Advice on marketing for a tournament

[OneManArmy]

Ok, I've done a number of sporting events and have marketed photos in online galleries. In Jan, I have a fairly large gig of covering a big martial arts tournament (let's call it Judo). I train with the guy that's putting it on, so I have pretty good latitude on what to do. He and I have talked about getting a shot of the winner of each bracket in a small lit area, kind of like when graduates get their photo shot with their diploma at the cermony. I'll also being taking photos of people while competing.

Anyway, the thing I'm struggling with is how to get the word out to all the competitors about this. I've thought of having them put it on the registration form, which all competitors have to fill out, but they unfortunately already have that form built and on their web site; that sucks. Should I make a sign and put it by the door as people walk in? I'm looking for suggestions for things that every single person will see. I'm also going to make some more business cards before then.

Thanks

[defordphoto]

Make up some fliers and have them at the entry or have someone pass them out. You could make a kick-butt example of your work on one piece of paper.

[Jon]

If you're shooting it for, or at the request of, the event's promoter, at least get them to put something on their web page about it. Electrons are certainly cheap enough.

[IndyJeff]

OMA if you can get an assistant, set up a table and handout business cards (vistaprints.com cheap and quick you design from their templates) and flyers. If possible download the cards ASAP, print off a contact sheet with a maximum of 9 photos per page. Put them in binder books in clear sleeves and have them arranged by time of match, i.e. 10-11am, 11-12noon, 1-2pm etc. You can get clear envelopes to hold the contact sheets in the binders. You can then take orders by having them fill out a simple order sheet with their name, address, and image number ordered and quanity and size. You can fulfill each order online yourself and have it mailed to the right person.

If you don't want to do the direct sales then still have the table setup and handout the business cards.


p.s. I did a softball tourney last year and just haded out cards and flyers, sales were miserable. When I set up a booth sales were pretty good with just online. Get a sign made to attach to the wall above your table so people know what your doing.