Ranch Ramblings - Dude Ranchers` Association

Ranch Ramblings
April 2015
Marketing
Editorial Content
Contents
Marketing
2
Pinterest Analytics 2
Foursquare
3
Wrangler Training
Classes
4
Ed Trust
4
“Unbranded”
5
Books by
Dick Elder
6
Arizona Sonora News Service - “Dude Ranches Keep Western Culture Alive,” featured White Stallion Ranch, Tombstone Monument Ranch, and the DRA as part of a
piece that explored the history and scope of dude ranches within Arizona and
nationwide.
Traveling Mangia Mamas - “Taking a Dude Ranch Vacation,” featured an overview
of the dude ranch industry, with insight on how to plan a vacation. Referenced the
DRA as an ideal planning resource.
Travel Pulse - “Ask the Staff: Girls' Weekend Away,” suggested ranches as ideal
destinations for planning a girls’ weekend getaway. Included a link to a past story
guide to DRA-ranches, with a direct link to the DRA’s website.
DallasNew.com - “Plan a Digital Detox this Summer,” suggested planning a
summer vacation that enables parents and children to disconnect and mentioned
the Wall Street Journal story, as well as ranches as ideal destinations for doing so.
Media -- 3 Month Snapshot
5 Print Stories
5 Press Trips
15 Online Stories
207.2 MILLION Impressions
1 Broadcast Story
Co-op Ads
Journal and Topics – Chicago newspaper insert
Associate Members
Internet Niche co-op Marketing
We did have a great response to the Internet google ad words niche program with 25
Morgan Stanley Smith ranches participating (some in more than one niche). These have only been running
Barney
since April 20th so very pleased with the results. More in the next newsletter.
Off the Beaten Path,
Inc.
Rawah Ranch
Thank You!
Thanks to all the ranches that participated.
Family Reunions/Multi –Generational
Impressions - 27,384
Clicks - 558
Ranches with children’s programs
Impressions - 11,528
Clicks - 334
Working/Classic Ranches
Impressions - 2,991
Clicks - 259
Dude Ranchers Association
Ranch Ramblings 1
Marketing
Stand Alone Ads
Blaze News – 4 page newsletter a magazine insert
(pictured right) all about dude ranches with fun facts,
word searches, spot the differences in these photos
along with other games. Also included a full page ad in
Blaze magazine. We will have 5 thousand of these sent
to the office which was included in the cost and we
thought some of you might like to have them on hand
for your kids programs. We will be happy to send you
some for FREE… click here to see the Blaze News.
Renewed Banner Ads


Equitrekking (ad pictured below)
YellowstonePark.com
Pinterest
Set up your business account in order to use Pinterest Analytics
Whether you’re an established brand, a non-profit
organization, or a blogger, you can join Pinterest for free
as a business. You can make a new business account or
convert your current one.
We have two sets of terms—one for people and one for
businesses. If you're using Pinterest for business
purposes or as part of how you make a living, you
should sign up for a business account and agree to
our Business Terms of Service.
Make a brand new business account
1. If you have a personal account, log out of it
2. Go to Pinterest for Business and click Join as a
Business
3. Fill out details about your business and the person
who'll manage the account
4. Read and accept the Business Terms of Service and
click Create Account
Dude Ranchers Association
Convert your personal account to a
business account
1. Log in to your account
2. Go to Pinterest for Business
3. Click Convert now
4.Fill out your information and click Convert
Tips and Troubleshooting
Visit Pinterest for Business to learn about businesses on
Pinterest, including viewing case studies and installing
website widgets and buttons.
The Dude Ranchers’ Association Analytics
for April
Average Monthly Viewers: 51,118
Average Monthly Engaged: 610
Ranch Ramblings 2
Marketing
Dude Ranch.org
March
April
Unique Users
33,644
28,444
~ National Parks Week on a Dude Ranch
Page Views
122,033
98,279
~ Give Mom and Dad the Gift of Memories this Year
Average Time
4:28
4:11
Pages / Session
3.61
3.46
~ What Ranch Adventure Will You Have This Summer?
