July 13 – Make your tree stand out from the forest
Is your event like the proverbial tree in the forest?
Everybody knows the phrase. If a tree falls in a forest but nobody is around to hear it, did it really fall?
If it did and nobody knows about it, perhaps the tree needed publicity and marketing.
As COVID-19 restrictions around most of Australia begin to ease, community events and sporting competitions are resuming.
But do enough people know about your event or sport?
Having spent more than 15 years in the media game, I’ve often heard the question: “Why didn’t the newspaper or television people come and do a report on this?”
A lot of the time I was asked this question my response was simple. “Did the newspaper or television people know it was on?”
I’ve found that people often assume that the local media just know about an event.
That simply isn’t true. And in the current media environment where staff numbers are being slashed, it’s even more difficult for journalists and editors to get their head around everything that is happening in the community.
Without letting people know beforehand that an occasion is about to happen, your event is in danger of becoming the tree in the forest.
If you want local media outlets to promote or cover your event but you don’t tell them about it, you’re in danger of turning the event into the proverbial tree in the forest.
Perhaps the phrase should be updated for the 21st century. Perhaps the question should be if your event offered no notice to the local media, then is it a tree that just won’t be seen in the forest?
A lot of organisations are battling for attention right now. Don’t assume the local media will just know about it – word of mouth only travels so far. Get the publicity wheels rolling and make sure you find a way to let local media outlets know.
The first step could very well be contacting me at Green Shoots Marketing and seeing if I can produce a professional media release for you that won’t be ignored.
March 27 – Women’s sport – Close your eyes and listen
The timing when the ball is struck is just as good.
I’ve been fortunate enough to witness at close hand in recent times the Australian Women’s cricket team as well as some of the world’s leading female golf players when the Ladies European Tour has conducted co-sanctioned tournaments in New South Wales.
Instead of watching these athletes play, if you chose to simply listen to the contest at hand, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between men or women playing.
When the elite female players hit the ball, be it cricket or golf, the sound off the bat or the club is just as sweet as the noise the men make. The timing is just as good.
Sure Alyssa Healy can’t hit a maximum as far as Dave Warner while Hannah Green can’t smoke a drive as long as Jason Day. But that’s because of physiology, not a lack of talent.
At the Olympics, the 100 metres final is generally run a second faster by the men while the women are about five seconds behind the male swimmers over the same distance in the pool.
That doesn’t make the contest any less exciting.
One thing I’ve garnered from being able to watch elite female athletes up close is an appreciation for just how good they are.
As a former wicketkeeper, I was blown away by how clean and sharp the glove work of England’s Sarah Taylor was. So impressed was I that I was actually willing to argue after seeing her in action a few times that Taylor was the best ‘keeper in world cricket – men or women.
So my advice to you when live sport returns is simply close your eyes for just a short while when a female event is on. Just listen to how good the players are. You’ll quickly find out the talent and skill of the women is just as good as what the men produce.
The argument about how much prize money each gender earns I’ll leave to a later date but stay tuned.
Very good read and appreciated. I often watch a Coaching Drill or Skills Session with the sound off. Gives a different perspective.