I am not a marketer. However, I believe there was an opportunity for the Hokie Club to message and market around Virginia's national championship win. Or at least I had the idea I should've woke up to this email in my inbox.
It's only a mockup, and it would need a better call to action plus the craftsmanship of an actual copywriter. And what segments of an email list it was sent to is important (perhaps alumni who aren't in the Hokie Club but attend events, maybe everyone). But hopefully you get the idea.
[Also, I am bad at totally disconnecting, but I'm getting there. Cold turkey anything is tough.]
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Comments
Honestly? Too soon...
Strike while the iron is hot. It will normalize in a week and our fans will go back to being apathetic
Makes me feel not too great. Especially when 50% of my classmates are Wahoos. And especially when you are a very vocal Hokie fan.
I dont care if hoos like it or not. We should take advantage of every opportunity.
I just answering how the picture makes me feel. No comment on the marketing idea.
🔥🔥🔥🔥
How the picture makes me feel
I like your idea though
I'm not opposed to it, but I'm curious how well it would work. It kind of runs counter to the message that your donations go towards student athletes/The Hokie Scholarship fund.
When facebook needs to test a new feature, they'll roll it out to a small segment of their userbase, and see how they react. HC could do something similar here - shoot this email out to a small segment of the fanbase, and see how they react, before scaling up.
You definitely do not want to skip the opportunity to fire up the fan base.
Could be something like,
"This would look so much better in Orange and Maroon"
...and with your help that can be a reality.
Obligatory "do it!" Gif
Good call!
via GIPHY
Honestly, I made my first ever donation this morning and the Hoos winning it all is it what finally spurred me to do it.
Well, first I'd be like...
at being reminded of last nights outcome. Then I'd probably make a donation on the spot because what better motivator to give more to Hokie Club could there be? Well aside from our own success, but you know what I mean.
I think that in a normal year, it would work.
Right after we lost Buzz and hired what a number of alumni consider a "not the same caliber" replacement? Might backfire. Would be wrong if it did, but then you'd also be insulting Young by doing it.
I dont think Young would take it that way. Hed be stoked to have more recruiting staff. Time to grow up!
Young is just stojrd to be here
Spell check checks out.
Sorry about that. Hilarious follow ups. I fixed it.
He's getting paid millions (about a 1500% raise) to coach minutes from where he's from. We don't need to worry about his feelings. We need to worry about donations.
I personally think that's a great way to appeal to our fan base's emotions. I think my only contention would be that you're marketing to people who already give in some capacity and are asking for more, whereas if there was someway to get this in front of Hokies who don't already give I think you'd be getting a better result.
Meanwhile in Charlottesville, this is the actual email I woke up to.
(i can't figure out this embed picture thing)
They wasted no time trying to fund raise.
I gotchu
You needed to add the file extension to the end of the URL.
Wait, are you fundraising for VT or UVa? /s
My first reaction is to jump out a window. So maybe it's just too soon.
Also, I'd think there would need to be details about how the donations are going to help us win in football.
furrer4heisman drove him completely away. Wow.
Be4 u jump out a window, change ur will to leave lots to vt athletics.
lol
After some thought, though, maybe it would be better to leave on a good note, and this one isn't it!
I was going to say include some of the Hokie Club charts, but it looks like we are beating them in donor participation 5.6% to 4.4%
Well, we got that going for us, which is nice.
I've been thinking about VT fundraising a lot the past few days, as I reluctantly made my Hokie Club donation this past week and even increased it a little. Outreach and effort in terms of fundraising is severely lacking at VT. There is little creativity and lots of alumni and potential donors aren't even getting the message. It's frankly getting to the point of being inexcusable for a school the caliber as VT.
I don't know what the absolute fix is or should be, but something has to change. The luster of the Fuente hire has all but completely worn off, and after the most successful basketball run in VT history, we are completely gutted and left with tons of uncertainty. I don't even know what momentum you try and market currently, but this football season is monumental. I've given to Hokie Club and increased my donation each year for a while now since I have been out of school, and I know many others who are doing the same because they love VT and Hokie sports.
Something needs to happen and fast, because I'm tired of seeing us treading water and ultimately taking one step forward and two steps back in everything athletically. Maybe it's unorthodox, but something as Joe suggested to rile the alumni and donor base up a little wouldn't be a bad thing. We need to start getting more aggressive and strategic with our fundraising efforts, or else Hokie faithful are going to start seeing a lot more championships for our rivals like last night as we fall behind. I've done my part, and everyone should consider giving what they can. And VT needs to get it's rear in gear and start leveraging these big corporate partnerships and massive alumni base to its fullest extent. We aren't little ole VT in SWVA anymore.
Unfortunately, we were completely robbed of the normal Sweet Sixteen appearance fundraising lift by the concurrent announcement that Buzz was leaving for Texas A&M.
We didn't get the normal "bask in the afterglow while listening to people whip out their checkbooks" time.
No but we should get the "If you ever want this again, we need your money now or all of our hires are going to continue to be from Wofford or Murray State" bump.
