Attracting People To The Game

[TNK]

According to recent threads, the following are some of the reasons that IPSC/USPSA does not attract more players:

1. USPSA does not promote the sport properly. It is a marketing issue.

2. People are put off by by the sight of race guns. They think they must spend a lot of money to play to game. The cost of round count and entry fees may also discourage people from playing.

3. Matches run too long; people cannot hang around all day. This matter also relates to the complaint that local clubs do not properly welcome and accommodate new members or participants.

4. The gun magazines have promoted IDPA at the expense of IPSC.

All of these observations have some cogency. Yet, I would like to add another. Rather than blame the sport or competition among factions of the sport, let us blame the newbies who are too timid to learn something new. As a former college instructor, I find most adults set in the their ways to the point of recalcitrance when it comes to developing a new skill or ability. If they do not get it right away, they give up. Playing the action pistol game is not something that one learns right away. It takes time, trial and error, and a commitment to play well enough to get something out of it. Many people are afraid of looking bad or stupid as they learn. Thus, they do not attempt something new to protect themselves from embarrassment.

When I tell people I shoot IPSC, they tell me: “You must be very good. I could never do that.” I respond that I am a D class shoot, the lowest ranking, but my goal is to improve my gun handling skills regardless of how I rank. I have had some bad scores. I usually come in last at local club matches. But I do not care because every time I play I learn more about my pistol (or pistols since I have shot about a a half dozen different types of pistols in Production Division). I explain that the effort is worth it to learn to be a better pistolero, despite my scores.

I have yet to persuade anyone on this point. I cannot recruit a new member to save my life. As a result, I would assert that the problem with bringing new players into the sport is more about people out there rather than about people within the action pistol shooting sports. Granted, we have out squabbles, but who out there is ready to keep trying despite the long march up and over the learning curve? Who is willing to develop the discipline necessary to be better? Find those people, and the sport will grow. Be aware though that they are few and far between.

[George]

The trick to marketing anything is to make it irresistable to the audience.

So

1 - Identify what it is that creates negative impressions on the product (there are lots of traditional marketing tools that do this very well) and then remove, or reduce those aspects from at least the marketing plan.

2 - Identify and reinforce what it is that excites/interests your audience about the product.

3 - Implement a marketing plan based on accurate assesments of the above points.

These techniques when properly implemented usually result in effective marketing.

Oh yeah, heave a realistic assesment of your marketing goals/needs before embarking on a marketing program. Kinda like the hypothesis in scientific process ;-)

--

Regards,

[shred]

How does golf get so many people out? That's another game where beginners, almost without fail, suck.

I think some of the difference is people expect to suck at golf their first time out. They don't expect to suck at shooting since they've already got a gun and read a whole year's worth of the "Tacabilly Secrets" column in Combat Handguns for SWAT and Tactical Mall Ninjas

[George]

Shred, Interesting that golf is that parallel in that aspect. Also interesting that golf is considered by many to require the same mental game as competition shooting for success.

Quite a few parallels there. Might make sense to dissect the two and compare to see whats up with that from a public perception point.

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Regards,

[MikeFoley]

Golf was born in Scotland a few hundred years before practical pistol was born in the Southwest United States.

[George]

Well, there's a difference, howsabout some more similarities ;-)

--

Regards,

[kimel]

Initial buy-in for golf can be as low as a couple hundred bucks. Go buy some "okay" clubs for $100 (used) and a pair of shoes (maybe) and you are off to the races....errr...links.

IPSC, even production, is going to run at least double this.

The outlay of $25+ for a round doens't seem to be driving them away so the "match fee cost" may well be a red herring.

Golf gets hours and hours and hours of "free" advertising on TV. Shooting sports, even those that smack of political correctness like trap/skeet get next to none.

Any decent news stand will have at least two (and usually a half dozen) magazines available at all times devoted just to golf. The only shooting related publications that are available are decidedly anti-IPSC...if they are even present on the news stand.

