NAVY DAD'S, How canwe recruit more parents.

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Permalink Reply by Paige (Billy's mom) on January 30, 2009 at 7:42pm

Gary,
I agree with you that using the recruiters as a resource for getting the information out about NavyDads and NavyForMoms is probably the best way. The new recruits are given all kinds of material regarding their upcoming Navy careers. You would think the recruiters would be willing to add info about these sites knowing it will benefit the families of those soon to be sailors. N4M's has managed to get alot of publicity from TV adds, magazines, etc. but, even now I still see messages posted there where a new member indicates they just learned about the site.

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Permalink Reply by NavyDads Admin (Paul) on January 30, 2009 at 7:56pm

EG, Terry and I have had many discussions about this.....the more publicity there is out there the better. N4M has Navy sponsorship-- this site is the work of EG and all the folks that volunteer their time and effort to spread the word. A great resource would be our sailors--- though Eric and Kat certainly are aware of the site, I haven't seen many parents join from their respective carriers. I sent a NavyDads mousepad to Eric and he has it in their shop (Tire and Wheel on the carrier). My thought was that if more sailors saw the mouse pad while using the cputer, they might just send the address to their folks. So far it hasn't seemed to have made an effect. I was hping Kat might write something about the site for the ship's paper, but she has to write about what she is told to.

Even with these limitations, we've grown alot since I joined last fall. One of the things I've done is to make a e-mail signature for home mail with the NavyDads logo...mail I send out has that logo on every message....my problem is I don't know many other Navy people save for those on this site.

Anyway I've rambled enough....thoughts anyone has should be posted!

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Permalink Reply by E.G. - ND's Creator/Admin on January 30, 2009 at 8:18pm

A little background information. Navyformoms is owned and operated by Campbell Ewald one of the largest ad agency's in the country. Click here to see a list of their clients. Click on United States Navy and you will see Navy.com along with Navyformoms.com. They have a contract with the Navy to run the Navy's websites and advertise for them. The Navy does not own Navyformoms.com but they support it and fund the advertising for the site. When I found n4m's I thought a mother started the site so I decided to start one for the dads. I soon realized that I was wrong about a mom doing it. So Navydads will always be behind the moms site because of the fact the Navy endorses the moms site and simple ol' me did the dads site myself. They have money to advertise and I don't. So word of mouth and great members telling others is how this site will grow until it is a household name in the Navy community. I don't think recruiters will say anything about the dads site. But know this I care about this site and will put everything I have into making it as big as the moms. I'm a Navy parent just like you and hope this site grows to help many others. So in the end this site is built, owned, and run by myself a new Navy parent along with Paul and Terry also Navy parents and Navyformoms is owned and run by an ad agency. It will be tougher for us to grow but one day hopefully it will be a house hold name. So keep spreading the word about us. I thank everyone for making this site what it is today. 400 members! I didn't think we would get to 40. So it's slow and steady growth and I'm happy with that.
Thanks again, EG

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Permalink Reply by Gary T. on January 30, 2009 at 9:21pm

EG, I want to thank you for your input. I immediately found the value in what you have done and pledge that I will help you to get the word out in what ever legal way is possible. Again thank you for this site and all of the friends I have made so far.

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Permalink Reply by Navydads co-admin (Terry) on January 30, 2009 at 9:34pm

First I would like to thank Gary for starting this discussion. We have talked about what we can do to promote this site. E.G. has been on many other sites that are Navy related and tried promoting this site on their sites. I have talked to my sailor about talking this site up where he is but in all fairness he is busy keeping us safe and this site is not necessarily his first priority. As E.G. said we don’t have a big advertising budget behind us to work with so it really comes down to us. I have a son in the Air Force and I was in the Air Force and a little while ago E.G. suggested that I start a site like this for the Air Force Dads, which I did. By the way I am working with the same size budget that we have here at Navy Dads. It is slow coming up. But E.G. and I think, and I believe that you all will agree, that sites like this are the way of the future because they are so very helpful, supportive and encouraging to all of us. People helping people, that is what it is all about. I believe that the way this site and Air Force Dads and any other site like this are going to grow is mostly by word of mouth. NavyforMoms has an ad agency and big money behind them and that’s good and NavyforMoms has great members. Navy Dads has great members and that is how this site will grow, just slower. Word will get around about this site and about Air Force Dads and many families will get answers support and encouragement because of these sites it is just going to take time and us promoting it as best we can. E.G. started this site and I started Air Force Dads to help people not to make money or to gain status in the world. I would like to thank Paul for his help and I would like to thank all the members because everyone is stepping up and helping each other with answering questions and supporting and encouraging each other. This site works because of all of you. And let’s face it we are here because of the willingness and courage of our sailors to defend this great country, let us never forget that. So just keep talking about this sit to anyone and everyone and keep supporting our sailors.
Terry
(Sorry this is so long I got carried away)

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Permalink Reply by E.G. - ND's Creator/Admin on January 30, 2009 at 9:37pm

Your welcome Gary. I have never put that out there about the moms site and who actually owns it. I thought it would help people understand why the dads site has much less members than the moms. I'm sure a lot of moms on navyformoms have husbands that would love to be apart of the dads site but they just don't know about us. The more we grow the more word will spread.

