# Cool freebies for the club?



## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Robert (Digital_Gods), has contacted an aquarium chemicals vendor about some free samples. The manufacturer responded very positively. Soon we will have some free stuff available to us.

This time it's not Seachem. But the good response got us thinking about making contacts with other vendors. Making that an ongoing thing for the club.

Often the products are not specifically for planted tanks. But we ourselves are often not just into planted tanks. 

I believe we will all agree that it would be nice to give something back to the vendor that sends us free samples. The best choice is to post their company logo on our web site for a month or two. I suggest that because waiting for feedback from all of us, members, has not worked well in the past.

What does everybody think?

Once again - please see how you feel about the impact on the club. Will it make the club feel more active? More interactive? More "open to the world"? Or it will bring a more mercantile feel and lower the "good vibes"?

--Nikolay


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## foreverknight (Jul 8, 2010)

I for one really like this idea and would support it


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## TanyaQ2000 (Jan 31, 2010)

foreverknight said:


> I for one really like this idea and would support it


x2 :clap2:


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## medicTHREE (Feb 5, 2010)

Have the club president email me at [email protected] and I will throw some product your way this month.


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## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

x3 any free stuff always helps a club out, and rootmedic has a lot of people using his stuff on plantedtank.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

I want to ask everybody to express their opinion about this:

So we are going to be approaching as many vendors as we can asking them for free samples of their merchandise. In return we will display their company logo on our website for a month or two.

As I said - in the past just waiting for club members to post about their experiences with the free goods has not worked well. The vendors send us stuff, we give it away at a meeting, and never hear a word about it. The vendors need a better reward for the good gesture of sending us free samples. 

It's not about business only. For us as a club it's about making our hobby more dynamic, open, and interactive.

So besides displaying a vendor's logo on our website I thought of something else. Display a vendor's logo in your signature for a month or two. Not mandatory. If you want to. Basically saying "I got Product X. I'm trying it as we speak." You get the picture.

What do you think?

And is APC ok with something like that?

--Nikolay


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## foreverknight (Jul 8, 2010)

i would have no problem doing something like that niko. I am willing to give any feedback anyone wants to know. and people that know me know i tell it how it is. anyway i'd be all up for that.


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## Michael (Jul 20, 2010)

Trying new products and reporting results to members and APC is a good idea. Allowing vendors to advertise on our website MIGHT be acceptable, if it is clear that DFW APC does not officially endorse the vendor or their products.

Again, I like to operate on the KIS principle--Keep It Simple!


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## joshd (Oct 16, 2009)

I think it sounds like a great plan as well. Not only does it benefit our members, but by giving real reviews of said product we are adding to the hobby as a whole.


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## snowball2020 (May 26, 2004)

as long as vendors understand that we wont be bias about their products, then I should be OK with it. 

I don't believe in endorsing something I don't have faith in.


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## medicTHREE (Feb 5, 2010)

snowball2020 said:


> as long as vendors understand that we wont be bias about their products, then I should be OK with it.
> 
> I don't believe in endorsing something I don't have faith in.


I as a vendor wouldn't expect anything else. I would put a "sponsors" column on the website and then put "sponsor" vendors underneath. You could either offer trade in product or cash for space on this "sponsor" section. A links page is handy too.

I am all for giving groups of hobbyists something to try out as a hole. 1) I like helping others. If I wanted to get rich I would have went to med school... 2) It is good business. Not only do I get to show people my products, but you get to try them and if you like them word of mouth will help. I would be lying if I said anything else.

I think another handy thing you could do is start a discussion on each product donated to you to try. Only those who have tried it can discuss it and as long as it is an honest and fair discussion, any vendor should be comfortable with it. If you are a member of any other forums, you might see that not only do I support but actively participate in the discussion of my products. Transparency is good for everyone. As a matter of fact, when someone emails me up and wants to know "what should I buy" the first thing I do is ask questions.

I always love feedback and seeing my product in more hands can only do us all good.

Thanks,
[email protected]


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

It's a no go for company logos in signatures on this website. There are paying sponsors here. 

