Sell more 5K Registrations Online
5K race directors confront four challenges when organizing a race:
- Ineffective Marketing
- Finding Volunteers
- Poor Financial Tracking
- Low Fundraising Numbers
With the right tools, you can create a successful 5K – whether you’re organizing a fundraiser or a profitable race.
The Goodwill 5K & 2 Mile Walk Experiences 61% Growth in Two Years.
Over two years, the Goodwill South Texas 5K & Two Mile Walk added 61 percent more participants.
1. Use Proven Marketing Tools that Grow 5K Signups.
Race Entry offers many built-in marketing tools that get more people signed up for your 5K:
- Referral Program – Set a refund amount for each new runner your participants recruit for your 5K. Once created, everything else is automated, including tracking and redemption.
- Share & Save – Offer a $1-2 discount when your participants share your registration form with their Facebook friends.
- Group Discount – Encourage people to register for your 5K in groups by offering a group discount. Set the group minimum and the discount, then it automatically applies on eligible orders.
- Abandoned Registration Emails – Don’t lose sales to forgetfulness. Customize up to four separate automated emails sent to incomplete registrations.
You can also benefit from additional tools to support your retention efforts and other marketing strategies:
- Promo Codes – Create custom promo codes for your marketing campaigns and track redemption rates.
- Free Email Marketing – Email your past participants with announcements and updates on your 5K race. You can also send important information to your current participants so they’re ready for your race.
- Loyalty Program – Keep your participants returning year after year with a custom loyalty program. Set the number of years attended, then send and email with autogenerated, unique promo codes for your loyal runners.
- Free Website – Expand your digital presence with a website dedicated to your race. Benefit from a free website builder and free website hosting.
- Free Landing Page – Build your searchability with a customizable landing page with details about your race, photos, video, and links to your registration form, sponsor sales page, and booth sales page.
- Pixel Tracking – Enhance your digital marketing strategies and track their success by adding your ad pixels to your registration page.
2. Recruit & Manage Volunteers Seamlessly.
With Race Entry’s integration with Come Volunteer, you can simplify your volunteer recruitment and management:
- Online Form – Let volunteers sign up with an online form customized to your 5K race.
- Custom Jobs & Shifts – Create all the jobs and shifts you need help with for your 5K race.
- Mass Email – Communicate easily with volunteers via email with responsibilities, training details, etc.
- Autogenerated Promo Codes – Reward your volunteers with an autogenerated, unique discount code for your race when they sign up to volunteer. You won’t have to create a volunteer promo code again.
- Volunteer Check In – Easily check volunteers in from our mobile app or the director dashboard.
With these tools, you can streamline your volunteer program operations.
3. Track Revenue Automatically.
Race Entry makes it easy to track all of your revenue in one place, so you don’t have to create your own spreadsheets.
With Race Entry’s Forecasting tool, you’ll see all of your 5K revenue automatically tracked in real-time:
- Registration Revenue
- Sponsor Revenue
- Fundraising & Donation Revenue
Review your registration and sponsor revenue to identify trends and figure out where to focus for revenue growth. Add your expenses to Forecasting to understand your operational costs and what revenue you need to generate to meet and exceed these costs.
4. Boost Your Fundraising Efforts.
Whether you’re partnering with a local charity on fundraising or organizing your 5K as a fundraiser, you want to be successful. Race Entry offers fundraising tools to help you fundraise successfully:
- Preset Donation Amounts – Allow donors to customize their donation amounts and create quick preset options for donors to choose.
- Donors’ Choice to Cover Fees – Let donors choose to increase their donation to cover the fees.
- Donation During Registration – Request donations on your registration form as people are signing up.
- Standalone Donation Page – Accept donations from a customizable page with your fundraising goal, goal progress, photos, and recent donors.
- Fundraising Teams – Make it easy or even required for your 5K runners to create their own mini-fundraisers and goals to support your overall goal.
- Social Media Sharing – Let your fundraisers and donors share your fundraiser details with friends and family via text, email, and social media. Customize your preset messages, too.
- Custom Run for Free Program – Allow runners who meet certain fundraising thresholds to participate in your 5K for free.
With these tools, you can hit your 5K fundraising goal and expand your reach to your participant networks.
5K Race Director FAQ
What’s the best way to advertise my 5K?
Advertise your 5K in as many ways as you can to maximize your exposure. Start with some social media ads and hanging signs around town. As you start getting participants signed up, incentivize them to get their friends and family signed up. You’ll grow your race easily with this kind of word-of-mouth marketing.
How do I create a 5K registration form?
Create your free Race Entry account and add your race details. Then, customize your 5K registration form. Now, you’re open for registrations.
You can also delay opening for registrations and use your closed form to collect emails if you’re not quite ready to open yet.
How do I create a 5K race course map?
Race Entry offers free, embeddable race course maps. You just need to name your map, plot your course, add aid station locations, and then publish.
How customizable is Race Entry to my 5K?
You can customize Race Entry’s software to meet your 5K's needs – create teams, category groups, add your branding, custom pricing and price increases, and more.
What tools do you offer 5K directors to help with runner support?
Spend less time on customer support with participant self-management: adjust settings to match your policies, add a fee, then participants can defer, transfer, change categories, and edit answers according to your settings.
Can I use Race Entry to sell 5K swag and merchandise?
Yes, you can use Race Entry to sell your race swag and merchandise. You can feature items on your registration form and sell from an online store. Track inventory and order fulfillment all from one place.
Does Race Entry charge setup or monthly fees for its software?
Race Entry does not charge setup or monthly fees. Its software is free for race directors to use. Instead your participants pay a small service fee when they register.
Do I have to sign a contract to use Race Entry?
No, Race Entry doesn’t require contracts to use its software. We’re focused on delivering you the best tools and support each day.