~ Dude Ranch Horses
Foursquare
The Dude Ranchers’ Association Has Set Up a Foursquare Account
Foursquare is a local search and discovery
service mobile app which provides a personalized
local search experience for its users. By taking into
account the places a user goes, the things they have
told the app that they like, and the other users whose
advice they trust, Foursquare aims to provide highly
personalized recommendations of the best places to go
around a user's current location. In other words it’s a
different version of Trip Advisor.
See the example to the right of the highly
developed Foursquare account of the Tanque Verde
Ranch. What are they saying about your ranch?
The Buckaroo Balladeers
Authentic Western Music & Cowboy Entertainment
From intimate campfire or trail entertainment to a full stage
“Cowboy” concert or special event, The Buckaroo
Balladeers can create an affordably unique experience for
your guests with Western Music, Stories and Poems. The
possibilities are only limited by your imagination…
we’d love to discuss your entertainment ideas or ours.
Contact us at:
Phone: 435-841-9678
email: [email protected]
or visit our web site at:
www.TheBuckarooBalladeers.com
When we hire on
with your outfit....
We Ride For
Your Brand!
Dude Ranchers Association
Ranch Ramblings 3
Wrangler Training Classes
Encourage Safety ~ Build Camaraderie
The Dude Ranchers Association Continuing Education Program is hosting several wrangler
training classes this May in Wyoming and Colorado. This program has been established to
educate your new and existing wranglers about safety and risk management practices related
to horse safety and first aid for the trail.
This class will also build camaraderie and team work among your wranglers and their industry
peers. If you would like a class hosted closer to your ranch please call the DRA office and we
will try to get a class arranged. Contact the hosting ranch directly for more information and
RSVP.
Red Rock Ranch
Zapata Ranch
Kelly, Wyoming
Mosca, Colorado
Thursday May 28th , 2015
Instructor Doug Hare, DRA President
Register ~ 307.733.6288 ~ [email protected]
Thursday May 14th , 2015
Instructor Damon Gibbons
Register ~ 719.658.2127 ~ [email protected]
Bar Lazy J Ranch
Parshall, Colorado
Thursday May 21st, 2015
Instructor Cheri Helmicki, Past DRA President
Register ~ 800.396.6279
Ed Trust
Scholarship Awards
NEED WATER?
250 AFA of surface rights from spring fed ponds...
The scholarship recipients have been selected for
the 2015 - 2016 academic year. We are in the
process of contacting them and letting them know
their award amounts.
81 million gallons +++underground wells for
subdivided lands
Vacation Raffle Refunds
42 acres with 8 inch underground pipe with 3 inch
risers for gravity fed irrigation
As you know the Vacation Scholarship Raffle
refunds 25% of each ranch’s total sales. We would
like to thank those ranches who donated their
refund amounts back to the Educational Trust
Scholarship Fund. You are very generous!
2600 sq ft house custom built for desert living in
1993
2015 - 2016 Vacation Raffle
Additional 900 acres with 900 AFA also available,
9,500 ft runway
We are mailing out the next year’s raffle tickets,
posters, and tracking sheets. We would ask that
when mailing materials back to the office that the
tickets and the monies would be sent at the same
time. Please notice the new poster for the crew
members to apply for a scholarship! Maybe hang
this in crew housing or common areas.
Dude Ranchers Association
180 acres fenced and cross fenced for pasture
rotation
Loads of wildlife, quail, chukar, cottontail year
round. Migratory birds in the spring and fall
https://vimeo.com/104455011
Ranch Ramblings 4
“Unbranded” Book Donated to the Ed Trust
The movie will debut on April 25th at the Hot Docs Film Festival.
Thank you Ben Masters for your generous contribution.
On an epic 3,000-mile journey through the most pristine
backcountry of the American West, four friends rode
horseback across an almost contiguous stretch of unspoiled public lands, border to border, from Mexico to
Canada.
For their trail horses, they adopted wild mustangs from
the US Bureau of Land Management that were perfectly
adapted to the rocky terrain and harsh conditions of desert and mountain travel.
A meticulously planned but sometimes unpredictable
route brought them face to face with snowpack, downpours, and wildfire; unrelenting heat, raging rivers, and
sheer cliffs; jumping cactus, rattlesnakes, and charging
bull moose; sickness, injury, and death. But they also experienced a special camaraderie with each other and with
the mustangs. Through it all, they had a constant traveling companion—a cameraman, shooting for the documentary film Unbranded.
