one thing brings a crowd thats a winning team.

[GarySTFC]

What brings an atmosphere?

[Tom]

This really should be in its own thread.

 

I have to partly agree with Roger but a large majority of our crowd when we played at Wexham Park came from those at Wexham who just had to simply cross the road to come watch us play. Its these casual fans we are missing.

[brighton_rebel]

I sort of agree with Roger, but frankly without a ground in Slough we will be struggling to get many along so have to be inventive.

The kids for a quid for every game is excellent.

Chris S has said he is gonna try and get a leaflet translated into Polish - any other ideas.

Tom's also right lets put this as its own thread, and maybe include it as a debating point in the programme.

[Martin]

The Trust does not produce leaflets - they are criticised.

 

The Trust produces leaflets - they are criticised.

 

I would agree that the leaflets could have been better but it was the Trust that actually got them done so why should the Official Website even be mentioned. The idea was to get people through the turnstiles not to log on to the website. In this particular case it was via a voucher for the Horsham game which was seemingly not used by (m)any.

 

If the club wants to sort out its own promotional material then it will get the chance to approve a proof.

 

A winning team may aid attendances but we have seen from experience that a long winning run in the FA Cup - where all but one of the games were at home had very little effect on attendances. The three bigger games were fairly well attended but beyond that it stopped dead.

[GarySTFC]

I appreciate your comments Martin but the Trust is open for criticism for not including the Official Site as it's plainly clear they've used the exact layout of the fixture list from the site. I think the website is an excellent way of promoting the club from its design and the content (Video highlights, profiles, previews, press round up, club information, fixture change) and in this day and age, who doesn't promote their site?

 

Is the Trust trying to keep itself as distanced from the club as possible?

 

Did the trust board approve the layout before it went to print?

 

If they didn't want to promote the clubs website, why not the Trust website? http://www.stst.co.uk - what a waste of time, effort and money that's proving to be.

 

The leaflet which has been produced, given we have two very talented (and very busy) graphical based people to hand (Chris & Glen) is a bit of a joke and makes the club look very amateurish, which I am sure was not the purpose of the leaflet.

[Martin]

The Website is excellent. It works brilliantly for the average supporter and for passing traffic. You and Chris B as well as the rest of the lads who help out deserve heaps of praise. And you know I think we should have produced a better leaflet. Just out of interest how much help does the club provide for the website. My feeling was that it was limited but what do I know.

 

The trust is open to criticism whatever it does which is fair enough. The Trust has been criticised for linking itself too closely to the club and now on this occasion for not been close enough (perhaps fairly).

 

I don't want to be overly critical of the leaflet as I think it was produced in a way to limit costs. I know Chris S intended to speak with Glen about the layout but I am not sure whether he did or didn't in the end.

 

The layout itself was not approved at a Board Meeting although obviously the principle was.

[Crazy Fool]

Must just add. Thought it was ok for a rush job. Printed by me, at a very cheap price! It wasn't the best looking thing ever, (I printed what I was given, didn't design it)but at least it was something. Agree though with all your points. Could have looked better(did not have much time to print, so only tinkered with it a bit), should have had website on there, maybe even Nathan's site and the Swedish rebel site as well.

Said to Chris before, and I will say it on here. Can print a fair bit for nothing,or very very cheap!(and on differnt types of paper!)

Although I still say it was better than nothing.

 

So, I would be happy to print something else, but can only print what I have been given. Would be happy to help, trust, website, club out............I'm waffling....................

[Staines-upon-Thames Rebel]

Barry Scott (Liam) is your man - look how he hyped up single handedly "Snakes on a plane"!?

 

Is the internet not a cheaper and potentially more powerful tool - the only problem is that it is global and not local to Slough so being able to focus on local potential fans may be a problem.

 

Currently we rely on people visiting these sites - why not use "mechanicaly reprocessed meat" to hit peoples email?!?! or something more legal?

[Tom]

To add I think the way that local radio acts towards us is nothing short of disgraceful. Look at how many teams we travel to who have bbc radio vans at their ground in order to report games or provide updates. They should be active in providing the minimum of a scoreline service.

[Ted]

The leaflets were OK to inform anyone who was already interested in attending, but something more would be needed to convince anyone else.

 

Leafleting in the High Street was, as usual, well received--I spoke to several ex supporters, some who were unaware that we were no longer at Wexham Park!! I am far from sure how we can get our message across to them. Quite clearly a lot of people do not read the local papers.

 

Leafleting streets in Langley, myself and Nathan had 2 seperate people come looking for us to request more details. Not a huge thing in itself, but they had read the leaflet and had come out to walk up their street to get more info (We weren't looking to talk to people, just deliver the leaflets). Made me realise that putting a website address on any future leaflet is a must.

 

It seems to me that there is goodwill and interest out there, so apart from winning a few more home matches (Whatever happened to fortress Stag Meadow?), what can we do? One idea I think is essential is to collect, with agreement, a data base of ex supporters (and other possibles)e mail addresses (Is that what SR1 was suggesting?), so that 2 or 3 times a year an electronic flyer can be sent out.

 

Leafleting has some pluses to it, but a more modern electronic approach is also needed, targeted at known leads.

[Matt]

I don't want to harp on too much about the inclusion of the website address on the leaflets (safe to say I was surprised and a bit disappointed it wasn't included), but there are a few reasons why it's vital.

 

Things like results and fixtures are always there on the site, whereas leaflets get thrown out. If someone knows the website address, they can drop in from time to time. Also, fixture changes will only really be advertised in two places - the local rags, and the official site. And as mentioned above, few bother to read the papers and they are thrown out. In this case I really can't imagine why the website would be deliberately left off, it's just unfortunate IMHO.

 

The leafet certainly wasn't terrible for a quick job, and is always better than nothing, so you can't fault the idea. Plus, I wasn't around to help distribute them door-to-door so I think praise is due for those who did. Like others though, I would like to see future leaflets better designed, and if Plinth can help with the printing, then that's something we should be taking advantage of.

 

Bottom line though, as Roger has rightly pointed out, is that we badly need some success on the pitch. Few newbies will want to come and watch a team of relegation candidates, losing every other week. I'm really dreading the day when our regular crowds are heading towards the 200 mark.

[Tom]

As an idea, would it not be a good idea to do another fixture hand out in a couple of months time or Christmas so that the public is getting a regular dose of these fixture lists?

 

This also gives time for a new leaflet to be designed that is no so "last minute" or a "rush job" that also includes the web address?

 

I also like the idea of the email address gathering so that updates could be sent out or maybe a potential newsletter?

[Ted]

Tom, which area are you able to cover?

[GarySTFC]

The season ticket forms have an email address field which can be used moving forwards to send out reminders to those who've not renewed and hopefully find out why.

 

Can anyone let me know why this current fixture list was a rush job? I can't believe this wasn't planned in advance following the successes of handing them out last year.

 

In addition, I agree with Tom's point, why are we settling for just one leaflet drop? It doesn't cost that much to print shedloads of a leaflet and once the high street drop is done, then get people to take some and drop them off round where they live. Would it be worth targetting Windsor High St. also?