You can walk in to any store and buy golf clubs, balls, shoes, etc and not be asked for ID (unless you are writing a check). Once paid for you load your purchases in your car and probably head to the local course to hit a bucket of balls which some machine has gathered up and is prepared for your use in a nifty little bucket.

To purchase a firearm you must go through a NICS check. Even today after purchasing a lot of firearms I still get this little butterfly in the pit of my stomach while the NICS check is happening and I haven't had so much as a speeding ticket in a very long time (WA state CPL doesn't count for a NICS check). If you don't have a CCW/CPL you pay your money, put your gun back in its box and make another trip to the store in 5 days to bring it home.

To shoot IPSC you either buy a lot of ammo or your buy a lot of reloading equipment, learn how to reload (a whole other skill aside from shooting), buy components and so on.

Practice: You can take your golf clubs into the back yard and practice chipping and putting on the living room carpet is okay as well.

Unless you are a member of the vast minority of shooters in this sport, practice aside from dry fire (and airsoft) requires loading all the crap in the car and driving a significant distance.

Municipalities do all manner of stupid things to bring a new golf course to town. I don't know of any municipalities that are actively looking to have a new luxury shooting range built in the suburbs surrounded by multi-millon dollar homes.

I guess the big keys here are:

1) Visibility

2) Access

Figure out how to solve these for the masses and our sport will probably show significant growth, quickly.

[George]

Good one Kevin, distillation of issues to address. Now, face to face with the second step ;-)

Seriously though, a niche marketing scheme is what it reduces to because we have to accept some of Kevins points as absolutes beyond the possibility of addressing without changing what we do very detrimentally (maybe substantially is a better word here, maybe not).

Example 1: Major PF would have to be based on factory ammo limits to level the re-loading field and would probably need lowering across the board to allow 9x19 to make the cut in a 5" comp gun. Just my prediction if you open this door. Then consider what each sponsoring manufacturer would think about the needed change in their retail game plan (of course, selling all new stuff isn't that bad of a thing I guess, if you make guns).

Example 2: Targets would probably need to devolve to circular, or oval shaped blobs. You would have to kiss the upper A/B goodbye.

Example 3: The toiminology (on purpose) in use would have to take a shift in a not necessarily desireable direction for sure.

A marketing company would call this a nightmare job because the acceptance of the required steps to market our product are subject to membership wide approval of changes that don't even have a snowballs chance in hades of getting approved, yeeeshh!!!

--

Regards,

Edited April 18, 2005 by George

[tightloop]

Well, Jeff Cooper did not think this activity would appeal to the masses when he began it....it is only popular for a few of us who are competitive and like to shoot...it was my ego that got me hooked big time....even after I failed to badly at the first practice and in several matches...I would not let myself fail at this because I liked it and wanted to improve...

Trying to make this into a huge thing is a waste of time...it will always remain small in comparison to golf...but Clays will grow because it is viewed as a gentlemans shooting sport..not the wild rambunctious handgun thing where there are field courses with over 30 rounds being shot in 9 or 10 seconds....that kind of thing just open itself up for criticism from the masses....but two shots from a shotgun, and three at the most is acceptable....

Not everyone can play Polo or shoot USPSA...so just hold your head high and let them be ignorant....tell all who want to know and introduce those who want to try it...but it is totally a waste of energy to try to market this sport....

[JohnRodriguez]

How does golf get so many people out?  That's another game where beginners, almost without fail, suck. 

I think some of the difference is people expect to suck at golf their first time out.  They don't expect to suck at shooting since they've already got a gun and read a whole year's worth of the "Tacabilly Secrets" column in Combat Handguns for SWAT and Tactical Mall Ninjas

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

If you plan a golf trip properly, and with the right golf bag, you and a buddy could pack a case of beer into them. If you ride around in a cart, you could carry a ice cooler full of them. IF we tried that at a uspsa match, we would be run out of the range.

