Mini-Z, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer, MR-03, MR-02, MA-010, Forums, News, Pictures, Parts, and Shop - Mini-ZRacer.com
Forums, Mini-Z, MiniZ, Kyosho Mini-Z, Kyosho MiniZ, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer
Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Mini-Z Parts, MiniZ Hop-Ups, MiniZ Parts, Kyosho Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Kyosho Mini-Z Parts, Kyosho MiniZ Hop-Ups, Kyosho MiniZ Parts, Kyosho Mini-Z Racer Hop-Ups, Racer Kyosho Mini-Z Parts
Old 2018.11.14, 08:58 PM   #1
jkpeters84
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 4
Angry Need Help promoting.

Ok I just got into racing mini's. I have for weeks been trying to get more people into it. I was wondering if the class is dying out. Can anyone help on how to promote this more. I have a social media page for the group. We are racing at the local Hobbytown I have but a flyer on the door. Looked at some forums but most have not posted in years. Where did everyone go???????

Last edited by mleemor60; 2018.11.15 at 04:51 AM.
jkpeters84 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2018.11.14, 09:43 PM   #2
arch2b
Moderator
 
arch2b's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 35,480
Send a message via AIM to arch2b
The community shrank with the recession (like most hobbies) however it still lives strong, mostly on the East and West coasts. The short of it is, no, the class is not dying out. In-fact, there is more product development in the scale now than every before in it's history since 1999.

If your looking for instant crowd, success, I'm afraid your in for a big disappointment. It takes time, energy and persistence to build a program up from scratch. I ran a program in a LHS store for almost a decade and it took years to get a solid community built.

Tips:
1. Make and keep a consistent schedule, no matter if there is only one person racing. If people sense it's a flash in the pan, your dead before you even get off the ground.
2. Make racing easy to get into regarding rules, classes, etc. If you can't buy and race in a retail store, your only hurting your opportunity for growth.
3. No shortcuts on time/effort. Post on forums, keep a social media page active. See if you can get Hobby Town to keep active in advertising on their sites. I know the Hobby Town in NJ is very active in advertising online and working on building a Mini-Z community.

I can't stress enough that this is long term effort. There are seldom ready made communities to tap into. It happens but that is far from the norm. Make sure the LHS is on the same page regarding making a commitment. If they think it's a short term project and need immediate results, they are kidding themselves to be frank. Again, it's rare to have a built-in community waiting for a location but it does happen. If your worried after weeks, I'm worried for you as I worried after much, much longer.
There was a time that I was actively posting on nearly every English speaking Mini-Z forum there was online, and some foreign language forms as well. I just don't have the freedom of time anymore to keep up with that anymore and most of the sites I participated in just aren't around anymore.

Last edited by arch2b; 2018.11.14 at 09:49 PM.
arch2b is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2018.11.14, 10:11 PM   #3
Qball41
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 180
Results take effort and TIME.

We have been very fortunate to get our new group off the ground and build the support we have.

That said, I have been very diligent in reaching out directly to people I think may be interested. I fly R/C planes, so guys that I fly with that also like cars were my first targets. Friends that are focused on doing things with their kids were my second target. Great father son thing and you get 2 racers, not one!

I would invite them over to check it out, and like Arch said, make it accessible. I would have an extra car or two ready so when they arrived, within minutes they had a radio in their hand and were trying it.

Additionally, there are no local shops stocking parts, so I have become kind of the hobby shop. Knowing what parts are compatible and what they need to start can be difficult. So I order what they want/need, pay retail, and then they pay me. I don't mark anything up. Its effort I'm willing to put in to get people to race with.

Overall, it comes back to effort. You need to invite people. You can't just post a flyer and expect people to show up.

It can also take a financial investment. One other guy and I invested nearly $1,000 in our cars, RCP track, and scoring system before we ever had racer #4. So it is a commitment on anyone's part to start a group.

I wish you great success!
Qball41 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2018.11.15, 02:30 AM   #4
EMU
EMUracing
 
EMU's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2004
Location: NYC
Posts: 7,417
Send a message via AIM to EMU
Keeping it simple to start is very important. Entry costs can become an issue for people that are interested in participating, as can running costs of maintaining and operating the cars.

I have seen mini-z hobby shops rise and fall trying to operate racing as a business, where club racing can stick around when shops fold. Shops need to make money, due to operating costs and often class structure reflects that. Clubs just need to be self sustaining.

Holding inventory, rather than just consumables like tires, and small items that often break like t-plates means that you either need more racers for class entries or more classes to stay afloat and sell the gear.

Operating as a club, you can often rent space for a day, and setup/tear down the track each meet. Meeting once a month is often enough consistency. Where a shop should be running every week, if not 2x a week. Weekday night races on a Tuesday - Thursday can often draw the crowds that have weekend obligations with family, or do sporting events on the weekends... there were crowds of local racers that I only saw at big events because I could never make the weekday races, and they couldn't regularly attend weekend races.

Attracting racers is never easy, and often requires a lot of effort. If you can get a spot in a mall to setup a small demo track and turn laps and get a controller in interested people's hands, that can often go a long way. Consistent operation is important as arch said, even if only 2 people show up.