Gary F Twardowski said:

EG, I want to thank you for your input. I immediately found the value in what you have done and pledge that I will help you to get the word out in what ever legal way is possible. Again thank you for this site and all of the friends I have made so far.

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Permalink Reply by E.G. - ND's Creator/Admin on January 30, 2009 at 9:41pm

I couldn't have said it better Terry. Thanks

Navydads co-admin said:

First I would like to thank Gary for starting this discussion. We have talked about what we can do to promote this site. E.G. has been on many other sites that are Navy related and tried promoting this site on their sites. I have talked to my sailor about talking this site up where he is but in all fairness he is busy keeping us safe and this site is not necessarily his first priority. As E.G. said we don’t have a big advertising budget behind us to work with so it really comes down to us. I have a son in the Air Force and I was in the Air Force and a little while ago E.G. suggested that I start a site like this for the Air Force Dads, which I did. By the way I am working with the same size budget that we have here at Navy Dads. It is slow coming up. But E.G. and I think, and I believe that you all will agree, that sites like this are the way of the future because they are so very helpful, supportive and encouraging to all of us. People helping people, that is what it is all about. I believe that the way this site and Air Force Dads and any other site like this are going to grow is mostly by word of mouth. NavyforMoms has an ad agency and big money behind them and that’s good and NavyforMoms has great members. Navy Dads has great members and that is how this site will grow, just slower. Word will get around about this site and about Air Force Dads and many families will get answers support and encouragement because of these sites it is just going to take time and us promoting it as best we can. E.G. started this site and I started Air Force Dads to help people not to make money or to gain status in the world. I would like to thank Paul for his help and I would like to thank all the members because everyone is stepping up and helping each other with answering questions and supporting and encouraging each other. This site works because of all of you. And let’s face it we are here because of the willingness and courage of our sailors to defend this great country, let us never forget that. So just keep talking about this sit to anyone and everyone and keep supporting our sailors.
Terry
(Sorry this is so long I got carried away)

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Permalink Reply by NavyDads Admin, Tim on February 8, 2009 at 4:31pm

I am looking at getting a sticker made for my truck window that will hopefully draw some attention to our Nay Dads website. What I am looking at is at a sign shope here in town that will say "proud member of www.navydads.com" or something to this affect. I work out in a gym that is right by the Navy recruiters office here in Shawnee, Oklahoma. I think that this will bring some attention to our site and inform some of the parents that would be taking their kids to the recruiters office, along with driving around our wonderful town.
I also believe that this will bring some attention to our site when I go to see my Sailor at the bases that he will be stationed at in the United States that I will be able to drive my truck to and show this sticker off.

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Permalink Reply by NavyDads Co-Admin, Jim on March 11, 2009 at 9:10pm

I wonder if Great Lakes would let us have a small hand out to the parents that attend PIR? Even if the hand outs were on the counter by the cash registers at the NEX, and any where the parents would see. Maybe even having something in the surrounding hotels that they can pick up. Maybe nothing more than a two sided flyer at the front desk. Flannigans is a popular meet and greet before each PIR, maybe something there.

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Permalink Reply by Dave J.S. on March 12, 2009 at 11:52am

Has anyone ever checked to see if the Navy would place a link on the site? or how about military.com?

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Permalink Reply by Cora on April 6, 2009 at 9:18am

I think we should make business cards with the Logo and pass them out to ROTC Teachers at High Schools, and Recruiters , and to make sure we are reaching our Recruits pass them out to them at the Malls or where ever Recruiting Stations are to the Recruits and their Families. Also if we could start up small shops all over the U.S. selling Mugs, T Shirts, Sweatshirts, Sweatpants, Bumper Stickers, Car magnets, Window Decals, hats, etc I could go on and on however all these with the Navydads logo, we would probably reach alot of Dads of Sailors and if we could do something with working with the navyformoms too and have the same things with their Logos we would have something for both parents. Just one of my many ideas here!!

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Permalink Reply by Gary T. on April 6, 2009 at 10:49am

The business card idea sounds great to me. I think once E.G. has the store up and running that idea may become a reality. Thanks for your input Gary F.

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