[MBaneACP]

Actually, the marketing issue's not particularly hard. Paul Erhardt, Scott Moore and I developed a functioning model on how to promote the shooting sports back when we were all working for NSSF. I was able to use some of the model when I worked with USPSA, and Scott and Paul have helped USPSA out as well.

The model's been used to promote the ESPN Great Outdoors Games, the Scholastic Clays Target Program and the Steel Challenge and has yielded pretty spectacular results. For instance, the Challenge from a $125,000 match to a more than $300,000 match in three years. It's not inconceivable that the Challenge will hit $500,000 and major national sponsorship within the next two years. The GOG target sports now outdraw the X-Games in viewership, and the SCTP program has become a textbook success story (you can now letter in shotgun at high schools in many states!).

It ain't rocket science!

mb

[Rifter]

Something to help, would be to get the right audience to see it. This is coming from a major new-comer's view. The first hint of USPSA shooting was from Matt Burkett's AR-15 video. That pretty much got me hooked into looking at the sport more. I have shown the videos to several friends, and a few are kind of interested. We are all computer gamers and paintball players (and lets face it, this kind of shooting should be of interest to those that like tactical games likes Rainbow Six, SWAT 4, and to a lesser extent Counter Strike).

A picture is worth a thousand words, and a video is worth more. USPSA should put up a selection of actual videos of shoots. Find interesting stages and show a person or two going through them. Show the action of the sport. Use these to show others what the sport is like.

[tightloop]

Well Michael, ,....if it isn;t that tough, why hasn't someone done it...

and it is easier to advertise for a once a year shoot than somehting that takes place all over the country at least once a month...

I would welcome your helping me understand if it isn';t tough, why isn't it being done.....

[XRe]

To put Rifter and MBane's posts together - what'd be really cool is to get someone who *knows* what they're doing w/ both marketing and video direction and production to put together a short-ish marketing video that could be hosted on the USPSA web page. It should look (and sound) slick and should give a glimpse into the whole of competition - both what a GM looks like, and a D class shooter, what ROs do, safety, how to start shooting competition (what equipment, where to find a club), how the class system works, scoring, etc. Intersperse that with video of various shooters shooting various stages, etc. Scripted properly I'd imagine that it'd be shorter than 5 minutes, total length...

In fact, perhaps it should focus more on the D end of the scale than the GM end - give folks a glimpse of what the big dawgs look like, but focus on "anyone can do it"....

Probably already been done, for all I know....

[Shipster]

Problem:

Mentors, or the lack there of, I think is part of the problem. A little over two years ago when I started seriously shooting IPSC my shooting partner (Run-N-Gun) and I decided to give IPSC a whirl. We had been shooting a club fun match that was based on IPSC but we had not ventured out into the “real world.” The first match we attended I felt like a stranger in a new land. The people were nice and pleasant, but we being the “Newbies” were a little intimidated, and I had questions that I didn’t ask. If it were not for the support and companionship of Run-N-Gun it may have been not only my first match, but maybe my last one. Of all the shooting sports IPSC is probably the most intimidating that I can think of. What I’m getting at is, at least in our area an assigned mentor is not provided. The RO that is heading up the squad is told that he has some new shooters, but the RO is usually one of the busiest people in the squad and doesn’t have the time to answer simple questions or provide insight as to what is going on, or to offer simple advise on a stage or to critique a stage. So that leaves the new shooters to fend for themselves. I can’t speak to other areas as to what they do with new shooters, only what happens in my area.

Solution:

Mentor program, this sport has some of the nicest and most approachable people you cold ask for, but the new shooter doesn’t know this. So by suggesting that we as shooters volunteer at one match a month or maybe at your home club to become a mentor to the new shooter, and go over safety rules, classifications, stages, basic equipment ect… and answer whatever questions the new shooter has would go a long way in keeping them. I know that not all people can be mentors, but a lot of us can and I’m sure that some of us do, but it should be an every time deal. Every New shooter should be mentored and felt welcome, after all they maybe the next mentors.

