The expected plan was to do a little on campus ruck involving the stadium and throwing in a few exercises because Bloodhound is on call for work and cannot be too far away from the truck. Unfortunately due to a family emergency, he was unable to attend this morning and so plans changed. Aiding in my decision to stay with our usual loop was knowledge that one of our newer PAX (Homeboy) was planning on make his first ruck. But the final tipping point was the addition of an FNG (The Mule). The Mule saw the Today Show broadcast and was very interested, but when he checked out the site, he did not see an AO close to him. The segment aired right after we started so it’s possible we were not established on the map yet. Once the Around Canton magazine article ran yesterday, YHC posted it to every platform accessible which included the NextDoor app. The Mule saw the article and notice a co-worker (Banjo) was in the picture so he gave him a quick call, found out what we were up to, and came out for the ruck excited to be apart of it.
YCH highlights the series of events to point out a fact that most of us already know but sometimes we might need a reminder, marketing works. It may not work the first time someone sees it, but the more exposure we give to people about who we are, what we do, and where they can find us, the more likely we are to have them join us. The Mule was interested by the Today show a few months ago, but gave up his search for better after he found out that there was not something close by. But then he was exposed to it again when he saw the posting of the article on the app. A posting to an article that comes in a magazine that arrives to his house once a month, but he didn’t see it there, he saw it through a lesser known app. Now YHC is not saying that we must buy advertising space in every local media outlet, but there are plenty of avenues that are free. It’s about seeing our brand and talking to people. Whether its exposure in a local paper about who we are or a 3rd F event that we are all apart of, posting on many different social media sites, having people see us running local races with our F3 shirts on and shovel flags planted, and the list goes on. YHC is also not saying we are doing a bad job, but just giving ideas on ways we can increase exposure to the sad clowns of our area.
Now clearly we are doing a good job in recruitment with the Rubicon consistently being in the 20s and the Wreck killing it this week, but YHC also believes that we can reach even more men, and continue this growth, and become an even stronger region. YHC only highlights theses things because I am proud to be apart of this group, and all it can do for the men in our area. YHC is thankful for the men he has met because of this and YHC knows there are so many others that will benefit from this when we reach them.
The ruck itself was good, we kept a strong pace throughout, even with Homeboy catching up from behind after he got a late start. Banjo got a little more running in, because short legs, and the Mule did a great job at his first workout. Overall great morning.
COT
- Prayers for Bloodhounds mother-in-law who is not doing well and for his wife to comfort her during this time.
Moleskin
- Thank you to Candi Hannigan for running our story in the Around Canton magazine. She could have rejected the idea, but she didn’t and I feel like she did a great job.