I think Countryfile and The Game Fair are essentially 'soft' marketing and PR.
It's unlikely that you will sign up many (or any) new members, simple because %wise very few visitors will even hold a motorcycle licence.
A TRF Group I was involved with did exhibit at a local agricultural show for a few years and the real benefit was to explain to farmers and other people who lived or worked in the countryside or visited for leisure and recreation what trail riding was all about.
Any benefit came from giving those people a bit of an insight into our hobby, explaining what the various rights of way were etc, starting the the very basic fact that we weren't riding 'scramblers on footpaths.'
It also gave them, as one visitor remarked, "a chance to see the faces behind the helmets".
So it's hard to give any quantifiable feedback in terms of new members or value for money, but that doesn't mean it's a waste of time, any more than stopping and chatting to dog walkers and horseriders is. (It always makes me smile when rambler men of a certain age spot that I'm riding a CCM...it triggers a lot of memories for a lot of people).
I don't expect that those two shows were a cheap exercise, but if we have the money it's a good way of doing 'soft' PR in today's world of fragmented media. And don't forget that, a couple of years, back Wilts TRF managed to get positive coverage on the Countryfile TV show...which is one of the top two or three most-viewed programmes on TV.
It all helps.
|