The Copywriter Underground

I’ve done many pro bono projects over they years, and while most were not big jobs (fundraising letters, brochures, etc), they were often fun.

Three years ago, I agreed to help market the Mount Shasta Summit Century. It’s a very challenging bike ride/fundraiser in a mountainous Northern California area.

The ride raises money for youth sports in my rural, economically undeveloped area–a cause I can’t help but support.

I enjoy working for clients who let you do your job without interference, and making the world an even slightly better place to live is not a bad use of your time.

Step One: Who was I selling to?

Customer profiling has existed since man first walked upright–and decided to market the concept.

Brian Clark covers the blogger’s version in his “Who Do You Think You’re Talking To?” post, and Michel Fortin pretty much nails it in “How to Target Your Perfect Customer.”

I’d love to detail the painstaking steps I took to uncover my audience, but in truth, the Summit Century’s 135 mile distance and leg-killing, mountainous terrain did the heavy lifting for me.

Only committed cyclists would dare participate, and anyone paying money to do so clearly welcomed a challenge.

Bingo.

“Challenge” became my creative target, and once I latched onto that happy little fact, my marketing was half done. My research on the rider list revealed few surprises.

Almost 40% of the riders were women, and 76% of the ridership lived more than two hours away (too far to drive here in the morning).

The last figure was hardly surprising, but it made it clear that youth sports weren’t the only to benefit; the local tourist economy enjoyed a substantial boost in visitorship that weekend.

My other research (questionnaire review, online trolling and e-mail surveys sent to a random sampling of riders) revealed no surprises. I was ready to have fun.

Humor Drives the Creative

So how did a “challenge” theme play out creatively?

For once, the creative work was easy. This was about recreation, and I wanted to use humor. It’s a powerful advertising tool, provided you’re actually funny.

I even had good photographs to work with (courtesy of the area’s stunning scenery).

I sat down with a pencil and sketch, and rapidly plowed through a couple dozen concept thumbnails. From those, I selected a fun pair of concepts:

This headline occurred to me years ago–after a forest fire had affected the ride.

We pondered the idea of a “group discount” (rejecting it), but the idea stuck with me.

In addition to the ads, I re-worked the Web site content to emphasize the “challenge” of the ride, using testimonial quotes from riders.

Our small, tri-fold brochure was badly in in need of an overhaul, so we started from scratch, though a greater emphasis on online marketing allowed us to reduce the number of brochures printed.

I also pitched the “challenge” idea to a leading bicycling magazine, who ran a photo essay focusing on the Riders of the Summit Century (the people willing to accept the challenge).

The Results

Three years ago, the ride hovered just over 400 riders. After two years of a minimal level of “challenge” marketing, our 2006 ridership has grown to 630 riders, and we were able to double the funds we gave away.

And we did this without increasing our marketing budget.

In fact, we’ve only barely begun to tap into online marketing, but we’re holding off because we may have to cap the ridership at 700.

Still, better than 50% growth is an excellent return for what amounted a couple ads, new Web site content, a revised brochure and a pitch letter.

And in truth, I had a lot of fun. Between the relentless parade of deadlines and the pressure to be “great” on a moment’s notice, copywriting for money can become a pretty grim business.

Writing good creative for a great cause offers a relief valve, and in this case, the results pretty much speak for themselves.

Our lessons? Know your audience. Do your research. Decide which areas will generate the biggest return for your effort (and budget).

And finally, do some good work for a charity near and dear to your heart. You might even get a portfolio clip out of it.

[tags]shasta summit century, ads, advertising, copywriter, marketing[/tags]