Advertising Ecrc/save Ecrc

[D.J.]

HEY GUYS......WE GOT TO DO SOMETHING........this is starting to get ridiculous....ECRC IS DEAD and has been for a long time now.....

us dedicated members need to come up with a way to get our name out there and get some new members.......

we all go into PETCO,PETSMART,TROPIC,THOMPSONS and some of us work at public places....gota be something we can do to get some advertisement out there....

maybe we need to get together and have a SAVE ECRC MEETING.....just a get together of us ACTIVE members and come up with something since we dont have the resources that LARK does to get our name out....

so guys/gals what do yall think?? wana try it or just let it go untill there isnt anything left....ive heard so much about this club being very active and alot of members in the past and i think its time we revamp it.....

[schneijt]

Just because our TRT forum isn't very busy and we've lost a few dedicated members the last few years doesn't mean we're dead... We're definitely not as active as we used to be, but we're still here and we have new people pop up all the time. I can think of a few people in the last month or two even who have popped up from our area. But with LARK being just 90min away and being so busy/active, it's just easier to spend more time on their forum and drive a few hours every couple months...

Let's just have a meeting in the EC area for once... It won't have a million members like LARK, but it's a starting point. DJ, pick the date that works best for you, or a couple dates that work best, and we'll make it happen. We can't expect ECRC to grow if we, as active members, don't take action and do something even if it means a rather small turnout.

And there's no secret that LARK exploded as a club once Matt at OTP got involved. I keep hearing that Jim won't let us advertise at Tropic, and fine. It'd be nice, but we all know Jim is an a** most of the time. It's not like he's got an amazing store or anything. We just buy stuff there because it's the only option other than Petco. We need to advertise, whether it be in the "Pet Supplies" section of the Trading Post, or a Facebook group (not sure that'd be very effective), or whatever. Heck, have we even asked Petco if we could put a flyer up there?

I don't think ECRC is dying, so much as we just seem to lack the motivation to put our club "out there" for people to notice it. We'll still be here and have reef tanks no matter what, it's just a matter of trying to get people to want to come together over them instead of just enjoying them by ourselves. We're all nice people, but we just don't seem to get out there and generate interest in our club. So, I think it's up to us to be more active and exciting and appealing to others in the area who keep SW tanks. If we do that and try to put the word out, I think it'll help boost our prominence in the area.

-Joe

[D.J.]

i know what you mean joe....i didnt mean for it to sound like it was dead and gone.....BUT our lil club is dead......ya there are a few new members on here but they arent ACTIVE members.....

matt and greg are on alot but you never really here anything from the others....

i think that the next time one of us goes into petco we outa ask that.... i mean ive ran into a few people in there while im lookin at the new stuff they get in and they are new to saltwater and have TONS of questions....

i actually met the guy that jen got her system from in petco.....and ive talked to a guy twice in there for an hour each time about SW.....

i dont really understand why jim wont let us advertise there but i mean it is his store....i think it was said once that he dont want to loose business due to it....not seeing how our meeting would do that but ok...

i know that petsmart and thompsons arent SW stores but they do sell SW supplies.....and might help out some IF we could advertise in there....

what about a YAHOO GROUP....not sure how many people actually use them groups anymore.....or what is this TWITTER thing? would that help?

[ZMattie]

Craigslist..... Thats how I learned about LARK! (Free and effective)

[D.J.]

TRUE ZACH.........i ran into jason on there when i posted that i was looking for coral and sellin live rock..........

BUT AGAIN.....people on craigslist like to flag informative threads....

[schneijt]

As has been said before, Jim doesn't care for us because we've bashed his store on TRT before. And I'll be the first to admit that I did an awful lot of that a couple years ago after I had a really bad day and then went in there and saw some things that really bothered me... But, at the end of the day, I still buy stuff there to this day. If there were another store in EC that had a really fabulous setup, I think it'd get Jim to invest more money and time into his systems to improve them and maximize their potential. But, when it's just him and Petco, both with rather "average" setups compared to some stores I've seen in the Twin Cities and such, they don't put lots of money and effort into improvements because they're already the place where everybody goes...