Shipster

[Jim Norman]

We are fortunate in that our club has an indoor range that we have the use of two nights a month. We run an introduction to IPSC and then shoot a 4 stage match. Many of the shooters are regulars at our outdoor match, others only show up to shoot the indoor. New shooters are instructed in the rules, they get a live fire safety check and then the group as a whole mentors them through the match. They are encouraged to ask questions, we explain everything we are doing and why we do it. THey are specifically nvited back. The entire match also serves as an extended safety check. No card is issued at this match, that is reserved for their attendence at a real match where they go through a briefing and then are again ass=igned to a squad that will take them under the wing tos how them what is expected and what to expect.

We have had extremely good results in that we've signed over 30 members in the last year as well as having many of these new shooters join our club.

A formal mentor program could work, but more important is taht we all as shooters remember that once we were newbies. Approach a newbie and talk to him. Be welcoming. You will have more fun and you may even make new friends.

Jim Norman

[Ray_Z]

USPSA has come a long way due to the addition of production division. More and more shooters are coming over to practical pistol because of it, and while they are blasting away at targets they really learn a lot more about shooting. IDPA just isn't fun to shoot. Way too many rules.

[itento]

Got a new guy today. I visited a local sign shop to have our gun club's logo and web site put onto my RVs spare tire cover. I figured that I might just interest a shooter or two into logging onto our web site to see what we were about. It just so happens the guy doing the graphics had spent some time in the Marines, loved to shoot pistol (.40 & .45 Springfields) but didn't know anything about our range or club. We are holding out monthly IDPA match this Sunday and afterward, we're going to shoot the same COFs using IPSC/USPSA rules (targets, guns, tacticas, etc). Hopefully, we can get 10 members to join IPSC so we can get affiliated. Anyway, I invited him to come out and we'd walk him through both venues. I also pointed him to the IDPA and USPSA web sites. Tried to explain the fun factor and the "don't be intimidated, we're interested in safety initially and all the other things come with practice". Anyway, he coming to the match and seemed really enthusiastic.

BTW, our club the the Tri State Gun Club (www.tristategunclub.org) located in Southeast Alabama. If you're in the area, stop by this Sunday and join the fun.

[JD45]

I think that the most limiting factor is a place to shoot for close to free, and a range where everyone feels comfortable. Recruiting even close friends to shoot matches has always been impossible for me. They will hunt, and sometime go to shoot a few clay targets, but pistol matches? No way. They won't even consider it.

These same people will drive hours to shoot 3D archery tournaments. I think I know why. To get good at anything you have to practice right? So all these guys have to do is set up a target in the backyard and shoot anytime they choose. And they get good. Good enough not to be embarrassed at a match.

Although I have a place to shoot at home, I hardly ever shoot there more than three times a month. I drive nearly an hour to my home club to do serious pistol practice. The reason is I have to worry about what people think. I wish things were different, but they aren't. We have more people in our community now and they all talk. Try to shoot Bill drills and El Pres. four days a week, 200 plus rounds per session, and everybody will start to think that you are nuts.

So, the 3D shooters have to find a gun club nearby(not always easy) if they want to shoot IPSC/IDPA. Most of them won't bother, they'll just stick to archery. I don't have any answers other than more ranges, and to inform everyone what it sounds like when a guy is shooting an El Pres. so they won't worry.

[eric nielsen]

If we could email every soldier on active duty and every military veteran, and put a poster behind the counter of every gun shop in America, we'd be trampled underfoot by interested shooters.

But how to explain the 5 divisions multiplied by 6 classes... That starts to sound silly at local matches that have 20-25 competitors. Maybe being competitive puts me in the minority. Okay I'll be quiet now.

[tightloop]

Heck, even being as competitive as I am, I went to watch a match first before I tried it....

I like the mentoring idea but most of the military people I know, I would not want to shoot with them...different mindset and that macho image to over come...just my opinion...

