Getting Your Turkey Trot Back Up and Running

Turkey Trot Day is just about 3 months away, and now is the time to get your annual community run back up and running! While more than half of the 833 Turkey Trots from 2023 have renewed their event, we know there are a few hundred more with an increasing sense of urgency.

If you’ve been procrastinating, consider this your cheat to get your event (re)started! This blog will cover your 4 key steps:

• Step 1: Renew Your Turkey Trot
• Step 2: Give Your Website a Facelift
• Step 3: Spread the Word
• Step 4: Plan with Your Timer
• Support & Resources

Step 1: Renew Your Turkey Trot

The first step is simple: renew your turkey trot race! You already did all the hard setup work last year. This year, you’ll just need to click the “renew” button on your dashboard and make any updates relevant to this year.

Renewal FAQ:

When should you renew your race?

As soon as possible! Regardless of any tropical temperatures you may be experiencing, Thanksgiving is coming up quickly. Maximize your time to market your event!

Why should you renew your race instead of starting from scratch?

• Saves time in the setup process by copying over many settings from this year’s race. You can review what (is) and isn’t automatically copied to ensure accuracy for this year’s race.
• Maintains the same race website URL year-to-year, improving your SEO (and making it easier for people to find your event)
• View snapshot comparison reports that allow you to see how this year’s race is doing compared to previous iterations.
• Keeps all your email marketing emails in one spot to quickly and easily reach participants from previous years.

For a little extra confidence renewing, review our Support Documentation or catch the full webinar (below).

Step 2: Give Your Website a Facelift

When renewing your race, you’ll automatically keep the same website from last year. At a minimum, you should read through all content for updates needed to dates, prices, etc. If you are happy with your website as it was last year (with just updates to text), you can stop here and move onto Step 3!

But if you have a little more time, it’s great timing for a full facelift with a V2 website.

There are infinite options for content with a V2 website, but you can build out a basic (but professional) website with a few quick steps. On your dashboard, navigate to Race >> Website V2 >> Website Builder for all steps below.

Enabling Websites V2

Just a note: your V2 website won’t be visible until you enable it. When you’re ready to see what it looks like go to Race >> Website V2 >> Website V2 Settings and toggle on your V2 website. Don’t stress if it isn’t perfect – you can turn it on (and off) as many times as you need until it looks right.

Branding Your Site

First, you want to update the branding on your website. These settings are all found from the “Theme Options” menu at the top right of your website builder. For any graphics that you need to make, we recommend Canva. We even have a guide with templates that are sized specifically for RunSignup websites to help you out!

• Add or update your logo. If you uploaded a logo last year and it hasn’t changed, it should already show as your logo in Websites V2. If you need to create a logo from scratch, we have a Canva template to get you started.

• Add or update your color scheme. If you customized your color scheme last year, it should already show in Websites V2. You can add a completely custom color scheme to match your logo, but if you want an out-of-the-box color scheme, we recommend the Mahogany or Winter Woods themes for Turkey Trots.

• Add a Homepage Banner. This is the main image that appears at the top of your website (by default, it’s just colors). If you don’t have an existing banner, we have some Canva templates to get you started. You can use the default display for your homepage banner, or customize the way it looks. One note: if you customize any of the text on the banner, make sure you include all that information prominently elsewhere on your website. Race name, location, and date are very important to show!

Customize Your Homepage

You can be as creative as you want with the layout of your homepage, but your website will include most of your crucial elements as soon as it’s enabled. There’s one key component you need to add: the one that lets people register for your event! To add this to your website, navigate to Race >> Website V2 >> Website Builder. In the Website Builder, you want to add a new single-column section (at the top of the page). Then, click the plus sign to pull up your available components. Choose the “Event Tiles” component, and hit save!

By default, your page will have 4 additional components:

• Information. This is your race description, automatically pulled from your race setup. You can edit it by returning to the Race Wizard.
• Contact Us. This creates a form that potential participants can use to reach you with questions.
• Location. This is automatically pulled in from your race setup. You can edit it by returning to the Race Wizard.
• Links. If you have any social media accounts (Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, or YouTube) that you want to link to from your website, you simply add those on your dashboard (Promotion >> Social Media) and they will display on your website. If you have not added links, nothing will show here.

Recommended Components

If your information is all correct and there’s nothing else you want to add to your website, you can stop here and have a nice website to share. However, if you have more information (or some photos to create FOMO), there are a few other recommended components you can add to your website to really make it pop!

• Countdown Clock. This countdown clock to race day creates a sense of urgency and prompts faster registrations.
• Slideshow or Images. Adding images from previous events as either a slideshow or image components personalizes your website and highlights the FUN of the event.
• Map Location. A map location makes it quick and easy for participants to find you on race morning.