I used to race at events with 50+ racers, and now helping start up a club in a bike shop, and in a HobbyTown (in two different states, DE and NJ), I am happy that we even have 5+ racers show. We have plenty of old racers in the region that say they are interested, but don't show on race day, so we are grateful for the ones that do show rather than disappointed with the ones that don't.

Once you get a few people running consistently, and people see that this is a regular schedule... you will have more interest.

One page that we took out of Arch2B's book, was to include a very simple stock class that always races at every event. Limiting upgrades to strictly durability options, which often break on the stock kit like t-plate, bearings (bushing wear quick), wheel nuts and we added a disc damper to keep the field level since some cars come with them and others do not. This keeps entry cost low, with a higher return rate for entries compared to a class structure where you feel like you need to throw $600 into a car to even compete. These classes are club classes, because after the initial investment into the car, you often do not need to invest more into it beyond tires ever 5-10 races depending on surface.

If you can find one or two passionate people, that can really help to gather more by practicing and racing in public eye where people can see. If one in 20 people that picks up a transmitter and demo's a car picks one up, that is a good return. But, you need to get transmitters in people's hands so they can at least see what it's all about. Posters help create awareness... but, unless people see what's going on, and feel what the excitement is about these little cars, it's odd of attracting racers would be good at 1 in 1000 that see the poster if not more.

Father/child packages really are the best to get racing at the track. It gives them a good bonding experience, and word travels faster with children than adults. Birthday party race promotions can also help, but you need a rental fleet to do that. I had a great time at my nephew's birthday party at a slot bar track, although his mother was really upset with me after I won every race. I told her that it was my first time driving slot cars, and I even drove lefty :P

It's important to remember that you only need 2 entries to race, and turning laps during peak operating hours of the track, answering the questions, and helping sales at the track can really help your enjoyment racing. From the HobbyTown, they had sold 20+ mini-z, and we had 1 of the buyers come to our second event. At this event, two people purchased cars and joined the event on the spot.
__________________
EMUracing
Micro RC Syndicate /DG Designs /GSR /Reflex Racing /Fast By Faqish /MurderTown Racing
EMU is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2018.11.15, 06:08 AM   #5
Qball41
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2018
Location: Ocala, FL
Posts: 180
Quote:
Originally Posted by EMU View Post
Keeping it simple to start is very important. Entry costs can become an issue for people that are interested in participating, as can running costs of maintaining and operating the cars.

I have seen mini-z hobby shops rise and fall trying to operate racing as a business, where club racing can stick around when shops fold. Shops need to make money, due to operating costs and often class structure reflects that. Clubs just need to be self sustaining.

Holding inventory, rather than just consumables like tires, and small items that often break like t-plates means that you either need more racers for class entries or more classes to stay afloat and sell the gear.

Operating as a club, you can often rent space for a day, and setup/tear down the track each meet. Meeting once a month is often enough consistency. Where a shop should be running every week, if not 2x a week. Weekday night races on a Tuesday - Thursday can often draw the crowds that have weekend obligations with family, or do sporting events on the weekends... there were crowds of local racers that I only saw at big events because I could never make the weekday races, and they couldn't regularly attend weekend races.

Attracting racers is never easy, and often requires a lot of effort. If you can get a spot in a mall to setup a small demo track and turn laps and get a controller in interested people's hands, that can often go a long way. Consistent operation is important as arch said, even if only 2 people show up.

I used to race at events with 50+ racers, and now helping start up a club in a bike shop, and in a HobbyTown (in two different states, DE and NJ), I am happy that we even have 5+ racers show. We have plenty of old racers in the region that say they are interested, but don't show on race day, so we are grateful for the ones that do show rather than disappointed with the ones that don't.

Once you get a few people running consistently, and people see that this is a regular schedule... you will have more interest.

One page that we took out of Arch2B's book, was to include a very simple stock class that always races at every event. Limiting upgrades to strictly durability options, which often break on the stock kit like t-plate, bearings (bushing wear quick), wheel nuts and we added a disc damper to keep the field level since some cars come with them and others do not. This keeps entry cost low, with a higher return rate for entries compared to a class structure where you feel like you need to throw $600 into a car to even compete. These classes are club classes, because after the initial investment into the car, you often do not need to invest more into it beyond tires ever 5-10 races depending on surface.

If you can find one or two passionate people, that can really help to gather more by practicing and racing in public eye where people can see. If one in 20 people that picks up a transmitter and demo's a car picks one up, that is a good return. But, you need to get transmitters in people's hands so they can at least see what it's all about. Posters help create awareness... but, unless people see what's going on, and feel what the excitement is about these little cars, it's odd of attracting racers would be good at 1 in 1000 that see the poster if not more.

Father/child packages really are the best to get racing at the track. It gives them a good bonding experience, and word travels faster with children than adults. Birthday party race promotions can also help, but you need a rental fleet to do that. I had a great time at my nephew's birthday party at a slot bar track, although his mother was really upset with me after I won every race. I told her that it was my first time driving slot cars, and I even drove lefty :P

It's important to remember that you only need 2 entries to race, and turning laps during peak operating hours of the track, answering the questions, and helping sales at the track can really help your enjoyment racing. From the HobbyTown, they had sold 20+ mini-z, and we had 1 of the buyers come to our second event. At this event, two people purchased cars and joined the event on the spot.
Sorry to chime in again, but this thread is building lots of good information for someone wanting to get racing going.

