The Run for a Million

On Saturday August 21, 2021, a new Run for a Million champion will wear the Million Dollar Invitational crown. Photo by Jennifer Paulson

The week Western performance horse junkies—and beyond—have anticipated for two long years is finally here. The return of The Run for a Million! This event made a splash in 2019 with its first installment and the associated reality TV program The Last Cowboy, and this year promises to be even bigger and better than its debut event.

These ultra-high-profile events are the kinds of things that get marketers excited, and they should motivate owners of small businesses within the niche, too. The opportunities to capitalize on the influx of eyes on our Western horses are as endless as your own imagination.

In 2019, I worked with a team that developed a program surrounding The Run for a Million that lifted website traffic by 30% in just the first week of the 6-week endeavor. That’s monumental growth. The landing page featured an educational portal for those new to the sport, videos, bios for all of the Million Dollar Invitational Riders, and a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to the 2019 NRHA Futurity. It garnered hundreds of leads and opt-ins for email blasts, which offered opportunities to leverage the event long after the last trailer left the South Point Arena.

Big programs like that don’t come cheap. They require investment of time and money that can be steep for smaller businesses. But that doesn’t mean you’re left out in the cold. Hashtagging, tagging, commenting, sharing, and liking social media posts associated with this mammoth event can help draw engagement on your own properties, too, as can blog posts on your website. It still takes the effort, but the financial investment is much lower.

How are you capitalizing on big things happening in your business that might be tangential but still on target? With some creative brainstorming, we can achieve big results even if you’re not directly in the spotlight.