[xsrdx]

Golf and USPSA have a great many similarities - individual effort, the idea of a par performance for a stage or hole, cumulative scoring per stage/per hole, larger events may be held over several days, both are conducted outside and you can practice both without access to a match facility or golf course. The equipment investment is also similar. As noted, the mental game is VERY similar - you are competing against the course, and fellow players/shooters.

One of the largest contrasts is that of the comfort and appearance of the venues. I would happily set up an umbrella and lawn chair at Augusta and hang out just for fun - there are few shooting ranges that offer much besides scarred earth berms, weeds and portajohns. That's the nature of shooting - we get the dregs, while golf courses get built in places offering spectacular natural beauty, places where people just want to be - golfing or not. Ranges? Parking always sucks, hotels are miles away, and for spectators it's only a bit more pleasant than a trip to the landfill.

The lack of attractive and comfortable shooting venues limits media coverage and spectator participation - shooters understand it, but the uninitiated see only the hillbilly surroundings that often characterize the shooting range.

[Jim Norman]

Ok, Golf, Anyone care to comment on annual dues to belong to a club? Or how about Greens Fees? I understand that some of the more prestigious clubs charge hundreds of thousands to join, Certianly it is not uncommon to require a member to spend a thousand or more a month at the clube restaraunt.

Shooting, People complain about club dues of $1 a day, that $360 a year and no fees for anything other than a match, come out and practice or play anytime.

You want green grass and a fancy clubhouse, you want valet parking, you want showers? Pony up a few thousand every year as well as 10 years dues to join.

Then when there is an assesment to buy new equipment or rebuild the berms and you have to come up with another $1500 or so, i don't want to hear you complain.

I used to sail. I invested (Thats laughable, more like I sunk) about $200k into my boat, I then spent a few thousand a year on dock fees, about $6k, plus Yacht Club dues and expenses totaling another $3-5k and of course there was about $5k or so a year in mandatory maintenance.

Shooting is cheap, maybe too cheap for our own good. In some areas of the country, you can walk out inthe back yard and shoot. in most places where our members are likely to live within driving distance of a number of matches, you have to join a club to shoot. Sad, but true.

Contrast a simple low-equipment sport like bowling. I took my wife an daughter bowling, two games cost about $40 and took a grand total of a little over two hours. Contrast a day of shooting, $20 match fee, $15 ammo and lunch. A whole day vs two hours.

We have a great deal. Somehow we need to get our message out. And beleive me, living in the PR of NJ, it ain't easy. Too many people are simply scared to dive into the myriad confussion of gun laws, what is legal, what is not. Make a mistake and the results are life altering. But the wrong golf club, or take your Big Bertha to a different state and you may be told you can't use it, but a simple traffic stop won't land you in the pokey. Even if you are innocent, you still have to defend, Golf doesn't have the preceived risk of shooting.

Jim

[XRe]

You want green grass and a fancy clubhouse, you want valet parking, you want showers? Pony up a few thousand every year as well as 10 years dues to join.

No doubt! Country club membership can be pretty silly. Depending on the area, though, you may be able to join a "greens fees included" club for around $2K a year. Otherwise, you might pay anywhere between $15 and $350 for a greens fee (depending on where you play), most ranging around $50.

Don't me started on my wife's hobby.... equestrian.... For the cost of one *average* quality horse for her sport, one could buy a BMW.... That's just to buy it - tack on $8K+/yr just to keep it somewhere, and keep shoes on it, feed it, vet. Training can add another $4-6K/yr, showing another $4K/yr... get my point, yet??

We have a great deal. Somehow we need to get our message out.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree.... Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing a range in the quality of PASA (nicest range I've personally been to) local to me - and I'd pay for it - but we're a lot cheaper than a lot of things. And a lot more fun, too

[rtr]

I think Shipster makes a really really good point about mentoring every new shooter through their first match. While my club does a really good job of being nice to new shooters I remember my first match I had a lot of questions I was afraid to ask.

I've seen quite a few new shooters come to their first match and not come back, perhaps because of this.