The trip’s inspiration and architect, Ben Masters, is
joined here by the three other riders, Ben Thamer,
Thomas Glover, and Jonny Fitzsimons; two memorable
Dude Ranchers Association
teachers and horse trainers; and the film’s producers
and intrepid cameramen in the telling of this
improbable story of adventure and self-discovery.
For more information contact
Ben Masters at [email protected]
Ranch Ramblings 5
Books by Dick Elder, (Colorado Trails) Former DRA Director
It Sure Beats Working
Which way is West
The Way Out
Here’s proof in a series of short stories
Dick Elder
A place or a state of mind
Dick Elder
A novel of love and adventure
Dick Elder
When asked how I enjoyed my job as the
owner/manager of a dude ranch, I’d simply say, “It sure beats working. And that
is exactly how I felt. I loved the job and
why wouldn’t I? It allowed me to do all
the things I loved to do.
The book has three sections:
1. Short stories of humorous ranch related anecdotes.
2. Stories about funny and weird things
that happened when I worked on City
Slickers, The Horse Whisper, When the
Legends Die and other movies.
3. Poetry I’ve written and performed at
cowboy gatherings and other venues.
This is an easy read, a book to take to
bed. Have laugh before you go to sleep.
Sorry, but it’s only available as a Kindle book from Amazon, but if you prefer
a print copy, call me and I’ll send one to
you. (480) 225-9999. No, it’s not free.
Get real!
Reader reviews:
“I really enjoyed this book especially
the vacuum cleaner incident, making
coffee and the woman nursing her baby
in the dining room. Had to laugh at your
composure.”
“Being in the business myself, I sure
could relate to some of the things you
had to deal with. I enjoyed the lighthearted writing style. I’m not much of a
poetry reader, but enjoyed listening
when the wife read them aloud.”
This is a story every dude rancher
should read—many already have.
In 1960, with under $100,000, Dick and
his two partners, set out to build a dude
ranch on 500 acres they had bought for
$35,000. This story recounts the hardship, despair, frustration and finally,
the triumph that was Dick’s life during
the 1960’s. It took ten hard years before
Colorado Trails finally became
profitable.
Reader reviews:
“We admired your determination to do
whatever it took to make Colorado Trails
successful, which it was! Our current
horse program was taken from your
model.”
“Great characters and the author’s
writing style, make for a fascinating
true-life story. There’s humor and tragedy, love and lust, triumph and failure,
yet through it all is the reality of trying
to achieve a dream when any sensible
person would have given up. This story
pulls the reader into each scene with a
clarity that makes you think you are
indeed a part of it.”
“Dick Elder doesn’t just look for a new
horizon, he carves his own out of dirt,
debt and determination. The pages of
this book tell how one man shaped the
people and landscape around him and
in so doing, defied all the odds to build
one of America’s greatest dude ranches.”
Life has been a great adventure for Rick
Elkins, a Navy air crewman during WW
II, a fighter pilot in the Korean war, and
an airline and corporate pilot thereafter.
His wife is killed in an auto crash and
Rick must take time off from his airline
job to grieve. He decides to ride his
Harley motorcycle from his home in
Colorado to the west coast, believing the
long ride and the change of scenery will
help him get over his loss.
Rick comes upon a female biker, during
his journey up the PCH that in a short
time becomes a convoluted relationship.
The pair inadvertently get enmeshed in
unimaginable tragedy that both pulls
them apart and draws them together.
The ending will surprise and delight
you.
Reader reviews:
“Very enjoyable. You can picture yourself involved in this adventure. Riding
the Harley feeling the freedom of the
road or flying the plane, you become involved in each new and exciting
adventure.”
“The characters pull you into each new
scene. The dialog is natural, unique to
each and well crafted.”
“A great story. The plot is believable
and moves along keeping the reader interested and anxious for the next turn of
events.”
Buy it from Barnes and Noble or Amazon in print or for your electronic device.
Dude Ranchers Association
Ranch Ramblings 6
Happy Mothers Day
to all you amazing Moms.
Colleen & Leah
For Sale Clear Creek Guest Ranch, 58.65 Acres
One hour northeast of Asheville, in Western North Carolina's "High Country."
SALES PRICE: $2,475,000. www.ranchresortretreat.com, www.clearcreekranch.com.
Dude Ranchers Association
Ranch Ramblings 7