At the risk of dating myself, I want to illustrate how an old idea can still be very productive and effective today. In the 1950s and 60s, Popular Mechanics was one of the most popular magazines in the country. It featured many projects a home handyman or hobbyist could do in his spare time. The projects were always very relevant, timely, and simple and contained step-by-step procedures on how to complete the project. An example would be, “Build an economical jungle gym for your kids to enjoy this weekend.” That is the premise of the National Shooting Sports Foundation’s Pull the Trigger monthly electronic newsletter.
This monthly consumer newsletter is carefully designed to engage a broad spectrum of firearms owners with helpful tips, videos and articles. Would-be readers can subscribe at no cost to this electronic newsletter at http://www.nssf.org/enewsletters/, or they can simply read current and past issues at the NSSF website, www.nssf.org/pullthetrigger.
Pull The Trigger readers are hunters, target shooters (competitive and recreational), collectors, individuals interested in home and personal protection and those who are no longer active in the shooting sports. Its content can provide the motivation to get people fired up about participating in the shooting sports and hunting, whether for the first time or the hundredth time. Content includes original articles and video segments produced by NSSF, as well as links to articles and how-to video by other experts in the hunting and shooting community.
As the trade association for the firearms and ammunition industry, NSSF’s sole mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports with a stated goal to increase participation by 20 percent by 2014. NSSF encourages the re-use of Pull The Trigger content to that end. Any state agency, non-governmental agency, NSSF member business, organization or agency with an email database of hunters and shooters will find that the content of this easy-to-read enewsletter provides an excellent way to stay in touch with your audience providing added value, encourage participation in the shooting sports and driving traffic to websites.
We all know about how much fun and how rewarding hunting and target shooting can be. The goal of Pull The Trigger is to remind participants of that so they’re inspired to head out to the range or afield, preferably with family and friends. What is really key to the success of Pull The Trigger is the many varied video vignettes and tips directed at multiple audiences. It is one thing to read about sighting in a rifle and clearly another to actually see step-by-step how it is done. Each edition speaks to novices as well as veteran shooters. In a recent reader survey, 87 percent of respondents said they were motivated to “pull the trigger” after viewing these tips.
NSSF has partnered with Gunbroker.com to send the newsletter out monthly to over one million subscribers. Its timing is no accident. The newsletter is sent out on the Thursday before the 15th of every month. This is when many people are planning their weekends and the open rates have reflected this.
One truly unique aspect of this newsletter is that it isn’t selling anything but participation and education. Instructors vary from noted experts, educators, celebrities and certified firearms instructors. The list includes NSSF in-house experts, as well as noted shooters such as Doug Koenig and Gil Ash to name a few.
I strongly encourage any state agency, NGO or stressed social media manager to consider using this powerful content to strengthen its electronic offering designed to engage hunting and shooting audiences. Since the cost is free, it is truly a win/win situation for everyone.
Mark Thomas is the Managing Director of Marketing Communications for the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the trade association for the firearms industry. He was honored by PR News as a finalist for Communicator of the Year.