There are sections on here where anyone can review a product. I think that is a viable alternative. Of course we could also site the sponsor on our own website.


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## medicTHREE (Feb 5, 2010)

I agree with Tex's policy. I do not advertise here, but would be upset if on the forums I did pay to advertise someone would just post banners in signatures for a non paying advertiser. 

Likewise, I haven't so much as even linked to my site in this post, the most I've done is an email address as I often miss replies to threads...


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## snowball2020 (May 26, 2004)

I think I can figure out your website from "rootmedic.net"

but I thank you for being so involve in such forum. I'm surprise a lot of other vendors lack involvement in getting their products out.


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## Phil Edwards (Jan 22, 2004)

It's amazing how many companies are willing to give donations of their products to clubs. Not only is it good publicity for them, but if the club as a whole gives feedback on their products it helps with with R+D. As far as displaying a business's logo on the club site, I'm all for it. In fact, why don't we set up a donation recognition page on the site and leave the logo up for the remainder of the calendar year. It doesn't hurt us at all and is a gesture of goodwill toward those businesses who contribute to the club. The AGA gives all vendors who donate to the convention a space on our website and a little logo in the program. It's not an endorsement by the organization by any means, just a little "thank you" gesture. Cheers,Phil


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

Davemonkey (mod) just suggested this:
Perhaps it would help if you convinced all the DFW'ers to put the DFWAPC logo in their signatures. That might entice on-lookers to visit the DFW site, and then they would be secondarily exposed to whatever logos may be on that site. 

Do we have an uploadable logo? I think this is a good idea. We see the club logos in other club's sigs.


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## digital_gods (Apr 23, 2010)

Here is the URL to the DFWAPC in my albums. You can cut & paste the url for the image location under Avatar settings. http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/..._gods-albums-dfwapc-logo-picture11-dfwapc.gif


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## fishyjoe24 (May 18, 2010)

now all I got to do is figure out to make that link people to the dfwapc forum here, or the actual dfwapc site


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## Ekrindul (Jul 3, 2010)

fishyjoe24 said:


> now all I got to do is figure out to make that link people to the dfwapc forum here, or the actual dfwapc site


Try this:

[*URL="http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/dallas-ft-worth-aquatic-plant-club/"][SIGPIC][/SIGPIC][*/URL][*url="http://http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/dallas-ft-worth-aquatic-plant-club/"]*Dallas Fort Worth Aquatic Plant Club*[*/url]

You'll need to upload the logo first. Remove the * also.


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

The logo needs to explain what it is. It needs to say Dallas Fort Worth Aquatic Plant Club. That's the only way new people will know what it means.


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## Ekrindul (Jul 3, 2010)

Tex Gal said:


> The logo needs to explain what it is. It needs to say Dallas Fort Worth Aquatic Plant Club. That's the only way new people will know what it means.


How's that?


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## Tex Gal (Nov 1, 2007)

That's not bad. . 

Wonder how it would look with the words circling the logo?


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## Ekrindul (Jul 3, 2010)

I don't have the software to join it into a single image. 

Robert probably does, though.


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## Ricky Cain (Jan 23, 2004)

Its great. The vendors that contribute should be given recognition. Maybe in the manner as was suggested by Phil.

Bailin did a review on Seachem's NPK line when it first came out and I don't see articles of that nature being anything but helpful to club members and the hobby as a whole.

The "vendor/corporate" logos if done presented correctly lend a certain creditability to the club, not that this is needed but look at it from the perception of a new person getting into the hobby. They find or are lead to the DFWAPC site and see that there are several companies and industy leaders who support what we are doing. They get the impression that this organization has got it together on some level if the industry is supporting them in their endeavors.

I guess too if some folks are having troubles with the sig image a text line could do just as well. But we all know a picture is worth a thousand words.


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## digital_gods (Apr 23, 2010)

To show our appreciation, the vendors like the idea of having banner ads on our website. What if we label them as "Supporting Sponsors of DFWAPC" on our site? All the years of watching KERA, I just hear all those buzz phrases rattling around in my head.


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