Maybe we need to see how the Wofford guy does for a few years before judging him at VT. I remember a Murray State guy who did OK once.
But yeah, anyone who wants VT to be able to hire a coach away from another P5 school, or even successful, should be donating regularly and buying season tickets.
I will say that I am a silver Hokie and have been for a few years. I fell a decent number in the rankings after the sweet 16 birth. So that makes me think we got a pretty big push from it. I am not sure what the way forward is besides a bigger push from our very large alumni base, but I don't know what drives them.
Leg! 1000% this. LETS DO IT!!!
If they sent that out I think VT would be ridiculed for it endlessly all over social media.
I like the idea
Hokie club seems to only email me when something bad happens in our most recent intercollegiate athletic competition instead of when something went well (e.g. making the sweet sixteen). Perhaps trying to strike while the iron is hot instead of trying to strike while the iron is vomiting and pissed off would be a better strategy.
Having said that, I'm probably happier for LOLUVA than most people on this board. They found a strategy they were comfortable focusing on and went after it. They got good and they won. Good for them. Them winning doesn't diminish VT, it elevates LOLUVA. I'm not going to be convinced to donate to the Hokie Club because someone is trying to rub it in my face that LOLUVA won, because it doesn't make me angry and I don't feel inferior because of it.
Must be different on how I was inculcated to VT sports, but I just can't appreciate anything good that UVA Athletics does ever. Literally never, I almost find as much joy rooting for another team to beat them as I do rooting for VT. The whole "We're all Virginians, Hokies for Hoos" thing during their final four run, nope don't like that. I even completed a grad program at UVA and can't find it in me to remotely support their Athletics. I've had enough local UVA fans insult me for being a VT student/alum to have a never ending hatred for that fan base.
Fair. I've never begrudged a nemesis their achievements unless it came at my tribe's expense. So if my Redskins beat the Cowboys twice in the regular season, but the Cowboys made the playoffs and we didn't, and then they won the Superb Owl, then I mostly blame all of the other teams that allowed that bullshit to happen, my team held up our end of the bargain.
LOLUVA isn't at that level of hatred for me. Tons of friends went there, they're all fairweather fans of LOLUVA sports. They aren't going to rub this in my face, I'm sure they'd rather talk shit to Maryland or North Carolina fans, if this even caused them to take their attention away from their brie and Zima (a difficult thing to do).
I live in Big Ten country and all I've heard about since Selection Sunday is how good the Big Ten conference is. I made the claim that the ACC would have five Sweet 16 teams and win the whole thing - so at least I get to rub that in everyone's faces. A small victory, and really a reach, but that's fine. It works for my situation.
Who said this is a thing? I was rooting for UVA to go up 30 then lose on a buzzer beater. I want their hearts ripped out and their souls crushed. Fuck UVA.
Do it! Took a bit to figure your angle yes do it!
NSFW language for you working folks
Haha, leg for Tourette's Guy
Damn this takes me back about a decade, criminal it only has 3 legs
These videos we're my hall's jam freshman year. I miss the golden age of YouTube.
If Mike Young needs a assistant coach I've have led Georgia State to 3 national championships in 8 years on ncaa march madness 2006😅
With the right execution, this could be awesome. Everyone knows we're comparing ourselves to LOLUVa right whether we like to admit it or not. Might as well put it out in the open and in everyone's faces.
Also, Joe, do we need to lock you out of your own website? Go home. Take a break. We love you but you need to take your break before you're your totally broken. Signed, yet another workaholic engineer...
I know this is purposed to be sent primarily to various parts of Hokie Nation... and I get the tactic, I do...
... but I don't like the idea of even mentioning our rivals in a mass mailer. It's supposed to be about us, not them.
But just worrying about us hasn't been working and we're falling behind.
I'm for it. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, angry or guilty then it's doing it's job
POTUS, is that you? (ducks)
Confefe!!
Wholeheartedly agree.
I think like with anything it will energize some people and turn away others. The question is will it energize enough new people? I'm not sure, I don't know what the answer is for bigger growth by the Hokie Club. Personal anecdote here: I've been in NE Florida for almost a year, been on the alumni board (as a none alum, because we can't get enough people), I've been trying to recruit new Hokie Club members l, have managed to get a grand total of zero people to join or up their current donation.
The biggest thing that sucks to me...I love Virginia Tech. It's the first place I felt like I was at home. I would love to donate to the school, and the athletic fund, but I'm still paying for my time there, and I graduated in 2005. I still have many years to go before those loans are paid off. In my mind, I can't justify giving money to a place I'm still paying for attending. Try me again in 10 years when I'm not paying several hundred dollars a month in student loans.
Just recently upped my donation. Unfortunately, If seeing UVA hoist a trophy like this doesn't fire up our fan base to get after it, I'm not sure anything ever will.
Joe: "I need a sabbatical."
Also Joe: "Hey guys, check this out."
Unplug, my friend. Take a breather. Recharge.
I promise I won't get in a wrasslin' match and HokieFireman won't let us burn the mother down while you're gone.