Just to add to what EMU said about making entry easy for people: With the newer cars, we have a "trainer" mode class. It lets people get started when the cars are slower and easier to drive. It also allows them to get started without even having to buy new tires. Yes, tires are cheap, but this allows them to literally take the car out of the box and race it. Once they do that, dropping down the money for tires and bearings is a no brainer. for them.
Qball41 is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2018.11.15, 03:09 PM   #6
arch2b
Moderator
 
arch2b's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2002
Location: Washington, DC
Posts: 35,480
Send a message via AIM to arch2b
When I ran a demo fleet out of Hobby Works, I carried tires as a consumable for the club cost and simply gave each new driver a set if 20/30 tires. If the LHS gives you a discount on the purchase or you buy them cheaply, it’s a worthwhile loss leader. I actually carried 6 demo cars and enough spare parts that if anyone broke and didn’t have money, they always had what they needed. I still run this way even now that I’m no longer in an LHS and running with a club. I’m fortunate in that the cost burden for this is really minimal in the long run compared to larger scale RC’s and a believer in good karma.

I don’t think I’ve ever really calculated how much I invested in running the racing at Hobby Works. I’ve bought at least 12 Wide L tracks, 3 computers, 6 Wide Turn kits, large tv displays, monitors, at least 4 timing systems, countless demo cars and parts, etc. etc. I even bought all racers club shirts for Christmass, several times. Point being, this is my hobby, my downtime, my relaxation (most of the time) my joy and I’ve reaped for more than I’ve given. My only goal each race day is to enjoy myself and hope that others are as well. Obviously not everyone can do this and really need not to succeed. You can run a club on a meager budget, I did so for many years getting the Washington DC club off the ground racing in my basement. After a couple years of that, it was doing well enough to make the move to a retail location in partnership with Hobby Works. In my situation, they allowed us use of their space at regularly scheduled dates/times and I supplied all the gear, ran the show and provided support and in exchange, racing was free. That Last bit is extremely rare and we were very fortunate.
arch2b is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 2018.11.15, 07:40 PM   #7
SuperFly
bitPimp
 
SuperFly's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2004
Location: Portland, Oregon
Posts: 668
Quote:
Originally Posted by Qball41 View Post
Just to add to what EMU said about making entry easy for people: With the newer cars, we have a "trainer" mode class. It lets people get started when the cars are slower and easier to drive.
We do this almost every week, and it's usually my favorite race. I keep an MR03 Sport just for the lights and training mode.
__________________

mini-z gallery


PDX Mini-Z
SuperFly is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes Rate This Thread
Rate This Thread:

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Promoting the Hobby bemoore Miscellaneous Discussion 16 2007.09.27 06:03 PM


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 11:42 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.3
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2011 Mini-ZRacer.com
Mini Inferno Sale - Up to $85 Instant Savings!
Micro-T Hop-Ups
RC18R, M18, Micro RS4, Mini-LST, TamTech-Gear, Minizilla, RC18T, RC18B, RC18MT
shop.tinyrc.com Products

more»
Tiny RC Community News
[03/22/17] MZR was on vacation, didn't... : All kidding aside, the host experienced a bit of a server meltdown last week and efforts to restore the site to a new server took longer than anticipated. The current server is temporary until - more»
[11/25/15] Did You Hear? Our Black... : Hey Racers,
We're getting started a bit early with our Black Friday sale this year.  Generally we're not supporters of retailers opening early on Thanksgiving, but in our case, we're - more»
[06/30/15] shop.tinyrc.com: Have You... : Hey All! Just a quick reminder to everyone that we post all of our shop.tinyrc.com Newletters here on the MZR Forum. If for some reason you miss them in your email inbox, you can always see the - more»
Mini-Z, Mini-Z Racer, MR-02, MA-010
M18, M18T, RC18T, Mini-LST, Mini-T, Micro RS4, XRay, 1/18, 18th scale
XMODS, XMOD, Micro Flight, ZipZaps, ZipZaps SE, Bit Char-G, MicroSizers, TTTT, Plantraco Desktop Rover, SuperSlicks, Digi Q
Mini Inferno, Mini Inferno ST, half EIGHT, 1/16, 16th scale
Epoch, Indoor Racer, 1/43, 43rd scale
E-Savage, eSavage, eZilla, e-Zilla, HPI
Robots, Bots, Bipeds, Wheeled, Manoi, Roomba, NXT, Lego, Hacking
Crawling, Crawlers, Micro, RC, Losi Mini-Rock Crawler, Duratrax Cliff Climber
Kyosho Minium, Caliber 120, Minium Forums
Mini-Z Hop-Ups, Mini-Z Parts, Mini Inferno Hop-Ups, Mini Inferno Parts, M18 Hop-Ups, M18 Parts