Let YourRunning be your event's Grassroots Media Partner

Competitors', spectators' stories + pics + vids = killer website content, new sponsorship opportunities

TO: Event and competition organizers
FROM: Yann Ropars, YourRunning.com director of business development

YourRunning.com and the Enthusiast Group have a great way to make your event or race website and newsletters blossom with interesting, sticky content: Stories, Photos and Videos from your competitors and spectators!

Our GRASSROOTS MEDIA PARTNER program provides the means and technology to let your event or race population share their great experiences with the running world. Competitors, coaches and spectators are enticed to share the great time they had at your race or event by posting photos, videos and blog items (stories). Best submissions win fun prizes.

This compelling and fun content will appear:

On your event website (and in your newsletters or marketing materials, if you wish)
On YourRunning.com (existing community of passionate runners)

Please read on to see how the Grassroots Media Partner program can boost your race or event by:

Exposing more people to it
Better engaging existing competitors and attendees
Providing a permanent, living text-photo-video archive of the great times had at your event over the years

Why you should join the grassroots media revolution

"Grassroots media" (sometimes also called "citizen media") is at the cutting edge of the media world. Tens of millions of people -- of all ages -- are blogging, sharing photos and videos (Flickr, Youtube), and sharing intimate details of their lives (Myspace).

YourRunning.com is part of that world, but we're focused solely on being an outlet for the passions of runners. We've built a community of devoted runners -- the people who show up for your event.

Now it's time for race and event organizers to join -- and benefit from -- the grassroots media revolution.

How does the program work?

Event organizer signs up for a Grassroots Channel to accompany race or event
YourRunning.com sets up event area and prepares content feed for event's website
Organizer alerts competitors and spectators about program -- flyers, race-packet inserts, e-mail announcements, etc. -- and urges them to post event/competition photos, videos, blogs to the event's area on YourRunning.com
Organizer offers prizes for series of contests -- Best Race Photo, Best Video, etc.
YourRunning correspondent(s) attends event -- to blog about and take photos and/or video for posting to Grassroots Channel (Optional program: details here)

Contests: The key to grassroots success

It should come as no surprise that runners love getting prizes and schwag. Our experience shows that people love to share their passion for running, but offering prizes for best photos and such makes it even more likely that they'll take part.

So contests are always part of our Grassroots Channels. We suggest you get event sponsors to participate by offering products for contest prizes.

How much will this cost?

Competitors and spectators: It costs them nothing, of course. In exchange for their "work" (posting photos, et al), they can win cool prizes.

Race/event organizers: With the help of your event's sponsors, this program is designed to EARN your event additional revenue.

View this as an opportunity to raise more funds. Sponsors can have the opportunity to sponsor the Grassroots Channel before, during and after the event. Our fees (based on size of the event) come out of this revenue, so by becoming a Grassroots Channel partner with YourRunning.com, you come out ahead.