SDCA vs Soundsport

[Jeff Ream]

You sure about that? Because if they are able to attract enough revenue to get the corps $800-$2500 each in appearance fees, I would say their marketing approach has something going for it.

Would a cool website have compelled you to attend their shows? I doubt it. So rather than waste resources on web design, SDCA has taken a locally oriented approach to marketing. If it fills seats with paying customers, then it is a valid marketing strategy.

There is more to marketing than just a website. i attend a few shows a year, DCI and DCA. never heard a peep about it there. How many events are they really running? All we ever see here is stuff about a regional meeting.

I'm part of the admin team for a local band circuit who all get zero pay, and we do far better marketing.

[cixelsyd]

I live in Southern California, and I have never heard of SDCA before this initial post.

Southern California is a big place.

What was meant by locally oriented marketing, by the way, was the idea of linking events with larger community festivals that already attract a huge amount of people. This was a strategy often used back in the day. If there are already tons of people in town, and you can siphon off several thousand of them to pay admission to see your drum corps contest, the corps involved can do well financially even if you fail to reach every living room and basement in SoCal with your marketing outreach.

I agree with you that if the corps has revenue to get corps paid in appearance fees, however I think all can agree that SDCA can do better with marketing. Also, how many corps in 2013 were paid $800-$2500: two? a dozen? several dozen? Throwing out that figure with such a broad stroke can be misleading.

When someone says $800 - $2500, I take that to mean at least $800 and at most $2500. If that statement was inaccurate, and there are corps being paid less than $800 (or no pay), then my conclusion must change accordingly.

[jeff danchik]

Southern California is a big place.

What was meant by locally oriented marketing, by the way, was the idea of linking events with larger community festivals that already attract a huge amount of people. This was a strategy often used back in the day. If there are already tons of people in town, and you can siphon off several thousand of them to pay admission to see your drum corps contest, the corps involved can do well financially even if you fail to reach every living room and basement in SoCal with your marketing outreach.

When someone says $800 - $2500, I take that to mean at least $800 and at most $2500. If that statement was inaccurate, and there are corps being paid less than $800 (or no pay), then my conclusion must change accordingly.

Yes the shows are local and they are usually teamed up with community events.There have been 2-3 shows per year the past couple years in western PA.The community provides the format and SDCA provides the corps.Each corps, as in our case, is compensateted for our costs. As to how much each group gets, that's negoiated up front, so I don't know details of the others.But whatever is promised, we're paid, which has not always been true in the past with other sponsors.Thats usually enough for one school bus, a cargo truck and fuel for the truck.We've had the option to go out of state numerous times,but most of those events have been later in August and conflicted with band camps.Its been a great enviroment to grow and mostly small corps, community audiences who don't care if you're DCI, DCA or SDCA.They enjoy the free show. The Mass finale gives everyone a chance to come together as comrades in this activity.Sound Sport will open up a couple local/regional appearences for us. Staying local builds notoriaty, a fan base and keeps costs down while offering the membership, more of an drumcorps experience.

Edited January 25, 2014 by jeff danchik