Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Banned/edited/censored

[Gizmo]

Nicely put Jools.

Originally posted by Jools

The way that I see it is that every well run business should have a marketing and advertising budget, usually factored into the price of the items that they sell. It's then up to that business where they spend their budget, whether in glossy magazines, small ads in the paper or even the newsagent's window.

Whichever of these you choose, FREE advertising is a rarity. Even if I wanted to sell my bike by sticking a postcard up in the local newsagents it would cost me a couple of quid a week for an advert to Joe Public with no specific interest in bikes.

But if you look at the opportunity that the DSC board currently offers to businesses with Ducati related product, or individuals with a Ducati (or bits of one) to sell. Here is a board that can be accessed worldwide, 24 x 7, every day of the year, is PRECISELY targetted at the audience you want to reach and it's FREE !!!!

Pretty good deal for advertisers isn't it?

As has been mentioned before, this is not a public forum, it's a club message board paid for solely by the paid up members of the club.

It seems to me that individual paid up club members should be able to advertise pretty much what they like. Normally, individual people will only be selling the odd spare part, or bit of bling, and now and then might want to sell a bike. That's fine with me, it's in the spirit of the club and a valuable advantage of this board.

It also seems to me that most of us are tolerant, and happy enough to accept that non-members can, and will, advertise stuff here as well. As Ruth says, the board is largely self regulating and non-members who post up ads for Yamahas and stuff will soon get the **** ripped out of them, but that's their choice if they want to post stuf like that on a Ducati board.

It also seems to me that most people are tolerant enough to accept businesses giving themselves an occasional plug as long as it's proportionate to what they give back to the club in other ways (ie: Cornerspeed with heaps of free advice and member discount, No Limits with a genuine 10% DSC discount).

Where people begin to feel irritated is when non-members and members alike cynically exploit the board for their own self interest. Some people seem to think that once they've paid their £20 a year (less than 50 pence a week) to the club, it entitles them to set up their own version of an eBay shop - again, precisely targetted at their demographic. Once again, if these people are providing a genuine service and are putting back as much into the club as they're getting, in one way or another, then I think that's fine with most people.

All most people seem to be asking is, use the board to advertise what you like, but don't be cynical about it and don't take the **** - Most people will see straight through that so don't be surprised if you're asked to stop advertising. As well as that, don't be surprised if your advertising actually has a negative effect - most people won't buy from people who are ****ing them off.