The Beach - A Perfect Meeting Venue And Office

What a great idea. After a days brainstorming at the beach here during a British windsurfing event in Ireland, I reckon we’ve found a solution to our sponsorship woes. The association is short of cash and resources to look for and attract sponsors. We got to joking about bidding for the title sponsorship, and so I decided that, with effectively nothing to lose, putting it on E bay would be a great idea.

There are a few opportunities out there already – like the chance to sponsor a kid’s baseball team somewhere in the US and a Gumball rally challenge etc. But, just within our world of windsurfing there must be some companies who’ve got windsurfers as the Marketing Director that’d buy into this dedicated, healthy, opinion forming community.

What a great pilot group they’d be for your new product or a focused audience for your services to be exposed to? But then I got thinking more. Why don’t I sponsor them? No, I’ve no budget set for advertising my services. Never thought of doing so either. I simply thought word of mouth, referrals, and perhaps a bit of savvy web marketing via the content in my Blog and Lense traffic would bring me all the business I need.

Also, why advertise when you’re already busy? Well I might not always be busy, and, as you’ll see in my website, I’m in a niche market – a windsurfer who’s writing features, ads, brochures and managing content, mainly for the sport and subjects I’m passionate about. That means I should definitely be setting a tone, laying foundations and seeding people about what I do so they keep me in mind when the subjects of say press writing, web marketing, SEO copywriting or editorial come up in future conversations they might have.

So, to get hired by people in the game I know, perhaps I’m actually missing an opportunity to communicate what I do despite already being in exactly the right orbit? I surely can't be alone then in wanting to promote myself then can I? And, considering I want to help others convey their identities positively and creatively, now I’ve the chance to proactively set an example and spread the word to people who’s businesses might benefit from my services, but, perhaps just happen to be windsurfers!

On a serious note. We’d just run a great competition, the wind had dropped, the sun came out and there was a great atmosphere amongst the competitors to sort out some of our problems and in a fun way shoot the breeze, (So to speak…), and find innovative ways of turning our dilemmas into strong solutions for the future.

Who knows? Maybe I’ll get outbid by another member of our great association. The fact that it could possibly go on E Bay is a marketing technique itself, and could well create widespread interest amongst the forums, members and everyone connected to them. But at least the sport will benefit, and, the price anyone pays will be what the deal is actually worth, plus, it might mean I get to do the winners business’ copywriting anyway! You can’t say that hanging out at the beach is un-productive can you? All the best ideas are had there I reckon…