What’s the impact of a website? You can see all three websites (no customizations, brand customizations only, and additional components added) below. You decide how much time you have for upgrading your website – all three versions are functional and will allow you to start collecting registrations!

Out-of-the-box Website V2

Customized Theme Elements Only

Customized Theme & Additional Components

If you have a lot of race information, like course maps and packet pickup instructions, you can build out a full content website with menu items and pages. But for many events, a few simple updates to your homepage is all you need for a professional approach to your Turkey Trot.

Spread the Word

Now that you’re open for registration, it’s time to get people signing up! We have a few recommendations to kick off your marketing.

Email Lists

The fastest (free) way to spread the word is through email marketing. The good news: if you’re renewing your race, your contact lists from last year (and the year before) are already in RunSignup.

To alert your previous participants that this year’s event is ready for registration, simply navigate to Email V2 Marketing >> Send Email and click on recipients at the top of the page.

• Last Year’s Participants are only participants from last year.
• Previous Participants are participants from the last three years. We recommend using this list to promote your event to potential participants.

Additionally, if you have an offline list emails, you can upload those as a custom list. The system will automatically deduplicate if you have any emails on multiple lists.

You can send an email by going to Email Marketing V2 >> Send Email. From there, you’ll select your lists from above. Then, you can create an email from scratch, or choose one of our Pre-Built Email templates. The Pre-Built Templates have standard language and recommended replacement tags for common emails like registration opening, but are still fully customizable.

Email Schedule

There are a few key times to send emails:

• Registration opening. Let people know it’s time!
• Price increase(s). Price changes are a motivator to act now! Make price increase emails even easier by enabling automated price increase emails. Emails send automatically in advance of a price increase!
• Pre-race. Include key pre-event details…and a reminder to get the rest of their family signed up!

Social Media

Social media can help you spread the word! Two free settings we recommend updating include:

• Social Links. From your dashboard, navigate to Promotion >> Social Media >> Social Links. Add your social handles here and you can quickly add them to your website (via the Social Links component) and emails (via the Social Media component).
• Social Sharing. From your dashboard, navigate to Promotion >> Social Media >> Social Sharing. This page lets you customize the wording and images that show when your registrants share your event on social media. The top section allows you to add custom language for specific types of shares. At a minimum, we recommend adding custom images and language at the bottom of this page to highlight what makes your event special.

Create Your Signage

Digital is great, but for some things there really isn’t a replacement for old-school printed signage. Whether you’re leaving flyers at your local gym, putting out lawn signs at your race site, or plastering your bus stop, it’s important that your signage is actionable.

Signage best practices:

• Make sure key information (race name, location, and date) is clearly visible.
• Include a QR code that links directly to your registration site so people can sign up on their phones…instantly.
• To better track what signage works well, use a custom Source Tracking Code. You can do this by navigating to Promotion >> Source Tracking >> Source Tracking Codes (or use the Search Bar) and clicking “Add Code”. Give your code a name that relates to it’s use (like “Gym Flyers) and save (use $0 to bypass the cost section). Then, click on the link icon, copy the QR code for your race website, and paste it onto your custom signage! You can come back here to see the results of each code, or find them at the bottom of the graphs on your race dashboard.

Step 4: Plan with Your Timer

Really, Step 1A should be: check in with your timer! Timers are very busy this time of year, and if you haven’t already confirmed their availability, do that before renewing your race and opening registration.

But there’s more to talk to your timer about than just their availability. A few key topics to discuss in advance to make sure you have a smooth race day experience:

• RaceDay Registration. Closing registration early limits your revenue. Talk to your timer about using On-Site Registration or leaving online registration open on race day (recommended). If you leave online registration open, make sure you have lots of QR signage to direct people to sign up when they arrive!
• RaceDay CheckIn. In 2023, 60% of all Turkey Trot participants were checked in with the RaceDay CheckIn app. Make sure you and your timer discuss in advance if bibs will be pre-assigned or assigned dynamically on-site.
• Live Results. For an optimal race experience, you want your timer to be able to publish results in real-time – before the turkey even makes it into the oven. For a premium experience, you may want to ask about Live Leaderboards and Results Kiosks!
• Notifications. About a quarter of all 2023 Turkey Trots sent instant text or email notifications to participants. See if your timer can include these for a modern race experience!

More Help and Resources for Your Turkey Trot

While these four steps are a good start to get you ready for Turkey Trot season, every race is different and you may run into additional questions. Our Support Portal offers both extensive how-to documentation and 7-day-a-week support to get your questions answered.