August NewsWaves 2018
Table of Contents
Prepare for Hispanic Heritage Month with RBFF
Hispanic Heritage Month (September 15 – October 15) is just around the corner. Are you prepared to engage with and welcome this audience? With the help of RBFF’s free resources, you won’t miss the opportunity to bring in new customers.
Resources available in RBFF’s Hispanic Toolkit will allow you to:
- Better understand this audience through research and insights
- Learn how to effectively reach the Hispanic market through webinars and examples from state agencies
- Position your organization as a trusted ally with Vamos A PescarTM logos, public service announcements, and our Spanish-language blog
Check out the work the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources is doing to engage the Hispanic audience:
Research shows the Hispanic audience is growing rapidly, and Hispanic anglers spend more days on the water than general market anglers. Take advantage of this opportunity and reel in new customers today.
Keep an eye on the RBFF LinkedIn channel for more information and resources as they come available, including new insights from RBFF’s PR agency, Exponent PR.
Massachusetts Successfully Retains & Reactivates Anglers
A large portion of Massachusetts anglers do not renew their fishing licenses. With that in mind, the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries & Wildlife (MassWildlife) utilized RBFF’s Retention and Reactivation Toolkits, along with grant money from RBFF’s State R3 Grants to send direct mail and email to retain new anglers and reactivate lapsed anglers.
Through various methods of communication, MassWildlife was able to keep new anglers in the sport while also bringing back lapsed anglers. Through this effort they learned:
- Casual anglers who provided an email address: receiving a postcard only or a postcard with follow-up email significantly increased license sales.
- New anglers who provided an email address: receiving a postcard with follow-up email significantly increased license sales.
- Lapsed new anglers who provided an email address: receiving a postcard only, email only, or a postcard with follow-up email significantly increased license sales.
- Average renewal rate for the retention audience was roughly 8%, while the average renewal rate for the reactivation audience was about 3%.
“Annually, over one-third of Massachusetts anglers do not renew their license. Lapsed anglers are a strategic target audience for marketing, as they’ve already demonstrated an interest in fishing. By prioritizing efforts to engage with this community, Massachusetts seeks to reduce its churn rate and increase fishing participation,” states, Jack Buckley, former Director of MassWildlife Director
For more information please read the full case study. For other state success stories, please visit the R3 webpage. If you have any questions, please contact Joanne Martonik at jmartonik@rbff.org.
Top Mom-Approved Energizes Consumers to Get on the Water
RBFF has announced the Top 10 Mom-Approved Places to Fish and Boat, and the list is generating a ton of buzz in the media, resulting in awareness of the incredible aquatic resources our nation has to offer. The Top 10 list is the result of a sweepstakes that asked anglers across the country to vote for their favorite spot after state agencies and moms worked to whittle down a list of more than 300 locations to 50 with every state represented.
After nearly 32,000 votes were cast, here are the Top 10 Mom-Approved Places to Fish and Boat:
- Alaska – Eklutna Tailrace
- Kentucky – Lake Cumberland
- Nebraska – Lake Ogallala
- Florida – Lake Piney Z
- West Virginia – Little Beaver Lake
- Arizona – Lake Havasu
- Iowa – Backbone State Park
- California – Yosemite National Park
- Hawaii – Pōka'ī Bay
- Louisiana – Grand Isle State Park
“The focus on female anglers has been a strong theme for RBFF in 2018, so it’s no surprise the Top Mom-Approved Places to Fish and Boat was a success. We are at a time where we need to make fishing and boating more welcoming to underrepresented audiences, including females and Hispanics, and this promotion helps show women they ‘belong’ on the water,” said RBFF President and CEO Frank Peterson.
RBFF leveraged its PR agency, Exponent, to help pitch media and a partnership with actress (Spy Kids) and national spokeswoman Alexa PenaVega to help promote the campaign, which contributed to traffic to the sweepstakes more than doubling when compared to a similar campaign in 2017. In total, more than 79,000 users visited the sweepstakes page, resulting in nearly 16,000 voters casting nearly 32,000 votes. Additionally, more than 6,000 emails were captured, which RBFF will utilize to keep this group engaged in fishing and boating activities.
Already, the Top Mom-Approved Places to Fish and Boat has landed headlines in the Fishing Wire and local news sources throughout the U.S. Head to the RBFF Newsroom for the latest hits.
As in years past, RBFF leaned on the expertise of state agencies across the country for help creating this list of exemplary fishing and boating locations. We would also like to thank our partners at state agencies for sharing the promotion and encouraging their consumers to engage with Take Me Fishing throughout the promotion.