ACBL Marketing Matters Summer 2009

ACBL’s Newest Marketer

Have you met Bob L.? Bob L. is ACBL’s new traveling reporter and his most important assignment is to help promote bridge clubs, teachers and tournaments across North America. Bob was introduced in Washington DC at the Summer NABC and is currently on the road visiting clubs, teachers and playing in tournaments at various parts of the country – making his way to San Diego for the Fall NABC. Bob is keeping a travel blog and sending photos back to ACBL headquarters for posting on the ACBL web site. If you’d like Bob L. to make a stop at your club, class or tournament, just send him a note at BobL@acbl.org and he’ll do his best to schedule your location into his travel plans. Click here to read about his latest adventures.

Marketing Tips and Tricks

Don’t forget to submit your “Marketing Tips & Tricks” to us. We have already received several fantastic marketing tips ranging on topics such as “How to Introduce Social Bridge Players to Duplicate,” “Increasing Class/Workshop Attendance” and much more. Click here to read a couple of the “tips” received and posted on the web site.

• TIP – Submitted by Linda Tuff, Halifax Bridge World:
Each time a pair scores 70% or greater in any game, we take their picture holding an 8x10 sign depicting their winning percentage.These photos are printed and displayed in picture frames in our club and are also posted on our web site.

Our most famous picture was printed in the February 2009 ACBL Bulletin showing two pairs - 1st place winners with a 77% and 2nd place with 71%.

Players love the recognition!

• TIP - Submitted by Charles Lawson, Huntsville, Texas:
To develop new students for beginning bridge classes, partner with a local college's Continuing Education department or a local Community College. They will take care of advertising, student sign-up, collection of course fees, and finding a suitable playing space (if needed).

You will have to negotiate with the college how much to charge for the classes and how much you will be paid from the class fees. Just remember that the college will have to retain enough to pay for the advertising costs and the support personnel.

Check out more tips by clicking here. Share your marketing tips and tricks by sending them to marketing@acbl.org. Don’t forget – each time you send us a tip, you will receive an entry into a drawing for a chance to win a pizza party (to serve up to 50 people) for your club or class. The deadline to submit tips for entry in the drawing is December 5, 2009.

International Fund Month

September is International Fund Month. The International Fund helps defray the expenses of North American player participation in international (World Bridge Federation) competition. Any regularly scheduled sanctioned session during September can be designated an International Fund Game. The cost is an extra $1 per person and players can win sectional-rated black points. In addition to September, International Fund Games may be held in any month throughout the year, except February and April. Thanks to all who participate in supporting this fund.

Amnesty Offer

Be sure to let all of your players know about ACBL’s “Amnesty Offer,” which is going on right now! The offer - available between now and December 31, 2009 – is for lapsed ACBL members who have unrecorded masterpoints. These former ACBL members are invited to reinstate their membership between now and December 31, 2009 and receive all masterpoints won during the time they were on inactive membership status credited to them at no charge. In addition, those who renew for a three-year membership before October 1, 2009, will receive a special bonus offer – a complimentary deck of ACBL tournament-quality playing cards. Spread the word!

REMINDER: Important notice to all non-Life Masters

Don’t forget that effective January 1, 2010 the requirements for attaining Life Master status will change to 500 total masterpoints, of which 50 must be gold or platinum, 50 red, gold or platinum, 75 silver and 75 black. These new requirements will apply to anyone who is not a Life Master and whose ACBL membership is not active as of December 31, 2009.

New Enhancements to the ACBL Web Site

Recently, there have been several enhancements made to the ACBL web site and more are in the works. Below is a listing of the new features that can now be found on the web site:

NABC Top Winners Directory
Are you curious about who has placed first or second in past North American Bridge Championship events? You can put your curiosity to rest by using a new search tool that is now available on the ACBL web site. This new feature on the web site allows you the ability to search either by event or last name. Click here and check out this new feature.

New Feature to "Find a Club" Search
Have you ever traveled to an unfamiliar city and wished that you had a way to determine where and how to get to the location of the nearest bridge club? Check out the new feature on ACBL’s online “Find a Club” search tool. This new feature allows visitors to the ACBL web site the ability to search for bridge clubs in the United States and Canada by city or by zip/postal code – but, wait – that’s not all! It also provides a Google map that includes driving directions to the nearest bridge club. Here’s how it works:

On the Find a Club page, visitors can either type in a city and select a state or province, or they can type in a US zip code or Canadian postal code. When they click "Find Locations," the search will return a list of the ten closest bridge clubs. Each club listing will contain the distance to the club in miles, contact information and schedule (where available).

In addition, the list of clubs will be pinpointed on a Google map, which provides the ability to zoom in on the map and see the clubs at street level. When clicking on "Get Directions" and entering a start location, they will receive driving directions from their location to the bridge club of their choice.

We hope this new feature to the ACBL web site will assist players in always finding a place to play the world's greatest game! Click here to test drive this new feature.