Anyway, that got away from my point... I'm sorry I (and others) may have been (and may still be) a reason for Jim to not want to advertise for us. But, it's good business for him to give us advertisement, so that we can point people his way for stuff. Yeah, he's pricey for dry goods and sometimes doesn't have a great livestock selection, but he's all we've got for the most part... And if you're in a pinch and need something, he's there to sell it to you if you don't have the time to order it online or whatever.

I think we, as a club, should work together on a letter to send him and try to reconcile things and see if we can't get him to give us a chance. We're full of information and maybe he could even hop on here and give advice or ever maybe learn a few things from us and whatnot. The whole point of the club is to share information and have some fun, so it'd be beneficial for both him and us in so many ways...

As far as Petco--yeah, we should ask them if they would be ok with us putting up a poster there. We could even let them post what new stuff comes in (we could do that with TW as well) and such. As far as I can see it, a lot of good things happen when specialty shops work with local clubs. Yeah, occasionally things get posted that one or the other doesn't like, but that's life.

As far as Yahoo Groups. I don't think that'd do anything at all for us. Those are pretty much dead these days, as far as I know. And TRT does everything we need as a club, as far as an online place to gather. Craigslist is a sweet idea, and we should look into it.

-Joe

[condiman]

Yes but the one problem is that since gas prices keep getting higher that some of us can not make or afford that 90 min drive that is why I hope that we can save ECRC

[firsthesitation]

Thats just cause LARK is the coolest. haha.

I intend on coming up if you guys have a meeting or something. I haven't a problem with the drive timeor gas since our ("cute" thanks Jen :P) car gets like 40 mpgs. Just seems like we might as well create a SEMN/SW&CWI club. Seriously because we're all so close that LARK has kinda become the center for all of our clubs. Plus Matt's store is a hub we all frequent. Nothing against you ECRCers I still like you guys I hope there aren't any hard feelings.

[motownmego]

i just called petco and talked to the manager and told them alittle about who we are and stuff and they said just get a flyer or what ever we want and there is a spot in the front of the store were we can put it. ( not trying to step on anybody toes just trying to do my part) so if someone has a flyer or wants me to try to come up with some thing let me no!

[D.J.]

Originally Posted by firsthesitation

Thats just cause LARK is the coolest. haha.

I intend on coming up if you guys have a meeting or something. I haven't a problem with the drive timeor gas since our ("cute" thanks Jen :P) car gets like 40 mpgs. Just seems like we might as well create a SEMN/SW&CWI club. Seriously because we're all so close that LARK has kinda become the center for all of our clubs. Plus Matt's store is a hub we all frequent. Nothing against you ECRCers I still like you guys I hope there aren't any hard feelings.

AWWWW......we still ove you nick....NOT!!!!!!

Originally Posted by motownmego

i just called petco and talked to the manager and told them alittle about who we are and stuff and they said just get a flyer or what ever we want and there is a spot in the front of the store were we can put it. ( not trying to step on anybody toes just trying to do my part) so if someone has a flyer or wants me to try to come up with some thing let me no!

WAY TO GO MAT................no stepping on anyones toes at all.....

what ever we come up with needs to be BRITE AND COLORFUL.....not jsut a white piece of paper with black letters......and maybe some of them pull off tabs on the bottom with our info and this site on it.....

[firsthesitation]

I would nominate Joe if I were you guys, he's got a Mac I'm sure theres an App for that.

[schneijt]

I can work on it during my spare time at work. I'll try to have a "prototype" flyer in a day or two that we can tweak and go from there.

-Joe

p.s. Nick, there's no app for that. And I'd like to claim that I'm going to whip up something amazing with my Mac, but the truth is that I'll just use MS Word for Mac or Apple's "Pages" program to do it. So, nothing special. It'll just be a fancy typed up document with some pictures and what not. But, my technology is still way sweeter than yours.

[Still Wet]

joe nice to find another mac user pc stinks mac rules

[condiman]

ya ya carl lol you boys keep thinkn that us men will keep our PC lol

[firsthesitation]

Oh great, we started a Mac vs PC thread. I'm waiting for Windows 7 to come out then I'll decide if I still want a Mac.