Promoting Events In The Post-Pandemic Era

An 'old fashioned' race flyer from 2016.

 I was at Andy's Bike Shop the other day and noticed a flyer/hand-out on the counter for a Fall gravel grinder in Iowa. This started me to thinking about how promoting an event in 2021 has become so different than it used to be. I started thinking about what the hurdles were, or might be, to getting the word out now versus how we did things in the 90's. So, I thought it might be fun and interesting to take stock of what constitutes 'good race promotions' in 2021 and how we landed where we are at with that. 

I have been involved with putting on cycling events since the mid-90's. I have seen how events were promoted back then and it was a far cry from how it is done now. Of course, you all can guess why that is for the most part. The internet and subsequent social media platforms have really overtaken any other forms of engaging in information spreading for events. 

We usually used flyers back in the day and you can still see the digital form of that type of race information being pushed out there today. It used to be that flyers were posted in bicycle shops and grocery stores. Anywhere that had a bulletin board was fair play to display these flyers on. I recall seeing an early Chequamegon Fat Tire 40 flyer on a cork bulletin board in a Hayward, Wisconsin grocery store, probably in the early 80's. It was replete with a spiral bound notebook page and a ball point pen. If you were interested in riding you simply signed your name to the sheet and showed up the day of with your entry fee! 

Then things moved to more sophisticated means of information spreading, like magazines, regional publications, and ads in newspapers. The most famous of these being "Velo News" and the now defunct "Dirt Rag" which had lists of road and mountain bike races, respectively, listed in their pages. (Even Trans Iowa made the "Dirt Rag" race calendar for a couple of years!) 

But, like I mentioned, everything went topsy-turvy when the internet got a foothold in people's homes and businesses. Now you could find information on anything and it was instantly, (well, almost instantly! Remember dial-up internet?) available at your convenience. This radical change was adopted by some savvy event promoters in the early 00's to great success. 

Blogs, like this one, helped push out event info in the mid-00's. (Header designed by Jeff Kerkove)

 Blogs were probably the first venue/social platform that caught on with those seeking information on niche sporting activities. Cycling blogs were prolific back in 2003-2007. Many cyclists maintained a blog and regional news of events spread in this way amongst those blog creators and those who read such blogs. After about 2007 though, for whatever reasons, blogs started to disappear and the rise of social media as a platform to use for disseminating race/event info started to rise. In between the slow fade of blogs and the slow rise to popularity of social media, events took to making their own websites. 

Gravel Worlds, who have had a web presence since 2010, were one of the first events to maintain a website.

Many events hopped on the "dot-com" wagon and started their own websites back in the late 00's and early teens. Social media wasn't quite as prevalent, and information was typically spread by the main website. However, it did not take long for social media to take a foothold, especially Facebook, which became the de facto web presence for hundreds of gravel events. This seemed to work out fine until Facebook changed their algorithms and now you are not guaranteed the sort of reach as a promoter that you used to be able to get on Facebook's platform.

Other social media outlets like Twitter and Instagram are often used by events to get the word out, but again- unless you subscribe to these social platforms, you do not get the message. The social platforms often feed you what you are interested in, as well, so even if you do subscribe to using these outlets, you may not get all the new information on new events.  So the result has become more and more that it is an echo chamber. These same types of events get broadcast to the same people over and over again. Newer audiences don't see what is happening. Not unless those within the echo chamber spread the news by "good ol' word of mouth". 

Even 'big time' events get shunted by the sheer volume of info out there these days.

Recently there has been more curation of events by singular entities and by event registration companies. BikeReg, eventbrite, and others have search categories and suggested events which may prompt eyes to see event info which otherwise would not get seen. However; with an estimated 500-600 gravel events alone out there in 2021, it is nigh unto impossible to get your message heard these days. Just the sheer numbers of events means that many events will not get a lot of attention. 

So, some events have banded together, and some promoters have started ground-up series of events. Many of these series have created an 'eco-system' where event participants can expect the same set ups at certain events under a promoters umbrella throughout a season. Life Time Events being probably the premier company in that area. Smaller series use the power of numbers and joined resources to place their offerings in front of more eyeballs. Meanwhile, those singular event promoters who are adept at social media and marketing get the 'worm' while other event promoters may get lost in the noise of information. 

And then I still see traditional 'flyers', albeit digital ones, and I still see hand-outs at stores on counters and whatnot. It's a crazy scene and I think that with all the avenues for promotion at our disposal now, it gets to be a bit much. I mean, ten years ago you had one gravel event saying they were the "World's Premier Gravel Event" and now we have what? A half dozen or so saying that they are at that same level? It gets a bit ridiculous and all that noise is going to fatigue a lot of people. Especially now with this pandemic (supposedly) winding down. We're tired, exhausted, and maybe many of us won't be 'tuning in' because it is time to tune-out. 

All in all, this gravel event scene has been a fantastic ride. I've been on the promotions side and I've been in the saddle at other's events. I still think the gravel event is a worthy thing to be doing, but promoting one now? Sheesh! You guys and gals have my sympathies. It's gotta be harder than ever and going forward, different again than it used to be. I find it all pretty fascinating stuff yet. But my promoting days are behind me now. I gotta say, I feel like I had it easy compared to what I see out there today. 

Got any comments on what you think of all this? I'd be glad to read them and respond. Thanks for reading!